Facebook and Bing Connect for a More Social Search

Yesterday Microsoft and Facebook announced that Microsoft is rolling out new features that will bring your Facebook 'experience' into Bing, their search engine. Could this mean that more people, particularly Facebook 'power users' may choose to use Bing over Google, currently the most popular search engine?

The new features include:

- "Facebook Profile Search" showing results from Facebook when you search on a name

- "Liked Results" Bing will include results based on things your Facebook Friends 'liked'

- You can change your Bing settings so that these features aren't shown in your results



and you can change your Facebook settings so that "You can prevent Bing from getting any info about you."

Google has been the most popular search engine by far for a number of years now, mainly because they do search so well. Some of their other products have taken off and become popular: Gmail, Chrome to an extent, and of course the Android mobile phone OS; but many of their other products have not done so well: Blogger is by far inferior to WordPress, Google Docs is far from displacing MS Office and Wave was a massive failure. Many people remain faithful regardless.

If the press coverage of the new Bing features carries on, and Facebook users start to go to Bing and find the integration very useful, this could mean a migration away from Google.

I think that if Facebook were to embed Bing search into it's interface it would make a greater impact, because it would then be right 'in the face' of the 500+ million Facebook users who would then get used to using Bing from an interface that they are very comfortable with.

Will Google be making another move to counteract this new development at Bing? Will they be bringing more personalised Twitter results into its search results? The recent development of Instant Search doesn't quite pack the punch of Bing's new features. Google has tried to include more personalised results by showing comments and starred results from your community of Google friends, but this community never really took off. I only have a couple of Google connections that show up in my search results, but I have hundreds of Facebook friends.

According to Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land, "Potentially, Google should be able to get all the same information that Bing gets." (http://searchengineland.com/bing-now-with-extra-facebook-see-what-your-friends-like-52848). So maybe Google will work on breaking the barriers that Facebook has set up to this and start to include such information themselves.

This development may drive more site owners to include 'Like' buttons on their sites and for more Facebook users to click 'Like' buttons. That raises another question: Are the majority of these 'Likes' because someone does actually like the site/post or because they know the owner/author or have we just gone 'Like' happy clicking away at all the 'Like' buttons we see? Will this development bring quality to Bing searches or bring the quality down more?

I still think Google is a better search engine but I may be using Bing more, especially for results where I think that a Friend's opinion is important (ie "restaurants in Cork Ireland"), but maybe not for searches for pure information (ie "who was Henry VIII's last wife"). For searches like that latter it's unlikely there will be many sites that Friends have 'liked' anyway.

Google Places (aka Google Local Business, Google Maps) have brought a lot to search in that people can find businesses that are in a specific location and then see reviews from a wider audience. In Ireland, this is still in its infancy as there are still issues with results shown and a low number of businesses submitting to the service; but in the US it's a very popular search feature.

Is there room in my life for two search engines? One for personalised searches and one for everything else?

See more about this from Bing:

- The Bing blog post (New Signals In Search: The Bing Social Layer)

- Bing's Overview of the new features http://www.discoverbing.com/facebook/

More about this from the Social Media/Search Engine journalists:

- http://mashable.com/2010/10/13/facebook-bing-social-search/

- http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/10/bing-friends-facebook/

- http://www.allfacebook.com/live-from-the-bing-facebook-event-2010-10

- http://www.fastcompany.com/1694805/five-things-you-should-know-about-the-new-bing-facebook-features

What do you think? Do you use Bing already? Will you be using Bing more now? Are personalised searches important to you? Please post your comments below.

Google Instant - Findings of our Panel of SEO Experts

On the 9th of September Krishna De and I organised a panel of SEO experts for an online discussion on the newly launched Google Instant and it's impact on business owners.

Thanks to John Ring, David Quaid, Jill Whalen and Joost de Valk for joining us on such short notice and to Jessica Bowman, who couldn't make the session, but provided some of her insights in advance. We were very lucky to get a great panel like this on such short notice.

View replay of webinar here:

The main view seemed to be that whilst the new interface will have an impact for many users, it probably will not be necessary for SEOs to change their strategies much -- but mostly it's a bit too early to tell and business owners shouldn't panic, but as Jill Whalen commented, "watch the analytics" and see if there is an impact.

"Rankings will stay the same. Behavior may change."

- from Google Instant Launch

In case you haven't heard - and may not have yet experienced it for yourself, Google Instant, is Google's new interface where search results appear on the screen as you type your query in the search box. It combines Google's auto-complete feature with showing relevant results as you type.

My advice to SEOs and site owners is to go back to the basics of SEO:

Ensure that the title and description tags are carefully crafted to attract a click from the user quickly. This new interface may mean that users will focus more on the top of the page and that it will be even more important to be at the top of listings. When developing Google Instant, Google's research via eye-tracking showed that users already focused mainly in the area around the search box. Your organic listings will also be competing with AdWords listings that appear above the organic listings, which also seem a bit more prominent with Google Instant.

As many listings will be dominated with universal search results (i.e. map of Local Business listings, image results, etc.), it's important to make sure that you are getting content into these results as well. Optimise your images, videos and blog posts; and don't forget to submit your own Local Business listing.

Look again at your keyphrase research and ensure that the phrases coming up in Google's auto-complete are in your list of targeted phrases. More focus on auto-complete with instant results will mean that more people will be searching on 'long tail' (more specific) phrases so these will be an important part of the list. On our panel, David Quaid stated that he believed that users will be corralled into using certain search phrases, those that come up in the auto-complete, which will be most likely. There was also concern expressed by many on the internet that bigger brands, that will come up quickly as users start to type, will get an even larger share of clickthroughs.

If you haven't already optimised the speed of your pages loading, after Google's announcement earlier in the year that speed will impact on ranking, this would be a good time to check again. See Joost's post at http://yoast.com/site-speed-ranking-factor/.

On our panel, John Ring provided some great advice for AdWords advertisers, his area of expertise. His main point is that it's important for you to review your keyphrases and ad copy carefully now (in a similar manner to SEO advice above); and to watch analytics to see if this change impacts your results. There is concern that the number of impressions will shoot up and that users will be clicking on more generic phrases as they'll show up first (opposite to what is expected for for organic searches).

Have a listen to the replay and check out the great discussion on the topic. Get in touch if you'd like any further advice or assistance on making sure your site will get best results.

Here's a few helpful links:

- Google's Page on Google Instant
- Google Webmaster Blog post on Google Instant
- Matt Cutts' Thoughts on Google Instant
- Skitzzo's Google Instant Alphabet (for fun, showing what comes first for each letter of the alphabet)

Thanks to Krishna for moderating so well and handling the technical side of everything.

Google Instant - Webinar: What does it mean for Your Business?

I'm delighted to announce that later today I will be presenting a webinar with Krishna De of Biz Growth News entitled "Get the Inside Track on Google Instant and What it Means for Your Business"

The webinar will begin at 5pm BST (12pm ET) today 9th September 2010. You can register at http://www.bgn.bz/gweb.

Yesterday Google Launched it's next generation of search, Google Instant, where search results appear on the screen as you type your query in the search box. It combines Google's auto-complete feature with showing relevant results as you type. There was lot of talk about this new development on social media channels so we thought it would be a good idea to hold this session to discuss the facts and how Google Instant will impact on business owners.

In the session we will cover:

1. What Google Instant is and how it is being rolled out

2. What it means for site owners and digital marketing managers

3. What it means for users

4. What the implications are for businesses using Google Adwords

5. What actions we should take, if any, as a result of this new enhancement to Google Search.

and more...

We may also have a couple of special guests on hand.

Hope you can make it this evening.

New Website for West Cork Accommodation Provider: The Cottage Bar

Like the name says, The Cottage Bar & Restaurant is a bar and restaurant in Glengarriff, West Cork, which also offers bed & breakfast and self catering accommodation.

We stopped at The Cottage Bar for lunch on one of our first trips out to beautiful Glengarriff. I remember the friendly, homey atmosphere; so I was delighted when the Somers Family contacted me to do a website for them. They wanted to start out with a simple site that they could easily update themselves. The site is now live at cottagebar.ie and shows off all that the establishment has to offer from home style cooking and comfortable accommodation to a convenient location in one of West Cork's most scenic locations.

Many businesses in the tourism industry are having a really hard time now and those that relied heavily on passing trade and word of mouth referrals are finding that they need to step up their marketing efforts, especially online. Those that don't yet have a site are now getting one and those with basic sites are getting content management systems so they can update the sites themselves to change rates and add special offers as often as needed.

As the tourism & accommodation industries are so competitive on the internet it's important that these businesses make sure that their web developer is experienced in search engine optimisation or works with an SEO, like me, who specialises in tourism. A small website will have a hard time competing on a national basis for competitive search phrases as there are so many large directory sites that are strongly optimised; but a small site can compete for more local searches, especially if all SEO techniques are utilised; especially on-page optimisation with good relevant content and high quality incoming links. These days a good social media marketing campaign is a great way to get more exposure for your establishment.

Contact me if you would like to know more about online marketing for tourism related websites.

Looking for Things to do in West Cork? Check out the Lagoon Activity Centre Rosscarbery

The newly re-branded Lagoon Activity Centre has gone by many names in the past, like Ross Leisure and Ross Paddleboats, but for the most part people knew about it not by name but, as you drive along the N71 the main road through West Cork, seeing young people and families having a great time out on the beautiful lagoon. It'd be one of those places that you say you'll go to one day, but may never get around to doing it.

Now with a new website www.lagoonactivitycentre.ie, everyone will know the name of the establishment and that it's one of the best things to do in West Cork with all it has to offer: paddleboat, row boat and canoe rentals; as well as a coffee shop in one of the most scenic spots in West Cork. They cater for parties and groups, just give a call to arrange in advance.

It's a basic one page site, but with WordPress at its backend, the owners can add more pages and information as they see fit.

New Natural Skin Care Range from SallyMiller.ie

I've just finished adding the newest addition to The Sally Miller Collection of Natural Cosmetics: Natural Skin Care Ranges which include cleansers, toners and face creams available in either Citrus Blossom & Ginger, Winter Jasmine & Chamomile and Wild Rose & Sandalwood; each suited to a particular skin type. There is also a Refining Skin Polish and Moisture Rich Night Cream.

I can't wait to try them because all of Sally's products that I use are amazing and I know that she's been working hard over the past months carefully sourcing ingredients and developing this line!

The e-commerce website for The Sally Miller Collection, www.sallymiller.ie was set up in 2007. In the early days, the Collection mainly included aromatherapy bath and body products -- and my favourites, soy candles and lip balms which I find heal chapped lips in a couple of hours. All made by hand in Sally's workshop in Rosscarbery using quality natural products.

Sally had been selling aromatherapy products for a few years before this in conjunction with her aromatherapy and massage practice. She built a big following in West Cork, selling in local shops, salons and markets. Getting online helped her to reach a wider audience - including an increase in the number of quality shops that stock her products across Ireland. Two years ago Sally added a line of Shea Butter products which are very popular and are still on the website, as are many of the old favourites.

Sally's range of Gift Sets are a big seller on the site. She also makes up special items for corporate gifts and as favours for weddings and other special occasions. A couple of years ago we sent Sally's Winter Spice Candles to our clients for Christmas. I say 'WE sent', but I should say 'SALLY sent' as we provided the labels and she did all the hard work. We got a number of great comments on that gift and it made it so easy for us!

Click here to read more about Sally Miller.

Over the summer I will be working with Sally to set up some Social Media channels so that we can keep people informed on her products, how to use them and provide helpful information on aromatherapy, skin care, etc.

60 Ways to Increase Your Influence Online: "The Influencer Project"

I think it was Krishna De that posted on Facebook about The Influencer Project and that's where I heard about it. "60 Speakers in 60 Minutes" talking about how to increase your influence online in the "shortest marketing conference ever" which broadcast last night at 6pmET (so 11pm here, not too bad for me). And it was FREE, so to me this was perfect. I've been listening in on a variety of webinars on about a weekly basis, but I've found that I've hit about all of those relevant to me and I've gotten to the point where I just get frustrated because I've got points I want to add and while some webinars do provide you with a way to ask questions, mostly they don't feature two way conversations. Now the Influencer Project was not going to be a way to provide input, at least not directly on the webinar, but it is an interesting new concept with 60 of mostly top social media professionals, so definitely worth a listen.

I did find I did have a way to make my points by posting on twitter using #influencer, though the points were not in depth as it was hard enough concentrating on the 60 minute spots (especially as I was also doing some other work at the time) and I did make some possible good connections with others following #influencer and got a few more followers on Twitter.

Luckily there will be an mp3 and PDF transcript to go back and review, but for now I thought I'd relate my points made during the original webcast (as with the Twitter feed, it's in reverse chronological order:

What do you already have that other people don't -- get someone else's POV to look at it for you #influencer

Again, not just about products - entertain, inform, inspire #influencer

@timeontaskva Will need to go back to that minute! Find gifted upandcommers, become an advocate & create an advocate for life #influencer

Oh, a nice deep moment - listen for the silence #influencer
- need to go back and see who that was, because it was a refreshing moment!

business model before pursuing fame for fame's sake #influencer<- downfall of many people

Share ideas liberally #influencer <- also a big theme tonight

Listen! #influencer

I like the way Hank is thinking #influencer

- that was @hankwasiak - will definitely start following him!

Get active in other people's communities - spread where your voice can be heard #influencer

repeat your tweets @guykawasaki #influencer <- still not sure on the frequency of doing this

- Then @guykawasaki replied to that and we had a short conversation on the concept that ended with him saying "no guts no traffic"! So looks like guts is one of the things I need to work on!

become the master, the owner of one specific niche online then do webinars to teach others how to do this #influencer

A lot of people talking about going offline #influencer we probably do get too comfortable behind the keyboard

Make the people around you more successful than yourself #influencer

make something worth talking about (unique, inspiring, awesome) #influencer <- that's the hard part!

Share good content *check* #influencer

Learn to talk more about other people #influencer

Try to be early in the news cycle #influencer <- excellent point

Defy convention where it's appropriate #influencer

Get good at filtering and aggregating content #influencer <- Amen!

Don't be afraid to have a point of you & share freely throughout the web (w/social bling) #influencer

Get co-billed with people with the same audience, difference services/products #influencer

If people can identify with your story they feel a part of what you are doing #influencer <- I get that!

Look for multiple circles, multiple spheres of influence #influencer

Test Drive 3 digital trends per month (or week?) #influencer
- it was per month

So I made points on about 20 of the 60 items. There was some repetition between the points, as you'd expect. There were some points that I didn't think worth commenting on as it was the same old jargon that you hear over and over, as you'd also expect, but there was very little of that. Mostly it was plain talking about the basic concepts that most of us overlook on a day to day basis because we are too busy getting on with things - or for some, too caught up in just trying to make themselves look good as opposed to relating, sharing, interacting with others.

The one point that I think struck home with me the most -- and I now notice that I didn't comment on at all -- was about consistency, as it builds trust amongst your community. A couple of the speakers talked about having a consistent voice, but for me the challenge is in consistency of my activity in my own social media activities to ensure that I have a strong body of content that is interesting and timely. Because, unlike the majority of these speakers and other online marketing consultants that I consider to be top of the field, I also do web development and implementation of search engine optimization and social media techniques for clients, which is very time consuming, my own marketing takes a back seat (like finally moving this blog into my site with WordPress)! Guess it's time I listen to my own advice and get down to some good old fashioned time management techniques!

So sign up for the mp3 and PDF transcript at http://influencerproject.com and check this out for yourself and let me know your ideas on the 60 points.

If you want to connect with me, click here to see where I am across social media channels or basically follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/ann_donnelly

Go ahead and kick my butt if you see me falling outside any of these good concepts (especially on consistency and time management)!

Wedding-Invitations-Ireland.com gets new look with WordPress

My first friends in Ireland, Tony and Therese Cantwell started out selling creative, personalised baby announcement cards about 10 years ago and in 2002 branched into similarly creative and personalised wedding invitations with the site http://www.wedding-invitations-ireland.com. The site has gone through a couple different designs and layouts over the years and I have managed the site for them throughout. We've considered different Content Management solutions for the site, but now that I've done a number of sites in WordPress, using StudioPress premium themes (affiliate link), we decided that now was the time for a bigger change to the site - facilitating more control for Tony and Therese to manage the site themselves.

I worked with Tony through setting up the WordPress installation and some coaching (while 6 of our 7 kids played in the background) and assistance in updating the content and images, as well as SEO and social media aspects of the site. I provide this service in my blogging workshops and one-to-one training on a regular basis, but as I had been working with Tony on his sites over the past 10 years, I knew he was able to take on a lot more than a beginning user, like making changes to the CSS stylesheet.

It's great working with Tony and Therese because they are very dedicated to providing a quality product to their clients -- along with a very high standard of service. They are great at helping the brides and grooms select just the right style and develop the appropriate wording for any situation.

The site has done well on search engines for a number of related phrases and it's been a great selling tool to back-up their attendence at wedding fairs and traditional advertising they've done through a printed brochure and some print ads. The new development should even add to the current success of the site with the ability to more easily add news and informative articles through blog posts and social media integration.

Tony has now added on his newest range of wedding stationery and information on his services and can update just about any aspect of the site himself now -- and he's started on the redevelopment of the baby announcement site!

We've planned a big celebration -- mainly of the fact that Tony & Therese don't have to wait for me to make any changes for them anymore :-)

Contact me for more information on web development using WordPress and/or Studio Press Premium Themes or to book a blogging workshop so that you can take control of your website like Tony and Therese.

New Website for Wireless Broadband & VoIP Provider in SW Ireland

I've recently completed http://www.corkkerrybroadband.com for VOIP and Internet Services LTD, a new wireless broadband provider who are currently offering services in West Cork, Kerry, North Cork & Tipperary and will be expanding to other areas.

The website provides information about the company and the services it provides, which includes VoIP Telephone Services that allow you to make calls through the internet without a landline. This should be a very popular add-on to most broadband packages as many people, including myself, are doing away with the home landline (and the monthly rental charge) and turning to VoIP.

It's great to see another broadband internet provider servicing this area, which is mainly made up of rural communities that have little or no broadband options at present. Hopefully some competition will bring better services and pricing. In fact the tagline on the site is "Connecting people in rural areas with the World".

The official launch of the business takes place this evening at Richy's Bistro in Clonakilty at 7.30pm, in the presence of the Mayor Cork County Cork, Councillor Jim Daly.

From Tuesday 6th July to Sunday 11th July, from 4pm to 9pm, VoIP and Internet Services will have a mobile demonstration unit at Harte's Eurospar, The Bypass, Clonakilty, Co. Cork for anyone interested in learning more about the service.

Price Grabber Phishing Email

Keep an eye out for this professional looking email that's just looking to 'Grab' your details! I spotted it because it called me 'ebusiness2' which is the beginning of an email address I only use on my website so I can flag this sort of thing.

When you hover over the link in the email, if you get a link preview, you'll see it's not going to the site is says it's going to.

Trash!!!

WordPress 3.0 Officially Released!

Just had to do a quick post to celebrate the official release of WordPress 3.0! See the post on the WordPress blog: http://wordpress.org/development/2010/06/thelonious/

It's a big leap from WP 2.9x:

- the end of Kubrick as default theme now replaced by the sexy new Twenty Ten theme

- easier customisation of menus and headers

- merging of WordPress & MU (which has been a pain in my bum lately, so really exciting for me)

- lots of other updates, including 1,217 bug fixes and feature enhancements!

I'm also really pleased that Studio Press (affiliate link), whose themes I use most of the time, have been working hard getting the themes ready for 3.0.

The gang at WordPress have been at this night and day, passionate about making this a remarkable update. See the list acknowledging them all on the blog post linked to above.

Here's the WordPress 3.o Video Tour:

So ENJOY WordPress 3.0. Contact me if you need someone to do the upgrade for you or are looking to have a new site developed using WordPress.

It's a great time to redevelop your old static site using WordPress as a Content Management System -- one of my new specialties! The themes I use are very Search Engine and Social Media Friendly!

7 Essential Steps For Marketing Your New Business Online: Webinar, Monday 17th May 2010, 6pm BST

I'm very pleased to announce that I am joining forces with Krishna De, one of Europe's leading branding and social media strategists, to present the webinar "7 Essential Steps for Marketing Your New Business Online" on Monday, 17th May 2010 at 6pm BST / 1pm ET.

The idea for the collaboration came about when Krishna and I were discussing "Digitise the Nation", a week of events and activities being held across Ireland from 16th - 21st May, initiated by the Irish Internet Association, in order to encourage new users onto the internet. We thought that we could combine our knowledge and experience to provide a valuable resource for businesses looking to get started on the internet.

Click here to register for the free webinar: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/994200459
(Places are limited, so be sure to register in advance.)

Here is what will be covered in this 45 minute webinar:

1. How to determine the clients and customers you really want to attract and establish goals for your online marketing plan

2. Understanding how to research what people are actually searching for online and how you can use this information to help attract leads to your website

3. The essential elements of your website to represent your brand online

4. Two low cost alternatives to a traditional website if you're not able to invest in developing a site when you first start up your business (hint: think Facebook and blogs)

5. Tips for writing magnetic client attracting copy for your website

6. Guidance on questions to ask and what to consider when you hire your web designer or developer

7. How to promote your new website (yes, you have to have a marketing plan!) and tips for measuring your online marketing success.

Many businesses know that they should have a website, but are unsure of how to get started. This is a great chance to get some valuable advice from two of Ireland’s top online marketing specialists. While the session is targeted at new businesses, any business that is looking to set up a new website, or interested in getting better results through an existing website, will benefit from listening in.

I hope you will join us for this exciting event.

If you are unable to attend the live broadcast at the scheduled time, the session will be available on demand.

I will be in Dublin for the final two days of Digitise the Nation: attending the IIA Annual Conference and Net Visionary Awards on Thursday 20th May and then at a lunch tweet-up on Friday, 21st May (details to come). If you are attending any of these events, please be sure to come and meet me.

For more information:

Ann Donnelly, O'Mahony Donnelly E-Business

Krishna De, BizGrowthMedia

Digitise the Nation

Irish Internet Association

Browser Choice - Microsoft Required to Offer EU Users Their Options

This morning when I logged on to the family computer I noticed a new icon on my desktop and was alarmed that one of the other users of the computer (well intentioned, but not extremely internet savvy husband and children) had allowed a virus download to the PC. I did a search on the name and then remembered this was something we were expecting: Browser Choice.

Per the Microsoft Website:

Microsoft is providing the Browser Choice update to comply with a legal settlement with the European Commission. Microsoft is required to inform customers who currently use Internet Explorer as their default browser that there are other web browser choices available. You can use the Browser Choice update to select and install the web browser you want to use on your computer.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows/what-is-the-browser-choice-update

Note: If BrowserChoice hasn't activated on your computer, you can visit

http://www.browserchoice.eu/BrowserChoice/browserchoice_en.htm

to see the options provided under this ruling.

Because the vast majority of computer users use a Windows operating system on their computers and Internet Explorer comes with it as a default, it was deemed that MS has an unfair advantage over other Internet Browsers. The interesting thing is that IE comes free as do the other browsers, so I wonder what's the big deal? Users with more experience will have already found that they have options and would have already made their preferences.

As a web designer I have a number of web browsers installed so that I can test designs on each, as there may be vast differences in how a page looks, so here's my take on the browsers I've used:

- Internet Explorer http://www.microsoft.com/uk/windows/products/winfamily/ie/default.mspx: been using it from the beginning, but it is no longer my preferred browser. I stuck with it for awhile thinking that that the others that came along were just hype, but I did find that IE was a little less useful; but over the years Microsoft has added many of the features that the 'new kids on the block' offer:

* tabbed browsing to move between open pages more easily

* add-ons to customise your browsing experience, but the number of add-ons are not as extensive as with others

* a button to the right of the address bar to click to make the page look as it would in other browsers - because, as many developers claim, pages don't 'render' as well in Internet Explorer as they do in other browsers (this appeared in Internet Explorer 7, but I assume Internet Explorer 8 does this automatically)

* there has been many security issues that result in update after update that don't seem to effect the other main browsers as often

-Firefox http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/firefox.html: This was the next generation of Netscape Navigator. When Firefox came out lots of "techies" switched over, but I waited to see if there really was much a difference and there was:

* tabbed browsing made it easier to move from open page to page -- and I usually have a lot of pages open

* extensions (add-ons, plugins, whatever you want to call them) provided me with lots of tools, from those to easily check on search engine ranking factors to the ability to tweet directly from the address bar and other less techie things that I haven't bothered to add on

* less security issues that there seemed to be with Internet Explorer

So I used Firefox for years, but about a year ago I started to get fed up with how slow it was to open when I first logged into the computer, so I uninstalled any 'unneccesary' plugins, but it was still slow. Then came Google Chrome.

- Google Chrome http://www.google.com/chrome: I unashamedly love just about everything Google, but I did have my reservations when they brought out their own web browser - were they just reacting because people were thinking that FireFox was so amazing and they needed to get back to the top of the pile again; wasn't being top of search enough? Yet again, my role as a web designer did require me to try out all browsers that were getting any use, and yes I was curious, so I ventured into the world of Chrome and found:

* tabbed browsing, which has become standard in most browsers

* easy search of Google from the address bar, which is so convenient

* integration with many Google user features (like Bookmarks) which was very good for a Google head such as myself

* extensions were not available until recently, so that was downside compared to Firefox, but now there are a number of extensions

* amazing speed - upon first opening and in browsing from page to page. I do worry that adding extensions will impact on speed, but so far so good.

* there are still some web applications that don't run as well on Chrome, like the iContact email advanced newsletter editor, in time all sites will ensure that all applications can run on Chrome as well as Firefox and Internet Explorer

Google Chrome is now the browser I use most often because of the speed, ease of searching and integration with Google account features, but I do have a secondary browser that I use when I go into Social Media hyperdrive, Flock.

- Flock http://www.flock.com/: Firefox on Social Media Steroids. I found flock when I was looking for a way to monitor my social media networks more efficiently. Flock provides:

* tabbed browsing (ok that's a given now)

* side panel where you can monitor all major social network accounts except for LinkedIn (still a bit of a sore point with me) -- and only one account on each network so limited if you must monitor more than one Twitter account, etc. I find that not all the accounts update quickly, but they are continually improving on this

* integrated RSS Feed Reader which I find easier to use than Google Reader (if you don't use a feed reader stay tuned for a post I am going to be putting up about how useful they are and check out this Wikipedia page that explains what they are http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggregator). You can also easily group your feeds by topic and navigate via that helpful side bar

* many FireFox plugins are compatible with Flock, at least all the ones I use all are

* speed is not great, as it really is FireFox at the core

The slowness is one reason why I still mainly use Chrome, but I also find that it's really easy to get sucked into a Social Media black hole, so limit my use of Flock to the blocks of time I've allocated for Social Media monitoring.

- Safari http://www.apple.com/safari/download/: the Apple browser that comes with their computers by default. I don't use it that often, but I do need to check all new designs on it because it does 'render' pages a bit differently and I do not want to forget about the Safari users of the World. It has most of the features that commonly come with the top browsers these days, but I don't know about if you can add-on with extensions/plugins. I do know that everything looks a bit smaller!

So I hope you find my short and informal study on the matter helpful and choose the browser that suits you the best, or go the multi-browser way that I do. Keep in mind that browsers do use a lot of your computer's resources and having a number open at a time can slow down the computer's performance and perhaps cause crashing in over burdened computers.

Happy browsing - and remember to always install any updates provided for the browsers to ensure security!

Please let us know in the comments which browser you use and what you've found to be pros and cons.

Twitter: How Powerful Can 140 Characters Be?

Many of us are true believers of the power of Twitter and have seen first hand how you can build networks, get new clients and win Dunnes Stores vouchers with this popular social networking application. But there are still many that think that it's silly, egotistical babblings.

This week we may see a new surge in those who are Twitter believers as there is much discussion in the media today about how one tweet may have led to the resignation of an Irish Cabinet Member and may lead to the rise of another politician.

Unlike many Irish politicians who only use Twitter to relay their whereabouts or push the party line, Dan Boyle (aka @sendboyle and Chairman of Ireland's Green Party) has always been open and interesting, but yesterday's tweet amazed all of those who follow him on Twitter. There was much talk on the day about a political storm brewing. In the Dáil, Ireland's 'parliament', there was a call for a motion of no confidence in Minister for Defense Willie O'Dea as he was being accused of perjury (see article on RTE website for details: http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0218/odeaw.html).

Five TDs (Dáil representatives) from the Green Party voted in line with the Fianna Fail government, to help bring about a vote of confidence in O'Dea, but within an hour Senator Boyle showed his opinion on Twitter and Facebook. Off the back of his statements, Senator Boyle was interviewed on a number of programmes, which further pushed the idea that this matter should not merely stand. (See "Boyle calls for O'Dea to resign" from Irish Times: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0218/breaking36.html.

For awhile the focus was more on the Green Party and it's leader, John Gormley, and whether he had confidence in O'Dea; rather than the actions of O'Dea himself; but just in time for the end of the 9pm news, O'Dea resigned as Minister for Defense -- and there's talk that Dan Boyle will be a favourite among Cork voters in the next General Election.

It's hard to waffle in the confines of 140 characters, which is probably why many politicians shy away from using Twitter, or keep their tweets to a minimum; but @sendboyle has truly learned the art and skill of the 'tweet'!

Google's Real Time Search & More News from O'Mahony Donnelly

Google Announces "innovations in the areas of real-time, mobile and social search"

Tuesday night I watched the webcast of Google's "search event" which they hold whenever they announce any significant changes in the services and products they are offering. This time the big, and I mean BIG, announcement was the launch of Google's "Real Time Search". Google has partnered with Twitter, Facebook and MySpace (and a few others) to bring posts from these networks into its search results. Users will now be able select to see the "Latest" search results and this will bring these posts into the results.

This development has confirmed to me that I've made the right choice to focus even more on Search Engine Optimisation and Social Media Marketing, offering more related services and training. The users ability to select 'Latest' and other time periods to see results from will make it even more important for website owners to also have a presence on these social networking channels; as well as blogs, news sites, etc. that also fall into the "more recent" category. Read more: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/relevance-meets-real-time-web.html

Contact me if you'd like to know more about Google Real Time Search and how you can ensure that you come up in relevant, real time searches.

Online Marketing Workshops & Training

In 2009 we've started a series of workshops on Blogging, Social Media Marketing and other online marketing techniques; which we will continue in 2010. I am also available to provide one-to-one training. See a description of the workshops: http://www.e-business.ie/online-marketing-workshops.html

If you are involved in a networking or other business group, I'd love to spread the word on the value of Social Media for Business and can tailor a talk to the specific group.

West Cork Open Coffee

Wednesday 9th December, 12.30pm

Celtic Ross Hotel, Rosscarbery

I've been involved in organising a new networking group for the area which is open to all who are interested in business. There's no fee or commitment, just come along and you may pick up make some good contacts and some good ideas for running your business. This month's meeting will feature a brain storming event on "Cash Flow and Dealing with Slow/Bad Debtors".

See more on the website http://www.westcorkopencoffee.com.

Show Your Business Week

Bank of Ireland, Pearse Street, Clonakilty

Thursday 10th December, 10am - 4pm

I will be "showing my business" during this time. If you are in town please stop in and say hello.

For more information on my services visit http://www.e-business.ie

Stop the Downgrading of Bantry Hospital

Skibbereen Business Association has asked that I set up a petition to show their support in the campaign to stop the downgrading of the Bantry Hospital.

Click here to view and sign this petition.

Downgrading the hospital will take away 24 hour acute services currently provided there. These services will then be available at Cork University Hospital, which will then mean a 2 hour, or longer, trip for the patient and their family and friends that will want to visit/assist the patient.

More serious will be the lack of emergency care in the area out of hours which may lead to an increase in fatalities due to the time to get to CUH. According to the website beara.ie "Currently 70% of admissions to the hospital are emergencies and outside 'office' hours." (Click here to view full story on beara.ie)

Set Up Your Own Blog in a Morning in our New Workshop

You've probably heard that a blog is a great way to promote your business, whether you already have your own website or not, but perhaps you aren't sure about how to set up your own blog. On Friday, 3rd July, I'm holding a half day workshop entitled "Hands On: Your Own Blog" where I will take you step by step through:

• setting up your blog (whether as part of your own domain or with a free blogging service)
• customising the look of the blog
• adding plugins and features
• adding content to your blog (including organising your time to do it)
• promoting your blog (coming up in search engines, getting links, etc.

The workshop takes place in our offices in Clonakilty. I can only take 3 to 5 people, so that I can give personal instruction. You need to bring your own laptop so that you can set it all up during the workshop. (Sorry if you don't have a laptop. In future we may be able to accommodate you -- or talk to us about one-to-one coaching in your own office/home.)

The cost is €200 (additional for domain registration and hosting if required), which is very good considering you are going away with your own blog and lots of expert advice -- and 30 days support to get you off and running. Click here for full details.

This is the first in a series of Hands On Online Marketing Workshops which will enable you to set up and maintain your own online marketing campaigns. The full schedule:

• 3rd July, Your Own Blog
  
• 7th August, Your Site PR Campaign (which includes link building, social networking, offline marketing, etc.)
• 4th September, Your Email Marketing Campaign
• 2nd October, Your Pay Per Click Advertising Campaign

If any of the workshops fill up, we will schedule additional dates, as there are no other workshops of this kind, especially in West Cork.

Click here to read more about our Online Marketing and Search Engine Optimisation Training and Workshops.

Irish Interet Association Annual Congress & Net Visionary Awards

Click here to Book Your Tickets Now. Use voucher code CONG001 and get 20% OFF!

As mentioned in previous post, I am really looking forward to the IIA Annual Congress. First of all it will get me out of West Cork (and my family duties) for a couple of days. Secondly, I will get to meet many of my online friends that I have yet to actually speak to face to face -- and meet again others that I only get to meet at conferences and awards ceremonies. Thirdly, I will get to see if the manners of some of the other internet 'professionals' around Ireland have improved.

My first and only appearance at the Annual Congress was two years ago. I'm a fairly seasoned conference goer from my past lives in the business worlds of New York and London, but this was my first for my new life in Irish online marekting and I was really looking forward to it.

The main challenge was getting to the conference location, which was Killiney. I didn't have the time or budget to stay at the venue so planned to travel back and forth in one day. I flew into Dublin Airport and decided to take the cheap route, which seemed easiest anyway. I took the Airport Bus from one end of Dublin to the other (which was probably as quick as any other way), being left off at the Red Cow Hotel. As advised by the conference venue I took a taxi from there, but it took ages to arrive and much longer and more expensive to get to Killiney then my pre-trip calls advised. So I arrived at the conference late and pretty tired out already! (I may just drive to the conference venue this year to save all that hassle and can come and go as I please.)

The conference itself was very informative, especially as I hadn't been to any related conferences. There were speakers from Ebay and Bebo, as well as top Irish internet businesses. I really got a lot of information from the break out sessions as well and found most of the speakers really helpful. Throughout the sessions I was really looking for ways to help my clients who at that time were mostly smaller businesses in West Cork. Many of the discussions, particularly by the Email Marketing service providers, were suited to bigger businesses, but I always like to think big, but sometimes have to be pratical as the clients have limited time and budgets.

I am not great at mingling at these events, unless I have a particular question or subject to discuss, but at lunch I made a 'friend', a woman who was a senior person in online marketing across Europe for a fairly large, well known US company. After the official finish of the conference, we both had a couple of hours to spare and we retreated to the bar for a drink. There was a group of lads from the conference talking away. She was particularly interested in talking to one who was one of the main speakers, from Bebo, as her company were considering doing some marketing on Bebo. He was very helpful, even though some of the other lads were snickering about him coming over to talk to two ladies. One of the others in the group had been a speaker in an email marketing session and I asked him for some advice about why they didn't provide servicecs for under €300/month as my clients were unable to pay that much on a monthly basis. He asked if I had any clients that would be interested in spending that much and when I said not at the moment, he just laughed and walked away saying nothing. My friend then laughed and said that it was unfortunate he wasn't interested in talking to us, as her company was looking for someone to do their email marketing -- and their online marketing budget was hundreds of thousands of euros. Well, that made my day. It just proves that you should at least be polite, if not helpful, to your peers at a conference -- even to the 'girls' at the bar afterwards -- as you never know who they are, or who they may grow up to be!

West Cork Today (and Tomorrow?) - Sign Petition to Save Local Radio Show

As webmaster for the Skibbereen community website, I've just created a "Petition for the Return of C103's West Cork Today Programme" on behalf of the Skibbereen and Region Economic Network (SAREN) who "ask the people of West Cork to have their voices heard again by petitioning UTV Media for the return of David Young and his West Cork Today programme on C103. SAREN encourage all to stand together to have West Cork's voice heard once more. We will present UTV Media with this petition in the coming weeks."

Please click here go to the Online Petition Now and leave your Name, Email Address and a Comment if you wish.

When I first moved to West Cork, there were two resources that were necessary to find out about what is going on in the area: The Southern Star weekly paper and West Cork Today, the local radio show that is on air mornings Monday to Friday. West Cork Today provides helpful and entertaining information ranging from the weekly Garda file to interviews with local experts and event organisers. I was actually a guest a couple of times as West Cork's 'web expert'.

A few years ago Northern Ireland based UTV Radio purchased Cork City based 96fm, along with its regional stations which broadcasted as 103fm. Around that time I noticed a move away from the early morning West Cork programming feeding only from the North Cork station. Then a few months ago they changed the brand to C103 -- and I was never sure what they were trying to achive with that. Now UTV have dismissed David Young the presentor of the West Cork Today programme and are airing a show called 'Cork Today' presented by North Cork based Patricia Messenger. There has been a great backlash from the people of West Cork, who feel that a show like this just cannot cover such a larger area and it is most likely that West Cork issues and events will suffer as a result.

I think the elderly people of West Cork will miss the show the most. For many it was one of their only links to what is going on in the area. I know many that would never miss the show, especially on the day that their town/village has it's weekly report and they'd look forward to hearing about what's happened over the past week and what events and activities were coming up.

Click here to read a report on the issue from The Southern Star.

Last week I received a letter in the post from UTV/C103 announcing sessions the station was holding around the area to discuss new promotional opportunities availble on the station. It may be worth attending one of these sessions just to see if there is any battling going on.

Most businesses are making tough decisions on cut backs and changes needed to keep profits from dipping too low, but UTV may just find that thi sdecision could end up hurting their bottom line.

I don't know if there's any chance that the show will now be brought back. There was a public protest held today, 20th April, at the 96fm headquarters in Cork City. Clonakilty Town Councillor Councillor Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin reports on his Facebook page: "Locked out for an hour, so couldn't hand in letter of protest. Then someone opened the door and we went in, were asked to leave for "Health and Safety", refused until the CE came out of his "meeting" to accept the letter. He did after 90 mins. Refused to talk to us because of "legal issues", but accepted the letter." In an earlier post he called for people to email their concerns to Kieran McGeary, Chief Executive of the station - kieran@96fm.ie and The Broadcasting Commission - reception@bci.ie asap. "We've lost the trains, ESB offices, Post Offices, Schools, Hospital Services, Pubs, small shops, bus routes and thousands of talented people in West Cork. No more!! Write today."

Google Providing Workshops for Small Businesses in Ireland, or just some PR?

I caught an interview on RTE Radio 1's Morning Ireland show with a Google staff member discussing workshops they are providing to help teach businesses how to be more competitive using the internet. I had a feeling that this would be a way for them to push their AdWords pay per click advertising programme, as that is their main way of getting revenue.

Google may be resorting to publicising this on our national broadcaster as many small businesses are finding that as more competitors are using the AdWords programmes they are having to spend more to get the same results that they did a year ago. I'm getting more and more emails from website owners asking about getting better organic search results, as PPC advertising is getting too costly. It's likely that as more and more businesses become savvy about search engine optimization and online advertising it will be harder, and more expensive, to get the top positions that will better ensure a good level of visitors to the site. As an SEO expert, I guess you wouldn't be suprised that I think that you should prioritise your spending on SEO to help get good results in the longterm -- over PPC which will need to be continually paid out. Overall I do think a mix of both can be good for you online marketing.

Back to the workshops. Morning Ireland, who referred to the workshop as "Survival of the Fastest", posted a link to the website of the Small Firms Association, who Google are running the workshops with. There is only one Google workshop listed there and it's fully booked:

• April 16th: SFA/Google Online Advertising & Adwords (Advanced Knowledge) (Free of charge and includes Lunch!)

Ah-ha! Googled and found an RTE news story about on "Survival of the Fastest" that was from yesterday 9th April 2009! It seems that Ronan Harris, director of online sales and operations at Google, addressed participants at a Small Firms Association event. "Harris said: 'Survival of the Fastest is the new game in town. It is the companies that ignore trends such as technological advances and shifts in customer behaviour that are finding their markets eaten into by nimbler, hungrier rivals.'" (Nothing mentioned in that piece about workshops.)

Further searching on the SFA site shows that there was a basic AdWords course yesterday, so this must be the event Ronan Harris was speaking at. Seems that the Google and/or SFA PR machines are in overdrive and causing a bit of confusion! Morning Ireland also posted the email address press-ie@google.com, so I await further details. I do hope that this bit of PR wasn't just to promote a couple annual workshops that are already fully booked!

Please comment here if you know of any other workshops at Google, because I'd love to go! I know there are a number of other AdWords workshops (mainly in Dublin), but it'd be great to hear it from 'the horses mouth' and get a look inside the offices of Google.