Social-Media-Lead-Generation-tips

Even today, social media still receives a bad rap in some marketing and sales circles. The primary reason: The way marketers often use social media (brand awareness, community building) lacks quantifiable metrics. Sure, you may think you’re generating quality leads with social media through Twitter conversations and posting fun photos on Facebook or Google+, but the pressure is on to definitively measure success. (And we’re not talking about counting retweets or likes.)
The clearest path to illustrating success is to share content that results in conversions on your website. Writing blogs and creating downloadable eBooks, guides and whitepapers that you can share on social media, provides measurable results that help you prove success and optimize your strategy when you aren’t reaching your goals. Plus, our own research shows that it increases a new lead’s engagement with your brand.
So if you’re building a new strategy for B2B social media or need to reset your current strategy, here are five tips to help you generate quality leads with social media:

• Focus on sites your buyers use: Most B2B companies (65%) say they’ve acquired a customer through LinkedIn, followed by Facebook (43%) and Twitter (40%). But each company can have unique buyer scenarios. As a general rule, start with the big four social networks: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Google+. See which of these sites are producing the best results for you and then focus your efforts there. After that you can look for other social media sites that your buyers may use.
• Create quality content you can share: Your social media accounts are only as powerful as the content you create for sharing. Regularly writing blog posts, including evergreen posts that can be shared more than once, is required for social media success. Because social media visit-to-lead rates are generally three to five times higher than general visit-to-lead rates, you have a greater opportunity to capture leads if you’re sharing your own content.
• Post landing pages without regret: In addition to blog posts, you should regularly share landing pages that result in instant conversion. An eBook or whitepaper that’s good enough to be featured on your website is good enough to be shared on social networks. You can get away with sharing landing pages once a day on Twitter and a couple times a week on other networks, like LinkedIn, Google+ and Facebook, without offending your followers. (And if you’re content is good enough, followers may want you to share landing pages more often.)
• Share relevant content from other sources: While it was once standard to share more third-party content than your own, that rule is more flexible when you’re creating quality content regularly. (I’ve seen 80% company-produced content and 20% outside source content working successfully for brands that take content generation seriously.) Still, industry news sites and blogs can fill the gaps in your own content generation. This keeps your streams fresh and regularly updated so that when you do post your content, people will be paying attention.
• Nurture the leads: Once a social media visitor becomes a lead, don’t let that lead just sit in your database without additional contact. Social media leads are more likely to open your emails and visit your site in the future, anyway, so stay in touch by setting up lead nurturing campaigns before they convert. You can also add them to a lead nurturing campaign a few weeks after the initial conversion, but the sooner you provide that lead with additional content, the better.

Bonus Tips from Sagar Ganatra's Extremebrain: Brochures, press releases and new stories about your company won’t get you very far in social media. The content you share should be informative and problem-solving… without mentioning your brand. The visitor is already on your branded social media account or blog. If you bombard them with company messaging, you’re not going to generate leads that you can build a relationship with and potentially nurture into a customer.

 

What-is-ANDROID-What-is-Google-ANDROID

Android, an exceptional framework by Google and Open Handset Alliance provides a huge scope for development of innovative apps.

Google's Android Phone

Google Android presents a software stack for mobile devices constituting an operating system, middleware and key applications. The Android SDK provides the necessary tools and APIs required to develop custom applications using the Java programming language. Android OS and Android SDK comes with a set of core applications, all written using the Java programming language, including an email client, SMS program, calendar, maps, browser, contacts, and others.

Advantages of Google Android Phone

Google's Android is much more available and talked about than any other mobile OS. Smartphones, unlike a few years ago, have attracted a mass today who are not professionals but are looking for more entertainment out of their cell phones. Google Android phones have become fairly popular because of the deluge of advantages it offers.

• Open Platform: Google Android with Android OS and Google Android SDK is an open platform, which means that the Google code is available for people to look at and edit for making their projects fairly innovative and gives you quality features for anyone to program them into the system.
• In addition to this, Google Open Source Platform also indicates that the device could be used on multiple networks. An Android phone makes itself available on most popular networks these days. This helps when you are switching from one to another because you won't have to make a complete change in whatever you are using.
• Android OS permits third parties to develop applications for the Android phone which could be installed and used by anyone. This is in contrast to many other platforms which demand a permission in order to install the software. With the Google Android phone, you are free to choose which software you wish to install.
• An Android phone comes with a guarantee that it works well with Google products. Google products have a huge customer base for the variety of features and flexibility they offer. Whether it's YouTube, Gmail, Google Docs or any other Google product; an Android phone gives you access to a wide variety of applications which you can comfortably use within your phone and your computer.
• Eventually this platform will work on netbook and computers. This means that you could have devices that 

Android is a Linux-based operating system designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers, developed by Google in conjunction with the Open Handset Alliance.Initially developed by Android Inc, whom Google financially backed and later purchased in 2005, Android was unveiled in 2007 along with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 86 hardware, software, and telecommunication companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices.
Google releases the Android code as open source, under the Apache License. The Android Open Source Project (AOSP), lead by Google, is tasked with the maintenance and further development of Android.Additionally, Android has a large community of developers writing applications ("apps") that extend the functionality of devices, written primarily in a customized version of Java.They are available for download through Google Play or third-party sites. In September 2012, there were more than 675,000 apps available for Android, and the estimated number of applications downloaded from Google Play was 25 billion.
The first Android-powered phone was sold in October 2008, and by the end of 2010 Android had become the world's leading smartphone platform.It had a worldwide smartphone market share of 68% at the second quarter of 2012, and as of Q3 2012, there were 500 million devices activated and 1.3 million activations per day.

Thanks to Extremebrain

Gangnam-style-PSY-GANGNAM-STYLE-(강남스타일)-M/V-YouTube

Gangnam Style is a single by South Korean rapper PSY. The song was released on July 15, 2012, as the lead single of his sixth studio album.


nmates at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center — the same prison in the Philippines where inmates’ dance cover of “Thriller” went viral in 2007 — have put their spin on Psy’s “Gangnam Style.”
Soaked from rain, the orange-clad inmates performed an elaborate choreographed dance routine set to the infectious Korean pop song over the weekend. Some wore black, while all had the letter “P” on their tops.

After first going viral in 2007 with the Michael Jackson dance number, inmates put on performances each month for tourists. Prison officials halted the dance shows in March because of a “near-riot” during a rehearsal, according to Filipino news outlets.
“Gangnam Style” now holds the Guinness World Record for most “Likes” on YouTube and yet another cover of the song will certainly bump that number even higher.

long live SEO-SEO is not dead

 

In response to a recent article suggesting that the long-term future of SEO is doubtful, a more positive take on the ongoing evolution of the search industry

 

 

Is mobile a game-changer for search? Photograph: maxim.photoshelter.com/Alamy

Search engines, in the most simple of explanations, query databases with the purpose of finding the best match to that query. It is a mathematical relationship that goes: if search query equals A then return B. The mistake many make is that they think search engine optimisation is a practice limited to websites and search portals such as Google. It isn't. Search engine optimisation involves convincing a search engine that a particular database entry should appear as B.
Matt Owen talks about how the latest Google products (Google Glasses and Google Now) and mobile devices will deliver the "killer blow to SEO". I find this to be short-sighted and disagree with the premise that services such as Google Now are "not search in any way, shape or form".
At the moment search is a three way interaction. A "searcher" enters their query into a search engine; the search engine consults a database and returns the best match. Products such as Google Now will not change the interaction between search engine and database, they will simply remove the need for the searcher to be involved in this transaction.
Google Now is a service designed to make suggestions and provide you with information before you ask for it. It will do this by profiling the user. Mobile devices already transmit and record huge swathes of data about you and as mobile use expands so too will the information about you that is held upon these databases. For Google Now to provide you with information you want, it will need to consult these databases, build a profile of you and provide the best match to your profile.
More importantly and as I mentioned earlier, search is not a process that limits itself to the website/search portal relationship. Mobile use has reduced, and may well continue to reduce, the number of interactions between the portal and the user, but services such as Foursquare and business directories rely on search to provide the user with the best match to their query. Where there is an option to search there is opportunity to be found, but you need to make sure you are optimised to be seen. The old technique of changing your business name to, for example, AAA Taxis in order to top the Yellow Pages listings is a perfect example of search optimisation in action.

Google doesn't control me

Putting aside the fact search is not limited to Google and its many portals, there is another consideration to be taken into account. I have free will. I may not want to do it the Google or Bing way. The need for my interaction might diminish or be removed, but it does not mean that I will stop interacting or indeed stop searching.
I don't disagree with all that Matt said in his article; I simply disagree with the idea that changing technologies and habits will spell the end for the search optimisation industry.
What would happen to competitiveness and variation if optimisation and choice were removed? Will life become one of stagnation and indifference, as Google continually serves up the same information over and over, day after day? What space is there for competition if Google creates a situation where you never have opportunity to try and find something new? For that matter, what future is there for Google if they, a search engine, stop providing variation and choice?
The SEO industry will not die. Not while there are a) digital landscapes b) options and c) people to use and search for them. Of course there will be change, but then every industry changes. What remains is that there will always be a need for search; and if it can be searched, it can be optimised.

How-to-Design-a-Custom-eBay-store-FULL-TUTORIAL

I'm sure a lot of you have seen those great eBay stores, with custom designs, and thought, how the hell did they do that? I bet you've done a search for it, and onl found a bunch of sites of people trying to get hundreds of £££ from you in return for a design. Are you one of those people who can design a store, but don't know how to do the code? Well this guide is for you! I am going to supply you with step by step information on how to create your very own custom store design.

PLEASE BE SURE TO ADD A "YES" HELPFULNESS VOTE IF YOU READ THIS GUIDE! I HAVE WORKED HARD TO MAKE THIS TO HELP PEOPLE LEARN HOW TO MAKE AMAZING EBAY STORES/SHOPS.

Firstly, you will need an eBay store active, in which you have full access to. You will also need some kind of server where you can host a .CSS file in which ebay can load for the colours. If you do not have webspace, please feel free to email me at ash.pearson1@gmail.com or send me a message on ebay, and I will supply you with some free webspace to host your .CSS file and images if you so wish.

Now lets start with Setting up your eBay store from the start. If you have already done this, please scroll down to our custom design section and read on from there to begin your custom designing.

Firstly, check out http://pages.ebay.com/storefronts/bestinstores.html  for some ideas on how to create a nice looking store.

(Copy and paste the link into your browser in a new tab or window)

Now, once your eBay store is all set up, with the "Quick Store Setup" option, we will begin to Manage our store. You can do this by logging into your ebay summary, scrolling down and clicking "Manage my Store" on the left navigation bar.

Now you will find yourself on the page in which you will edit your store, and add features. The first thing you will want to do is add some categories to your store. You are allowed to create up to 300 different store categories for your new eBay store, so don't worry about making too many. You can add as many categories and sub categories as you want. You can create categories by clicking "Store Caegories" on the left navigation.

You can now click the Add Category button and create your category, giving it an appropriate name. You can create 5 categories at a time.
Once you have made your 5 categories, you can add more or click a particular category link to access that category and create sub-categories inside it. This is used on my own store.

Example: Servants of the Betrayer
                      Loot Cards
                      Epic Cards
                      Rare Cards
                      Uncommon Cards
                Hunt for Illidan
                       Loot Cards
                       Epic Cards
                       etc etc.

Once you have created all your categories, you can move onto the next step. Don't worry if you can't think of a particular one. You can always come back later and add/remove categories.

DISPLAY SETTINGS

You are now going to want to edit your Display Settings.

The Display Settings allow you to Add a title to your Store, view your Store URL, or change it, make changes to your Store Logo, and Add/Edit your Store Description.

Store Name: Give your Store a good name which includes what you sell. Such As World of Warcraft TCG - loot cards, spectral tiger etc.
Store Logo: Choose a logo from your PC, enter a URL, or choose a basic eBay one for your store. Size must be 310x90 pixels.
Store Description: Don't put something like "Welcome to our store, enjoy your visit". Be abrupt, explain what you sell and use keywords for what items you sell as this will help with your Search Engine Placement on sites like Google, Yahoo and loads more. This could bring you potential customers to all of your items on a huge scale if the right keywords are mentioned.

THEME AND DISPLAY

The Theme and Display section allows you to edit your store theme, edit Left Navigation Bar settings, and make changes to the Store Header Display. It also allows you to change the way items are listed on your storefront.

Store Theme: Choose a theme from eBay. If you are planning on customising a theme for later, and creating a custom theme, this section doesn't really matter. Just choose something that looks nice, and matches the colours of your items in some way.
Left Nav Bar Settings: Choose to show your Search Box, Choose which categories to show, and Choose to show Store Pages and Buyer Display options.
Store Header Display: Turn the Store Page Header on. (Turn this off if you are going to create a custom store. We will be making our own), and choose which type of eBay header displays. You can only change this with a premium store.
Item Display: Choose whether to show your items on your store as a list, or in a Gallery View. I recommend gallery view, as it looks like an online store, and looks nicer.

PROMOTION BOXES

Promotion Boxes allow you to place small pieces of information on your store in different places. These could include a small piece of information about items on Sale, or a great postage offer you currently have going. You can also use Promotion Boxes to create slideshows of items which you are currently selling, and create Countdown Timers for items which are ending soonest. The Options are all pretty self explanatory.

CUSTOM PAGES (THIS IS THE START OF THE CUSTOM DESIGN!)

When you create your store, you will end up with a nice looking storefront, with nice colours. But then when you see other peoples shops, and they have created a fully self designed store, with header display, flash and loads more, you really wish you could do it. There are thousands of you out there who can design the store you want, but don't know how to embed it into ebay. Well this is how you do it my friends.

Now all sections will assume you have HTML code ready, including images, your design, and a .CSS FILE. If you do not have a CSS file, please scroll down to that section and read about that, because it is required to create a decent storefront.

Now, we will start with the Header.

Once you have your Header image uploaded to your file server, or a site such as Photobucket, Imageshack, or Tinypic, and have your HTML code ready, go to Manage My Store > Display Settings > Theme and Display > Store Header Display. Click the "Change" link.

Click "Yes, include additional information in the header" Radio button, and then enter your HTML code. Save the changes.

Now you will notice that you have 2 Headers Displaying. Your custom header, and the normal ebay header. You need to disable the normal ebay header so that only your custom one is displayed. This can be done by following these steps:

    * Go to Display Settings
    * Go to Theme and Display
    * Go to Store Theme
    * Click "Change to another theme"
    * Go to Easily Customizable themes, and select the "Custom Header only" theme.
    * Choose your colours.
    * Save settings.

This header will now appear on all store pages, including your About Me Page.

MAIN PART - ITEM LIST (CUSTOM)

We are now going to edit the Body area. This will allow you to create your main storefront, fully customized and designed.
Follow these steps carefully.

    * Click "Custom Pages" on the Left Navigation
    * Click "Create New Page"
    * On the next page, select "Text Section"
    * Name the page. (Same as Shop Title recommended, as this will become your main page)
    * You will now need to enter your HTML for the page. Remember, this guide assumes you already have the designs and code ready.

Now at this point, im sure a few people are having some problems. So here are some tips and information to help you out.

You will need to add your designs carefully. I am using CSS for my store, and therefore I will guide you in that way.

SEARCH BAR

You will want to add your search bar to your custom page, so people can search your items. This can be done by entering the following code in your custom page, and editing the text which is Bold to your own store information. Also remove the space between the opening and closing signs. (Its to prevent the code executing in this guide and displaying a search bar).



Next up, you will want to make the page load the CSS from an external file. This is because eBay does not allow you to host a CSS file, and it needs to be loaded elsewhere. This can be done with the following code.



Not sure what CSS File to add, or what to include in your CSS file? Well check out the following link, as it may prove useful. Copy and paste the link into a new Tab or Window.

http://kidsontalks.com/ebay-design/

You will now want to add other pieces of code, which allows certain things to be displayed. Here are some useful exclusive ebay codes.


{eBayUserID}
This Displays your User ID, feedback, and links to your Me page.

{eBayFeedback}
Displays your Feedback

{eBayStoresItemList DISPLAY="n"}
Display your items. Replace N with 0 for List view, and 1 for Gallery View.

{eBayStoresItemList TABLEWIDTH="n"}
replace N with a value 10-100 to choose your store width. Recommended 60-100.

NAVIGATION BAR(SIDEBAR)

Next up is the Navigation Bar. This is done by creating a Promotion Box, and then removing the original Sidebar.

Follow these steps to create your navigation bar:

    * Go to "Promotion Boxes"
    * Click "Create New Promotion Box"
    * Choose Communicate to your Buyers.
    * On the next page, choose "Left Navigation - Upper"
    * Enter your code, making sure to align the navigation bar correctly with your header and body areas.
    * Make sure you do Text Links instead of images, so that Search Engines have more keywords to play with.
    * Click Save.

Now, you will want to delete the other default navigation, to stop both navigation bars displaying on your store. This can be done by following these steps:

    * Go to Store Design
    * Go to Display Settings
    * Go to Theme and Display
    * Click Left Navigation Boxes
    * Click the "Change" link.
    * Uncheck all the components, and save.

You can now create additional pages, such as an FAQ following these steps, and choosing FAQ instead of Text area.

Remember, to make your new custom page your Storefront main page, go to Custom Pages, and on the drop down menu, select which one you want to display as your Homepage.


For eBay online store Contact Extremebrain

First Time Android User Should Know This Things

Choosing a new device like a new phone or tablet should be fun. But there are so many choices out there, and it can be hard to know where to start. If you’re thinking about an Android device, or if you’ve just bought one and want to get the most out of it, we have some basic tips to get you started.
1. What is Android?
Android is an operating system, like Windows for computers or iOS for iPhones and iPads
2. Who makes Android?
Google makes Android, and a lot of manufacturers such as Samsung, HTC and Motorola put it on their phones, tablets and now even cameras.
3. Why does everyone keep talking about desserts?
As well as regular version numbers, every time Google makes a significant update to Android, it names the update after a dessert. The desserts run alphabetically, so you can keep track of different Android versions. In the past few years, devices have upgraded from Eclair, to Froyo, to Gingerbread, to Honeycomb, to Ice Cream Sandwich. The latest devices to be released are currently running Jelly Bean.
4. Does Android have apps?
Yes. Android has a huge app market called Google Play, where you can download books, music and movies as well as apps, all from one place. Amazon also has its own app store for Android phones, giving you even more choice.
5. Can I use Twitter and Facebook on Android phones?
Yes. Pretty much every phone released nowadays is a smartphone with Internet capabilities. Whether you choose a BlackBerry, an iPhone, a Windows phone or a phone running Android, you’ll be able to use Facebook and Twitter.
6. How do I download apps to my Android device?
You can install new apps on your Android device in two ways. First, you can use the Google Play app that you’ll find on your device when you power it up the first time. No need to be connected to a computer; Android devices can install apps all by themselves. Second, you can use the Google Play website on your computer. If you log in with the Google Account you used on your Android device, Google Play will give you the option to install straight to your device. This can be handy when you want a big screen to browse through lots of apps.
7. Wait, I don’t have to tether my phone to my computer to install new apps?
Nope! You can do it via cellular data or Wi-Fi directly to your phone or tablet. No cables.
8. Okay, I understand apps now, but what if I want to put some pictures or a movie on my phone?
There are a couple of super-simple ways to move your personal files on and off an Android device. First, you can use a Dropbox account plus the Dropbox app. Upload everything to Dropbox via your computer, log into Dropbox on your phone or tablet, and they’ll all be there waiting for you. Even easier, connect your phone to your computer and treat it like a fancy USB stick — just drag and drop the files, and Android will know how to organize them.
9. I have lots of music in iTunes. Can I listen to it on my Android phone?
Yes. There’s a piece of software called doubleTwist that works just like iTunes, letting you install your iTunes music collection on your Android phone or tablet. If you store your music collection outside of iTunes, then the drag-and-drop method of file transfer should work just fine.
10. There’s a game called Angry Birds that I keep hearing about. Can I play it on Android?
Yes. It’s one of the top free games on Android. Download Angry Birds from Google Play.
11. My friend has an Android phone from Samsung, and my Android phone is from HTC. Why does Android look a bit different on our phones?
Google makes the Android software and then lets hardware manufacturers such as HTC and Samsung install it on their phones and tablets. Device manufacturers usually add their own design tweaks to the standard Android operating system. These design tweaks are known as skins, and manufacturers use them to help Android devices stand out from the competition.
12. What if I just want pure Android without a skin?
If you want the pure Android experience straight from Google, then you should choose a device with “Nexus” in the title, such as the Nexus 7 tablet or the Galaxy Nexus phone. These devices always get updated to the latest version of Android first, too, because they don’t use any extra tweaks from the hardware manufacturers that might hold up the upgrade process.
13. What’s the difference between home screens and the app drawer?
The app drawer is where you can find all of the apps installed on your device. On Apple devices, all of your apps are live on your home screens. But Android devices have (up to) seven home screens that you can fill with your favorite apps and widgets for quick access — any apps you don’t choose to keep on your home screen will still be in your app drawer.
14. Widgets? What are widgets?
Widgets are one of our favorite features of Android. Super useful at both displaying information and saving power, they are a little like snapshots of apps that live on your home screens. Widgets come in all different sizes. They can display simple things like how much data you’ve used this month or show more complex things like your Facebook news feed. Because they’re designed for basic interactions like posting updates to Facebook or Twitter, widgets can help you save battery power because you don’t need to open up the full app every time you want to make a simple update or reply to comments.
15. Do I need a Google account to use Android?
Yes. Just like you need an Apple ID to use an iDevice, you need a Google account to use Android. You don’t have to use any of the specific Google services like Gmail on a daily basis if you don’t want to, and Google lets you add other email accounts to your Android phone or tablet. But if you really don’t want a Google account, Android might not be right for you. Google’s software and cloud services are really slickly integrated into the Android experience, and you’ll miss out on some of the best features of Android if you don’t want to use them.
16. What’s the easiest way to move all my contacts onto my phone?
You can enter them as contacts into Gmail, and they’ll be automatically synced to your phone, or you can transfer saved numbers off your SIM card.
17. How do I save battery power on my Android device?
We’ve got some battery-saving tips right here for you.
18. Are there any good Android productivity apps?
Yes, loads! Here are some of our favorite Android productivity apps.
19. Which Android games do you recommend?
We’ve got a list of cool (and free) Android games.
20. How do I keep my Android phone secure?
Android has plenty of security features. We make understanding Android security features simple.

Your iPhone 4 Is Worth Check Here

Want an iPhone 5 but still locked into your iPhone 4 contract? Consider trading in your phone!
Apple released the iPhone 4 in June of 2010 on AT&T and in other parts of the world, but the phone didn’t make its way to Verizon until February 2011. As a result, there are lots of eager iPhone owners in the U.S. who are still stuck in a two-year contract.
While some Verizon iPhone 4 owners might already be eligible for full upgrades, others will have to wait — maybe as much as six months. The same is true for any AT&T buyers who got the phone in 2011.
Fortunately, as we noted yesterday buyback services are still paying good money for old phones. We focused our previous article on the value of the iPhone 4S, but it turns out, the iPhone 4 still has some value in it too.
We looked at the price of a 16GB iPhone 4 from AT&T and Verizon at NextWorth, Gazelle.com, eBay’s Instant Sale, Amazon’s Trade-In program and Apple Recycling.
We selected the best condition for each buyback place, with the exception of Amazon, where we selected “Good.”
Here’s what we found:

	eBay Instant Sale	Gazelle.com	NextWorth	Amazon Trade-in	Apple Recycling
16GB AT&T	$200	$168	$170	$195.50	$140
16GB Verizon	$190	$131	$126	$195.50	$140
8GB AT&T	$190	$125	$140	$195	$50
8GB Verizon	$170	$106	$121	$200	$50

As you can see, AT&T phones are worth more money on average. We imagine that this is because these can be unlocked and sold worldwide.
As before, eBay Instant Sale is the best option — at the time of this writing — to sell your phone for cash. Amazon’s Trade-in program offers the most money, but you have to get an Amazon gift card.
What surprised us the most was how much the 8GB iPhone 4 is worth. Considering the phone was sold for just $99, getting nearly twice as much at some buyback places is impressive.
For those with 32GB devices, you can get additional money for your unit, but in the interest of space, we just focused on 16 and 8GB models.
Are you interested in selling your iPhone 4 to offset the price of your iPhone 5 upgrade? Let us know in the comments.