If you use Gmail and make use of the new Google Buzz facility, you may be finding more content from your social circle than you anticipated.

Google Buzz is another Google application (not of their own invention I might add.. but when do Google drill something out that we haven’t seen before?) which helps you connect with people you know. It’s a similar format for when you post things on Twitter or “What are you thinking” section in Facebook.

You can also connect other social networking accounts to Google Buzz. So, for example, if you post something in Twitter, it can then show in your Google Buzz section of Gmail.

Ok, the reason for this post was that I was making a search on Google for something or other, and at the bottom of the results I saw a something from one of the people I was connected to via Google Buzz! Where the eck did that come from?

(It’s a bit squashed and the identity is protected.. ALOT)

So seeing the result, I wanted to find out more… Google says:

This is the network of connections Google uses to identify relevant social search results. It is based on a combination of the following:

* Direct connections from your Google chat buddies and contacts (5)
* Direct connections from links listed on your Google profile (0) such as Twitter and FriendFeed
* Secondary connections (253) that are publicly associated with your direct connections

In addition to web pages from your social circle, posts from your Google Reader subscriptions may also appear in your social search results.

This is a recent snapshot of your social circle. Changes you make to your connections will be reflected in the next snapshot

Wow! They are intigrating everything!

I guess if you didn’t want all these results, you could at least sign out of your Google account, this then removes your social circle from the Google results.

I like it in the sense that you can keep up to date with people in your social circle and pick their brains on information your after, but not so sure in another way because it may just be manipulating where I search for information.

The reason I say this is because I’m such a nosy person, and if I suddenly see a page from a friend, I’m very likely to ignor the other results and see what my friend had to say, this then means I will probably go on to look at the rest of their site and forget what I was searching for in the first place!

I guess you can’t really call it monopolizing, because I did go to Google for the first place, and… at least it doesn’t cost me anything.

Well, it seems the big buzz in the tech world is the new iPad! I mean, I know everyone is talking about it, but I thought I would just add my 2p worth in the ole www too.

I watched the keynote of the iPad as presented by Steve Jobs, and I have to say, I wasn’t overly excited about it.

The reason for this is because I already own an iPhone. All that was running around my head was “another thing I have to worry about running low on battery”.

It’s true that we are a generation that love our mobile devices, and anything that we can carry around with us that allows us to keep in touch with people as well as see whats going on in the world and look things up on a whim is great! However, the new iPad to me is like a glorified iphone with a bigger screen but doesn’t make calls (should that therefore be a glorified iPod Touch?).

Whilst watching the keynote, it seemed that even Steve Jobs was stumbling to say anything which made the iPad unique from other mobile devices that were already on the market. Granted, most of the best products are still Apple products, but I don’t see anything new that the iPad brings to the table.

The tech geeks however will still want one simply because its the new rage and you can tell all your friends that you have one, however, the truth is, I doubt they really “need” one if they already own an iPhone and laptop.

It seems that the iPad is looking to beat the sales of the Kindle as an e-reader, but the iPhone and iPod Touch have this facility too, so why spend more money on something that you already have?

If you don’t own an iPhone, iPod Touch or Blackberry for that matter, then the iPad could be classed as a worthwhile buy, however, if you do already own the aforementioned, you would probably be wise to keep your pennies in your pocket for the “next big thing” to come along.

WPtouch is a plugin theme application which turns your Wordpress blog into a mobile web-application experience.

The plugin is designed for people who view your wordpress blog from an iPhone, iPod Touch and Andriod.

WPtouch is a great plugin which organises your Wordpress blog content in an easily readable format so you don’t have to worry how your content appears to your end users when viewing from a normal browser.

Since mobiles have developed, more and more people are accessing website from their phones (can we still call them phones?). All you need to do is install the plugin into Wordpress, activate it and the app does the rest.

There are options where you can add your own logo or choose which information to display as well as offering the option to allow users to view your pages in their original format.

When writing content for your website it is important to keep in mind your target audience and not to over complicate what you write.

Do not assume that everyone who reads your website is going to have a degree in English. It is a common mistake that people make to over complicate what they write because they want their text to be presented in an appealing manner. You content needs to be simple as well as expressive but don’t fall into the trap of believing you have to use big sophisticated words to be taken seriously.

Personally, if I visit a website with paragraphs full of jargon terms and overly sophisticated words; I would probably leave because the content comes across as unfriendly. This does not mean I don’t understand the point the author is trying to make, it just means I am not keen on the “lets show how clever we are by using all these big words” approach (whether the author intended for me to feel like that or not).

More often than not, as long as you can write content that naturally flows in a way that is easy to read and understand, then most people will be happy to continue on the site rather than feeling they are being bombarded with long words which either are not understood or send the wrong message.

How you present content could be compared to how you present food on a plate. The way food is presented offers some insight into the person who dished up. If you have food scattered all over the plate, you would assume this person is pretty untidy, however, if the food is presented well, you would assume the person who dished up took care to ensure the food was presented well and wanted the person who ate it to enjoy the meal.

Content acts as a representation of the person who wrote it or the website that presents it. If you read content which is full of spelling mistakes and poor grammar, you would probably assume that the author or website are not well educated in the English language, this also could dissuade you from taken up a service or buying a product which the site has to offer.

On the flip side, by writing complicated content although understood by some, people could think you are trying too hard to sell a product or idea and could come across as being not very genuine.

More often than not, using big words and jargon text makes reading difficult and people loose interest quickly, therefore, always keep in mind your target audience and never complicate your content as this could result in losing a large portion or your site visitors.

Over the years it would be fair to say I have come across tons and tons of different tools and resources of interest, some good, and some (politely) not so good.

Every now and again some of these tools and resources end up in my “go back and use it again” box, so I’ve decided just to share a handful which may prove useful.

Copyscape
Content, content, content – you know when you sit at your desk, write some great unique content for your site then realise that someone has come along, nicked it and put it on their website and then you wonder “how many other people have stolen my content?”, well, Copyscape makes it easy to find other sites that may have copied your content. Its useful if you are wanting to contact the offenders to request them to remove it.

PDF Converter
Ok, so we don’t all have PDF computers on our hard drives and some don’t really want to spend money on buying software that your only going to use now and again. PDF online allows you to submit DOC files to their website and they will convert the file into PDF and send the copy to your email! I’ve used this free service a number of times and it saves me messing about buying or downloading software to figure out when I need a quick DOC file converting to PDF.

Google Trends
Google trends is a great free resource that you can use to see changes over time on certain topics. For example, you would spot trends in times of the year when people search for christmas trees (yes, obvious, but you get the idea), it proves useful if you are thinking of creating a new website for a certain topic or product, you can take a quick look at Google trends to see if there is much interest in that product you are thinking of selling.

Favicon Generator
You know when you visit a website and before the URL in the address bar you see a little image? Well, this is called a Favicon. A simple and easy way to get one of these on your website is by visiting websites such as the one linked to here. All you need to do is upload the image you want as your icon and this site will convert it into the correct size and format as well as give you the code to put into your site so that the favicon will display in your’s and everyone elses address bar.

Google Keyword Tool
Need ideas on variations of keywords that you are thinking of promoting on your website? Google keyword tool offers you ideas of keyword variations and their popularity. I figure they offer the service to help you get the most out of their PPC ad service, but it also works for SEO in gathering together data for new ideas of keyphrases to target in your SEO strategy.

As I said, their are tons of tools and resources available for a whole number of things on the web, but these are just a few that made it into my box of resources I use now and again.

It always amazes me how many companies have a website and expect sales or enquiries from their site but have no form of tracking on their site to tell them how their website is performing on a usability basis as well as a using the data as a part of their search engine marketing strategy.

As well as this, it never fails to surprise me how many medium to large companies build a website to gain new business, but do nothing to promote their website, instead, go with the idea that build it and they will come.

It is not only important to have a website that is optimised and promoted well, it is also important that if you want your site to do well, that you use the analytical data provided by your website visitors to allow you to see whether or not your website is performing to your level of expectation.

It has been reported that companies investing in web analytics software is on the rise. We could assume that this is because companies are becoming more aware that analysing data produced by your site visitors is a big step forward when creating a website that performs well and enables the company to gain new business from their site.

However, it has also been reported that the global recession has played a part in this.

It is becoming more important for companies to tighten the purse strings and spend more efficiently as well as concentrate more on their ROI.

Therefore, it seems that companies are now beginning to understand that spending a fortune on analytical data without having someone who can interpret that data is about as useful as a plastic frying pan, so there is now a growth in organizations who are looking to invest more in human capital rather than technology.

There are many resources available when it comes to analysing data on the net, and this doesn’t stop at your own website. As well as website tracking software, there are also competitive and search intelligent companies offering indepth information across all industry sectors to give you insight on how you should be marketing your products online as well as discovering more about your target market.

If you are fortunate enough to afford access to these global information services, then it is cruicial you are able to interpret and measure the information as well as apply it to your own website and marketing strategy to ensure your ROI and business growth.

When I first started to work in SEO, I was fortunate enough to be working for a company who allowed me to learn my roll rather than expect me to produce immediate results from a skill that at first I didn’t fully understand. Allowing me to first learn the skill, I was then able to apply what I learnt and the company benefitted from the results.

Being faced with alot of information and not knowing what it means is daunting enough, but being expected to spot areas of improvement as well as creating reports based on data you cannot interpret is a near on impossible task and will hold you back from the benefits of your investment.

So to summarise – it is not only important that you have a platform which enables you to see what is happening around your site, it is possibly even more important that you are able to interpret the data presented to you so you can utilize it and apply it to your own marketing strategy.

Ebay who bought out Skype are stuggling to integrate it into their business so are planning on taking the service public (for sale) over the next 14 months.

Some people suggest that eBay should auction off Skype on their site, but personally, I think Google should buy Skype to replace their Google Video service.

Google video has never worked well whenever I have tried it myself and the functionality of Skype proves to be alot more sophisticated. Google could also take Skype to the next level and develop the product into a video conferencing service.

We all know that Google is great at buying into other companies products and developing them, so I could see this being right up their street.

It would seem even the major search engines are affected by the recent downturn in the economy.

Yahoo! Inc, cut 2,400 jobs last year leaving them with 13,600 jobs in Dec 08, but now it would seem more jobs are going to be cut as a way of dealing with the slow growth the company is currently enduring.

The job cuts are likely due to people spending less money on advertising. Companies such as Yahoo! rely heavily on selling advertising space and since the credit crunch hit people are spending less on advertising as they simply cannot afford it.

This has a negative impact on all major search engines, but especially those are heavily displayed to advertising.

Since there is no significant improvement in the economy, the company is left with no choice except to tighten up on costs which is taking the shape of downsizing which may affect several hundred employees.

Nowadays, mobile phones have developed so much, that you no longer need to worry about taking a laptop around with you on your travels for simple tasks such as writing documents, browsing the web and viewing your emails.

There was also a time when people were building web pages which would be readable should you visit their site with a mobile, however, with certain mobile phones such as the iPhone, this is no longer necessary as pages are easily viewed with their current build.

You can be sure that other mobile suppliers will catch on with the trend and build phones that are suitable for web based browsing.

Google recently announce improvements that they have made to their Gmail application on phones such as the iPhone and G1 mobiles which run Android.

The changes enable people access previously viewed emails via Gmail and compose messages even if there is no internet access available.

As well as this, they have provided easier methods of managing your emails by adding short cuts at the top of selected messages.

You can see the changes Google have made by access your Gmail account on your mobile through your web browser.

It is fair to say that internet access through your mobile phone has now become the “in thing” and many people are now using it in comparison to when the function was first released.

Around 5 years ago, if you used the term “Blog”, people would probably give you a bit of an odd look and ask you to explain.

People are now more aware of what a blog actually is. A blog enables you to easily add news and other information to your website without the need to be programmer savvy.

So, how can a blog help you with your search engine presence?

Search engines love fresh content and people are always hunting around for information. A blog covers both of these requirments.

When trying to promote a website in the search engines, it is important that you are able to target as many niche phrases as possible that offer maximum exposure for your service or product.

By adding a blog as a part of your marketing strategy, you immediately open up doors to target unlimited keyphrases that will not clog up your navigation or make your website look scruffy and hard to navigate.

Most blog platforms are free and are SEO friendly. This means, the blog is created in such a way that it will be easy to navigate and the structure will pretty much remain the same and the search engines will beable to find all available content and index the data into their search results.

This also means that you can create as many pages as you wish, targeting as many terms as you want as well as feeding the search engines with fresh content on a regular basis.

From a user perspective, adding a blog to your site with unique and useful information will likely result in someone bookmarking your site and turn those passers-by into returning visitors.

Most websites now have a blog to offer their visitors additional information, news bites and updates to their products or services. A blog can be useful for a number of reasons and really is a great way to help you in the search engine rankings.