Category: Reviews

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Guest Blogging for Links

What does Google (Matt Cutts) think about guest blogging and the links that are generated from doing it? This excellent video answers the question. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IMxC3wQZOyc

This is the bottom line. If you did not sweat in creating the guest blog post Google will typically not give you link juice for it. That’s the hard cold fact. Write a light weight blog post of about 250 words, post it on a variety of sites, and maybe even use article spinning software in an effort to create unique content for each site and you really will not be getting link benefits.

Create a well written, informative, insightful blog post for a site that supports your industry and yes Google does like this approach. It’s all about the time you take and the insight you provide. Do not do guest blogging just for links with minimal effort on your part Matt and Google pretty much say in this video that it is wasted effort.

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Using QR Codes For Your Business

Now that you has seen QR Codes or Quick Response Codes on other sites how can you use them too? Here are a few of my suggestions.

Add a QR Code to Your Print Brochures
Add a QR Code to your print brochure, you can send your user to your home page or better yet send them to a custom created landing page that has a special offer to allow you to actually measure the results of your exposure from a trade show, speaking engagement, direct mailing.

Offer Special Coupon Codes and Promotions
Want to track mobile Web users? As most desktop users are not using QR Code scanners, you can encode special offers as a text snippet and even embed a special coupon code in a QR Code that can then be used immediately by smartphone users.

Encourage Google HotPot, FourSquare, and Google Places Reviews
By embedding your QR Code on your menu or guest check, restaurants can encourage visitors to interact immediately with location specific places to share their favorite spots with others and encourage visitors to even leave service reviews.

Print a QR Code on the back of your business card
With the ability to embed a vCard in your QR Code, you can make it easy for smartphone users to add your contact information to their phone and if they are syncing to Outlook will appear there too.

How do you think you will use a QR Code? Just click comments and let me know your suggestion too.

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Is a Competitor Trying to Smear Your Reputation Online?

I came across this article this past week in the Wall Street Journal that talks about how to deal with competitors unfairly targeting you and making an effort to erode your reputation online with forum posts. You can read the full article here.

Unfair reviews can hurt.Although I have not been a victim to this type of attack by a competitor, I have been the victim of an attack by a prospect who I turned down for a working relationship. This person wanted to buy our blogging services to boost search engine placement, but I found his business had so many customer complaints that I told him we were not a good match for his needs. Unfortunately I mentioned the number of negative reviews he had at epinions as the reason, and he retaliated by posting negative reviews about my firm online at several scam alert sites.

The Journal talks about forums and what to do and for any business that has been targeted, it is worth a quick read. Just be aware, that once a review is out there on a forum, you may have a chance to have it removed. If the review appears at City Search, Google Local, Yelp, or an scam review website, you’ll never be able to get that review taken down. It is just a hard cold fact – no matter how hard you push, those types of reviews will stay up.

I recommend when possible that you write a new rebuttal and if you can re-mediate the incident try to do so. If you cannot re-mediate something, as in my case, post your rebuttal, be honest on your own website about what happened and work to build more positive reviews and more forward.

I have personally given up on trying to move that unfair characterization of my business from the search results after trying many tactics to push the review down. Yes, these types of reviews and posting are unfair, but a reality in today’s connected world.

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Widgetbox Mobile App Builder Reviewed

Scan to see my app.

In this blog post I’ll review the Widgetbox Mobile App Builder.

Have you been dying to get into the Mobile App game? Widgetbox has created a point and click mobile app builder that you can offer to users for download. I created one that you can check out, but it is only available for viewing until June 24th. You may need to view it in Google Chrome or with your smartphone.

At Widgetbox you add your blog, social networks, and can create custom pages. Widgetbox then creates a simple, cool, app for smartphones. The kicker is that to have the app for more than the free 14 day period, you’ve got to pay $25 a month for the starter program, $50 a month for the upgrade version, or $100 for the premium version. That’s just a bit pricey for me to pay for something I am just playing around with.

Although not everyone wants a mobile app for their business, some businesses may just want bragging rights. You don’t have to have your app in the iTunes store or Google Play for people to get it. You can promote your app on your own website via a download link or using a QR code.

I for one think that the apps is very cool and the Widgetbox website was super easy to use, but the price per month was a deal killer for me. Now if the price had been $5 a month of even $10 a month, I probably would have bought it for bragging rights, but $25 was just too much for what I would use the app for. However, you may really like the options and integration that they have so this application is definitely worth a closer look for your own personal needs.

Keep an eye out for other cool click and create apps for mobile as there is real growth in this arena for the future.

P.S. Widgetbox did not pay me for this review, I just found their site, liked what I saw, and wanted to share it with you.