Monday, September 26, 2011

How to Enable Facebook Timeline on your Account

In the Facebook F8 Developer Conference lots of new features of the Facebook are announced in it but the one which got most hype is the New Facebook Timeline which is gonna replace your current profile. As the name suggests, New Facebook Timeline will change your profile into a series of events which is a new concept.



Timeline basically changes the way we see our Facebook wall. The changes are quite radical. At the moment it is now available for all users and might be made available in a couple of weeks. Thankfully, for the curious minded there is a hack which allows Facebook to enable Timeline feature on your account.


Facebook is soon gonna launch the New Facebook Timeline to all of its users. But if you cannot wait that long then, you can enable the New Facebook Timeline now also. Just follow the instructions given below to enable the New Facebook Timeline now in your profile.

1. Login to your Facebook account and then Click Here


2. On the new page, click on the "Allow" the give the permission to the Developer app.

3. Click on the "Create New App"

4. Select whatever name you want for the "Display Name" and "Namespace". Check the "I Agree" box and click on the Continue button.

5. On the new page, click on the "Open Graph" in the left sidebar


6. On the new page appearing, fill any detail you want in the two boxes and click on the "Get Started".


7. When the next page appears, scroll down and click on the "Save Changes and Next". Follow the same thing on the next screen which comes.


8. On the next screen, just wait for few minutes and then go to your homepage.


9. On your homepage, you will see a notification to enable the New Facebook Timeline. Just click on the "Get It Now" button and you will have the New Facebook Timeline enable in your profile. Enjoy!!!!!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

The Google +1 What, How, Where and Who?: All you want to know about the +1 Strategy of Google


What is Google +1?




Google +1 is yet another attempt to make Google more social. It’s Google’s version of the Facebook “likes”, a simple feature that’s very powerful because it’s part of a social network. Google will show +1 buttons next to all search results and ads, while encouraging other sites to include the buttons. All +1′s are public and they’re tied to Google Profiles.

The goal is to use this data to personalize search results and ads by recommending sites +1′d by your friends. Google Social Search already does this, but there’s no support for Facebook likes, so Google had to come up with a substitute.


It’s a simple way to Like Google search results?


When you’re signed into your Google account, every Google search result will now have a +1 icon next to it (right now you have to activate in Google Experimental). If you find the search result useful or just enjoy the linked site, you hit the +1 icon. Google says by +1-ing a result you’re giving it a recommendation, a stamp of approval. More +1′s on a result means the site is more interesting.



Is it Social?
Yes, it is definitely social. You can see what your friends +1′d which ideally lends more credence to a particular search result. Since Google displays so many sites, these little +1′s will help you sift out the crappy ones (if you didn’t banish them already). Imagine if your best friend found a link interesting and +1′d it. When you stumble upon that in the future, you’re probably going to click it.

Is it a new Social Network?
It is not a social network. When the Google +1 project first started (as Google Me), it was billed to be Google’s Facebook killer. Clearly, it’s not. The +1 system works more like Likes in Facebook or Diggs in Digg, meaning to say it’s a bare bones simple way to show that you like something. That’s good! Google became the king of search because it was simple. +1 is simple.

Will it help Google to target better ads?

Yes, definitely. You can also +1 ad’s, which combined with the data of your usual +1s of search results, will let Google learn more about you and better target their ads. It’s sort of like data research masked as a feature, like when Google offered free Google 411s to improve their voice recognition software, Google +1 improves their ad delivery system.

Google isn’t done with +1 yet. They’ve learned from previous mistakes in Google Buzz and Google Wave where they dug a grave for those products by overhyping them. This time, by starting small with a simple +1 icon only available on Google search results, they can quietly go about their business and slowly add to it (like +1-ing directly from a website, from Chrome, from apps etc.).


Will it change the way we you Google?

Definitely not, Google +1 is another sign that Google wants to evolve into a more social search engine. All those +1′s they keep track of will not only help Google make their searches better, but also make them more relevant to your social circle. As the Internet gets clotted in cobwebs, having friends personally +1 the best sites keeps Google from falling too far behind Facebook and Twitter in social sharing.

 This  +1  is a small button that will reside next to each and every Google Search result. If you like the result, you click the +1 button and it gets shared with your social circle — and the public (more on that in a bit).


The button also works on the ads that appear in Google Search. If you like those and think they can be useful to friends, you can also hit the button there to highlight them. That may sound like something no one would ever do, but the implementation is actually pretty smart. You see, since the pages that are linked to in Google ads also appear in Google’s regular index, if a page has ever been +1′d as a regular result, it will also show up as +1′d in the ad.
But let’s take a step back for a second. Google +1 is an extension of what Google has been doing for a while with Social Search, Google’s Matt Cutts tells us. In their most recent update to that feature, results were surfaced and highlighted when someone in your social circle shared something on a social network like Twitter or Buzz. “People really like this aspect of social search,” Cutts says.
At the same time, the current social mechanisms require some work to be useful — you have to explicitly share a link somewhere. You might not want to do that with every link you like. And that’s where the +1 button comes in, it’s a simple way to indicate you like a page and think it might be useful to others. Again, basically a “like” button.



Cutts wants to be very clear that this +1 data is public. While a big aspect of +1 is sharing results with your social graph (which is still sort of confusing given that Google isn’t an actual social network, so it’s Gmail chat contacts, Reader and Buzz friends, etc) , it is also about using that data in aggregate to highlight better results for everyone. For example, on a result that has been +1′d, you’ll see if any of your friends have +1′d it (in a similar way to the current Social Search look with people’s tiny profile icons under the result itself). But you’ll also see that X number of other people that aren’t in your social circle +1′d it as well.

Google+ updates

How can I keep up to date with Google+ changes?

To preview the latest updates to the Google+ platform, subscribe to the Google+ Platform Preview group. New features will be enabled on your account and announced to this group. To receive updates specifically about the +1 button, please subscribe to the Google Publisher Buttons Announce Group

The +1 button and search results

How does +1 affect search results?

+1 helps people discover relevant content—a website, a Google search result, or an ad—from the people they already know and trust. The +1 button appears on Google search, on websites, and on ads. For example, you might see a +1 button for a Google search result, Google ad, or next to an article you're reading on your favorite news site.

Adding the +1 button to pages on your own site lets users recommend your content, knowing that their friends and contacts will see their recommendation when it’s most relevant—in the context of Google search results. In addition, a user's +1's appear on the +1 tab of their Google Profile. While +1’s are always public, users can choose to make the +1 tab visible or invisible on their profile.

When a signed-in Google user is searching, your Google search result snippet may be annotated with the names of the user's connections who've +1'd your page. If none of a user's connections has +1'd your page, your snippet may display the aggregate number of +1's your page has received.

Does +1 affect my site's performance in search?

Content recommended by friends and acquaintances is often more relevant than content from strangers. For example, a movie review from an expert is useful, but a movie review from a friend who shares your tastes can be even better. Because of this, +1's from friends and contacts can be a useful signal to Google when determining the relevance of your page to a user’s query. This is just one of many signals Google may use to determine a page’s relevance and ranking, and we’re constantly tweaking and improving our algorithm to improve overall search quality. For +1's, as with any new ranking signal, we are starting carefully and learning how those signals affect search quality.

Does +1 affect how Google crawls my site?

When you add the +1 button to a page, Google assumes that you want that page to be publicly available and visible in Google Search results. As a result, we may fetch and show that page even if it is disallowed in robots.txt.

How will the +1 button affect my traffic?

Personalized annotations next to your page in search results may increase your site's visibility and make your site's snippet more compelling, which may in turn increase the odds that users will click through to your page.



To view how +1 affects your search traffic, you can use the +1 Metrics tool in Webmaster Tools. Available metrics include:
·   Search impact: See the pages on your site that received the most impressions with a +1 annotation, and see how +1 annotations impact click through rate (CTR).
·         Activity: See the total number of +1's received by pages on your site.
·     Audience: See aggregated information about people who have +1'd your pages, including the total number of unique users, their location, and their age and gender.

How does the +1 button affect my ads?

The +1 button itself will appear next to your headline on search ads. Personalized annotations will appear beneath your Display URL. For example, Maria +1's a page selling a neat laptop holder on a website. When a search ad with that same URL appears, her friend Sam might see the ad with the note "Maria and 28 other people +1'd this."

Who sees +1?

Who can see the +1 button in Google Search?

The +1 button shows up for signed-in Google users of using a modern browser.


What's an annotation?

Because people trust their friends’ recommendations, personalized annotations display the faces of friends and social connections who have already +1’d a piece of content.


Google tries to display +1’s to people (specifically those in the user’s social connections) who would find them most useful. We hope that by making these recommendations more discoverable, users will be even more engaged with your site.

Annotations can appear in a couple of ways.
·     When a user hovers over the +1 button on a page, we’ll display an annotation showing the faces of friends who have +1’d that page. You don’t need to do anything to make this happen.

·       You can also add inline annotations that appear next to the +1 button on your page. To enable these, you’ll need to update the +1 button code.

Who can see annotations from +1 buttons?

Everybody can see aggregate annotations. Signed-in users also see personalized annotations from:
·         People in your Google+ circles
·         People who have you in a circle in Google+.
·         People in your Gmail (or Google Talk) chat list.
·         People in your My Contacts group in Google Contacts.
·         People you're following in Google Reader and Google Buzz.


Are +1's public?

Yes, Google may show personalized annotations to any signed-in user who has a social connection to a +1. However, any Google user can choose whether or not to display their +1's on their Google profile.

Adding the +1 button to a site

How do I add the +1 button to my site?

Just grab a snippet of code.
Where should I put the +1 button on my pages?

You know your page and your users best, so we recommend putting the button wherever you think it will be the most effective. Above the fold, near the title of the page, and close to sharing links is often a good location. It can also be effective to place the +1 button at both the end and the beginning of an article or story.
+1 is a public action, so you should add the button only to public, crawlable pages on your site. Once you add the button, Google may crawl or recrawl the page, and store the page title and other content, in response to a +1 button impression or click.
Can I place multiple buttons on a single page that all +1 different URLs?

Yes, but you'll need to edit the button code. Use the href attribute to specify the target URL. For example, if your home page has a module linking to your blog, and you want to add a +1 button to that module, edit the value of the href attribute to point to your blog's URL, like this:

What languages is the +1 button available in?

The +1 button and annotations are available in 40 languages.

How often will Google crawl my +1'd pages?

+1 is a public action, so you should add the button only to public, crawlable pages on your site. Once you add the button, Google may crawl or recrawl the page, and store the page title and other content, in response to a +1 button impression or click.

How does +1 work with Buzz? Do we still need the Google Buzz button?

Buzz buttons are used for starting conversations about interesting web content ("Hey guys, what do you think about this news story?"). +1 buttons recommend web content to people in the context of search results ("Peng +1’d this page"), and +1's from social connections can help improve the relevance of the results you see in Google Search. You can use the +1 button, or the Buzz button, or both—pick what’s right for your content.

Some of my users get a security warning when they view pages with the +1 button. How do I get rid of this?

The +1 button code requires a script from Google's servers. You can include this script using either http:// or https://, like this:
If your web page uses https://, some browsers and verification tools will show an error when any assets on the page are called via http://. If your site serves pages via https://, make sure that the +1 button code on those pages also uses https://. (In fact, it's fine to use https:// in the button code for all pages, even if they are only served via http://.)

Sharing

How can I enable sharing from the +1 button?

You don’t need to do anything to enable sharing to Google+ from the +1 buttons on your site. We've updated the +1 button code so that users with a Google+ account can share your content on Google+ just by clicking the +1 button and then clicking Share on Google+.

Users can add comments, pick the right circles, and share to the Stream on Google+, starting new conversations about your content.



Note: When someone shares your content to Google+, we'll display the URL of your page in the post. If your page isn't yet public, make sure to share it with only a limited number of people. Otherwise, your staging server URL will be visible on Google+.

Can I customize the site description that appears when a user shares my content?

Google attempts to find the most useful and descriptive +snippet to display. If you have marked up your content rich snippets using the  schema.org vocabulary, Google+ will use the name, image, and description properties from the generic  Thingtype.

Alternatively, Google+ (though not Google Web Search) can use Open Graph metadata to create the +snippet. It can also use the contents of title and meta description tags.

Is sharing private?

+1 is a public action, so Google may show personalized annotations to any signed-in user who has a social connection to a +1. However, any Google user can choose whether or not to display their +1's on their Google Profile. Additionally, users can directly control who they share your content with by specifying circles. As a result, the +1 is a public action, but sharing to Google+ is controlled by the user.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

The Fundamentals of Search Engine Optimization


Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a very important part of every blog and website. Every blogger try to improve the SEO of the blog to gain good amount of traffic from the search engines. Having a nice SEO also helps to achieve good in various rankings like Page Rank etc.


But if you do not know much about SEO then here is a nice SEO infographic to provide you info about it. This SEO infographic is also helpful for ll those bloggers trying to have a nice SEO for their blog. Have a look at this

Search Engine Optimization - Stats & Facts (Infographic)

[Via: Geeky Stuffs]

What do you as a fledgling website owner or admin actually know about making your site successful? How is it that a successful site manages to get so much traffic? Is it the product or the mere premise of the site, or could it be another aspect that you just don’t quite understand? What is this acronym “SEO” that you keep seeing bandied about everywhere and how do you get a piece of the action for yourself?


Well just to set the tone let’s get it over and done with and silence that white elephant in the room that nobody’s talking about. SEO stands for search engine optimization. If you are new to SEO and find it a complex and daunting topic to wrap your head around, then consider yourself to have started your journey and be on the path of the righteous. 



The first thing to understand is the medium you are working with and how to hook into it to make your website ultimately successful. Start by thinking of the internet as a massive library full of content for readers to discover. Of course in such a huge information resource you will need a way to index and find information just like in any traditional library. The building and maintenance of this index is a job that has been assigned to the “bots” and “crawlers” commissioned by the major search engines like Google and Yahoo. These little critters continuously scour the internet and systematically categorize your website, plus rank its’ relevance and power.

So how is it that you can use this in your favour? How do you get these creepy crawlies working for you so that your website ranks well and attracts internet traffic? Basically you need to ensure that you lay out your content on the web in a distributed and well defined fashion. Without delving into the subject of where to post too much, I will say that you should aim to post on your own site, article directories and blogs. The point I want to make though is that when you post your content, you need to describe it, tag it and backlink it to your site to ensure that you get the most mileage possible and the best rankings from the crawlers.



So how do you actually go about achieving the above? Firstly when you publish content you need to make sure that it has a heading relevant to the subject matter. Next if there is a field to describe the content in greater detail, make sure that you elaborate with keyword rich text. This will not only get the attention of your audience but also that of the crawlers. When posting on or away from your own site you will also want to use the “tagging” field to tap into the various niches that relate to your content or website. If it is a dating site then throw in some combinations like; online dating, singles dating, dating advice and so on.

Lastly you must learn how to add html keyword anchors throughout your content. This will involve you plugging your strategically chosen site relevant keywords through links. These links will take your audience through to your website when clicked. Always be careful not to seed these links too early in your article content as this is frowned upon by the crawlers. Try to stay away from planting any in the first three or four paragraphs to get the best possible ranking outcomes.

With the above advice you essentially now have the basic information that you need to get out there and start making your site a total success. Never forget that it takes time and dedication but rest assured that you will see the difference and get your results.

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