Google Places Local Citations List | Bosmol - Social Media & Web 2.0 Internet Marketing News

This is one of three critical elements in citations. Do not overlook the value of what slowly said here. You MUST always use exactly the same Name Address Phone number information on every citation. Make sure that you do not have two businesses using that phone number on the web. If you own a dry cleaning business, do not also advertise that number for your sons lawn mowing service. The NAP must only be in use in one place on line for you to get the full benefit.  Don’t try to broaden your customer information by using different verbage (I knew that is not a word, but the word “verbiage” is not what I mean here) in the citations.  Always us the same NAP, and if you describe your business as an auto repair show that specializes in front end alignment, so not say tune ups in an effort to give more information to your customers in other citations. Keep the description general, and use the exact same thing every time.

Google Places is responsible for all of the local results you find on the top of Google’s search pages.  Businesses that take advantage of high rankings with Google Places are getting more exposure than their weak competition.

So, what does Google Places look for when they rank local businesses?

Many of you are probably thinking backlinks.  Many of you are wrong.

The regular Google algorithm counts backlinks as a “vote” for your site in the regular search engine results, but those fancy shmancy local results that pop up at the top of the page are Google Places results and Google places doesn’t give a rat’s a** about backlinks.  What they do care about are citations.

A citation is when your business name, address, and telephone number appear on the web.  What does this tell you?  It should tell you that you need to get as many citations as possible!

 

 

 

 

 

If you want to rank on Google Places / Google Maps then you need to create an optimized

Here is a list of some of the more important citations that will help your business listing rank higher in Google Places.

local.Yahoo.com

Yellowpages.com

411.com

citysearch.com

yellowbook.com

infospace.com

anywho.com

judysbook.com

yellowbot.com

shopcity.com

dexknows.com

magicyellow.com

zidster.com

infousa.com

localeze.com

yelp.com

insiderpages.com

kudzu.com

local.com

merchantcircle.com

cityvoter.com

citysquares.com

foursquare.com

hotfrog.com

rateitall.com

bestofthewest.com

qype.com

Angies List

Brownbook

ziplocal.com

foundlocally.com

citydirect.info

frommers.com

ibegin.com

daplus.us

gowalla.com

urbanspoon.com

zagat.com

tripadvisor.com

ezlocal.com

backpage.com

metromix.com

nymag.com

parentsconnect.com

servicemagic.com

cosmotourist.com

trivago.com

blog.hostelbookers.com

promotionalcodes.com

couponsnapshot.com

avvo.com

This is only a sampling of the citations Google deems important.  For even more citations contact us today!

If this seems overwhelming then do not get discouraged as there are many companies on the web that manage and do all the dirty work for you.  A good company for Google Places optimization  is SEO Optimizers local search engine optimization services.

Google Places Local Citations List

Don’t Misread Your Visitor’s – Why People Still Use XP | Bosmol - Social Media & Web 2.0 Internet Marketing News

Many make the presumption that building their websites, apps, and plugins for the latest operating systems is the right way to go. This leads to many products being made available for Windows 8 and Windows 7 users, but not so much for anyone with Windows XP or Windows Vista.

However, the truth is that there are still many people that use older Windows operating systems. As you are not tailoring your products for these people, you may be inadvertently sending them away. There may be certain parts of your website that don’t view properly, certain apps that don’t work at all, and etc.

Why People Still Use Older Operating Systems

There are many reasons why someone may be stuck using an older operating system.

For example, a user’s newer computer could break down or they may be looking to buy their first computer. So they look on Gumtree or check out OLX to see what’s available. At this point, they find that the options of cheap desktop computers mainly have older operating systems. Given that Windows XP can fill most needs, many do not see buying a computer with it as being an issue.

It is also true that people avoid using Windows 8 due to the extensive problems that it has. It is viewed as being an operating system meant for tablets and other touch screen devices. It’s been plagued with disastrous issues on desktops and laptops alike.

Windows 7 is not nearly as problematic. It is also supported by Microsoft still, while Windows XP is not supported.

How Many People Really Use Windows XP and Windows Vista?

This is only a concern if the numbers are there. Sadly, the truth is that the numbers are indeed there.

As of April 2014, Windows XP is the second biggest operating system by market share, making up for 26.29% of users. That’s pretty alarming considering it was released to the public 13 years ago. The same statistic shows that Windows 7 takes up nearly half of the market share. Windows 8 users only make up for 6.36% not that far from Windows Vista users at 2.89% market share.

What all this means is that there are still many users viewing the Internet from computers containing older operating systems. More specifically, there are still many Windows XP users around – even though the operating system is not supported. This makes it seem that these users will continue to use XP for many years to come.

How a Website Owner Can Use This Information

If these statistics are anywhere close to accurate for your website, you would be turning down more than one in four visitors that go to your website if you don’t think about XP. The truth is that a website could end up looking deformed on XP vs. newer operating systems. Plug-ins and apps could also not work at all.

The software that can be used on Windows XP is different as well. This means that certain things you have available for download may not work on their computer.

Ultimately, you just need to be conscious to the fact that many visitors to your website may be viewing from a Windows XP computer. If this is actually the case, you will want to make sure that everything views properly and works when accessed with a Windows XP computer.

Don’t Misread Your Visitor’s – Why People Still Use XP

Are Computer Bots Getting Too Smart? | Bosmol - Social Media & Web 2.0 Internet Marketing News

Undetectable robot invaders. Hackers are not quite there yet, but they are getting closer. This article will address the current state of bot technology; how they help make the internet more efficient, how they are also used for devious purposes. Do you know what bots you’re dealing with?

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Bot Proliferation

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Generally speaking, internet bots are not created to cause harm. They travel across cyberspace performing repetitive tasks at speeds far greater than of any human user. Many of these benevolent bots are search engine crawlers, tasked with logging content from countless web pages. These Good Bots comprise about 32% of total web activity.

Because these bots gather information, to do a proper job they require some basic access to a website’s server. Unfortunately, hackers have honed in on the process of a website letting down its defenses to acquire entry for their own devilish bots. Once a bot reaches the Application Layer of the TCP, they are liable to perform DDoS, or Distributed Denial of Service attacks, with the intention of taking down the victim’s server.

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DDoS Zombie Bots

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In order to wield the kind of firepower needed to take down a commercial website, hackers gather herds of bots called “botnets”. The ‘bots’ in this case are computers infected with malware or Trojans, or headless (user-less) browsers. Once infected, a computer’s processing strength is used for malicious purposes. The hacker (sometimes called a “shepherd”) can send these bots to attack a single server with the click of a button. Most serious botnets have tens of thousands of ‘zombie’ bots at their disposal.

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Zombie Bot Evolution

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Some types of DDoS or other harmful bots are easily filtered out by firewalls or simple hardware installations, but recent research shows that these tools are fast becoming obsolete. The pace of hacker innovation is causing concern across the cyber landscape.

Online security service provider Incapsula recently came out with a DDoS Treat Landscape report of web activity over the last 15 months that lends insight into the current state of website vulnerability. Incapsula has identified bots that are now capable of accepting cookies, and executing JS—two common bot filtering methods.

According to the report, close to 30% of the bots encountered accepted cookies, and 0.8% executed JS. Although these numbers are still small compared to the remaining “primitive” bots scouring the web, these developments paint a grim picture of what’s to come. Once a new type of malicious bot technology becomes available, it is often adapted by the rest of the hacking community at alarming speeds.

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Defense against ‘Smart’ Bots

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In the context of these advancements in bot technology, the cyber defense industry is fighting to stay ahead of the curve. Online security services must respond to a difficult question; how to distinguish between bots and human users without having to deploy CAPTCHAs or other invasive measures which tend to hinder the user experience.

Are Computer Bots Getting Too Smart?

Mac Vs PC College Computer Review | Bosmol - Social Media & Web 2.0 Internet Marketing News

So you’re off to college or university – you’re going to need a laptop to help you with your studies. Which means you’ll need to answer one question before you do any shopping around: do you go for an Apple machine or a PC?

A good place to start your shopping (window or otherwise!) is www.ebay.co.uk where there is a huge range of laptops on offer. But before you do that, here are some pointers to help you jump one way or the other.

What tools does your course require?

One of the key influences on your decision is the kind of software you’ll be using throughout your course. The Guardian’s Ask Jack Blog suggests speaking with college or university staff to find out which software they recommend.

Apple MacBooks support a particularly strong suite of graphics and video editing software. Studying business? Then perhaps a PC laptop would be a better bet thanks to being a good platform for Microsoft Office. Having said that, it’s perfectly possible to run applications such as Microsoft Excel on Macs, but you’d need to get used to the different shortcuts and hotkeys.

Do you need to get hands on?

Allow yourself a buffer period before the hard work starts so that you can get used to your new laptop. If you’ve used PCs in the main, you’ll need to find your way around a Mac, and vice versa. The Windows operating system is very different from Mac OS X. It’s a matter of preference as to which is better for you, so it’s a good idea to try both if you’re undecided. See if your friends will let you try their machines out for size.

Where will you do your work?

The build quality of your laptop is important, and here Macs often have the upper hand. Solidly built and with an aluminium casing, they’re designed to both look good and withstand the rigours of being thrown into a bag and bumped around during a last-minute dash to a lecture. High-end Acer laptops also feature metal bodies.

Make sure you try out the keyboards on different devices. Macs feature island-style keyboards, where each key is clearly separated from the next. Sony Vaio laptops also feature this. If you’re going to be typing in a darkened hall, think about backlit keyboards – another feature of both Macs and Vaios.

Need for speed?

Although it’s a good idea to choose a Mac or PC laptop with as fast a processor as possible – especially if you’re creating visual content – there does come a point when speed ceases to be so useful. Macs and PC laptops with Intel Core i5 processors are very nearly as capable as Core i7 versions, but cost much less.

What’s your budget?

Macs are traditionally much more expensive than PC laptops, thanks to their superior build quality and often more feature-packed, inbuilt software. However, PC laptops with similar features can be just as much. Portability, battery life, hard drive space, processor speed; all of these features and more will push up the price of your laptop. The advantage of a PC device is you have much more control over what features you include and pay for.

Mac Vs PC College Computer Review

Using Social Media For Job Hunting [Infographic] | Bosmol - Social Media & Web 2.0 Internet Marketing News

Using Social Media To Improve Your Job Search is an infographic that was produced by

Gumtree

Using Social Media For Job Hunting [Infographic]

Purchasing Your Way To Social Media Fame | Bosmol - Social Media & Web 2.0 Internet Marketing News

Purchasing Your Way To Social Media Fame