How to Increase Blog Traffic with Blog Carnivals

One of the easiest things that you can do to build traffic is to submit your content to blog carnivals if you want to learn how to increase blog traffic. In as few as four simple steps, you can bring new visitors to your blog and you can build excellent, high quality back links at the very same time. Best of all, this is one of the best ways to learn how to increase blog traffic for absolutely free, and it only takes a few minutes of your time every week. Here are the four steps that will allow you to build greater levels of traffic to your blog.
Step 1 - First and foremost, you need to find a blog carnival that is featuring your topic. Select a topic that best matches your blog, and then find a blog carnival on a specific subject that you feel comfortable talking or writing about.
Step 2 - Acquaint yourself with the rules once you have decided upon a topic. You will increase your chances of getting your link published if you make sure that you are following the rules in their entirety. Nearly every Blog Carnival is going to have its own unique submission rules. Most of the time, these rules are going to include what types of posts are specifically being sought after and how many links are going to be published in each issue of the carnival. Others will ask for you to pick a relevant category for your submission and won’t include you if you don’t select one.
Step 3 – Pick out the best posts in your blog that are aligned with the topic of the Blog Carnival that you chose. You should aim to look for posts that you have written in the past week or two and not many that are older than that. Most Blog Carnival owners prefer newer, fresher posts. It is best, then, to choose posts that are more recent for this purpose. Select the ones that you believe are the best, and use them.
Step 4 - Next submit your content to the Blog Carnival. Add things like the direct URL, the post title and the title of your blog. If you want to raise your chances of potentially being published, then you should make sure that you are including a short and easy to read description or excerpt. Make sure that your post is easy to find, read and include in the Blog Carnival if you want to learn how to increase blog traffic with this method.
You can make this process a regular part of your blogging activities every week if you want to learn how to increase blog traffic. Over time, many links will be created that will point back to your blog, significantly increasing your traffic as a result.

How to Get Blog Traffic in Five Steps

Every blogger is looking to achieve the exact same thing: They are hoping to be read. There are millions of bloggers that give the idea a shot but then eventually give up because they feel like nobody is reading them. They feel like if they are unable to get blog traffic, then why should they even try?
If you feel like you are currently in this position, try not to give up. It is easy to get blog traffic and to gain loyal readers if you are willing to keep blogging. Here are five methods that you can use to get blog traffic where previously you were struggling to gain readership.

1 – Maximize your use of RSS.

Your blog will come with built in RSS capabilities, and you should make sure to be taking advantage of these. The easier it is for people to subscribe to your blog, the easier it will be for you to get blog traffic when you need it.

2 – Build links from other websites.

Search engine spiders use links to navigate the web and index the websites that they find. What this means is, the easier that you make it for the search engines to find you, the easier it will be for you to get blog traffic through search engine results pages. It really is this simple.

3 – Write and syndicate content articles.

Websites and blogs alike are both hungry for content, so if you are willing to deliver this content, then you really cannot go wrong. You will earn new traffic every day, and this flood of traffic will begin as soon as your first article has been posted.

4 – Comment in other related blogs.

Blogs are designed to act as conversations. If you have insights to add to a conversation, or a comment that you want to make, by all means, make it. Leave your e-mail address and a link back to your website, and you will actually be able to get blog traffic simply by participating in online conversations elsewhere on the internet. This is a quick, easy and interactive way to get blog traffic when you are looking for more visitors to your website.

5 – Keep blogging!

The more content that you have, the more visitors you will have, because blog readers love content and are constantly looking for fresh and new information and content. If you provide it, they will find it, and if you continue to provide it, they will continue to return time and time again to read it. It really is this simple. Content is one of the most vital aspects of the blogging process. If you are not posting content, your visitors will never find you or have a reason to stick around once they do.

Bonus Tip

WordPress blogs can make use of Related Websites plugin. Sign up for Blog Traffic Exchange to leverage your content and readership for even more blog traffic. Get quality links to and from your site with other Blog Traffic Exchange members. It’s simple, easy, and indispensable, but don’t just take my word for it.

Mobil Keluarga Ideal Terbaik Indonesia » Mobil Keluarga Ideal Terbaik Indonesia

Mobil Keluarga Ideal Terbaik Indonesia

Mobil Keluarga Ideal Terbaik Indonesia
Mobil Keluarga Ideal Terbaik Indonesia Merupakan Sbuah Topik Yg Kami Angkat Untuk berperan serta dalam Kontes SEO yang diadakan Pihak Perusahaan Toyota ( www.toyota.astra.co.id )dg Tema Toyota Awards SEO 2010 Yg Menjadi acuan Kata Keywords “Mobil Keluarga Ideal Terbaik Indonesia”
Lomba Ini Dibuka 7 Oktober 2010 (Jam 12:00 wib) dan ditutup Pada tanggal 31 Januari 2011 (Jam 12.00 wib), kami akan melakukan pencarian untuk “kata kunci” di Google.co.id, dan Yahoo.co.id dan menggabungkan nilai dan kemudian menentukan pemenang. Skor tersebut dihitung dengan memberikan poin ke posisi 1 – 10 pada setiap mesin pencari. Anda akan menerima 10 poin untuk peringkat 1, dan 1 poin untuk peringkat 10.
Sebagai contoh:
Situs web Anda: www.domainanda.com atau www.domainanda.com/subdomain —-> (Tidak menggunakan domain dan subdomain dengan target keyword yang di lombakan).

• Peringkat di Google: 7 = 4 poin
• Rank di Yahoo: 2 = 9 poin
• Nilai kualitas artikel = 7 poin
• Total poin untuk www.domainanda.com = 20 poin

Dg Total Hadiah kurang Lebih 40Juta Yg Akan Dibagikan Pada peserta Kontes SEO Dg Kata Kunci Mobil Keluarga Ideal Terbaik Indonesia.
Untuk mempelajari petarutan yang berlaku dalam SEO Award ini silakan klik disini.
Formulir pendaftaran dapat Anda temukan dikanan bawah halaman utama website Toyota SEO Award 2010. Anda layak jadi juara Toyota SEO Award 2010.
Dg Beberapa Kriteria Pilihan Topik Artikel Silahkan Baca Panduannya disini Click in here
Review Sekilas Mengenai Salah Satu Product Toyota

Mobil Keluarga Ideal Terbaik Indonesia

Release Date : Kamis, 23 September 2010
Media : Media Indonesia, at page 18, size 1085 mmk
Journalist : (Pun/S-2)
MEMBAYANGKAN sebuah perjalanan mudik saat libur Lebaran dari Jakarta ke Jawa Tengah melewati jalur pantai utara (pantura) Jawa tentu akan sangat melelahkan.
Pada musim mudik tahun ini, Media Indonesia berkesempatan menggunakan sekaligus menguji Kijang Innova yang dipinjamkan PT Toyota Astra Motor (TAM) untuk menemani perjalanan, dua pekan lalu.
Meski fisik dan mental sudah disiapkan untuk menghadapi kemacetan panjang khas arus mudik, pada awalnya tetap tebersit kekhawatiran apakah mobil yang dipakai ini akan mampu memberikan kenyamanan selama perjalanan atau justru akan menambah kepusingan pengendara dengan masalah-masalahnya.
Maklum mobil yang kita uji bertransmisi manual, yang sering kali membuat kaki pegal saat menempuh jalanan padat merayap yang panjang. Selain itu, di benak orang selama ini, Innova terutama yang keluaran awal, punya kelemahan pada konsumsi bahan bakarnya yang cukup boros.

Dua hal itulah yang boleh dibilang menjadi perhatian utama Media Indonesia dan tiga rekan lain saat memulai perjalanan, Rabu (8/9). Selain, tentunya ingin pula menguji ketangguhan mesin dan kenyamanan kabin beserta
perangkat-perangkat di dalamnya. Tak salah memang bila H-2 Lebaran disebut sebagai puncak-puncaknya arus mudik 2010.
Kami yang berangkat malam hari sekitar 23.30 WIB pun sudah disambut dengan kepadatan arus mulai dari Tol Cikampek.
Selama perjalanan, Kijang Innova yang dibekali mesin Toyota tipe 1TR-FE 2.000 cc VVT-i terbukti cukup andal dengan kemampuan tarikannya yang cukup mantap. Meski sejumlah karakter jalan yang kami lewati bervariasi, mulai dari padatnya jalan tol hingga jalan berliku diselingi tanjakan di Subang, mesin Innova terasa tangguh saat melewatinya.
Teknologi VVT-i juga membuat kerja menjadi lebih efisien sehingga konsumsi BBM Innova pun tak seboros pendahulunya. Enaknya lagi, mesin Innova masih memungkinkan untuk diisi bahan bakar premium bertimbal. Faktor ini tentu saja penting karena di sepanjang jalur pantura tidak banyak SPBU yang menyediakan Pertamax.
Yang juga menjadi surprise bagi kami, transmisi manual Innova tak membuat pegal kaki kiri pengemudi. Injakan kopling dengan sistem throttle by wire yang empuk serta perpindahan antargigi yang smooth sangat membantu pengemudi, terutama di saat harus berhadapan dengan kemacetan dan lika-liku tanjakan.
Di bagian belakang, penumpang juga dimanjakan dengan lapangnya kabin Innova. Dominasi warna beige di hampir seluruh ruangan terasa meneduhkan, ditambah fasilitas reclining di setiap kursinya dan AC double blower yang desainnya tak memakan tempat karena menyatu dengan atap ruang, membuat perjalanan yang panjang pun tetap nyaman untuk dinikmati.
Hasilnya, perjalanan kami yang menghabiskan waktu hampir’24 jam dari Jakarta menuju Temanggung menjadi terasa tak melelahkan dan siap melanjutkan perjalanan di keesokan harinya untuk bersilaturahim dan berekreasi. Tentu saja masih bersama Innova.

Mobil Keluarga Ideal Terbaik Indonesia

Release Date : Kamis, 05 Agustus 2010
Media : Otomotif, at page 03, size 340 mmk
Journalist : eRIE
Source : Widyawati, GM product planning & customer relationship PT Toyota Astra Motor (TAM)
Seiring diluncurkannya tipe E bertransmisi matik di varian mesin bensinnya, maka saat ini sudah ada 17 tipe Toyota Kijang Innova. Mulai tipe J (terendah), E, G hingga V (tertinggi) dan mesin bensin maupun diesel, semuanya ada. Hebat!
Tapi, kenapa begitu banyak pilihannya? “Permintaan di segmen atas buat spesifikasi Innova memang bermacam-macam, mulai dari yang paling mewah sampai yang paling simpel,” sebut Widyawati, GM product planning & customer relationship PT Toyota Astra Motor (TAM).
Lantas, kenapa tidak sekalian transmisi matik untuk tipe E mesin dieselnya? Widyawati lebih lanjut menjelaskan kalau konsumen Innova lebih banyak menyukai mesin bensin ketimbang dieselnya.
Pun begitu dengan konsumen Avanza yang membuat TAM juga tak berniat memperbanyak varian Avanza-nya. Widyawati yang ditemui pada gelaran IIMS (29/7) lalu, kembali menyebut kalau konsumen Avanza berbeda. “Mereka memang tak mempunyai banyak permintaan atas spesifikasi Avanza itu.”
Untuk Innova E A/T Bensin itu sendiri dihargai Rp 223 juta (OTR Jakarta) atau lebih mahal Rp 13 juta dari versi transmisi manualnya. “Kami tidak punya target spesifik buat penjualan Innova, sebanyak-banyaknya lah,” sahut Joko Trisanyoto, direktur pemasaran TAM.
Di saat yang sama, TAM juga meluncurkan versi terbaru dari Innova G Luxury dan V Luxury. Kali ini ada penambahan roof monitors dengan fitur DVD Player serta wireless headphone dan remote control. Khusus di V Luxury ditambahi lagi dengan side wsor(talang air) dan rear license ornament.
Lengkap, kap, kap… eRIE

Check-In Apps Add Key Relevancy Factor to Your Marketing

Are check-in apps just a fad or are they the future of local business marketing? It may still be too early to tell, but I'm starting to lean toward the latter, because this space is only picking up more and more steam, and businesses and marketers are getting excited about it as more apps continue to flood the mobile app markets. 

Are check-in apps just a fad? Tell us what you think.

At PubCon this week, WebProNews spoke with Gib Olander, director of biz dev atLocaleze, which provides local business listings to all kinds of sites and apps. He certainly seems convinced that location-based services (LBS) are here to stay. 

"Geo-location is just an outstanding place, and the way I think about it is, we started with a big search box and we all kind of wanted to find answers to 'what' questions and things have evolved pretty quickly to a 'what' and a 'where', so we did a geo-modifier," he tells us. "We added a state or a zip code or a city. We started to find more information."

Putting the "Where" and the "When" in Marketing 

"Nicely, social layers added on top of that where you start to get your Facebook and your friends' recommendations," he continues. "Yelp did a great job with reviews, and then Foursquare came along, and they've added a really neat new component with this check-in feature, and there's other sites that are doing it as well, like Brightkite and SCVNGR, but one of the things I think is really neat and new for marketers is they've added the time of 'when.'"

That "when" is a key factor in executing a successful campaign, and it's one that just hasn't been able to get nearly as precise in marketing channels of the past. The mobile device in customers' pocket tracking right where they are when they're there (particularly when they're sharing this information on purpose) is astonishingly powerful. 

More WebProNews Videos

"When someone is there really changes the relevancy of what kind of information you want to share with them - what kind of things you want to talk to them about," says Olander. "So, geo-location has added all those...kind of layers: the who, what, where, why, and when on top of each other, and it's created new opportunities for businesses to talk to their customers, and for customers to discover new businesses, and I think that's just really exciting for our space."

"Michael Metcalf from Yahoo talked about this at a conference," he recalls. "Your spatial network is just about as important as your social network. So who's around you and when they're around you both from a physical location, and businesses need to be aware of that with other businesses, but also people around you. Because when people congregate in an area, they leave a pyschographic imprint of who they are and what they are, and why they're there. And marketers can tend to look at that."

"Like so right now at PubCon, if you were tracking this event, you would see that by the profiles people have when they're here now at this particular time...you know, we've got a lot of interesting SEO and SEM and geo-location and marketing and targeting," Olander explains. "So as a marketer or advertiser...and a big feel for tech...so maybe if you're the Marriott nearby, you could start to target the area during the hours that we're here with special offers of free wi-fi or that type of thing."

Which Check-In Apps Should I Utilize? 

One challenge that marketers face along with these types of opportunities is knowing which services to utilize. There are seemingly new check-in apps coming out just about every day.  Foursquare is the one that's gotten the most attention thus far, but there are plenty of others breathing down that company's neck to be the "it" check-in app - the Facebook to Foursquare's MySpace. Of course, Facebook itself is doing more in this space with its Facebook Places product. It will be interesting to see how other apps co-exist with that. Facebook Places is only going to get bigger and bigger. The social network has over half a billion user, let's not forget.

"I think the real competition from the Facebook ecosystem is gonna come from third-party developers like Zynga that build on top of the Facebook Places API, because you'll notice with Facebook Places that they haven't done anything with like virtual goods like badges or points, and these are some of the main attractions of Foursquare and Gowalla," Lawrence Coburn, who runs the geo-location app provider DoubleDutch recently told WebProNews. "So they've just left that open, but I know that third-party developers won't be so shy, and they'll come in and make games, because there's a lot of good game developers on Facebook." 

That's certainly another advantage for the social network giant, but that doesn't mean it's time to consider the rest of these apps doomed. 

Foursquare itself has some pretty big plans, particularly for local businesses. CEO Dennis Crowley talked about this at ad:tech last week. "The harder part is consumer brands...consumer packaged goods," he said, adding that it's hard to find a practical way to use Foursquare to sell things like batteries or cereal. The local business stuff is much more obvious though, and what may not work with Foursquare or even Facebook Places, may work with another app. 

"Across the board, they're all really important," says Olander. "I think there's a stat out that there's more than six thousand LBS apps on the iPhone alone, so fragmentation is a reality of the marketplace. What we think, at Localeze, is that you look at each one of them as an opportunity...what you really have to establish is your business identity online."

"It used to be that you could just have a brick and mortar store, and put a nice awning up or a nice sign up, and people would walk by and find you," he adds. "But today, you really have to own that online presence, and that starts with owning your name/address/phone number. You make sure it's consistent in multiple applications, and then you're starting to cover them all. You start to monitor each of those and see where most of the foot traffic, or where your audience or customers are, and then really interact with those and create unique content offers for them." 

Target Launches Online Daily Deals For The Holiday Season

Target has introduced new online daily deals for the holiday shopping season.

Target.com's Daily Deals will offer one-day sales of up to 50 percent off regular prices. New deals this holiday season include:

*“Mega Merry Mondays,” beginning each week with deals on 17 popular items.

*“Total Toy Tuesdays,” offering discounts on five popular toys.

Shoppers can be notified of the daily deals by signing up for email, text message or Twitter alerts at Target.com/dailydeals.

For the first time, Target.com is selling real Christmas trees, wreaths and garlands. Customers can pre-order now, with trees shipping for free beginning November 15. Prices range from $79 to $159, based on height.

When shoppers spend $50 or more on Target.com from November 21 tto December 11, they will receive free shipping on more than 800,000 items.

"From our popular Daily Deals experience to online-only shopping events, Target.com is the place to be this year for guests seeking the convenience of online shopping,” said Steve Eastman, president, Target.com.

“And this year we have enhanced that experience by quadrupling the number of items eligible for free shipping and offering an additional five percent off all online purchases when guests use their REDcard at checkout."

Significant Yahoo Layoffs Rumored

At a time when people should be decorating their offices in a festive manner, it seems that a large number of Yahoo employees will instead have to carry away their belongings in cardboard boxes.  Multiple sources indicate that Yahoo intends to conduct another round of layoffs in December.

Indeed, it's almost certain at this point that layoffs will occur.  The big question is how many people will be affected.  Michael Arrington, who broke the story, claimed that 20 percent of Yahoo's employees - or around 2,500 individuals - will get cut, and he stuck by that figure even after Yahoo called it "misleading and inaccurate."

Kara Swisher, meanwhile, wrote, "[T]he layoffs . . . will be closer to 10 percent and be almost completely centered on the product organization under Chief Product Officer Blake Irving, said sources close to the situation. . . .  That would mean layoffs of about 650, since that part of Yahoo has about 6,500 employees."

So we'll see what happens.

Either way, though, it looks like the company is preparing to slim down quite a bit.  And although that should save Yahoo some money, investors don't appear too excited about the idea, given that Yahoo's stock has fallen 1.58 percent so far today.

In comparison, the Dow and Nasdaq are only down 0.79 percent and 1.03 percent, respectively.

Tips For Increasing the Chances of Customers Buying From You Online

In the fast-paced digital age where everyone wants a piece of that sweet Internet money, competition for small businesses is greater than ever. Fortunately there are  more tools available to small businesses than ever as well. Still, there are so many factors to consider, and so little time. 

WebProNews sat down with Paul Boisvert of Yahoo Small Business to talk about some things that small e-commerce companies are doing wrong and how they can improve their approaches to ultimately get more sales. 

Making the Most of Limited Time and Resources

"The big issue with any small business is having enough time," says Boisvert. "There's so many different trends that are out there, having to keep up on the education with what's new...what's current, what are the new tools they should be using, what are the new trends...it's a little bit daunting, and so we try to simplify things with our services, and try to educate them and direct their attention to things that are going to generate the highest ROI."

In fact, this subject came up more than once at PubCon this week. Read here and here for some additional thoughts on this from Chris Brogan and the New York Times' tech columnist David Pogue respectively. 

"In a nutshell, the biggest thing I see that they're doing wrong is they're not focusing," says Boisvert. "They're not embracing their passion. When people get in and try to sell every product to every single person...you can't possibly be an expert on everything."

"You know, Amazon has tens of thousands of employees, but they have people that are experts on their specific topics," he adds. "So all small businesses need to kind of embrace what that core product is that they really have a lot of knowledge on, and then you'll be able to speak with authenticity. You'll be able to speak with authority, and that's going to persuade people to buy from you, and buy the products that you're selling as opposed to anywhere where they could get the same product."

More WebProNews Videos

But e-commerce success isn't just about time and product focus. Things like site usability and shopping cart optimization can make a huge difference when it comes to getting people to actually buy.

Improving Your Shopping Cart Process

"A few pointers I would throw out on shopping cart optimization..." says Boisvert. "You obviously want to have your contact information there, you want your 1-800 number there if you have one (if not, if you have a live chat, you want it there)...it's just a reassurance. Even if people don't use it, they know that that number is there. You're a reputable company, and if they have an issue they can contact you. It's not hidden."

"So you kind of want to reduce all the fears that people have as they proceed into that checkout process, so they don't have any of those questions and they can just pull out their wallet and pay you," he explains.

"Other things like trust marks are also very important," Boisvert adds. "Just having them on the site and reassuring somebody that you're a brand that another larger company has vetted to a certain degree, whether that's Yahoo or Verisign or any of the other trust marks that are out there, but those are really important in kind of reducing the fears that people have."

Trust is one thing, but you also have to think about the process itself. How easy is it for a customer to check out? If there's any hassle involved, you risk losing the sale, because your competition is only a click away. 

How Many Pages Should The Checkout Process Include?

"You do have to guide the consumer,' says Boisvert. "You want to have a smooth flow. You want to reduce friction in your checkout process, but I think the whole argument around one-page or two-page or three-page is largely overblown. I've talked with many merchants. They've tested both versions. Our shopping cart supports all the various combinations: order review in place, order review not in place, single-page, multi-page...people have tested it, and they find out that the results for the most part are the same."

"I think the key differences are the people that are kind of on the edges," he notes. "If you sell a very low average order value, like a $20 purchase such as beads for jewelry or something like that, a single-page checkout makes sense because it doesn't require a lot of having to address a lot of fears and uncertainties with a low purchase value."

"However, on the flipside, if you're selling expensive watches or appliances, you want a multi-step process so somebody can feel comfortable with you...comfortable with the product they're going to get at the end of this checkout process," he concludes. 

Watch the video above for more from Boisvert and some things Yahoo Small Business specifically is doing for e-commerce businesses.

Google Vulnerability Program Meets With Early Success

Perhaps the best possible thing, from Google's point of view, would have been if it had announced its vulnerability reward program and then heard nothing at all.  But a short while after the program's launch, Google's seen a response that it still characterized as "fantastic" as people have been quick to bring problems to light.

A little background info, in case you missed it: early this month, Google offered money to people who could find certain bugs related to "[a]ny Google web properties which display or manage highly sensitive authenticated user data or accounts may be in scope."  The sum would vary from $500.00 to $3,133.70 depending on the severity of the issue.

Now, a post on the Google Online Security Blog has stated, "We've received many high quality reports from across the globe.  Our bug review committee has been working hard, and we're pleased to say that so far we plan to award over $20,000 to various talented researchers."

Which might translate to as many as 40 vulnerabilities (or as few as seven).

So the program's achieving its stated goal, at least.  And all this doesn't necessarily mean Google's engineers overlooked a lot.  Apparently "[t]he review committee has been somewhat generous this first week," and Google intends to be stricter about sending out checks in the future.

Lots more details are available here if you're interested in participating in the program.

Marketing and Personal Implications of a Facebook Email Service

Rumor has it that Facebook will unveil its webmail product on Monday. That means look out Yahoo Mail. Look out Hotmail, and more interestingly in the grand scheme of things, look out Gmail.
I was going to wait until the official announcement from Facebook on Monday to talk about this, so we can get all the real details about what this will entail, but as long as the cat's out of the bag, we might as well talk about what this might mean.
What would a Facebook email address mean to you? Comment here.
Should Google Be Worried?
According to unnamed sources cited by TechCrunch, the company will announce what it is referring to internally as its "Gmail killer". It would appear more than obvious who the real target is here, and if Facebook plays it right, Gmail, which reportedly has about 170 million users, may be in a world of hurt up against Facebook's more than half a billion.
As the tech community still awaits Google's next social moves (the "social layers" they're supposedly adding to existing products) Facebook appears to be going straight for what is arguably Google's greatest social asset. Gmail is the main hub of communication and social activity in the Google universe. If the need for that is eliminated by Facebook, where many of these users are already spending a great deal of their online time anyway (as well as building their real social circles of real world friends), what will they really need Gmail for?
A lot of sites require you to give an email address to sign up for their services. This is one reason that social networks can't replace email. However, when a social network offers that email, it's a different story.
Why Facebook Email Could Be Useful
Gizmodo's Jesus Diaz makes some interesting points about what a Facebook webmail service could mean. "Remember that Facebook's mail is rumored to have external mail client access as well as its dedicated webmail interface," he writes. "It will be easy to have it in every single gadget you own."
"Moreover, it's not only about separating what is important and what is not," he later adds. "Their tracking data could allow them to do other things, like prioritizing mail from the person who just became your fiance or lowering the priority of that ex who keeps mailing you. They can also let you enable easy filtering options to automatically prioritize your mail and file it into separate boxes. The possibilities of using your social interactions to enhance the mail experience are endless, and I have no doubt that Facebook will exploit all of them to your (and their) advantage."
Facebook Trying to Become Email?
Such a move by Facebook is not entirely unexpected. This has been rumored for the better part of the year, but it is still somewhat curious, considering comments made earlier this year by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who basically called email all but dead (a point we argued with rigorously  in this article).
Facebook knows how important email is. Or is the company simply trying to phase email out? If they can get everyone using Facebook email, the way they've gotten so many to use its service in general, they can begin to control the way that feature works, and could conceivably just merge it with other features to the point where people just find themselves using "Facebook" to communicate and sign in everywhere. Is Facebook trying to BE email?
This will never happen completely (meaning they will never get EVERYBODY), but if the email feature gets the kind of adoption Facebook in general has, it might be enough to where it doesn't make much difference. Right now, technically not EVERYONE is on Facebook, but for all intents and purposes, everyone's on Facebook.
There will no doubt be plenty of privacy concerns about this, for the simple fact that Facebook has drawn so many in the past. It doesn't matter how well they actually do honor privacy with this. Some people will just be too nervous to completely commit all their private email information to Facebook.
It will be very interesting to see how Facebook email affects email marketing, particularly if the type of thing Diaz is talking about comes to fruition - relevance/priority of messages determined by social interaction.
An Unlimited Amount of Useful Features?
One positive thing about having your email right in Facebook is that it would eliminate the problem of having to check both your email and Facebook separately. There are already various integrations where you can do these things from a single place, but having it all compact right in Facebook could be a more attractive experience for a lot of users.
Another potentially positive aspect of Facebook email could be the sheer amount of features that that users could gain access to. If you were able to utilize different apps built by third-party developers to change the functionality of your inbox, that could be very powerful.
Gmail users love Gmail Labs - when Google launches new experimental features - but imagine having the whole Facebook developer community building different features for your inbox that you can turn on and off. It could make for a much more personalized and customized experience, allowing users to make their inbox as useful as possible.  
It Makes Sense.
In many ways, Facebook email would make a lot of sense, in the same way Facebook payments make sense. You're already signing into things all over the web your Facebook account, this is one more thing to add to the mix.
As long as you are able to take your messages with you, should you be want to close your Facebook account, there are a lot of potential advantages. We don't know if this is the case or not, however, at this point. This is why I initially wanted to wait for the actual announcement.
Either way, here's some ideas to chew on over the weekend. We'll no doubt be discussing this more next week.

A complicated pricing structure does few people any favors.  Businesses just risk annoying or alienating potential customers who don't feel like pulling out three spreadsheets and a graphing calculator in order to predict their bill.  So it may be a good thing that Google Site Search gained a simpler pricing structure today.

A post on the Official Google Enterprise Blog explained, "To date, we've charged for Google Site Search based on both the number of submitted search queries and the number of pages indexed.  We noticed that many of our users had a difficult time estimating the number of pages included in the scope of their search engine, so we are introducing a new pricing system that factors only the quantity of submitted queries your Google Site Search engine receives each year."

You can see the price sheet for yourself below.  With just three columns and six rows (counting the heading), it's pretty easy to read.

Then here's one other important point: Google says it isn't using this change as an opportunity to sneak a price hike past everyone.  The blog posted stated, "The vast majority of our users will be unaffected and many will even begin paying less when the new prices take effect upon their annual renewal."

So current Google Site Search users should remain satisfied, and perhaps a few mathematically challenged business owners will now decide to strike up a relationship with the product.

Clicks But No Conversions? It’s the Landing Page Every Time

Are you putting enough thought into your landing pages? If not, it’s probably the main reason your conversions, or more importantly your revenue, aren’t higher. At PubCon in Las Vegas, WebProNews spoke with Brad Geddes, Founder of PPC training firm bgTheoryabout advanced PPC and landing page optimization. 

Why Landing Page Optimization is Critical

"Landing page optimization – it is critical," he says. "If you have an account that has several thousand clicks and no conversions, it’s the landing page. That’s always the issue."

"A lot of people don’t really get some of the high-level landing page testing," he continues. "Step one is where do you send the traffic, whether it’s…rarely the home page, but it’s a category page, a product page, an about page, so forth. And then it really comes to laying out the page itself."

Think about it from the user perspective. How much of a page do you take in before you leave or convert? The whole thing? I doubt it. 

"The most missed element is that whole concept of ‘above the fold’ – what’s displayed in the browser when the page first loads," says Geddes. "80% of [the] time, 76% of clicks occur in that above the fold section, so if that call to action isn’t there, it doesn’t matter how good your page is."

"Every page really has a goal to it – what you want someone to do," he continues. "So certain pages you’ll have actually won’t be conversion-based pages. They’ll be more segmentation-based pages or so forth. But every page you send traffic to, you should have a primary goal, which you want someone to do."

"So, if you’re a lead gen site, you obviously want a form on the landing page," Geddes adds. "If it’s an e-commerce site, you want a buy button. It sort of depends on what kind of site you are. If it’s a local business, you want a phone number and driving directions, but your conversion action has to be on that landing page. It should be above the fold, clearly visible, easy to understand contents. Minimize distractions."

More WebProNews Videos

Why Less Conversions Can Mean Greater Revenue

"We have a blog that has a huge amount of traffic on it, but had horrible conversion rates, so we essentially moved more conversion elements to the blog, and what happened is, the site’s overall conversion rates dropped significantly, but our revenue went up a lot, because all of a sudden we’re bringing more people into the funnel," Geddes explains.

"So that’s where conversion rates are interesting, because you kind of measure it from the point of the user – where they entered your funnel, so…it dropped our conversion rates…a thirty or forty percent drop in conversion rates," he says. "Probably a 20% increase in revenue. We just essentially brought more people into the funnel to buy."

Everyone wants traffic, and there’s no question. If the traffic’s not there, you can’t convert it. That said, it doesn’t end with getting a lot of traffic. You can’t just get people to your landing page. That page has to make them want to perform the action you are trying to get them to perform. 

"It’s not about the traffic. Traffic gets someone to your site," says Geddes. "The page then has to pick up the traffic to actually convert it."

You might want to worry about that before you start worrying about how to get people to your site.