What’s So Funny? Google Instant is a Popular Screen Shot

There’s something else going on out there in regards to Google Instant. People have noticed the interesting & sometimes funny, even alarming, results that come up in the search suggestions. On a social level, individuals have been taking snap shots of these results & sharing their interesting finds with others. Try it yourself – you’ll probably get a good shock or laugh out of the results. Here are some interesting ideas to get you started. Apparently, there’s a lot of people interested in whether or not mini giraffes are real & if fairies truly exist. See for yourself…

Mini Giraffes . . . Everybody Wants One!

Fairies – Fact or Fiction?

How Can Google Instant Provide Marketing Insights?

So, how is Google Instant yet another marketing tool? Well, go to Google Search & begin to type something in (if you haven’t already been provoked based on the aforementioned examples). . . Notice how Google offers you other popular keyword terms or phrases that others have typed in. Here are some examples of results that might be insightful to …

Companies that Sell Business Solutions

Companies that Sell Items That Are Blue…or Blu…

Companies that Sell the Best…

Indeed, this Instant dose of what I’m probably searching for saves me time. 2 seconds a search X 30 searches daily = 60 seconds a day. Thanks for my minutes back, Google! If you find yourself with an interesting application for this, feel free to share your discoveries! Happy Searching!

You may think you know your seasonal trends, but that’s just your current sales. If you’re looking for new sales outlets, seasonal purchasing behavior might be a great place to start adding the right ingredients to your marketing platter. Consider complementary products, as well, that you can piggy back on sales.

So, now that you have some ideas & are ready to test some seasonality, let’s get started.

Google Insights

Does ‘carpet cleaning’ have seasonal sales trends? According to Google Insights, the popularity of searches for ‘carpet cleaning’ undoubtedly peak in June-July of each year. Would you have guessed that one?

Sources of Seasonal Sales

Finally, keep in mind that there are many “seasons” in a business. It doesn’t have to be the traditional climate change you may be thinking about. You might have interesting sales trends that are very unique to your individual business. Here is a list of items that might cause sales fluctuations for you:

• Seasonal Trends: spring, summer, fall, winter…
• Weekly Patterns: Mondays, Sundays, ?…
• Weather Patterns: sunshine, rain, temperatures…
• Economic Trends: consumer index, price of other products…
• Industry Trends: employment…
• Your own business trends: work ethic, vacations, employee morale…

Google’s Mistake… Sorry Everyone

“Sorry we messed up,” was the response that Google reps gave on Twitter, shortly after they “pulled the app to fix the problem.” Is this really a bad way to handle it?

Actually, I find that Google handled the situation with humility. Besides, being in a technical, fast-paced, industry means there’s destined to be mistakes here and there. It is implausible to expect a company, regardless of the size and resources, to never mess up. Part of the technical world involves the exact element of trial & error. However, can there really be a strategy behind handling company mistakes? Absolutely!

Responding to Your Customers – Company Mishaps

Okay, so we can agree or disagree on whether or not the company can make mistakes like this. However, let’s talk about the method of handling such mistakes. Every company will eventually have to deal with it. How would you handle the “oops” moment? Google has handled this in a very human way. Rather than spending 10 days crafting a very corporate, non-offensive, perfect (bland) response, the company issued a very timely and every-day-guy comment. It was as if there was a Google tech sitting behind his computer on on his smart phone just writing a typical message. Basically, it was personable; and that, is a respectable approach. No excuses. No fluff.

What’s your company’s approach?

HTML5 – It’s Not the HTML You Used to Know!

HTML5 is bringing many new features & elements, which are changing best practices in the layout of a website. Webmasters are now encouraged to use these new features for better cleaner code. Search Engines read through your website’s content, which you can now more effectively classify. Just like adding a tag for headings to let the Search Engine know it’s a heading, if some content is a definition, there’s a tag for that now too. You can literally code your entire website into sections, definitions, addresses, quotes, pieces of code, in addition to all of the standard HTML tags. Say goodbye to blocks of text just hanging around in your code, or even in a random Div. Say Hello to communicating more effectively with search engines.

Simplicity is another important feature. Code for Doc Type & StyleSheets now requires less. For instance, here’s all you need for your basic site layout:

HTML5 Brings Other Exciting New Features

For web designers & masters, HTML5 also introduces some exciting possibilities in terms of using videos (some solution to the Flash dilemma), other audio & media, form controls, and tons of other HTML5 New Elements!

Will HTML5 Mean Changes to Search Engine Equations?

As of Google’s 2011 SEO Starter Guide, there’s not a lot of emphasis yet on these new items. However, it makes sense that this is important to begin implementing & brushing up on. Google always favors items that improve communication, & HTML5 does just that!

Not So Fast…HTML5 Is Still a Baby

Currently, there are still a few browsers that have not adopted all of the new HTML5 features (Internet Explorer is not surprisingly one of those. Although, if Browser Use Stats keep trending as they have been, this may soon not be an issue!).

Are you your own webmaster? If you want to learn HTML5 now, W3schools provides great guides & details on these features: