Penguin 2.0/4 - Were You Jarred and/or Jolted?

Posted by Dr. Pete
The long-awaited Penguin 2.0 (also called "Penguin 4") rolled out on Wednesday, May 22nd. Rumor has been brewing for a while that the next Penguin update would be big, and include significant algorithm changes, and Matt Cutts has suggested more than once that major changes are in the works. We wanted to give the dust a day to settle, but this post will review data from our MozCast Google weather stations to see if Penguin 2.0 really lives up to the hype.

Short-Term MozCast Data

First things first - the recorded temperature (algorithm "flux") for May 22nd was 80.7°F. For reference, MozCast is tuned to an average temperature of about 70°, but the reality is that that average has slipped into the high 60s over the past few months. Here's a 7-day history, along with a couple of significant events (including Penguin 1.0):

By our numbers, Penguin 2.0 was about on par with the 20th Panda update. Google claimed that Penguin 2.0 impacted about 2.3% of US/English queries, while they clocked Panda #20 at about 2.4% of queries (see my post on how to interpret "X% of queries"). Penguin 1.0 was measured at 3.1% of queries, the highest query impact Google has publicly reported. These three updates seem to line up pretty well between temperature and reported impact, but the reality is that we've seen big differences for other updates, so take that with a grain of salt.
Overall, the picture of Penguin 2.0 in our data confirms an update, but it doesn't seem to be as big as many people expected. Please note that we had a data collection issue on May 20th, so the temperatures for May 20-21 are unreliable. It's possible that Penguin 2.0 rolled out over two days, but we can't confirm that observation.

Temperatures by Category

In addition to the core MozCast data, we have a beta system running 10K keywords distributed across 20 industry categories (based on Google AdWords categories). The average temperature for any given category can vary quite a bit, so I looked at the difference between Penguin 2.0 and the previous 7 days for each category. Here they are, in order by most impacted (1-day/7-day temps in parentheses):

• 
  33.0% (80°/60°) – Retailers & General Merchandise
• 
  31.2% (81°/62°) – Real Estate
• 
  30.8% (90°/69°) – Dining & Nightlife
• 
  29.1% (89°/69°) – Internet & Telecom
• 
  26.0% (82°/65°) – Law & Government
• 
  24.4% (79°/64°) – Finance
• 
  23.5% (81°/65°) – Occasions & Gifts
• 
  20.8% (88°/73°) – Beauty & Personal Care
• 
  17.3% (70°/60°) – Travel & Tourism
• 
  15.7% (87°/75°) – Vehicles
• 
  15.5% (84°/73°) – Arts & Entertainment
• 
  15.4% (72°/62°) – Health
• 
  15.0% (83°/72°) – Home & Garden
• 
  14.2% (78°/69°) – Family & Community
• 
  13.4% (79°/70°) – Apparel
• 
  13.1% (78°/69°) – Hobbies & Leisure
• 
  12.0% (74°/66°) – Jobs & Education
• 
  11.5% (88°/79°) – Sports & Fitness
• 
  7.8% (75°/70°) – Food & Groceries
• 
  -3.7% (70°/73°) – Computers & Consumer Electronics

Retailers and Real Estate came in at the top, with just over 30% higher than average temperatures. Consumer Electronics rounded out the bottom, with slightly lower than average flux, oddly. Of course, split 20 ways, this represents a relatively small number of data points for each category. It's useful for reference, but I wouldn't read too much into these breakdowns.

"Big 20" Sub-domains

Across the beta 10K data-set, we track the top sub-domains by overall share of SERP real-estate. Essentially, we count how many page-1 positions each sub-domain holds and divide it across the entire data set. These were the Big 20 sub-domains for the day after Penguin 2.0 hit, along with their SERP share and 1-day change:

1. 
   5.66% (+0.29%) – en.wikipedia.org
2. 
   2.35% (-0.75%) – www.amazon.com
3. 
   2.22% (+3.11%) – www.youtube.com
4. 
   1.49% (+6.05%) – www.facebook.com
5. 
   1.35% (-8.11%) – www.yelp.com
6. 
   0.84% (+4.77%) – twitter.com
7. 
   0.58% (+0.37%) – www.webmd.com
8. 
   0.58% (+1.87%) – pinterest.com
9. 
   0.52% (+1.24%) – www.walmart.com
10. 
    0.49% (+4.54%) – www.tripadvisor.com
11. 
    0.47% (+0.45%) – www.foodnetwork.com
12. 
    0.47% (-0.44%) – allrecipes.com
13. 
    0.44% (+1.98%) – www.ebay.com
14. 
    0.41% (-0.76%) – www.mayoclinic.com
15. 
    0.38% (+1.72%) – www.target.com
16. 
    0.37% (-4.37%) – www.yellowpages.com
17. 
    0.37% (+0.58%) – popular.ebay.com
18. 
    0.36% (+2.12%) – www.huffingtonpost.com
19. 
    0.33% (+3.27%) – www.overstock.com
20. 
    0.32% (-0.32%) – www.indeed.com

By percentage change, Yelp was the big day-over-day loser, at -8.11%, and Twitter picked up the highest percentage, at +4.77%. In absolute positions, YouTube picked up the most page-1 rankings, and Yelp was still the biggest loser. Overall, the Big 20 occupied 20.00% of the page-1 real estate the day after Penguin 2.0, up from 19.88% the previous day, picking up a modest number of ranking positions.

3rd-Party Analyses

I'd just like to call out a few analyses that were posted yesterday based on unique data, since there are bound to be a lot of speculative posts in the next few weeks. SearchMetrics posted its Penguin 2.0 biggest losers list, with porn and gaming sites taking the heaviest losses (Search Engine Land provided additional analysis). GetStat.com showed a jump in Top 100 rankings for big brands, but relatively small changes for most sites, and most of those changes on pages 3+ of SERPs.

Most reports yesterday showed relatively modest day-over-day changes (solid evidence of an algorithm update, but not a particularly big update). One exception was Dejan SEO's Australian flux tracker, Algoroo, which showed massive day-over-day flux. We believe that at least two other major algorithm updates have rolled out in May in the US, so it's possible that multiple updates were combined and hit other countries simultaneously. This is purely speculative, but no other reports seem to suggest changes on the scale of the Australian data.

The May 9th Update

I'd like to also call out an unconfirmed algorithm update in early May. There was a period of heavy flux for a few days at the beginning of the month, which was backed up by webmaster chatter and other 3rd-party reports. Temperatures on May 9th reached 83.3°F. The MozCast 7-day graph appears below:

The temperature spike on May 5th is unconfirmed, and may have been a test across a small number of data centers (unfortunately, our 10K data for that day was running a separate test and so we can't compare the two data sets). Reports of updates popped up across this time period, but our best guess is May 9th. Interestingly, traffic to MozCast tends to reveal when people suspect an update and are looking for confirmation, and the traffic pattern shows a similar trend:

Traffic data also suggest that May 5th was probably an anomaly. Private data from multiple SEOs shows sites gradually losing traffic over a couple of days in this period. Unfortunately, we have no clear explanation at this time, and I do not believe that this was directly related to Penguin 2.0. Google did roll out a domain crowding update at some point in the past couple of weeks, which may be connected to the early May data, but we don't have solid evidence either way. At this point, though, I strongly believe that the data indicates a significant algorithm update around May 9th.

Were You Hit by Penguin 2.0?

It's important to keep in mind that all of this is aggregate data. Algorithm updates are like unemployment rates. If the unemployment rate is 10%, the reality for any individual is still binary – you either have a job or you don't. You can weather 20% unemployment if you have a job (although you may worry more), and 5% unemployment is little comfort if you're jobless. I don't want to suggest any lack of empathy for those hit by Penguin 2.0 by suggesting that the update was relatively small, but overall the impact seems to be less jarring and jolting than many people feared. If you were hit, please share your story in the comments.

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5 Tips to Design the Best YouTube Channel Page

If you create and share your own videos on YouTube, then you've already taken the first step in putting your face out there. But there's another way to put your best face forward: Craft your channel page

Though your channel's landing page might appear simple (and it's grown simpler over the years), there are a number of features you can fine-tune to optimize a viewer's experience. You can't customize like you used to, and there's a lot of white space, but there are very specific ways to make your page stand out. Read on to find out how you can turn curious viewers into devoted subscribers

SEE ALSO: Where Would the World Be Without YouTube?

Read more...
More about Youtube, Marketing, How To, Social Media, and Features

    

How to Create a Top Secret Facebook Group

Did you know that you can create a totally, top secret group on Facebook that only you, and people you invite to join, can see?
We have taken a quick look at how to make such a group, and some essential settings once you've got it all set up.

SEE ALSO: How to See EVERYTHING in Your Facebook News Feed

Take a look through our easy-to-follow walkthrough in the how-to gallery above. Let us know in the comments if you use private Facebook Groups — and what you do with them (without giving away all your secrets)
Image courtesy of Flickr, Val Pearl Read more...
More about Facebook, How To, Social Media, Features, and Tips And Tricks

    

Google Penguin 2.0 Update is Live

The much anticipated next generation of Google Penguin went live this evening. Google's Matt Cutts announced the algorithmic update will affect 2.3 percent of English U.S. queries and significantly larger impact on spam than the original Penguin.

Google Penguin 2.0 Update is Live: 

     

How Will Enhanced Campaigns Effect AdWords' Conversion Optimizer?

 The deadline to switch to enhanced campaigns is fast approaching. How will campaigns that utilize Conversion Optimizer be affected? Will this powerful tool continue to function when you combine device targeting and start applying bid multipliers?

    

Magento wins ‘Best of Open Source Enterprise Applications’

Magento is on a roll with the latest winning of ‘Best of Open Source Enterprise Applications (E-Commerce)’ in Infoworld’s annual BOSSIE Awards. The awards “recognize the best free and open source software the world has to offer to businesses, IT professionals, and productive individuals who rely on computers to get work done.”


Selected by InfoWorld’s editorial and test center staff, other winners in the enterprise category include Alfresco, dotProject, JasperReports, Pentaho, and SugarCRM.

How Will Enhanced Campaigns Effect AdWords' Conversion Optimizer?

The deadline to switch to enhanced campaigns is fast approaching. How will campaigns that utilize Conversion Optimizer be affected? Will this powerful tool continue to function when you combine device targeting and start applying bid multipliers?

    

Explore the Future of Digital Marketing with Google and Industry Executives on June 4th

A version of the following post originally appeared on the DoubleClick Advertiser Blog.

On Tuesday, June 4th we’ll host our annual digital leadership summit, thinkDoubleClick, with provocative conversations about the future of digital marketing and media, and you’re invited to join via live stream by registering here!

Hear executives from advertising, agencies and publishers discuss some of the big questions in digital such as:

• How do creatives leverage, but not be overwhelmed by, technology to deliver next-generation consumer experiences?
• What unique experiences are publishers developing that add value to consumers and advertisers alike?
• How do CMOs best use social with other marketing channels to build strong brands? 

The full agenda for the thinkDoubleClick event is listed below.  You can join in the conversation on June 4 by using the #thinkDCLK hash and commenting during the live stream at www.youtube.com/doubleclick.

Register here for the thinkDoubleClick summit

Event Date: June 4, 2013

Time: 9 am - 12:15 PDT

9:00 - 9:30 am	Connecting Digital, Accelerating Growth Neal Mohan, VP Display Advertising, Google
9:30 - 10:00 am	The Coca-Cola Company's Liquid & Linked Marketing: How a 127-year-old company is pivoting for success in a real-time, socially-connected world The Coca-Cola Company sells over 500 brands in 207 countries, with over 700,000 System associates and 1.8B+ servings of their beverages everyday.  Hear insights and lessons learned on how the world's most valuable brand is remaining relevant by becoming more connected, transparent and nimble in real-time. Wendy Clark, Senior Vice President, Integrated Marketing Communications and Capabilities, Coca-Cola
10:00 - 10:35 am	Advertisers Must be Inventors This year, Volkswagen and Deutsch LA partnered with Google to work on a briefto re-imagine how to build a stronger, bigger community around its brand.  In today’s connected world, telling stories alone isn’t enough; we need to create tangible value and utility to bring the brand’s promise to life. In this session the creative team from Deutsch LA will be talking about the process for developing more rewarding and shareable experience. Winston Binch, Partner/Chief, Digital Creative Officer, Deutsch LA David Kim, Group Creative Director, Deutsch LA
10:35 - 11:15 am	Time to Rethink the Marketing Mix? Emerging trends in digital marketing -- including new ad formats, the rise of social media, and proliferation of channels -- are creating new challenges and opportunities for brand marketers. What are the key trends marketers should be concerned about -- and how should they respond? AdAge deputy editor Michael Learmonth poses the hard questions in an executive dialogue on what’s next for brand marketing. Fireside chat with: Michael Learmonth, Deputy Managing Editor, Advertising Age Lorraine Twohill, VP, Global Marketing, Google Jonathan Nelson, CEO, Omnicom Digital
11:15 am - 12: 15 pm	New and Native: Extending the Conversation Technology has had a profound impact on the media industry. This disruption, though, has brought along significant opportunities for creative publishers to thrive. In this session we’re bringing in three executives to show how they’ve leveraged the digital revolution to deliver more engaging content and differentiated solutions to advertisers. Randall Rothenberg, President & CEO, Interactive Advertising Bureau  (provocateur) Jim Lanzone, President, CBS Interactive Peter Horan, President & Chief Operating Officer, Answers Meredith Kopit Levien, Group Publisher & Chief Revenue Officer, Forbes Media

We look forward to seeing you on June 4th at thinkDoubleClick.

Posted by the DoubleClick team

APIs for Data-Driven Marketers

Posted by Dr. Pete
Data is everywhere, and companies are virtually climbing over each other to give it away. If you’re a data-driven content marketer, data is opportunity, but accessing that data can take some technical know-how. This is a guide to APIs, one of the key methods for accessing 3rd-party data, and also a mini-directory of some of the most useful APIs currently available to marketers.

What Is an API?

Let’s start with the official definition – API stands for “Application Programming Interface”. Sorry, I’m not the one who lets engineers name things. Put simply, an API is a way to let you talk to a 3rd-party application, usually either to retrieve data or update that application. We’re going to focus primarily on the first use (retrieving data), and it looks something like this:

The API itself isn’t really a box floating in space, so much as a chunk of code that acts as a gatekeeper. That code helps translate the third party’s data into something you can read, and it makes sure that only authorized users can access the data (a process called “authentication”).

Why Should I Care?

There are hundreds of applications on the market that collect useful data, and many of them are making that data available for free or very cheaply. You can use that data to do original research, create unique content or even build your own applications. If you’d rather stick to beet farming, well then that’s cool, too.

Where Do I Start?

Here’s the bad news – APIs are far from standardized, and you’re going to have to understand data structures and write some code. This is not a how-to manual so much as an overview of what’s out there that can help you decide if the world of APIs is right for you. There are some bright spots on the horizon – tools and sites that make programming APIs easier – and I’ll cover some of those at the end.
Following is a list of hand-selected APIs (I’ll do my best not to play favorites, and our competitors are on the list), broken down into a few industry categories, and alphabetical within each category. For each API, I’ll provide a main link, a documentation link (documentation can be way too hard to find), a brief description of what’s available in that API, and whether or not there’s a free version. APIs are split into five sections:

1. 
   APIs for SEO
2. 
   APIs for PPC
3. 
   APIs for Social
4. 
   Miscellaneous APIs
5. 
   API Support Tools

The last section covers sites and tools that can help you if you're new to APIs, new to programming, or just are hunting for something that's not on this list.

---

(1) APIs for SEO

This section contains APIs for organic SEO data, including keyword research and link profiling.

Bing Search (Docs)

The Bing search API allows you to integrate Bing search results and search data directly into your applications, including web search, images, news, videos, related search, and spelling suggestions.
Free Version?  YES, but rate-limited.

---

Majestic SEO (Docs)

The Majestic API includes a wide range of link metrics, including full back-link lists, discovery dates for links, anchor text, redirection information, and ACRank. Some features are limited to the paid version.
Free Version?  YES, but limited functionality.

---

Raven Tools (Docs)

The Raven Tools API lets customers access and update account and campaign information. It can also be used to access link data from your Raven campaigns.
Free Version?  NO, paid accounts only.

---

SEOmoz Mozscape (Docs)

SEOmoz's API has access to proprietary metrics, including MozRank, Domain Authority, and Page Authority, as well as link metrics such as linking root domains and anchor text data.
Free Version?  YES, but rate-limited.

---

WordStream Keyword Tool (Docs)

WordStream's Keyword Tool API lets you access WordStream's keyword volume metrics, along with related keywords and structured keyword suggestions.
Free Version?  YES, but rate-limited.

---

(2) APIs for PPC

The following APIs provide access to major ad platforms, including Google, Bing, and Facebook.

Bing Ads API (Docs)

While primarily a campaign management platform, the Bing Ads API does have access to useful data, including keword volume and keyword suggestions/opportunities.
Free Version?  YES, but authorization required.

---

Facebook Ads API (Docs)

The Facebook Ads API provides access to managing Facebook campaigns, as well as statistics about Facebook keyword searches and audience segments.
Free Version?  YES, but authorization required.

---

Google AdWords API (Docs)

Like Bing, the Google AdWords API is mainly for campaign management and building AdWords apps, but it also the only portal to Google keyword volume data. Getting authorized can be a long process.
Free Version?  YES, but authorization required.

---

SEMRush API (Docs)

The SEMRush API has a number of tools for both organic and paid search campaigns, but where it really shines is in competitive analysis, especially for paid search.
Free Version?  NO, starts at $15/month.

---

(3) APIs for Social

These APIs can access a wealth of information from major social networks and social aggregators.

Facebook Graph (Docs)

Facebook's "Graph" API is the primariy interface to building Facebook-based apps, updating Facebook accounts, and accessing Facebook social graph data. There are other, secondary Facebook APIs.
Free Version?  YES, but rate-limited.

---

FollowerWonk (Docs)

FollowerWonk's Social Authority API scores Twitter users on a 1-100 scale, for simple influence scoring and comparisons (Note: FollowerWonk is a part of SEOmoz).
Free Version?  YES, but rate-limited.

---

Gnip (Docs)

Gnip provides an enterprise-level API with "firehose" and filtered streams for Twitter, Facebook, Google+, YouTube, and more. Pricing is custom and is aimed at large-scale applications.
Free Version?  YES, but trial only.

---

Google+ (Docs)

The official Google+ API allows you to manage accounts, build apps, and access to data from user profiles, posts, and comments. It includes some limited search capability.
Free Version?  YES, but rate-limited.

---

Klout (Docs)

The Klout API provides access to Klout's aggregate social metrics, including Klout score, influencers, influence graphs, and topics of influence.
Free Version?  YES, but rate-limited.

---

PeerIndex (Docs)

PeerIndex is another social aggregator, and their API provides data on multiple influence metrics, including activity, authority, and audience scores.
Free Version?  YES, but rate-limited.

---

SharedCount (Docs)

The SharedCount API lets you access sharing stats on a number of platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Reddit, LinkedIn, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, and Pinterest.
Free Version?  YES, but rate-limited.

---

Topsy (Docs)

The Topsy Otter API is an alternative source for Twitter data, including a number of useful search functions - search by keyword, by links mentioned, by popluar stories on a domain, etc.
Free Version?  YES, but rate-limited.

---

Twitter (Docs)

The official Twitter RESTful API includes many tools for account management and data gathering, including individual tweet and user data, follower stats, and a variety of search options.
Free Version?  YES, but rate-limited.

---

(4) Miscellaneous APIs

Here are some other useful APIs, including Google products, analytics, and text processing.

AlchemyAPI (Docs)

AlchemyAPI provides a Natural Language Processing engine to perform tasks such as sentiment analysis, named entity extraction, author extraction, and topic categorization.
Free Version?  YES, but rate-limited.

---

Google Analytics API (Docs)

The Google Analytics API is a full-featured system to manage GA accounts and profiles, customize tracking codes, and to access and export analytics data.
Free Version?  YES, but authorization required.

---

Google Places API (Docs)

The Google Places API allows you to access the entire family of Google local data, including Google Maps, Google+ Local, and Google Places search.
Free Version?  YES, but authorization required.

---

PageSpeed Insights (Docs)

PageSpeed Insights is a Google Developer tool for website performance analysis. The PageSpeed API allows access to PageSpeed scores and recommendations.
Free Version?  YES, but authorization required.

---

Repustate (Docs)

The Repustate API provides access to a number of advanced algorithms, including sentiment analysis, social media monitioring, and predictive analytics.
Free Version?  YES, but rate-limited.

---

(5) API Support Tools

If you're new to APIs, this section can help get you started or find APIs outside the scope of this post.

CodeAcademy API Track

CodeAcademy is a resource for learning programming concepts and languages. The API track has specific online courses designed to help you learn API coding.
Free Version?  YES.

---

Mashape (Docs)

Mashape is an API marketplace that allows you to access over 2,000 APIs from a single account. Mashape also lets you distribute and monetize your own APIs.
Free Version?  YES, depending on the API.

---

ProgrammableWeb

ProgrammableWeb is a directory of over 9,000 APIs on a wide variety of topics. ProgrammableWeb has its own API, that allows you to access their search database.
Free Version?  YES.

---

SEER Interactive SEO Toolbox (Docs)

SEER's all-in-one interactive toolbox lets you access multple APIs via Excel, including Google Analytics, SEOmoz, Majestic, Raven, Twitter, and Klout.
Free Version?  YES, but rate-limited.

---

SEOGadget Excel API Extensions (Docs)

The SEOGadget API extension for Excel allows you to easily call link data from Excel spreadsheets, including SEOmoz, Majestic, and additional SEOGadget data.
Free Version?  YES, but rate-limited.

---

What Are Your Favorites?

While I don't intend this to be an exhaustive list of APIs, I'll try to keep the post up to date with the most useful APIs for marketers (assuming that people are interested). So, feel free to share your favorite data-collection APIs in the comments.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

   

Using schema.org markup for organization logos

Webmaster level: all

Today, we’re launching support for the schema.org markup for organization logos, a way to connect your site with an iconic image. We want you to be able to specify which image we use as your logo in Google search results.

Using schema.org Organization markup, you can indicate to our algorithms the location of your preferred logo. For example, a business whose homepage is www.example.com can add the following markup using visible on-page elements on their homepage:

<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Organization">
  <a itemprop="url" href="http://www.example.com/">Home</a>
  <img itemprop="logo" src="http://www.example.com/logo.png" />
</div>

This example indicates to Google that this image is designated as the organization’s logo image for the homepage also included in the markup, and, where possible, may be used in Google search results. Markup like this is a strong signal to our algorithms to show this image in preference over others, for example when we show Knowledge Graph on the right hand side based on users’ queries.

As always, please ask us in the Webmaster Help Forum if you have any questions.

Posted by RJ Ryan, Google Engineer

Using schema.org markup for organization logos

Webmaster level: all

Today, we’re launching support for the schema.org markup for organization logos, a way to connect your site with an iconic image. We want you to be able to specify which image we use as your logo in Google search results.

Using schema.org Organization markup, you can indicate to our algorithms the location of your preferred logo. For example, a business whose homepage is www.example.com can add the following markup using visible on-page elements on their homepage:

<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Organization">
  <a itemprop="url" href="http://www.example.com/">Home</a>
  <img itemprop="logo" src="http://www.example.com/logo.png" />
</div>

This example indicates to Google that this image is designated as the organization’s logo image for the homepage also included in the markup, and, where possible, may be used in Google search results. Markup like this is a strong signal to our algorithms to show this image in preference over others, for example when we show Knowledge Graph on the right hand side based on users’ queries.

As always, please ask us in the Webmaster Help Forum if you have any questions.

Posted by RJ Ryan, Google Engineer

Some Tips For the Budding Graphic Designers

Graphic designing is one of the most creative tasks in the virtual world. People pay a handsome amount to get the valuable services of graphic designers. Thus, graphic designing has turned out as a booming field and for all those who are the students of the respective field, given below are a few helping tips.

There is no harm in taking help from the internet
The 21th century has witnessed the most tech-savvy generation, then why are you so scared to learn from the internet. Your school or institute must be giving you the best of their knowledge, but there is no harm in exploring more. Go to the World Wide Web, search out for new techniques, new skills, get inspired and go create your design.

Experiments are all that you need

Do you want to draw simply straight lines? Do you simply want to follow the renowned graphic designers? Or on the other hand, don’t you wish to create something of your own? Don’t you wish to sketch out something that has purely your creativity in it? Well, I guess you are one such aspiring student who would go with the later options. In that matter, you will have to give it a shot; give a shot to your creativity. Do get inspired, and then experiment your own design. Read the rule, understand them, implement them and finally break them and get your creativity out. Until and unless you don’t unleash your creativity, you will not be able to create anything unique.

Keep your business cards handy

Opportunities can knock your door any time and you surely would not want to miss them. Thus, it is recommended to keep your business cards with you in your wallet. People these days have short lived memory and your card will help you in making a place in their minds, so that the next time they have anything matching your profile, they can contact you. Its very easy and very economic to get business cards. So, next time when you give your introduction, make a point to transfer your business card from your hand to second person’s wallet.

Talk about your work with non-designers

When you will be going out for interviews, then in the very first level you will be meeting the HR manager and there a possible chances that he might not be from the designing background. Thus, it can be a little tedious for you to explain your work and potentials to him in your designing terminologies. Therefore, make a practice of explaining your task to the non-designers and thus, enhance your communication skills. With good communication skills you have more chances of getting in a reputed graphic designing company. As for them, only a genuine designer is capable of explaining his work with ease.

These were a few tips for the budding graphic designers. We hope these tips turn helpful for you in the near future. If you wish to render your designing services, then it is important to work on them and portray them in the best possible way.

Original.. http://www.innovativeconsulting.co.in/blog/graphic-designing-services/some-tips-for-the-budding-graphic-designers

Using a Customized WordPress Content Management System

As the leading content management system in the world, WordPress is flexible and user-friendly. Although considered a blogging platform, the software is versatile and is often used to run non-blog websites. The administrative section of the platform turns the blogging software into a content management system with a multitude of functions and features.

Internal WYSIWYG Editor

WordPress even has a WYSIWYG editor to preview web pages. The editor also allows users to create, edit and delete content through their web browser of choice. Users do not need any technical programming knowledge. However, the HTML code can be directly modified from a page, post or article. Furthermore, the software is extremely simple to install and many web hosting companies have a one-click installation feature.

Organizational Functions

Additionally, users can set a static home page from within the administrative area and specify whether the latest posts or the static home page can be the front page of the website. Also, separate templates can be applied to individual web pages through the page template option and individual templates can be placed into organizational categories. This allows for easy searching and finding of specific articles or blog posts.

Other Helpful Plugins

Sidebars are also included in addition to the traditional headers and footers. WordPress is compatible with thousands of plugins including Exec-PHP and Deactivate Visual Editor. In a collaborative effort, these two plugins enable users to add PHP code to pages from the administrative area. This allows talented programmers to take their WordPress website to the next level.

Full Automation

WordPress is a platform of automation built on ease-of-use features. Therefore, with PHP code, users can easily add Testimonials and FAQs sections to their website. Other plugins will allow a variety of modifications so that no two WordPress-powered websites are the same. Additionally, there are hundreds of thousands of user-created and professional themes that change the look and feel of any blog post or website.

With so many plugins, options and features, it is clear why WordPress is the leading content management system in the industry. WordPress content management system web development is clearly beneficial for any website that wants a competitive edge. There are even website development companies that specialize in solutions using WordPress. The software is so powerful, anyone can use it so give it a try.

Original Found Here.. http://www.webhostingfan.com/

Successful Businesses that use WordPress

WordPress is the fastest growing content management system in the world. Currently, WordPress is used by 54 percent of all websites that utilize a content management system. Users continue to flock to the system due to the ease of use, functionality, scalability and number of add-ons available. As a result, there is a growing demand for products and services related to the system.

Excellent Program for Designers and Developers

Over the past several years, that has been many successful launches of businesses built around WordPress. For designers and website developers, there are a variety of options available to create a business using WordPress software.

Design and Development Consultancy

One successful category of businesses that were built using WordPress is design and development consultancy. Those in this field build websites using the content management system. Clients typically include businesses, large organizations and individuals attempting to establish a web presence.

Theme Customization

Another business built around WordPress is theme customization. There are hundreds of developers that create customized themes for their clients. This is an excellent market for novice freelance web designers. Theme customization could be the only service offered or it could fall under a variety of 

available WordPress products.

Subcontracting

For those with more specialized skills, subcontracting for agencies is a growing field. Subcontractors often lack general design skills but are more fluent in web programming such as PHP or the development of plugins. The greatest benefit is that all jobs involve collaborations with designers and developers rather than the customer. This allows for a better flow of communication and less stress.

Sales of Themes

Another emerging WordPress business is the sales of themes. Since the marketplace is saturated with theme shops, the competition is fierce. Luckily, the continued growth of the software has resulted in thousands of new users every month. This type of WordPress business involves selling a product to eager customers.

WordPress Web Hosting

The final successful WordPress business is web hosting. All WordPress users require some type of hosting. There are many WordPress compatible web hosting providers that offer 1-click installation. However, their services do not venture beyond the basics. Hosting companies that provide extended WordPress services are few and far between.

The continued growth of WordPress usage does not look like it will stop anytime soon. Therefore, those jumping into the market to form a business have an excellent chance of experiencing long-term success and growth.

Original Found Here..  http://www.webhostingfan.com/

New Enterprise Content Management System for Ubuntu Server

Nuxeo, an open source enterprise content management company, recently announced the availability of the Nuxeo Document Management software within the Ubuntu partner catalog. This ensures the ease of installation and implementation amongst developers creating Ubuntu-specific content management application. The new software package was created in partnership with Canonical to ease installation, customization and upgrades.

Nuxeo and Ubuntu Relationship
Since there are many more organizations running content applications through the Ubuntu software, working in conjunction with Nuxeo guarantees combined customers being able to access the support and services they require to develop an open source strategy. Demand for the Ubuntu system is drastically increasing as partners utilize it for new application development.

Advantages of the Enterprise Content Management System
Customers are searching for a modular, flexible content management system that was based on industry standards, best practices and is price accordingly. Therefore, the Ubuntu operating system required standardized requirements to be successful. So far, this has eased development and usage.

Growth of Ubuntu by the Nuxeo Customer Base
Ubuntu has been a supporting system for the Nuxeo Enterprise Platform for a long time. With the new packaged applications and continued growth throughout the Nuxeo customer base, Ubuntu has become the primary choice for most Nuxeo developers. The distribution of Ubuntu is perfect for the deployment of massive cloud systems and is even used by Nuxeo in its public cloud products.

Participation by Knowledgeable Communities
Nuxeo continues to seek participation from the Ubuntu and Debian communities who hold a high level of knowledge with regards to the packaging and operation of mission critical application across many Linux servers and large usage. Nuxeo supports all community contributions including the development of content applications and other add-ons for the platform.

Company Information about Nuxeo
Nuxeo offers a flexible, modular and scalable document management application that is packaged with a variety of other add-ons that provide solutions for digital asset and case management. The platform is completely designed with developers in mind utilizing advanced technologies, plug-in models and an extensive packaging capability. The Enterprise Content Management System is trusted by over 1000 organizations in 145 countries.

The Nuxeo system working with Ubuntu servers appears to be a huge relief for developers due to the automation of many tasks, excellent support and ease of installation. This should help improve the current software applications that are available to the public.

Original Found here... http://www.webhostingfan.com/

Trends in Content Management Systems

Content management systems were developed to make publishing content on a website easy through streamlined automation. However, as content management systems become more complicated, users are realizing that these systems are capable of more than just posting web content. In an effort to cater to customer needs, content programs are changing in new ways thus creating new trends.

The Four Developing Trends

There are four developing trends in the content management system industry that are furthering along software advances. These include:

• Merge of Themes with Extensions
• Interoperability
• RDFa
• Market Fracturing

Merge of Themes with Extensions

Although the merge of themes with extensions has been slowing developing for many years, the industry is at the point where the combination makes applications run much more smoothly. Design is melting with functionality resulting in there being less of a chance of a content management system becoming too disjointed during development and in the eyes of the end-user.

Interoperability

As cloud-based computing and semantic architectures become more widely used, interoperability is becoming more feasible. Users demand that websites interact and are compatible with one another. Internet users want to be able to log in with accounts created on other sites and thus access data from other sites within a specific web page. This creates an actual web of content versus a series of tunnels.

RDFa

Another trend is the creation of programs that automate exactly how data is being structured. Drupal recently launched RDFa into their primary source code so any site running Drupal 7 will be able to take advantage of the flexibility of the new code. Other content management systems are create extensions that automate data structuring. More businesses will take advantage of semantic crawlers and easier organization.

Market Fracturing

Finally, as themes and extensions become one, talented web designers will begin building their own content management systems. Designers will need to be knowledgeable in design and function. Therefore, once designers realize the amount of potential behind the combination of cloud and semantic architectures, the market will become fractured.

The noticeable trend amongst content management systems is the merging of all aspects to truly create a world wide web. Improving code and automating specific functions will certainly further develop this trend in future platforms. Content management systems are continuously developing projects that help to expand the Internet while further connecting its users to one another.

Original Found Here..  http://www.webhostingfan.com/

The Advantages of Mobile Websites

We’ve seen it all. After working with so many clients on so many websites, it would be surprising if we hadn’t. But we can still be surprised – like when new clients tell us they’re not concerned about optimising their site for mobile platforms. Usually this is because they think that just because smartphones and tablets have web browsers built in, their site is accessible and that’s all that’s required. We try very hard to keep our faces blank when this sort of thing comes up, because it’s tragically wrong.

Almost half of all Americans routinely search the web and access websites from mobile devices, and this number is rising at an incredible pace. And most non-optimised websites look absolutely awful on a tiny smartphone screen, in a built-in browser that has none of the bells and whistles of standard desktop browsers – the web design is just all wrong. The end result? A muddled mess that people make a face at and back out of, going to the next site in the search results until they find one that loads crisply, neatly, and usefully on their device.

Why should you have a mobile-optimised version of your website? We could go on, but here are just a few of the most important considerations:

Don’t Waste Your Marketing

You’re paying good money and putting a lot of effort into search engine optimisation, pay-per-click campaigns, and your Google Local listing – just for starters. And it’s working! Your site comes up in the first rank of search results, often in the top spot. All that hard work and money paying off. Except, when they tap on the link, the website that comes up is chaotic, requiring a lot of scanning around with their finger on the screen, the text too small to read and the links difficult to hit.

We once had a dentistry practice as a client. The three partners were all great people we enjoyed working with. We did website design for them, and it was a work of art, and they were very happy. We tried to convince them that they needed a mobile-optimised site as well, but they disagreed – no one made dentist appointments while running for the bus, they argued. A few weeks later, we sent them some analytics that showed some very discouraging numbers – people were finding their site via mobile searches, but weren’t clicking past the home page. No interaction at all. The culprit? Not having a mobile site.

Concentrate on Your Customers

The people who are finding your sight via mobile searches are either your existing customers looking for convenience and service, or potential customers you would like to convert. Your website should serve them. It should serve them through smart and customer-oriented web design, and it should serve them by making all aspects of your business convenient for them to use.

Our dentist’s office found that the main thing their patients wanted from a mobile site was the ability to make and change appointments, instead of having to call in every time, and a way to easily contact their dentist. They wanted to be empowered and connected. After our analytics convince the three partners that they need a mobile website, we got to work, and created a clean, elegant mobile site that offered their patients easy access to information, appointment widgets, and easy contact forms. And business thrived. The mobile site was also a lot faster to download on expensive data plans, which their patients really appreciated.

Grab Every Opportunity

Website Design on Different Devices

You might not think that people look for your type of business while out and about – but they do. There were more than half a million location-based searches in 2012, and this number is growing constantly. In today’s day and age people are looking to make every moment of their day count, and often this means locating a business near them when it’s convenient. The right web design for mobile platforms can be the difference between them finding your business or finding someone else’s.

Our dentists learned this the day a woman booked a morning appointment through their new mobile site and arrived breathless, dressed for work, and told them she’d been on the bus heading to her office when a filling had worked loose. She’d found them using a local search and made the appointment on her phone, and they had her in the office within the hour, happy and contemplating switching dentists.

We can’t guarantee that new business will magically appear if you create a mobile-optimised version of your site. But we can guarantee it won’t if you don’t.

A Website Designer is a blog by Dan Norris a passionate small business Web design expert from the Gold Coast, Australia. Read this full post here The Advantages of Mobile Websites

Original Found Here.. http://awebsitedesigner.com.au/website-design/the-advantages-of-mobile-websites

Content That Works For Your Website

Recently, CERN celebrated 20 years of the free, open World Wide Web by re-posting the very first web page (you can see it in all it’s terrible non-glory here: http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html). One glance shows you why the WWW took off so quickly: This was something just about anyone could do. If you learned about a dozen HTML tags and had server space, you could code your own web page. And for a long time that’s how it was done: You hand-crafted HTML, uploaded the file, and you had a web page.

Content that works for your website

Time marches on, and today web pages are complex beasts. And the longer your web site’s been up and running, the more complex it is. And if your web site actually started out as a collection of hand-coded static pages like that, but today looks at least superficially like an awesome CMS-run example of great website design, then chances are you have a lot of content buried there. Like an iceberg: Most people will only see the newest stuff poking up over the water line. Underneath? A metric ton of content that may or may not work with your current web design  and CMS.

Content Auditing
You shouldn’t throw away that content. Okay, maybe you should throw away some of it. But instead of thinking in terms of what to delete in order to make your site work better, why not think instead about how to make your content work with your design? That starting point is always going to be a Content Audit.

A Content Audit is simple in concept and complex in execution. You have to drill down deep into your iceberg and take those core samples, and build a model of your content. What kind of content is it? What are the features? What do your users get from it? Once you can answer these questions clearly, then you can set about Step Two, which is creating a website design around your content based on the way your content displays and is used.

The Hard Stuff
Now, of course, comes the difficult part: Restructuring your content. Making everything consistent is a mountain, especially if your content dates back to early days, but the reward is huge, because you’ll end up with a sleek, fast web site where all of your content is available. And that’s important because your older content is likely still valuable. Certainly some of it may be dated, or in need of a modern revision, but some of it is probably perfectly good, and you put a lot of effort into creating it. The effort of making it work with a consistent design will bring you rewards in the form of attracting more search results and more engagement with your users.

You spent the effort to create this content, it deserves a better fate than being rendered in a choppy, ugly fashion by a CSS that it was never intended to run through. Save your content from this terrible experience and restructure it for the modern day!

A Website Designer is a blog by Dan Norris a passionate small business Web design expert from the Gold Coast, Australia. Read this full post here Content That Works For Your Website

Original Found Here.. http://awebsitedesigner.com.au/website-design/content-that-works-for-your-website-design/

Content That Works For Your Website

Recently, CERN celebrated 20 years of the free, open World Wide Web by re-posting the very first web page (you can see it in all it’s terrible non-glory here: http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html). One glance shows you why the WWW took off so quickly: This was something just about anyone could do. If you learned about a dozen HTML tags and had server space, you could code your own web page. And for a long time that’s how it was done: You hand-crafted HTML, uploaded the file, and you had a web page.

Content that works for your website

Time marches on, and today web pages are complex beasts. And the longer your web site’s been up and running, the more complex it is. And if your web site actually started out as a collection of hand-coded static pages like that, but today looks at least superficially like an awesome CMS-run example of great website design, then chances are you have a lot of content buried there. Like an iceberg: Most people will only see the newest stuff poking up over the water line. Underneath? A metric ton of content that may or may not work with your current web design  and CMS.

Content Auditing

You shouldn’t throw away that content. Okay, maybe you should throw away some of it. But instead of thinking in terms of what to delete in order to make your site work better, why not think instead about how to make your content work with your design? That starting point is always going to be a Content Audit.

A Content Audit is simple in concept and complex in execution. You have to drill down deep into your iceberg and take those core samples, and build a model of your content. What kind of content is it? What are the features? What do your users get from it? Once you can answer these questions clearly, then you can set about Step Two, which is creating a website design around your content based on the way your content displays and is used.

The Hard Stuff
Now, of course, comes the difficult part: Restructuring your content. Making everything consistent is a mountain, especially if your content dates back to early days, but the reward is huge, because you’ll end up with a sleek, fast web site where all of your content is available. And that’s important because your older content is likely still valuable. Certainly some of it may be dated, or in need of a modern revision, but some of it is probably perfectly good, and you put a lot of effort into creating it. The effort of making it work with a consistent design will bring you rewards in the form of attracting more search results and more engagement with your users.

You spent the effort to create this content, it deserves a better fate than being rendered in a choppy, ugly fashion by a CSS that it was never intended to run through. Save your content from this terrible experience and restructure it for the modern day!

A Website Designer is a blog by Dan Norris a passionate small business Web design expert from the Gold Coast, Australia. Read this full post here Content That Works For Your Website

Original Found Here...  http://awebsitedesigner.com.au/website-design/content-that-works-for-your-website-design/

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Website Developers in Mumbai Offering Quality Web Development Services

Keeping in view the cut throat competition, most of the businesses are looking to go online as this can help in drawing the attention of more and more customers towards your business. This requires having a website that can presents the products and services offered by your business in a unique and presentable way. This calls for hiring a website development firm that offers professional web development services at highly competitive prices.

We at Innovative Consulting are a Mumbai based professional web development firm that offers quality web development services within estimated time. Our website developers have complete knowledge and skill to create websites that meet client requirements and website objectives.

Every business has its own goal and target audience; a good web development company can help meet your goals and objective thus boosting up the sales of your business. From static HTML based websites to database driven e Commerce sites to Classy Flash sites, our website developers are proficient enough to create all sort of websites. Whatever may be your need you can trust us to create website that meets your business needs.

A web developer focuses on the functioning of a site works and how customers develop things done on it. Website developers of Innovative Consulting based in Mumbai strive to develop websites in accordance with the latest online trends. In fact, they can ably develop websites that are easily navigable and user-friendly besides having an attractive design.

Feel free to get in touch with us at www.innovativeconsulting.in to know more about our services.

Original Found Here... http://www.innovativeconsulting.co.in/blog/website-development/website-developers-in-mumbai-offering-quality-web-development-services

Take Your Business to New Levels by Hiring Web Designing Company

In today’s competitive business era, most businesses are going the online way. An attractive business website not just helps in promoting your business in the most effective manner but also helps in increasing the number of visitors resulting in better sales and business opportunities. It is therefore necessary to establish an online presence through an efficient web design.

We at Innovative Consulting have a professional team of web designers that offer effective website design services that will not just increase your customer base but will also bring in more opportunities for your business. We also offer custom web design solutions that allow you to promote your products and services to targeted audience while creating a unique and distinct online identity.

A good web design creates brand loyalty amongst the consumers by providing them with a enjoyable learning environment that they will want to go back to from time to time. This is especially effective when the company regularly updates its website information.

We are one of Best Web Designing Company and provide quality services to our clients. We make sure that your website is accomplished within the said deadline so that it becomes up and running smooth and swiftly on time.

A good web design is able to attract new customers and retain the existing ones, whether you are establishing a new business or introducing a new product in the market. Moreover, a good web design strengthens brand visibility as it gives constancy to the brand’s image.

So, if you want to avail the best web design services, visit www.innovativeconsulting.co.in