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Small Business Trends

 

The Google Data Mine and Your Business

Posted: 10 Aug 2008 10:35 AM CDT

In the first part of this article, we looked at the extensive amounts of data available to Google. Now let's look at what this data means.

What Does This Google Data Mean For You As An Individual?

Although Google has resisted providing easy access to their terms, in July 2008 they finally added a link to their privacy policies at the bottom of each page, next to the copyright statement.

As a person whose information is constantly being collected, reading this notice may all be a bit disturbing.

Google has pages upon pages laying out their privacy policies, with separate pages to delineate the particulars for each service. Wading through these is a daunting task, and doing so may not answer all your questions to your satisfaction. There have been consistent complaints about the fact that Google's privacy policies are vague, something which Google admits. Writing clear policies for so many different products, all of which are constantly advancing and evolving, is a formidable challenge.

The key issues for a user are probably these:

  • Google stores non-anonymous data in their logs for 18 months before stripping your identifying information from the activities you carried out at Google.
  • It is not possible to remove yourself from Google; the nature of search engines is that they draw from so many highly interconnected sources that, practically speaking, it would not be possible to satisfy requests for removal of information.

This means that a great deal of personal information is available, and remains available long enough that Google and its clients could build extensive profiles of everyone who uses any of Google's products.

What Does This Mean For You As An Entrepreneur?

Ironically, the very things that make us uneasy as individuals may excite us as businesspeople, and fill us with ideas to grow our market and expand our product line. We can not only make the best use of current opportunities, but see new ones on the horizon, and even shape the future to create opportunities tailor-made to our plans and goals.

As a businessperson you can tap into this information store by using Google's massive traffic map and ability to send targeted traffic to your sites. Not only can this generate business and revenues for you now, it can provide you with vital information for building your business in the future.

You can access this information by using Google's paid services for advertising, such as AdWords and AdSense to drive traffic with relevant interests to your site, though you will need a substantial advertising budget if you take this route. Popular keywords often require you to commit large sums in order to ensure that your advertisements will be seen frequently and at the top of the list.

A better alternative is achieving a high "natural" or "organic" ranking. This refers to using strategies that result in your pages being highly ranked in Google searches without you explicitly paying to get those coveted positions. The top search results on the first page of a Google search are far more likely to be visited by Google users than lower-ranked pages, and can even outperform paid ads.

By fully understanding what it is that Google does, how it does it, and what information it provides you, you can combine organic and paid services to maximize your ranking, visibility and traffic. And together, that means maximizing your revenues, too.

As I discussed above, it's not as simple as using lots of keywords and links — these need to be embedded in legitimate content and strategically placed for the highest impact. You also need to track which topics are getting the most attention from web users, know how to translate the different types of information Google provides into insights for your personal use, and how to integrate multiple services for the best impact.

All this is simple once you have the right information and the right tools. Information is the coin of the realm.

* * * * *

About the Author: Hamlet Batista is President of NEMedia S.A, a provider of SEO automation software that helps entrepreneurs and small businesses increase the quality of their natural search traffic while focusing on what they do best. Hamlet's blog, Hamlet Batista dot Com, explores the most advanced SEO research, as well as strategies and tactics that can give you an important edge over your competitors.

This is a post from: Small Business Trends

The Google Data Mine and Your Business

  

  

  

Welcome Hamlet Batista, Newest Guest Expert

Posted: 10 Aug 2008 10:17 AM CDT

Hamlet Batista, search engine optimization expert and startup entrepreneur, has joined us as our latest guest expert here at Small Business Trends.

I've subscribed to Hamlet's blog for some time. From perusing his blog, I've noticed that Hamlet tends to write two types of articles.

First, Hamlet writes about the big picture about search engines, to help you put search engine optimization into business context. He takes the time to tie a search issue back to the business implications. Plus, he offers a perspective that is so simple yet powerful, you wonder why you never thought of it that way — for instance, this article about why quality always wins out in Google. It should be required reading for everyone with a website or blog.

Second, Hamlet writes pieces for technical SEOs that take a deep analytic dive into search engine issues.

His first two guest articles here (actually part one and part two) help us understand where Google is headed with its all-seeing knowledge of the Web and how we can take advantage of that in our entrepreneurial ventures. You can read more about Hamlet here and also at his own blog.

Hamlet and I have never met in person, although I understand he lives and works in the Dominican Republic. All I can say is, it truly is a global world. Please welcome Hamlet to the party, and we'll look forward to future contributions from him.

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Welcome Hamlet Batista, Newest Guest Expert

  

  

  

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Small Business Trends

Posted: 08 Aug 2008 05:06 PM CDT

Have you "googled" today? Did you reach this page by "googling"?

If so, you've seen the future, and you are part of it, even if you don't realize it just yet. In fact, there's a lot more going on at Google than just searching. I'm going to talk about what Google does, knows — as well as what you should do and know to get the most out of it.

True enough, Google is best known for its powerful search engine, which draws upon a massive database of web pages, videos, images, stock quotes, phone numbers, addresses, and other chunks of media and data to provide relevant information — all in the time it takes to strike a key.

The name of the world's largest search engine has become synonymous with searching the Internet. It's even become a verb in our everyday language (even though Google doesn't like us using it that way): we "google" car reviews, our childhood friend's current address, and, in flights of fancy and grandeur, ourselves.

It is easy to forget that we're not alone when we're searching. Everything we do within the Google environment (and some things we do outside of it) are recorded, stored, and analyzed. Once you know that a company has that much data available, it doesn't take long to realize that all this information could be used for far more than just a pleasant search experience.

To fully understand Google's potential power, sit back for a moment and consider how Google works in a bit more detail. (more…)

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The Google Data Mine: Are You Using It Or Is It Using You?

  

  

  

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Saudi king opens interfaith conference

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In this photo provided by Saudi Press Agency, King Abdullah bin Abdul 
Aziz al-Saud, second right and Shiite Iranian politician Akbar Hashemi 
Rafsanjani, second left enter the conference hall ahead of the opening 
ceremony of the three day conference of interfaith dialogue with 
Christianity and Islam at the Muslims holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia 
Wednesday, June 4, 2008. Saudi King Abdullah urged a gathering of Muslim 
scholars Wednesday to end extremism to enter a landmark religious dialogue 
with Christians and Jews. But politics intruded as a senior Iranian figure 
said the Islamic world should stand up against the U.S. and its 
"international arrogance."  Islam must do away with the dangers of extremism and present the religion's positive message, Saudi King Abdullah said Wednesday as he opened a conference on interfaith dialogue.

Happy birthday to our NHS

My birthday, 1st September. In my usual self obsessed way, I am thinking about my next. In 2008 I will be 60, the same age as our National Treasure, the NHS. Yes, I was born the day the National Health Service was born. Maybe there will be a party and all of us born September 1 will be invited. Somehow I don't think so, although the way the media operates, if there is nothing else going on this summer (sorry English football fans) some of us might be hunted down by the paparazzi. My birthday, however is not what got me blogging, it was the realization that I am part of the great post-war generation which is about to get some cold turkey after a serious binge. Our parent's gave us life after having just survived a terrible few years of their young lives, Young men and women not old enough to vote were dragged into a bloody nightmare in Europe, North Africa, and the Far East. They returned, traumatized,  many homeless, grieving for lost friends, to a grateful nation of parents and grandparents who in their young lives, had gone through similar horrors. In 1945, Great Britain was still an empire, bankrupt but determined to reward it's children for the sacrifices made. Victory over Nazism and Fascism was attributed to Churchill, a Tory, but the future was given by a fledgling democracy,to Socialism.  Victory came with a much greater cost however, the emergence of a great economic power, America. With a completely free hand to export Capitalism throughout the world, America effectively signed the British Empire's Death Warrant. Despite this power, Congress and Senate, in 1945, were sincere in wishing to assist in the reconstruction of Europe and Japan. America's main concern however, was Stalin and the Soviet Union, the Cold War. The Soviet Union became the target for American Republicans resulting in the development of "The Military Industrial Complex". Indeed, the new American President, Dwight D Eisenhower, hero of the victory in Europe, warned of the threat to world peace if this was to happen. Back in the British Isles, a genuine desire for a fair and just society existed. A brilliant plan was devised by the new Labour Government, and they were determined to implement it. Little did anyone know at the time that they were on a hiding to nothing.   This is quite a long way from my birthday, it is 1945 and us Baby Boomers have not yet arrived. I'm very much aware that few will read this, yet I feel almost embarrassed by my lousy writing skills and limited knowledge of this subject. Of course, children were born every year despite the two world wars, but there appears to be a dramatic change in the behaviour of young people in the UK (I presume Europe and America also),  starting in the early sixties. That was the time when children born after 1945 became teenagers. A very localized view of this change was in my own family. I was one of 5, four sisters and me! I had 2 older sisters and two younger. One fact stands out in my mind, My eldest sister Doreen, was born during the war. At the age of 19 she was not allowed to stay out after 9 30 in the evening. A few years later when I turned 18 I could do exactly what I liked, same mum, same dad! What changed?...........

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Crewe and the Tories - 1979 all over again

The 1970's were, in economic terms, frightening for Britain, and it was the labour government which managed us through, admittedly with some pain.
Despite this the electorate was taken in by Tory marketing (Satchi & Satchi), and boy did they pay for it with Mrs Thatcher.
Today we are facing possibly worse ecomomic conditions and I firmly believe that the Tories are bequiling us once again to throw out the best chance we have to survive in Gordon Brown.
Capitalism knows no bounderies, cares about no nations, and will assist stupid politicians by shelling out money just to put them in charge of national budgets (legislation is a side issue) which will be allocated just how they decide. Enter David Cameron and God help the UK   

Accross the Universe

NASA Beams Beatles' 'Across the Universe' Into Space
01.31.08
 
Engineers at JPL's mission control initiated a signal telling the NASA's Deep Space Network to send the song into space. Image credit: NASA/JPL
For the first time ever, NASA beamed a song -- The Beatles' "Across the Universe" -- directly into deep space at 7 p.m. EST on Feb. 4.

The transmission over NASA's Deep Space Network commemorated the 40th anniversary of the day The Beatles recorded the song, as well as the 50th anniversary of NASA's founding and the group's beginnings. Two other anniversaries also are being honored: The launch 50 years ago this week of Explorer 1, the first U.S. satellite, and the founding 45 years ago of the Deep Space Network , an international network of antennas that supports missions to explore the universe.

The transmission was aimed at the North Star, Polaris, which is located 431 light years away from Earth. The song will travel across the universe at a speed of 186,000 miles per second. Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney expressed excitement that the tune, which was principally written by fellow Beatle John Lennon, was being beamed into the cosmos.

"Amazing! Well done, NASA!" McCartney said in a message to the space agency. "Send my love to the aliens. All the best, Paul."

Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, characterized the song's transmission as a significant event.

"I see that this is the beginning of the new age in which we will communicate with billions of planets across the universe," she said.

"Amazing! Well done, NASA! Send my love to the aliens."

-- Sir Paul McCartney
It is not the first time Beatles music has been used by NASA; in November 2005, McCartney performed the song "Good Day Sunshine" during a concert that was transmitted to the International Space Station (› Related Story). "Here Comes the Sun," "Ticket to Ride" and "A Hard Day's Night" are among other Beatles' songs that have been played to wake astronaut crews in orbit.

Feb. 4 has been declared "Across The Universe Day" by Beatles fans to commemorate the anniversaries. As part of the celebration, the public around the world has been invited to participate in the event by simultaneously playing the song at the same time it is transmitted by NASA. Many of the senior NASA scientists and engineers involved in the effort are among the group's biggest fans.

"I've been a Beatles fan for 45 years – as long as the Deep Space Network has been around," said Dr. Barry Geldzahler, the network's program executive at NASA Headquarters, Washington. "What a joy, especially considering that 'Across the Universe' is my personal favorite Beatles song."

Bush: I would run as 'change' agent

 

Jan. 11:  NBC Chief White House Correspondent David Gregory 
interviewed President Bush earlier this week in Israel.  (Nightly News)President Bush said Friday he doesn’t take it personally when Democratic and Republican presidential candidates embrace change as a major campaign theme.

Don't follow this George

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Map image

Bush: U.S. should have acted on Auschwitz

Well you got something right for once 

U.S. President George W. Bush lays a wreath in front of the eternal 
flame, commemorating the six million Jews killed by the Nazis in the 
Holocaust, in the Hall of remembrance at the Yad Vashem memorial January 
11, 2008 in Jerusalem, Israel. Bush paid homage to Holocaust victims 
before a biblical tour on Friday that will wrap up a Holy Land visit in 
which he urged Israelis and Palestinians to get serious about peace 
efforts. President Bush stopped in front of an aerial photo of Auschwitz on Friday at Israel's Holocaust memorial and said the U.S. should have sent bombers to prevent the extermination of Jews there.

Vatican plans 'historic' Catholic-Muslim meeting

Here's a job for you Tony(Blair), mediate!

Pope Benedict XVI holds his first general audience of 2008 in 
St.Peter's Basilica in Vatican, 02 January 2008.   AFP PHOTO / ALBERTO 
PIZZOLI (Photo credit should read ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images)Catholic and Muslim representatives plan to meet in Rome in the spring to start a dialogue between the faiths after relations were soured by Pope Benedict XVI's 2006 comments about Islam and holy war, Vatican officials said.

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Dad accused of murder to appear in court

 

This photograph released  by the Mobile County Sheriff's Office in 
Mobile, Ala., shows Lam Luong, 37, of Irvington, Ala., as he was being 
booked on Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2007.  Authorities say Luong  is charged with 
capital murder in the deaths of his four children, who were allegedly 
thrown off a coastal bridge.  (AP Photo/Mobile Co. Sheriff's Office, HO)Search crews in boats resumed looking Thursday for the bodies of four young children while a judge considered bond for their father, who is accused of throwing them from an Alabama bridge.

What is the world coming to

NHS remains our priority - PM

Don't forget me! I'm 60 September 1 as well

Gordon Brown has promised to keep the National Health Service at the top of the Government's agenda as the organisation enters its 60th year.

Prime Minister meets Iraqi PM

 

Gordon Brown has welcomed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to Downing Street for bilateral talks.

It wasn't me, honest!

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"Real and serious change" for Britain - PM

Here we go again!

 

Gordon Brown has promised "real and serious changes" over the coming 12 months as he laid out his priorities for 2008 in a New Year Message.

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Scientists inscribe Bible on pinhead

I think God would refer to one of Shania Twain lines for this achievement

Haifa's Technion University spokesman Ohad Zohar displays a chip 
containing the entire Hebrew Bible at the Technion University in Haifa 
Sunday, Dec. 23, 2007. Israeli scientists have inscribed the entire Hebrew 
text of the Old Testament on to a 0.5 square millimeter surface, or a 
space less than half the size of a pinhead, Haifa's Technion University 
said. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)Israeli scientists have inscribed the entire Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible onto a space less than half the size of grain of sugar.

Japanese official: UFOs ‘definitely’ exist

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Now this one takes the biscuit.

TOKYO - SEPTEMBER 25:  The New Chief Cabinet 
Secretary Nobutaka Machimura speaks during a press conference at the Prime 
Minister's official residence September 25, 2007 in Tokyo, Japan. 
Following his election to Parliament, the new Japanese Prime Minister 
Yasuo Fukuda announced his cabinet members today.  (Photo by Koichi 
Kamoshida/Getty Images)Japan’s air force has never spotted a UFO, but the country’s top government spokesman said Tuesday he “definitely” believes they exist.

UK can weather financial crisis - PM

 

The United Kingdom is in a strong position to manage the financial uncertainty caused by the credit crunch, the PM has said.

Crisis? What Crisis? (Jim Callahan, the last Labour PM who took over without having to ask us voters)

A few images which express my world

 

My stuff on Slide

 
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