Weekly Marketing Skinny • September 20, 2014

Don’t have the time to read all the marketing news, blog posts, announcements, and other content related to SEO/social media/online marketing published each week?

I’ve got you covered.

I sift through trillions (well, hundreds) of online publications to stay on top of marketing news that might affect your online business.

Let’s start with the news from Traffic Generation Café.

At TrafficGenerationCafe.com

12 Weeks to Getting Unstuck with Confidence and Grace [webinar replay]

I messed up last week. I gave you a non-working link to one of the most helpful webinars I’ve ever been a part of.

As you might already know, Laura did a webinar for Traffic Generation Café readers 12 Weeks to Getting Unstuck (And Jump Starting Your Revenue) with Confidence and Grace.

I loved it.

Those who attended it loved it.

If you missed, but want to learn how to make more money with your business doing what you love, you have less than 2 days to watch the replay.

Don’t kick yourself in the rear later - don’t miss it again:

SEO/Google

Here’s a great tool from Portent.com, appropriately called ‘SERP Preview Tool’, to preview your title tags, meta descriptions, and URLs to see how they display in the SERPs before you push them live.

Google continues to move beyond just reading pages, instead attempting to truly understand what they’re about. The engine is drawing connections between concepts and brand names, and it’s affecting SERPs. In this week’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand Fishkin of Moz.com explains just what Google is doing, and how we can help create such associations with our own brands.

Germany to Google: You Should Reveal Your Ranking Algorithm.

Did you know that Google’s popularity lead to a loss of its trademark? True. And it’s happened before.

[share]By the way, you should share this post right now before you forget - much appreciated![/share]

Social Media

Google’s hard sell of Google+ continues to get softer. After 2 1/2 years of mandatory social account creation, new users are now given a “No thanks” choice when signing up for Gmail and other Google products.

Last month, while Twitter’s unfiltered feed was churning out a steady stream of information about a racially charged police shooting in Ferguson, Mo., Facebook was filled with videos of people dumping cold water on their heads for charity. Now Facebook decided to do something about it with their recent News Feed update.

Facebook announced Facebook Media - new hub full of best-practice advice useful to anyone who uses Facebook as a marketing tool.

You might’ve seen some savvy HOA hosts doing recaps of their shows with nifty timestamps that are hyperlinked to specific sections of the video to help you follow the show recording. Turns out it’s very easy to do and here’s how to do it for your next video.

Wish you had the time to watch all those wonderful HOAs happening daily on Google+? Trust me join the club. +Mick Sharpe‘s club of #FridayFavorites that is - the best collection of the best HOA shows of the week. At least he’s done the legwork for us, right?

Twitter redesigns profiles on iOS. Looks better, IMHO.

YouTube announced a major upgrade to its analytics dashboard that will provide video publishers a minute-by-minute look at how many people are watching their videos - a very welcomed addition.

I really like this one: Brazzlebox is the new social network launched this week designed specifically for the needs of Mom and Pop stores and other businesses that often have to plan carefully just to buy a new office chair. No, it’s not a review site. Their niche is more in localized B2B connection and support.

On a Side Note…

If you find tremendous value in my Weekly Marketing Skinnies, like thousands of other readers of Traffic Generation Café do, you should consider joining them and sign up to receive the weekly notifications of when a fresh Skinny is published.

Plus, you’ll get complimentary access to my “Mommy, Where Does My Traffic Come From?” traffic hacks report and traffic hacks newsletter:

"Ana has a unique insight into running an internet business."
- Yaro Starak, Entrepreneurs-Journey.com

Needless to say, your information is completely safe with me.

See you in your inbox!

WordPress

Are you using Sexy Bookmarks plugin on your site? Drop it. Here’s why and what to use instead.

Marketing This & That

In an interview with Charlie Rose after Apple’s product showcase, Tim Cook laid out the case for why Apple is unique in protecting privacy: “If a business is built around collecting your information, then YOU are the product.” Seems like it hit a spot with many; my G+ post about it is buzzing with opinions (and I am trying to stay out of it, lol).

It’s oficial: Home Depot, the nation’s largest home improvement retailer, announced on Thursday that a total of 56 million unique payment cards were likely compromised in a data breach at its stores, suggesting that the data breach on Home improvement chain was larger than the Target data breach that occurred last year during Christmas holidays.

Amazon unveils two new e-readers: the $199 ’Voyage’ and a $79 touch-screen Kindle, as well as kid-proof tablets with 2-year warranties (mothers’ dream come true?).

Google’s My Maps are back. Visitors reaching the new My Maps can begin immediately creating new maps, or they can go through a short process of upgrading their older saved maps.

Thank You

To all of you who mentioned Traffic Generation Café in any share or form in the past week, my whole-hearted THANK YOU.

Traffic Generation Café would NOT be what it is today without you.

Here are just some of the mentions I came across in the past week:

Facebook Hates Bloggers (What to Do About It) - Brittany Bullen at mommybloggeracademy.com

Images Drive Traffic To Your Blog - Antonis Nikoletakis at 4freepeople.com

Building a Stay at Home Business with Ana Hoffman - Joel Boggess and Dr. Pei interviewed me for ReLaunch! show

Get more blog traffic by doing something you enjoy - Jane Sheeba at dosplash.com

Have I missed your mention? Let me know in the comments!

Want to see your name here? Mention Traffic Generation Café in your next blog post!

Subscribe to Stay Ahead

I share a lot of marketing news as well as the best posts I read throughout a week on my Google+ profile.

To read them as they come out and stay ahead of your competition, as well as become a social media star and share the best with YOUR followers (you’d be surprised how much it’ll do for your credibility and online presence!), join me there:

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To an even better next week,