Let’s take a look at some of these trends that might just make a big impact on our lives.

The Ultrabook

Long live the PC! Yes, dear people, the PC is not dead yet, because it’s begun mutating itself. Surprised! Why. The reasoning is very simple. People are going to fall more in love with the idea of using Tablets, so it makes sense that the PC undergoes a mutation that help it mimic the best features of the tablet. Intel is the one that has coined the term Ultrabook, a term that represents a laptop that is ultra thin, ultra light and ultra powerful. The keyword as can be imagined is ULTRA. And this is not a figment of some Intel developer’s verdant imagination; many such laptops were released at the end of 2011 during the holiday season. It’s going to take some time, but all indications are that the Ultrabook is going to be next big thing on the market. There is going to be an explosion of these devices and users are going to queue up in huge numbers to get their hands on their beloved Ultrabooks. Just wait and watch!

Mobile Augmented Reality

Technology that allows users to get a virtual view of the real world has already arrived and is increasingly being used in games, location specific apps etc. But now, the whole idea of ‘augmented reality’ is going to become only cooler. Think about a scenario where you are searching for a sports shop in your neighborhood. With augmented reality, you wont just get an on-screen view of the street that you are searching the shop on, but you will also be presented with its location and its reviews right on top of the of this view. Get set for more advancement in ‘mobile augmented reality’ in 2012.  There is no doubt that more and more apps are going to integrate augmented reality in some way or another. And with most smartphones and tablets being 3G and 4G ready, and offering high definition screens, and the benefit of multi-megapixel cameras, augmented reality is going to becoming even more real.

The Economy Powered by Micro-Payments

Recession or double digit growth, whatever the state of the economy in 2012, micro-payments are going to become an important part of all the transactions happening in the world of business. More small businesses are going to open an online shop and even if they don’t, there are plenty of online merchants out there who are willing to hawk all sorts of wares, and that too without burning a deep hole in the pockets of small businesses.  Aspiring entrepreneurs are finding their feet and on different sites all over the internet, and all they have to do is host their product/s on these sites. Sell anything and everything and get paid online. Yes, I know you are going to say that this is already happening, but here’s the thing. This is all set to become a whole micro-economy in itself. Shopping has already gone mobile; imagine where it’s headed next. All this is going to lead to a surge in micro-payments.

Exhausted Social Media Enthusiasts

Is that ever going to happen! I mean, are people really going to get exhausted with the whole idea of using social media. Hmm… yes and it’s already happening. Just because, there is no let up in the number of people signing up for Facebook and Twitter doesn’t mean that the millions of users already on it, are still as enthused about using it as they were earlier. I know it’s difficult to believe, but in 2012, an increasing number of people are going to reevaluate their use of social media sites and their place in their lives. This introspection has already begun, and right now it’s still on the low end of the scale, but people are beginning to get a grip on their use of these platforms and their social interactions on them. 2012 can well be the year, when many users realize how their lives are in the stranglehold of online social interactions. These people will then try to release themselves of this stranglehold. Let’s just wait and watch.

So, here they are. Trends that might just reinvent the wheel with respect to digital technology! Some of these trends have already begun taking shape… but we will need to wait till 2013 to find out, whether any of these trends really made themselves felt or not.

Why Invest in Reputation Management?

Your corporate reputation is extremely precious. It’s difficult to quantify customer loyalty; but all companies, irrespective of their size, are learning to put a value on their corporate reputation. The value of their corporate reputation is directly proportional to their efforts at maintaining it. Also, the revenue and profits generated are in direct proportion to the positive perception of their corporate reputation. There are two facets to corporate reputation management – building a reputation and protecting it.  Investing in both these facets plays a significant role in improving business performance and crafting the public’s perception, vis-à-vis your company.

The Role of the Internet

The internet emerged as a definitive game changer with respect to how a corporate is able to manage its reputation. It has provided businesses, both big and small, with a way to keep working on their customer’s perceptions 24×7. Take for example the case of a corporate website. It’s an online presence, which indefatigably keeps building the company brand, keeps it afloat and also helps boost the corporate reputation of the company. This is just one example of how the internet is helping fashion a target customer’s views about a company, whether good or bad.

This is why, today, the concept of online reputation management is taking hold of the imagination of businesses. The thinking is that, if you are able to manage your online corporate reputation, some pressure can be taken off from the traditional means of reputation management.

Technological Evolution and Your Corporate Reputation

The rapid evolution of technologies such as the internet has led to a more evolved and sustained form of communication. Brand reputation, today, is determined by how users are making use of these communication technologies to shape their thoughts. One of the great advantages of modern communication channels like the internet is that massive amounts of information are made available to consumers instantly. Internet based news and information sites deliver information from multiple sources directly to the user. Add to that social networking sites contributing to this information flow, and you have an environment where maintaining a corporate reputation becomes a real challenge.

A company’s corporate reputation is governed by whether they are able to use the internet to mitigate any potential risk to their reputation.

Risks and Challenges to the corporate reputation

A corporate is no longer catering to an audience of their choosing. Yes, they can target a particular audience, but their online presence is now reaching a sophisticated and powerful global audience who are watching every move they make and scrutinizing these moves on various parameters.  The risks to the corporate reputation can come from various quarters and from all corners of the globe. Today, a critical article published in Hong Kong is available to readers in the United States in a matter of seconds. Such a critical commentary can have global consequences for your business prospects irrespective of where it’s published from. The fact that it is on the internet means it can reach anybody, anywhere.

Yet another risk is to the concept of business secrecy. The popularity of the social networking sites and the fact that information can be published anonymously, means hiding company secrets becomes a full time, difficult and thankless job. A bad word here and there and your corporate reputation can be in tatters.

So, is there a solution?

Well, there is a sea change in the attitude of the corporations regarding their information policies and the way they conduct business. Gaining the public trust through slow and steady progression has become crucial. More importantly, organizations are becoming more open and honest with the public about their deals and agenda. If there is an incident that they think is going to negatively impact their corporate reputation, they are being upfront in dealing with them in a manner that can mend their corporate reputation.

But is this enough? No it isn’t. New threats and challenges need to be met with new tools and solutions. This helps companies become more nimble footed as far as meeting the challenges to their reputation is concerned.

Let’s take a look at some of these new age solutions.

• Tap into the opportunities provided by Web 2.0. The fact that your supporters and detractors have a presence on these social media sites means you must have a presence too. Use the same tools that your customers are using to promote and defend your corporate reputation. A Facebook, Twitter account is an absolute must.
• Create a specifically designated team that works within a safe and secure online environment and is in charge of sharing and exchanging information online.
• The use of SaaS (Software as a Service) technology helps deliver information from sources such as the internet, TV, Radio, social media, etc to a single dashboard. This can help your in-house corporate branding team review and analyze all that is spoken and written about your company.
• Implementing web applications that can help report, analyze, and measure all the coverage in Web 2.0 media channels.
• Deploying specific corporate reputation management tools that fit seamless into the IT infrastructure, especially, the kind of tools that can be deployed quickly and easily.

Companies have begun investing in custom web applications that facilitate the monitoring, interpretation, analysis and reporting, of both traditional, as well as, online media conversations. Corporations are keeping pace with the changing times to ensure that there is no dark spot in their corporate reputation.

It is never enough

What can save your organization’s reputation and maintain it in the long run is a sustained and strategic investment made in trying to listen to, analyze and track the company’s coverage taking place across all media channels, especially the online channel. It’s a never ending process and needs to be handled with all the experience and expertise at your disposal. Effective corporate reputation management demands the continuous reinvention of your brand management methodologies.

Only then will you be able to keep your corporate reputation intact.

Let’s be honest here. Every website offers the same type of information. The presentation can be different, but the info follows the same pattern.  All websites start off by trying to be different, but end up being the same.

Try as you might, the basic setup of the website remains the same. Let me give you an example. I wanted a website that broke every rule in the book and took a different road towards information sharing. But, I still had to follow a set pattern. After all, even a personal website needs certain common pages that tell visitors what I am all about. I tried to be different, but failed. In order to keep the professional look and feel of my site intact, I had to tell potential visitors about my values, work ethics, approach, and provide all information that would encourage them to visit the website again and again. This is what they expect and this is what I had to give them.

But, I wanted to give my website visitors something different. I wanted them to know ME, and develop a personal connect with me. So, I thought long and hard about it and decided to integrate a blog into my website. Having a blog for my site, soon proved to be a masterstroke and it’s the blog that in large part is the driving force behind the popularity of my website.

Here are five reasons why this happened.

Reason 1: It gave my website an ‘Attitude’

Now, my website has an attitude courtesy my blog. I can offer information the way I want to and nobody will really mind. On my blog, I can throw the ‘professional approach’ inside the bin and tell it the way I want to. I can be as creative and up-front as I like and nobody is going to tell me to do it in another way. After all, it’s my blog. It’s an outlet that helps me share random thoughts, interests etc with my target audience. It stops my website from becoming boring. And this is what counts, at the end of the day.

Reason 2: Knowing the ‘Real’ Me

As a website owner, I put in a whole lot of call-to-action content and images on it to ensure that the visitors are encouraged to make a positive decision regarding the information available on the site. But on my blog, I can ask visitors to think twice about doing the same. Not because the information isn’t correct, but because I want them to make an informed decision. If you think this is some kind of split personality at work, then it is. Think of your blog as your alter ego. It is the real you. On your blog, you are not the merchant looking for a profit, but a person who wants to tell visitors more about who he/she is all about. A blog allows you to market your persona and character. You can be natural and portray your views and opinions in all honesty. It will definitely be appreciated. Some of this appreciation will rub off on your website.

Reason 3: Idea Exchange

Blog is a wonderful platform for sharing suggestions, opinions and ideas with your website visitors. Now, this works both ways. As a customer, if I have used your products, I would love a platform where I can exchange notes on how the website can be improved and how to optimize the use of the website and the information it provides. A blog provides such a platform.

Reason 4: A sense of togetherness

A blog helps promote a sense of community. For me, my website and its potential visitors were not exclusive of each other. I had to bring them together and the only way I could do that was through my blog. It helped me develop a relationship with my visitors and their comments helped me fine tune my offerings.

Reason 5: Showing that you Care

Yep, your website visitors are emotional creatures. They need to be told that they are important and you actually care for them and what they think. This emotional bonhomie is something that only your blog can bring about. The fact that you will be able to talk to them like a friend rather than a merchant or a website owner does half the job for you. It’s important to make your blog visitors to understand that your blog isn’t just another promotional tool. Your blog should be a way of connecting better with your readers.

So here they are! Five very good reasons why your website must have a blog! Such blogs are not a luxury any more, but a necessity. Even if you are not convinced about using a blog in your website, there is still no harm in trying it out.

Get more information about Google Related through the following video:-

Whether you’re reading a news article, shopping for a new pair of shoes or visiting your favorite musician’s website, Google Related works in the background to find you the most interesting and relevant content on the topics you’re currently viewing. For example, if you visit a restaurant’s website, Related can show you a map, reviews from Google Places, mentions from across the web and other similar eateries that you might want to try.

Google Related results will get displayed in a thin bar at the bottom of  user’s screen (as shown in the above image) and it will be minimized until a user hover over them with mouse. Out of given all the options, once you select any specific option from the thin bar, that item will immediately open up in the same browser window, this helps getting rid of opening up multiple windows and tabs.

Google Related has built-in Google +1 button which will allow you to share something that you find interesting.

If you want to experience Google Related then for Chrome it is available in the Chrome Web Store and for Internet Explorer it is added as a new feature in Google Toolbar.

It looks like this new feature will be more helpful to the product based and local target market websites and the internet marketers who are specially working on ecommerce websites and helping local business owners to optimize their local business will require to pay extra attention towards this.

PageRank is important, but it’s time that you started looking at various other actionable options that are more relevant and better placed to improve your website’s search engine ranking.

PageRank – A part of a much larger system now!

When PageRank was first introduced as a part of Google’s ranking algorithm, there was no doubt that it was its backbone. It was developed by Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the founders of Google. But, back then, the search engine system was much smaller compared to what it is today. There are many other actionable metric that make up the exhaustive and comprehensive Google system, today. In 1998, when Google introduced PageRank it was what helped this search engine stand apart from the rest of its competitors. But, as competition increased, new improvements were made to the ranking systems. Close estimates suggest that up to nine improvements are being made on the search algorithm every week. You can imagine the rate at which Google, ranking system has grown over the years. What this means is that PageRank is no longer the be all and end all of ranking.

Relevance is Now King

It’s surprising that even though Google has made no bones about the fact that it considers relevance as the key quality needed for great search results, people still focus on PageRank as that one ingredient that will guarantee top SERPs. The reason behind this phenomenon is not very hard to find. PageRank has a number, while you can’t quantify relevance. Both, PageRank and Relevance are based on factors such as popularity, reliability, context, and searcher intent; but because you can quantify PageRank, it becomes easier for webmasters to create professional documents that can be presented to their clients. PageRank is easier to track that is why it’s popular.

But, is this what you really need?

The answer in clear terms is No. It’s important not to see PageRank as an end goal. The fact that a good PageRank helps a website make more money is based on a whole list of assumptions First, you need to assume that a high PageRank means, better ranking, then you assume that this will drive traffic to your site; after that you need to assume that visitors will come to your site and do whatever it is that they are supposed to be doing on your site. The problem in making these assumptions is that Google only updates the PageRank that is displayed on the Toolbar, a few times in a year. So, what you see as a high PageRank might not necessarily be the PageRank that the Google algorithm is looking at.

So, it’s far better that you search for those metrics that have a direct bearing on your business objective and further your goals.

Metrics that should be Tracked

There are plenty of other metrics that you could track. Choose those that offer maximum meaningful gains for your website. Don’t just focus on ranking signals, and consider the kind of metrics that are updated on a daily or weekly basis.

• CTR (Click Through Rate)

In organic search results, the click through rate is the amount of times people actually click on your website, when it’s displayed on the search engine results page. If your website has a high CTR, it means your site is getting visitors, but a low CTR means that visitors are not clicking on your site in spite of it’s rankings. This problem can be sorted out by ensuring the site’s titles and snippets are compelling enough and that they are an accurate representation of the content of each URL of your website.

• Conversion Rate

If a visitor does what he/she is supposed to do on your site, then it’s called a conversion. It could be anything from buying a product or service, downloading brochures or even signing up for mailing lists. This is one of those metrics that directly helps your business goals. This is because when there is a conversion, your business is experiencing a quantifiable benefit from the same, as opposed to your PageRank, that cannot be measured accurately.

• Bounce Rate

Now here’s a situation that you don’t need. A visitor does come to your site but doesn’t do anything meaningful. So, a bounce rate is actually a percentage of those visits to your site where the visitor does not perform any constructive activity and just bounces out of your site. They just visit your site, have a look and leave. By checking the bounce rate, you can analyze the reasons for this occurrence and update or modify the underperforming pages of your site.

These are just three web metrics that are far more action centric than PageRank. Digging deeper into the benefits of these and other metrics will definitely give you a fair idea as to why its time to move beyond PageRank. This does not mean that you don’t consider PageRank at all, but make sure that PageRank does not form the foundation of your search engine optimization efforts.