Welwyn Biography Series (8 vols.)

Night-time journeys to avoid pursuing soldiers, exile, the public excommunication of King Charles II and his principal ministers for their crimes against God and his church, arrest and the gallows—these are all part of the dramatic story of Donald Cargill.

Set in Scotland in the colorful days of the Restoration of the monarchy under Charles II, when to preach without license from the Crown was an offence punishable by imprisonment, banishment and even death, this book tells the story of one of the most noted and loved preachers of the day, who defied the king and Privy Council and was in consequence branded 'rebel and traitor' for refusing to acknowledge their jurisdiction over the church. Cargill was prepared to face years of privation and constant danger, and ultimately death itself, rather than surrender the rights of Christ alone to be Head of the church.

No King but Christ is a challenge to faithfulness and a striking testimony of the grace of God which enabled Cargill to face a violent and cruel death with the words: 'The Lord knows, I go up this ladder with less fear and perturbation of mind than ever I entered the pulpit to preach. . . Farewell, all relations and friends in Christ; farewell, all acquaintances and all earthly enjoyments; farewell, reading and preaching, praying and believing, wanderings, reproaches and sufferings. Welcome, joy unspeakable and full of glory. Welcome, Father, Son and Holy Ghost! Into thy hands I commit my spirit.'

Maurice Grant is the son of a Free Church of Scotland minister and is an elder of Free St. Columba's Church, Edinburgh. He is a graduate of Glasgow University and is employed in the Scottish Office.

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5 Tips for Content Marketers on Google Places Optimization

Local and mobile search is being used more frequently by customers on their smart phones and other devices now more than ever.  As local search becomes more and more prevalent, marketers must ask themselves what can they do to incorporate this marketing strategy into their arsenal.

According to a recent release by ComScore, nearly 3 billion search queries contain local terms each month.  For companies that have a local presence, top visibility on local search is essential or that traffic will simply go to competitors.  Google Maps is one of the most frequently used local search destinations and even comes standard on many devices including the iPhone.  Google Places provides a great opportunity to begin marketing on a local level to your potential customers.

A best practice approach to local online marketing will greatly increase your chances of success.  The Google Places optimization tips listed below will help you create or modify your Google Places page to become more relevant to both search engines and potential customers.  I’ve also included suggestions on how this .

It is important that your Google Place profile contains the same information as any other profiles your company may have online. Google Place pages create another opportunity to build trust and consistency as part of your marketing strategy. Be sure to audit your other profiles and answer each question as consistently as you can.  There are some additional ways you can create consistency on your profiles such as:

Linking: improve searchability by linking your additional profiles togetherImagery: utilizing the same imagery on multiple place pages will create consistencyBranding: consistency in naming and referencing your brand is extremely important

*Content Marketing Tip: Go back to basics.

Are you using the same contact information for each of your social profiles or business pages?Do each of your social profiles or business pages reflect your current management team or employees?

Have you ever heard the expression “better off safe than sorry”?  Take the same approach when setting up or editing your Google Places profile.  There may be questions that you consider irrelevent but could ultimately have an impact on how you are found online.  Make sure that you are filling out all standard information including:

Company NameAddressPhone NumberWebsiteEmail Address

Adding additional elements to your page such as photos or videos are also an opportunity to optimize your content and share a little bit more about your company with your prospective clients.

*Content Marketing Tip: Take an audit of your other local and social based marketing initiatives.

Have you completed each profile to the best of your ability?Can you repurpose some of your existing content for your Google Place page?Brand focused images used on other social profiles can be repurposed for your company Google Places page.

User generated content can be a very powerful optimization tool.  Actual customers may be using additional or different keywords or phrases to describe their experience with you.  Reviews also add validity to your statements and information written by your company.  Nothing speaks higher of a company than the testimonials of it’s customers.  I would recommend encouraging customers or clients to participate or simply urge them to visit your page and see what they think.  Some additional ways that you could encourage interaction would be:

Posting video testimonials on your Google Places pageEncourage clients to upload photos of themselves at your establishment or with your team

*Content Marketing Tip: Moderate, moderate, moderate.

Are you currently moderating comments on your blog, website, or social profiles?Are you making a point to interact with your potential customers online?

Including relevant and purposeful keywords in your Google Place profile is a strategic way to increase optimization.  However, you will want to avoid over stuffing your description with keywords or utilizing keywords in your business name that are not relevant to your offering. Do your research up front utilizing your analytics account to determine what keywords are appropriate for your business.

*Content Marketing Tip: To create an effective strategy you must research, implement, and adapt.

Use keywords in your file names to improve optimizationUpdate your information frequently to provide fresh content

Do not be afraid to add details about your service offering, solutions, or products that will help your customers find you.  A simple analysis of your google analytics account can tell you what keywords users are searching for to find your company.  Do your best to use those descriptions in your company overview and specialities area.

Think of what your customers will be looking for and provide imagery or documentation that will show your expertise.

The example included above separates this company from their competition.  I would venture to say that of the companies that came up in my search this for “Tire Repair, Minneapolis” their profile was the most consistent and complete.  Instead of having to further investigate on the company on their website I was given adequate information which would led me to contacting them immediately.

*Content Marketing Tip: People want to know how your solutions solve their problems.

When appropriate provide an explanation of the problems that your services, solutions, or products solve.Be aware of what your customers need and tailor your message to meet that need.

An optimized Google Places page is a marketing tactic that does not take a lot of effort but can have a very large impact on your searchability.  As with any online marketing strategy it is important that you present factual and consistent information for your customers or clients.  If you are ready to get started or make some change to your existing profile be sure to visit Google’s Getting Started page which will help you through the process.  Do you have an idea of how many of your customers have found you on Google Places? If so have you encouraged them to interact with your page and share feedback?

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A to Z Internet Marketing News: Happy Birthday TopRankBlog!, 2012 Marketing Predictions, Social Disasters, Cashing in on XMAS

Curious to find out what 2012 could have in store for online marketers?  This presentation from DreamGrow shares 21 predictions on what 2012 could look like.

Highlights include:

Social CRM making inroadsSocial media influencing more salesSocial commerce on mobile devices

“Nielsen: Top Web Destinations, Social Networks and Video Sites in 2011”  As 2011 comes to an end, Nielsen released a review of the top online destinations, social media sites, and smartphone devices.  It is no surprise that Google was the most visited U.S. Web Brand and Facebook was still the leader among social networks and blogs.  Via Nielsen.

“Facebook $100 Billion IPO in 2012: What the Future Holds for the Social Media Powerhouse” 2012 is positioned to be one of the most important years in Facebook’s short history.  While going public and planning a $100 billion IPO for 2012 are on the horizon, additional surprises are in store for Facebook users in the coming year.  Via Mashable.

“Ocean Marketing vs. Penny Arcade: Paul Christoforo PR Disaster Goes Viral” Documented via email and enacted on numerous YouTube videos, this might be one of the most reprehensible exchanges in the history of customer service. A PR/Marketing contractor representing N-Control, a maker of modified game controllers for hardcore gamers and disabled people has been accused of insulting a customer, plagiarism, extorting a past client and shady SEO practices. Could it get any worse? Yeah. Domestic abuse.  Via International Business Times.

“Social media, rumors might have fed melee at MOA”  On Sunday December 25th it was rumored that rappers Lil Wayne and Drake were going to be making an appearance at Mall of America in Bloomington, MN.  In the afternoon mayhem broke out involving more than 200 young people, one of the most serious disturbances at the mall in over 15 years with 10 people arrested.  Via StarTribune.

“Top 5 Most Common Networking Mistakes”  Good networking is an art and a science.  While some people may not have an innate networking skill this article points out basic mistakes and how to avoid them.  Via Inc.

“Pinterest: Crazy Growth Lands it as Top 10 Social Site”  Pintrest has grown 4,000% over the past 6 months marking it as the number 10 social media site.  While most traffic comes from California and Texas, Pinterest also receives unusually high traffic from states like Utah, Alabama, and Tennessee.  Via cNet.

“Instagram Becomes the Largest Mobile Social Network” In the past two months Instagram has added over 2 million new users.  While currently only available on iPhone, Instagram is poised to outpace Foursquare, the largest mobile focused social network available today.  Via Social Fresh.

“Google+ may reach 400 million users by end of 2012”  Google+ is on average adding 625,000 new users per day.  While the numbers are reflecting total users not active users, there is no denying that Google+ is growing.  Via LA Times Blog.

“Final Christmas Push Propels U.S. Online Holiday Spending to $35.3 Billion, Up 15 Percent Versus Last Year”  Spending reflected in this report takes into account the first 56 days of the November – December holiday season.  It is said with certainty that Cyber Monday 2011 ranked as the heaviest spending day of the season for the second year in a row.  Via ComScore.

“A Dispute Over Who Owns a Twitter Account Goes to Court” How much is a Twitter follower worth?  In a world where social media influence can mean the difference between a new customer and a fruitless cold call, one company thinks it’s worth a lot.  The question remains, can a company claim ownership of an employee’s social media account, and what does that mean for employee’s posting during work hours?  Via NY Times.

“YouTube Slam Begins Video Clip Battles for Users’ Votes”  Each week YouTube will put user submitted videos head-to-head to battle it out on screen.  Users will be asked to submit a vote for their favorite video.  This contest is designed to keep visitors on YouTube for longer periods of time and deepen their connection to the site.  Via BBC.

Ken Horst – “Google Will Change Web Marketing in 2012”
Google has designed a new method for websites to structure data so that its crawler can pull better information. These plans revolve around metadata that will allow Google to access more rich data about a topic.  This may be a wakeup call for marketers and web masters to start looking at the new data and plan for the deployment of the new code in order to improve or maintain rankings.  Via Harvard Business Review.

Emily Conley – “The 22 Best Infographics We Found in 2011”
This is a compilation of some of the best infographics released in the past year.  I thought this was a pretty cool trend feature to reflect on the past year and gear up for 2012!  Via Co.Design.

Alexis Hall – “77 of Top 100 Brands Now Have Google+ Pages”
This article from Marketing Land discusses the fast adoption of Google+ by businesses, since its launch on November 7th.  According to BrightEdge’s December SocialShare report, 77 of the top 100 brands now have Google+ pages. This adoption rate will likely continue to increase in 2012 as big and small businesses begin to leverage Google+.  Via Marketing Land.

Ken Horst – “Will Clever Sense Help Google Become The Perfect Search Engine?”
Google is beefing up its voice search capabilities with the recent purchase of Clever Sense.  Similar to Siri for Apple, Google’s new voice search app will remember things it learns about the user so that future search results are even more targeted.  As more people use voice search on their mobile devices, online marketers will need to learn what it takes, other than location, to acquire a high ranking in the SERP.  Via Search Insider.

We’ve celebrated our 8th year of blogging this week. Thank you to everyone who has subscribed, shared, linked, commented and reached out over the  years. It’s an honor to be a part of such an amazing community and in this world of information overload, we appreciate your attention a great deal.  Thank you!

From the entire team at TopRank Online Marketing

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A Manual of Palestinian Aramaic Texts

A Manual of Palestinian Aramaic Texts gathers together Palestinian Aramaic texts of various sorts and varying lengths from the last two centuries BC and the first two centuries AD (roughly 200 BC to AD 135). It presents the kind of Aramaic used in Palestine during this period. Discussions of the language of Jesus in recent decades have been legion, and much of that discussion has been based on texts that are of questionable relevance. The authors’ purpose in gathering the Palestinian Aramaic texts of this period is to illustrate what should be the background to that discussion.

The texts are of diverse character: a few of them are biblical (revealing the form of the text in this period); a number belong to the so-called intertestamental literature of Palestinian Jews; some of them are letters, contracts, or business documents of different sorts, reflecting various elements of Palestinian life of that period. The last part of the collection of texts presented here comes from ossuaries or tombstone inscriptions and often contains no more than a few words or names. Indeed, it is not at all easy to decide whether such texts are really written in Aramaic (and not in the Hebrew of the day). They are included here only to the extent that they have something in them that may indicate an Aramaic relationship.

A Manual of Palestinian Aramaic Texts provides the text of these documents (often with emendations and restorations, to the extent that these are possible), a translation of the text, a brief introduction, and a bibliography of secondary literature on each of the texts. A glossary of the texts completes the collection.

Title: A Manual of Palestinian Aramaic TextsAuthors: Joseph A. Fitzmyer and Daniel J. HarringtonPublisher: Editrice Pontificio Istituto BiblicoPublication Date: 2002Pages: 373

Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J. is professor emeritus at the Catholic University of America, Washington D.C. He has taught New Testament, its Semitic background, and Biblical languages at Woodstock College, University of Chicago, Fordham University, and Weston School of Theology. In 1984 he was awarded the Berkitt Medal for Biblical Studies by the British Royal Academy. He has authored over twenty books. He is co-editor of the New Jerome Biblical Commentary.

Daniel J. Harrington, S.J. is Professor of New Testament at Weston Jesuit School of Theology. In addition to serving as editor of New Testament Abstracts, he teaches courses in both the Old and the New Testament. His research focuses on biblical interpretation in antiquity, modern biblical interpretation, and the relation between exegesis and preaching. He has written over thirty books.

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Hebrew Audio Pronunciations

Hebrew Audio Pronunciations is an invaluable addition to Logos Bible Software 4—whether you’re a pastor wishing to incorporate Hebrew into your sermons, or a seminary student needing to bone up on your vocab. Hebrew Audio Pronunciations features thousands of lemmas from the Hebrew Bible, pronounced by Hebrew experts and integrated into your favorite morphological database. Whether you’re a pastor wishing to incorporate Hebrew into your weekly sermons, or a seminary student needing to review vocab, Hebrew Audio Pronunciations will prove itself an invaluable addition to your library.

For years, Logos users have marveled at the usefulness—and usability—of our Greek Pronunciation Addin. With its seamless integration with our Greek Bibles, it quickly became an invaluable component to original language studies. Now, Logos brings the same convenience and quality found in the Greek Pronunciation Addin to our Hebrew language resources. This parallel functionality with the Greek Addin makes Hebrew Audio Pronunciations ideal for pastors and students wishing to take their study of the entire Bible deeper than ever before.

Hebrew Audio Pronunciations will be integrated with such popular morph databases as the Westminster, Anderson Forbes and the WIVU. It doesn’t matter which of these morph databases you use, the lemmas will be pronounced. Moreover, the Aramaic portions of the Bible will be pronounced as well, allowing you full access to the complete Tanakh.

The Hebrew language offers many unique challenges—Hebrew has more forms of words, more vocabulary than Greek, and Hebrew words themselves are very difficult for the casual scholar or student to pronounce. Hebrew Audio Pronunciations allows you to meet these challenges with confidence.

Hebrew Audio Pronunciations will only be available for Logos 4. The CD-ROM option is no longer available. If you placed a pre-order for the CD-ROM, it has been changed to a download.

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A to Z Internet Marketing News: Tacky Social PR, Can You Measure Up, Is Sales #1?, Sharing 2011, Email/Social Become One

A new infographic recently released by Clearspring provides a good overview of social sharing in the past year.  I especially liked the breakdown of shares by social media platform.

Facts You May Not Know You Didn’t Know:

73% of the top 10 shares were related to death & disasterTwitter makes up 52% of sharing in JapanGoogle sharing declines by 8% even with the addition of the +1 button

“Google follows Currents launch with activity-recommendation tool Schemer and face recognition on Google+ Econsultancy” If you want to try out the new location based tool recently released by Google, get in line.  Currently in beta testing mode “Schemer” is an online application that allows users to make plans and explore suggestions for things to do.   In addition to launching new services Google+ is also putting it’s best face forward with a facial recognition feature.  Sounds like Google’s been busy!  But will it pay off in the end?  Via Econsultancy.

“Should you Post Press Releases in Social Media?”   We’ve all read them, and some of us may be guilty of writing them.  Dull and sometimes self serving press releases hit the inbox of reporters and news wires on a daily basis.  Some professionals have even begun using social media platforms to re-share the same information.  However, is a social media channel the right place for sharing a news release?  SPOLIER ALERT: The jury is still out.  Via Forbes.

“Marketers to Integrate Social Media and Email in 2012” It is no surprise that companies are continuing to invest in social media and email marketing strategies.  What you may find surprising is that over 68% of people surveyed are planning to integrate their social and email campaigns in 2012.  Overall, marketing budgets for 2012 appear to be on the upswing with 51% planning to increase marketing budgets in the new year.  Via MarketingProfs.

“The Social Media Measurement Imperative: Building Business Value” eMarketers recent interview with Irfan Kamal from Ogilby & Mather provides some good insight into measurement of online initiatives.  Irfran says that “we are measuring just because we can measure, instead of measuring what we need to measure.”  Moral of the story, the easiest data to collect may not be the data that truly has an impact on your bottom line.  Via eMarketer.

“2012 B2B Marketing Predictions – Will Marketers Leave Sales Behind?”   From the looks of 2012’s predictions it appears that marketers may be getting so caught up in digital marketing that sales are now taking a back seat.  It may be too early to tell but I hope that companies plan to focus on the convergence of sales and marketing, not one or the other as a stand alone solution for increasing revenue.  Via B2B Marketing Insider.

Were there any other newsworthy items you read this week and would like to share with our readers?  Also, what are some of your marketing predictions for 2012? Enjoy your weekend!  We’ll see you next week.

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Future Trends: 2012 Online Marketing & Technology Predictions

What does 2012 hold in store for online marketing? The acceleration of innovation in online technologies and the ways we can discover, consume and engage with information can be a challenge to keep up with. But as digital marketers that are more than shiny object opportunists, seeing future trends is exactly what we need to do in order to anticipate our place in the digital universe.

It’s not just about where you can sell stuff to people right now, but next month, next year, 5, 10 or more out.  That’s why I think the concept of discovery, consume and engage is so important, because it transcends ideas like “social network” or “search engine” and focuses more on consumers and technologies. Will we be using a search engine like Google in 5 years? Will we be using desktop computers in 5 years? What will future social networks look like? Answers to those questions are answers to the future of marketing and customer engagement.

Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon and plenty of other large companies are innovating at amazing speed to gain control of our attention. Some are doing it through devices, some through content, others through infrastructure. A handful of companies have had a huge impact on what we do online and at the same time, new companies, start-ups and individuals are creating amazing solutions. What are you doing to see the bigger picture and what it means for your business?

Rather than jumping sequentially from one thing to the next, marketers should consider developing adaptive models that allow for rapid assimilation of new technologies and trends. As it stands, companies may adopt early with some risk, move with the crowd giving up first mover advantage or wait and see until it’s too painful not to change. The ramp up time to evaluate and adopt new technologies and trends is expensive. As an example, over $100 billion has already been invested in social business and that’s just a drop in the bucket compared to the next 5 years as companies implement enterprise collaboration platforms and social technologies.

In order to survive and thrive, I think more companies are going to evolve their ability to adapt more quickly, tune in to trends and data more efficiently and at the same time have the infrastructure and partnerships that will allow them to evolve and innovate at greater speed.

From a practical level, the new internet no longer exists on your computer as consumers and content shifts to tablet devices and smartphones. The search experience has not only become distinctly different for consumers through user innovations like Siri, interface and back-end changes but also for marketers trying to play Google’s game in achieving top search visibility.

Imagine how many more changes there will be in technology as well as with consumer behaviors in the coming year. Here are 7 reports and infographics outlining key technology, social business and digital marketing trends for 2012 and beyond.

Envisioning Emerging Technology. At the heart of the fast changing digital ecosystem of mobile, internet and information is technology. 10 years ago not many marketers could have predicted the ubiquity of tablet devices and smartphones we see today. What’s in store for the next 20 years. Or 30? This smart data visualization from Michell Zappa charts future technologies like artificial intelligence, interfaces and robotics through 2040 on several dimensions including relative importance and consumer impact. Virtual Reality life forms anyone?

2012 Social Business Developments. What’s the future of business? Social Business. Here are 12 social business predictions from Dion Hinchcliffe of Dachis Group covering the move of social to mobile, marketing consolidation, budget and operational aspects of social business and some keen insights on social business applications.

“It’s a Social World: Top 10 Need-to-Knows About Social Networking and Where It’s Headed. Globally, social networking is the most popular activity online according to a new study from comScore. The impact of Facebook and microblogging have had a profound impact on how brands and consumers connect and engage around the world. Any company doing business globally would benefit from reading this report that covers social media usage, adoption and trends.

Mobile Outlook 2012 (pdf). Mobile predictions finally came true in 2011 and companies have invested significantly in mobile websites, apps, advertising and integration with local and offline promotions. The future of mobile is even brighter as outlined in this report from Mobile Marketer including Mobile payments, Advertising, the continued effectiveness of SMS, mobile social media and search.

B2B Content Marketing: 2012 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends (pdf). The second annual survey from Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs tapped over 1,000 B2B marketers and shows continued investment in content marketing as well as its uses and intersection with other channels like social media. This report provides useful insight for B2B marketers to gauge where their peers are investing, challenged and applying best practices content marketing in 2012.

Digital Marketing Budget Trends for 2012. What are the lowest cost but most effective online lead generation tactics? Where are companies investing in their marketing for the coming year? 6smarketing assembled a great collection of digital marketing budget trends ranging from overall digital marketing spend to online advertising and mobile marketing.

Internet Statistics Compendium North American Edition.  This isn’t a report or infographic on future trends, but a collection of statistics compiled by Econsultancy regarding: Affiliate Marketing, Internet Advertising, Web Analytics, Social Media, Search Marketing, Mobile, Email Marketing, E-commerce, Customer Experience and Technology Adoption. Part of seeing future trends is having a baseline of data on what’s happened in the past. This report, which is one of many you get with a paid Econsultancy subscription $495, is a useful compilation of that kind of data.

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7 Ways to Improve Your Online Reputation Management Strategy

Is your reputation management strategy a turn off to your customers and critics?

Should we respond, get angry, fire back, ignore the situation, censor comments, or just see what happens?  Those are some of the many questions that marketers are faced with today.  With more and more consumers and customers turning online to share what they think of a particular brand or company it has become increasingly difficult to capture everything that is being shared.

In April of this year Yelp.com reached 50 million users with over 17 million reviews on their database.  If you are a professional responsible for online reputation management it makes you wonder how many other means are there for your customers and critics to share their opinion about your company.

According to a recent infographic created by Digimind 47% of American companies’ net worth is tied up in intangible assets like brand equity and reputation.  That being said there are two questions that I would like you to ask yourselves:

Do you know what your customers,competitors, and critics are saying online about your brand?Do you have a plan in place to respond to negative feedback?

If you answered no or maybe to either of these questions then there are some things that you should know.

Step one is knowing where you are present online. Step two is devising a plan for using those assets to your advantage.  The state of online reputation management today calls for more than a company website.  Try leveraging your social media channels as a way to attract, engage, and inspire positive feedback about your organization.

You are in control of what you post, where you’re present, and how you react to questions or comments.  Make sure that your online approach is aligned and consistent for each platform.  It is impossible to censor every negative comment and piece of information you have online.  Instead respond consistently and appropriately when you do find negative information.

Should an issue arise I recommend you have influencers in your corner.  If you take the time to properly build and cultivate relationships online you will be prepared with an army behind you to approach the subject when and if it happens.

If your approach to reputation management involves not talking about or planning for negative press then perhaps it’s time to rethink your strategy.  Managing your personal or company reputation head on will show that you have listened and that most subjects are not off limits.

Counteracting negativity with negativity is a recipe for disaster.  If you can, try to take a positive approach and do your best to present your case online if you deem necessary.  If you believe that a formal response is in order, maintain a positive outlook and show that you are open to feedback and will address comments head on.

Learning from the mistakes we have made is key in improving a reputation management strategy.  Perhaps you responded poorly to negative feedback.  To avoid making the same mistake twice devise a plan for addressing issues and shedding a positive light on your organization.

False.  Ongoing monitoring of your online reputation is key in protecting your assets online.  Consider implementing some cost effective solutions that enable you to monitor issues in real time for quick response. It is important to not only monitor your brand name but also products, the company, and key executives.

Not Sure How You Rate?

If you have a few moments I recommend completing the survey below.  I am curious to know how our readers would rate themselves or their companies when it comes to addressing online reputation management.  I would like to share the results on the TopRank Blog in a future post to see how our readers are addressing issues currently and provide additional tips on reputation management for the future.

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Nelson Commentary Collection: Church History & Paul's Epistles (25 vols.)

Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie, recently retired Chaplain of the U.S. Senate, is the author of more than 40 books and won a Gold Medallion award for his writing. His nationwide TV and radio ministry, "Let God Love You", helped promote an evangelical resurgence. He pastored several churches and was named Preacher of the Year by Religion in Media. He continues to pursue his lifelong calling of speaking, teaching, and writing. He and his late wife, Mary Jane, raised three children.

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A-to-Z Internet Marketing News: Reflections & Outlooks, Facebook Addiction, Go Google+, Stats You Can Use, Social Fails

This is indeed an infographic of a different color.  Tab Juice has created a very interesting graphic which focuses on 6 mental rules of thumb that affect social commerce buying decisions.  In an online world flooded with infographics this one definitely stands out!

Did You Know?

81% of consumers receive advice from friends and family through a social networking platform.50% of people have made purchases based on recommendations received through their social network.Over 25,000,000,000 pieces of content are shared on Facebook each month.

“150+ Content Marketing & Social Media Predictions for 2012”  This very extensive list of 2012 predictions includes some of the creme de la creme for online marketers including: even more from Google+, the year for video and mobile, and long-form content poised to make a comeback. Via Content Marketing Institute.

Were 2011’s Predictions a Home Run or a Swing & a Miss?
“Six Social Media Trends for 2012” It appears that many of David Armanos 2011 social media predictions were spot on.  One miss was that Facebook would get their location based services together (sadly they did not).  His outlook for 2012 appears to require companies and brands make it as easy as possible for consumers to interact, share, and engage.  Which trends do you think have the most legs? Via Harvard Business Review.

Back to the Whiteboard: Top Social Media Lessons of 2011
“The Top Ten Social Media Lessons of 2011” Part 1 of a two part post by Christopher Barger focuses on the lessons that we’ve learned about social media in the past year.  2011 was flush with an over abundance of new social media platforms, privacy concerns, and marketers still trying to figure out social media measurement.  Via Forbes.

Customer Service Getting MORE Social on Facebook
“Facebook introduces private messages between business pages and fans”  Before you get too excited there is something you should know.  Facebook’s new messaging feature enables users to initiate private messages with brands, not the other way around.  Oh yeah, and it’s not available in the United States.  Skeptics warn that this new feature could actually do more harm than good.  What do you think?  Via The Next Web.

Time Travel for All on the Facebook Timeline
“Facebook Rolls Out Timeline WorldWide” Facebook Timeline’s are finally available to all users after months of beta testing.  Word to the warning, if you’d like to forget some of the posts you’ve made now would be a good time to determine which stories to hide, share with certain contacts, or delete from your page and maybe your memory.  Via Facebook.

Hey Facebook, There’s an Ad in My Feed
“Facebook to Start Placing Ads in User News Feeds in January”  Facebook ads are now getting increased visibility to lead users to their products.  Sponsored stories currently appear only on the right hand column of Facebook pages but will now be the same size as other news feed items in your feed.  Posts will be identified with a link that says “Sponsored” below the message.  Do you think this approach will boost sales or irritate users?  Via AdAge.

IKEA Drawing in Visitors with More Than Swedish Meatballs
“IKEA tempts people in-store using Facebook” IKEA wants you to bring your friends to their stores!  Participants receive detailed information about group events after interacting with the company’s Facebook page.  Attendees are provided special discounts and prizes just for showing up.  What a clever way to get people in the store, and for you to invite your strongest friends to help carry those dreaded boxes full of furniture parts.  Via Econsultancy.

Strategize, Operationalize, & Maximize Your Google+ Strategy
“How to Build an Effective Google+ Brand Strategy”  Since it’s release in June Google+ has grown to over 40 million users.  Now is the time to explore Google+ and determine what impact it can have on your brand and the way you communicate with customers. Via Mashable.

Google Christmas Comes Early This Year
“Google+: A few big improvements before the New Year”  This week Google announced the release of some new Google+ features and functionality for users to test over the holidays.  From the sound of it there should be some functional improvements and a few extra surprises.  While you’re relaxing with family this weekend try to steal a few minutes away to check out Google’s new features.  I know I will!  Via Google.

Multiple Google+ Page Managers? Don’t Mind If I Do
“How To Manage A Google+ Page As A Team”  Many marketers will be excited to learn that Google has not enabled up to 50 people at a time to manage Google+ brand pages.  I predict that we will see a lot more interaction on Google+ Pages now that it allows for multiple contributors.Via Read Write Web.

Santa Google
“Ho Ho! Google Launches Santa Cartoons, Phone Calls For All” Have a child anxious to hear from Santa? Or still a believer yourself?  Google launched a new service that allows users to send personalized cartoon messages from Santa, complete with the name of the child (or adult), location, favorite food, or desired presents.  You can also reach Santa at his personal Ho Ho Hotline on Google Voice.  Be sure to keep in mind the time difference!   Via Technorati.

Social Media is Hot!
“Heatmaps of How Consumers View Different Social Media Websites”  Startup company EyeTrackShop runs eye-tracking studies for advertisers.  Recently an experiment was run with Mashable to apply the technology to help determine how users are viewing social profiles.Via Mashable.

comScore: It’s A Social World
“It’s a Social World: Top 10 Need-to-Knows About Social Networking and Where It’s Headed”  Social networking has become the most popular online activity worldwide.  This report by ComScore provides key insights into the influence that social networking has had on the digital landscape and what this means for online marketers.  Via ComScore.

Keep Your Facebook Friends Close & Your Frenemies Closer
“Friends & Frenemies: Why We Add and Remove Facebook Friends”  Research suggests that our real world interactions drive our online friendships.  While friends trying to sell us something or being too depressing entice us to remove them from our network.  Curious to know what other reasons Facebook users add or remove friends?  Via NM Incite.

Mobile & Social Working Together
“Marketers Look to Integrate Email, Social, Mobile”  Now that mobile and social media marketing have been tested it’s time for organizations to make the move.  As marketers continue to understand how to leverage both strategies they are also looking to create a better integration between the two, and working to tie them to other more established forms of digital marketing such as email.  Via eMarketer.

Smile You’ve Been Caught On Security Camera
“FedEx Guy Throwing My Computer Monitor”  Ever wondered why your holiday cookies show up in a million pieces?  This might be why.  Via YouTube.

Learning From the Mistakes of  Others
“What Ten Social Media Disasters Taught Us in 2011”  This year saw a lot of  flounders, flubs, and downright fails in social media.  The ten examples provided in this article can be added to our list of things not to do when approaching our social media strategy for 2012.  Via Social Media Today.

We have an amazing team working at TopRank Online Marketing and here are a few headlines they considered worth a read this week:

Alexis Hall - “Biggest Search Events of 2011 & Predictions for 2012”
This article rounds up the biggest search events in 2012, including the Google Panda Update, SSL encrypted search, and the impact of social signals on search. The 2012 prediction which I found to have the most potential impact is that the Google SSL search updates will continue and the amount of queries impacted will continue to rise. This could have a huge effect on how SEO’s use analytics and measure performance moving forward.  Via Search Engine Watch.

Emily Conley - “Can An iPad App Really Make You More Productive and Inspired?”  
Unstuck is a new free tool to help you move past a mental roadblock.  The idea behind this app is that you can follow a couple steps and the app will give you advice to make headway on a project you’ve been stuck on.  The irony is it really seems to be yet another distraction for procrastinators, but the idea behind it – an app with human-like intelligence – is intriguing!  Via Co.Design.

Brian Larson - “Hitwise: Facebook Was 4 of Top 10 Search Queries in 2011”
I thought this was incredibly interesting. Facebook keyword phrases were 4 of the top 10 searched keywords on the web. For those wonder about the future of Facebook, it’s clear consumers are still hungry to connect with this social network (BTW, how hard is it to just type facebook.com in the URL bar?).  Via Search Engine Land.

As you can see, Lee and I are experimenting with different formats for our weekly Internet Marketing News Roundup, We’d love to get your feedback on what you like or don’t like.

from the entire team at TopRank Online Marketing.

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Biblical Languages: Reference Grammars and Introductions (19 vols.)

The 19-volume Biblical Languages: Reference Grammars and Introductions brings together an impressive compilation of the most important reference grammars and ground-breaking technical introductions to biblical texts ever published! These volumes have defined the contours of biblical language scholarship for the past century, and included some of the biggest names in the field.

We’ve grouped some of the most important grammars and technical language reference works into this singular collection. With scholars such as Westcott, Hort, Field, Abbot, Goodwin, and more than a dozen others, we have designed the ultimate collection for the study of the Greek New Testament, the Septuagint, and the development of the Greek language, as well as for advanced Hebrew, Latin, and Syriac studies. These are the most widely-cited and frequently used volumes in biblical scholarship. From Abbot’s Johannine Grammar and Vocabulary to Westcott and Hort’s Introduction to the New Testament, we’re making complex grammars and technical reference works easy to use, and giving you the tools you need for advanced language study and textual criticism.

The Logos Bible Software edition of Biblical Languages: Reference Grammars and Introductions takes full advantage of the powerful tools in your digital library to make complex grammars, technical reference works, and some of the most important volumes on the biblical languages ever published more accessible than ever! This collection is designed for biblical language scholarship—for anyone who wants to dig as deep as possible into the languages of the cultures that shaped and produced the text of the modern Bible. The Greek grammars make this an essential addition to the libraries of New Testament scholars, Greek scholars, graduate students, and seminarians. This collection is also a must-have for textual critics, Old Testament and Septuagint scholars, classicists, and Syriac scholars.

What’s more, the equivalent print editions of this collection are virtually unavailable for less than $500.00. For a limited time, we have priced this Pre-Pub so low that if only a few of these books interest you, the entire 19-volume collection is still an amazing deal! This Pre-Pub price won’t last, so place your order now to take advantage of the lowest Pre-Pub price!

10 Greek grammars, lexicons, and reference works2 Hebrew grammars3 Latin grammars, including Gildersleeve’s Latin Grammar3 Syriac works, including Smith’s A Compendious Syriac DictionaryScripture texts are “hot”—the verse displays in a pop-up box, and a link takes you to original language texts and English translations

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