Facebook privacy scan tool – reclaimprivacy.org

Facebook’s privacy settings can be a confusing tangle of options, just check out this new york times graphic for an overview.

A handy tool can be found at www.reclaimprivacy.org. What you do is drag and drop the scanner from the site to your bookmark bar, log into facebook and then click on “Scan for Privacy”. Most of my settings in the scan were tagged as “caution”. Only “friends can accidentally share your personal information” was marked as insecure. However clicking to fix and rescanning didn’t work. So I went and looked at the actual settings. Most of the information listed I really have no problem with people sharing. Many marketers would love to have their website shared .. even accidentally. I have turned off sharing of my religious and political views and relationship status (more because I don’t want to be targeted in any way rather than caring what is shared about me).

Some people really don’t want their information shared at all. Personally I think of facebook of a giant bulletin board. If you use it, you just need to accept that your privacy is limited on it, if you have stuff about you that you don’t want to be shared .. then just don’t post it. As Marty Cooper (father of the cell phone) recently said on a 60 minutes interview: “Sorry. Privacy is a thing of the past”.

To Facebook Fan Page or Not, That is the Question

There is no question that Facebook Fan Pages is a powerful tool in getting businesses found. A few months ago I was searching for businesses to help me secure a rental property. After trying a couple of queries, I found a facebook fan page for a business that installs temporary steel shutters on rental properties. Their page was boring, the same marketing message over and over again on their wall. However, the point is, I found them, they got my business, and my search query would have never found their website.

Clearly, from the SEO perspective, a fan page is a force to be reckoned with.

I would be reamiss if I didn’t point out you don’t get this same SEO bang for your buck (well your labor buck) with facebook groups. If you want an alternative to an ESP (email service provider), maybe a facebook group is something for you to consider. But if you want your business to be found, do a fan page.

Being in the business of giving out web advice, I should do a fan page, right? And yes I’ve been meaning to for a while. But I haven’t quite aligned my internal thinking about facebook quite right yet. I mainly use facebook to catch up with friends, past colleagues. I get annoyed with the few marketers I am connected to that woodenly spit out their messaging out in posts day after day. Only a select few do it right by making it personal and inviting conversation.

So I haven’t quite come around to expanding my use of a tool I solely use on a personal basis to a blatant business use. And “fan” page? What an affront to my inner lone wolf. I have to ask people to become a fan? Ick. Not too mention that I have to deal with this needy wall thing that wants constant feeding. Did I mention I’m not a natural extrovert?

Facebook itself isn’t helping. There is that whole convoluted privacy thing that has everyone up in arms. Did you know that May 31st is Quit Facebook Day? And I quote “Quitting Facebook is like quitting smoking..”. Maybe I should sit back and see how this turns out.

However that would be just too easy. I’m in the business of giving web advice remember? Especially SEO advice. So I will create a fan page. Hold me to it and don’t let me waffle anymore.

Google Adsense and Adwords, make money magnets

What’s the difference between Google’s Adsense and Adwords programs?

Adsense and Adwords work together but are frequently confused. I find it most helpful to explain from a perspective of what role you are playing on the internet.

If you are a publisher, in other words you blog, write articles, or otherwise put content on the internet, then you may want to consider adsense as a way to make money online. Web site owners can set up adsense ads on their sites, and if their site visitors click on the ad, the site owners gets a commission. Setting up adsense ads is easy.

1. You create an account with google (you can use an existing gmail account)
2. You pick what style and colors the adsense ad will appear as on your site
3. You cut and paste the generated code to your site

Google looks at your content and figures out what ads are relevant to show on your site.

If you want to advertise on the internet, then you should consider adwords (also known as Google PPC – pay per click). Your goals might be to drive more traffic to your website so you can sell online or build a list through an opt-in box. Adwords takes a little more to set up than Adsense but it’s not too hard to get started. Here’s a couple of things to keep in mind.

• Each time someone clicks on your ad, you pay a fee, so it is easy to run through a lot of money. Most experts advise setting a small daily budget until you have the ad tuned. Make sure you do your numbers. If it costs you a $1 per click and you get a 10% conversion on the traffic, then will you make money on a $7 product? I don’t think so.
• You will have the choice on whether to advertise in the search engine results pages in the sponsored listings, or through the adsense publishing network. Each is a different strategy.
• Pay attention to your keywords, you have a lot of control on not only which keywords your ad shows up for but whether you want to just appear for an exact match, the keyword phrase in a larger search term or keywords in any order.

While it’s easy to get the basics, it’s another to be successful. Google Adwords (or Search Engine Marketing) is a specialized field that successful marketers can charge good money for a successful campaign.

Google Local Business Center for Home Businesses

Adding a listing to Google Local Business Center helps your local bricks and mortar business get found by web searchers. Google Local Business Center is integrated with Google local search – that list of results that show up as a map with locations. If you type in a search term plus a geographic term such as “Thai food Fremont” you will often get these “map” results.

Google Map Results

The problem has been that you needed a business address for this to really work for you. Many home based businesses don’t want to publish their home addresses and their service area may be different than where they live. Some home based businesses have gotten PO Boxes just to get a better listing in local search. But a pin on a map that points to a PO Box isn’t necessarily that useful.

Well a fix from google now available. In an indepth interview with Eric Enge, Carter Maslan shares the concept of service areas that google is introducing. If you are a dog walker that serves an area differently than where you live, this update is for you. You can now specify what area you want to appear in for a local search. Check out the service area help page for more info.