In a move which looks like the sign of things to come, American Express have agreed a deal with Twitter, so that American Express card account holders can get exclusive discounts via the micro-blogging platform. In an extension of more conventional Twitter marketing through the likes of Tweet Adder, American Express have started using the platform to market their products.

In an innovative new deal, which was agreed on Tuesday, American Express customers can use specific hashtags attached to certain special offers. The discount is then attributed to the customer’s account within one to three working days. You are then free to buy the product in question with the special offer discount after utilizing the hashtag.

Any US American Express customer is free to utilize the service, and you can join up here https://sync.americanexpress.com/twitter so you can “sync” your credit card with your Twitter account.

Such an agreement between Twitter and American Express is an extremely clever one I think, Twitter benefit by attracting more American Express users to their website while American Express can attract more Twitter users to sign up with them.

This smart use of the social networking site for marketing is the purpose behind software tools such as Tweet Adder, and you would be well advised to make use of such software if you intend to promote your online business to one of the biggest communities on the internet. Twitter has only grown in recent years, and with them steadily increasing their marketing strategies and partnerships with business, it would be wise to get in and make some money by utilizing the platform to its full potential. You really need to think a long these lines when considering a social media marketing for your company. It could improve profits significantly.

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Web 2.0 sites, which can be used to promote articles via Senuke, are very important for SEO purposes. YouTube is one such web 2.0 site.  Not to mention the fact that video marketing is an important aspect of any SEO strategy, YouTube also needs to be considered as a search engine. Considering how popular the website is too, you can only imagine the amount of hits you will be getting on your video if the video is optimized properly for search on YouTube.

There are few simple ways in which you can ensure your video is visible on YouTube. For example, always ensure your keyword is included in the title of the video as well as the file name you are uploading it with. This is because the search algorithm being used on YouTube correlates the relevancy of the video file name and its title. You are more likely to rank for a keyword if both the file name and video title mention it. This tells YouTube this video is likely to be about that keyword, more so than one with a generic file name.

Another essential ranking factor for YouTube is what is included in the description. Two things must be included here, the keyword with your site link in the first line, and also a transcript beneath to show what is being said in the video. A video with a transcript ranks better both in YouTube and Google because it is unique content which is attributable to the video. It provides the video with more authority so ensure to include what is being said in the video.

Finally, the key action to take while making the video is to ensure that it is of the highest quality so it can be shared. Like using Senuke to share your content on web 2.0 platforms, a video going viral on YouTube not only increases your ranking on YouTube’s search but also on Google too. If you find a great YouTube channel to get your video listed on too, that can be additionally helpful as it exposes your video to greater exposure, and helps YouTube and Google to notice your video through the channel, getting more views on YouTube and increasing SEO simultaneously.

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It is an often overlooked issue regarding web hosting, but customer support is something that can be absolutely crucial to how well you manage your website, and consequently the performance of the site in general. Looking through all the different offers of web hosting, you will look at the monthly pricing, the free domain name and the “unlimited” bandwidth, but few look to really extol the virtues of their customer service. Many, for example, outsource their technical support to other countries to cut cost, although there are some like Bluehost who don’t this.

The consequence for such outsourcing is a lowering of standard of care, and especially for novice site owners, I think it is far more important to look at how the customer service team performs at their job, rather than the low rates for hosting, which to all intents and purposes are hardly that much different.

How do you test customer support with a web host such as Bluehost?

One thing that most good web hosts, like Bluehost offer is a “money back” guarantee. If you are not satisfied with the web host’s service over a period of time, you can get your money. This is the period where then you should endeavor to “test drive” the web host’s customer services. Normally there are three ways to contact a web host, live chat, by phone or email.

The most convenient is live chat, and you first thing you should look to do when signing up with a web host, is to logon to the live chat during peak times. See how long a queue there is during this peak time and if the wait is too long, the web host has failed the first test.

Technical knowledge also has to be considered, and although you maybe a novice to web hosting, look around online for some difficult questions, and see how detailed they are in their replies A web host like Bluehost boasts the best response times in the industry so you may consider them as the first port of call for a try out.

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There is a new malware or rather computer virus that tricks you into thinking your computer is dying or your hard ware is almost failing. For more authenticity, the title “system recovery” also appears on your screen. With this kind of virus doing rounds on the internet, it is best to get an anti-virus such as ESET that is cheap and effective. The ESET promo code make the software even cheaper.

Just like all the other viruses, this malware is specifically designed to make you buy a program which will not do anything to your computer even after you buy it. However, this new malware is a little bit more destructive. Not only does it destroy your wallpapers, but is also disables your programs and moves your personal files. It can be quite convincing but keep in mind it is just a malware.

Fortunately, the existence of reliable anti-viruses like ESET will ensure that you are protected from this malicious malware. This will also protect your delicates files from being destroyed, furthermore, with the existence of ESET coupons, you are assured to get more for less. Protection has never been cheaper.

When you get an ESET promo code, you stand a chance of getting the ESET smart security 5 which is a product that gives you the best protection without or with less impact on the way your computer functions. This product is able to detect any kind of your threat in your computer and destroy it. Therefore malwares like the one mentioned earlier can never be a threat to your computer again.

With your coupon, you can also get the ESET NOD23 anti-virus integrated solution that completely protects your computer. Having been built on the Threatsense engine that is very effective, this product will disable any threat to your computer immediately it detects it. In fact, this product is so effective that it has actually won some industry awards.

Furthermore, this product does not have any effect at all on the performance of your computer. It does its work rather silently without disrupting any of you activities. This gives its users a sense of security as they are always sure their documents and files are safe from any malware.

You will also be glad to know that getting these coupons is quite an easy task. You only need to log online and get to the ESET site. Although you could go the shorter route and just type the words “ESET promo code”, this will land you on their page.

After the above, you will only need to click on the ESET promo code tab and get the world leading computer protection. The ESET promo code, allows you to save 25% of what you could have paid if you did not have a coupon. In these hard economic times, this is actually a great deal and will help you save a lot. Furthermore, you also get reliable protection for you computer.

With viruses like afore mentioned always popping up, good protection for your computer is vital. Keeping in mind all the documents, data and time that could be lost if these malware attack your device, getting ESET promo code is the perfect solution. Do not take your chances, protect your computer.

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If you are not happy with the way your website is running, there are a few things you can do to see whether you website is actually being hosted properly. Web hosts such as Bluehost pride themselves in providing excellent services and web hosting solutions for their customers, but other web hosting firms are not so diligent. If you believe this is the case with your site, you can go over to domainname.com.

Here you can test your website speed by pinging your website domain name at their website. Domainname.com will then tell you how long it is taking for the site to run. Make sure you only do this though if the host is based in the same country as you are though; as the ping will take longer the further away you are from the host’s servers.

For those who are in the same country, a host which is based locally shouldn’t take more than 80ms. It would be time to very concerned indeed if your host takes longer than 100ms to be pinged.

Following on from that all the best web hosts, such as Bluehost, provide their customers with the best packages possible. You should have ample bandwidth and disk storage. In addition, they should also provide with the very basics such as pop mailbox, unlimited email accounts, cPanel, CGI, SSL and ispConfig. These are all the very basics.

To check out the standard of your website’s hosting, you may also consider checking the scripts of your website. You can upload the script, once you have downloaded from your website, to domainname.com and here you can check the script for failures. You may see some warnings but this is OK. If you have any failures in the script though, then you know it is the web hosting which is holding your site back.

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Twitter has revealed that it will provide access too businesses to the enormous database of public tweets it has stored over the last 2 years. Considering the popularity of Twitter, and the fact that it now has over 250million tweets a day on the social networking site, means the data can be invaluable for all kinds of businesses, including internet marketers who already using Twitter for marketing purposes through the likes of Tweet Adder.

Twitter are looking to make a good deal of money from opening up their database to businesses and the first company, based in the UK, Datasift, is now selling the information with the most basic package coming in at a hefty $1000 a month. For now then, the information will be the exclusive domain of medium to large sized business utilizing the info for market research purposes.

It could really be a treasure trove of information for the tweets go back to January 2010, and with Twitter picking up substantial amounts of users in the past two years, the information about demographics, people’s attitudes and reactions to marketing campaigns could give businesses a significant edge in both marketing on Twitter and in general.

The information could very well be like the biggest marketing survey ever undertaken. The only tweets that are not included within the database are those who had private accounts and therefore chose not to publicize their tweets. Although internet marketers in general will not be able to capitalize on such vital data, there are other solutions for those looking to make the most of its social media marketing potential.

Ever felt frustrated that you cannot find the right followers who are interested in your niche market? Well, there are tools such as Tweet Adder which can help you with this. It may not be as comprehensive as getting the data for every single tweet but such tools can scrape the micro blogging platform for keywords and help find those people who are talking about issues relating to your market. Such neat tools can save you time when marketing on Twitter, providing you with the opportunity to both interact with followers and pick up leads to eventually make sales.

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Google announced on their blog yesterday that Google Panda Update 3.3 is now mostly operational. According to the blog which can be found in full here, most of the updates to refresh Google’s data took place during the last few weeks, while the last few will be set up today. Every Google Panda update for the last year has engendered panic for SEO experts and professionals, as each change the algorithm makes can have massive effects on search engine result pages and the rankings of particular websites. Tools like Senuke are very useful despite such changes but it must be said that Panda has really hurt online businesses in the past.

Dramatic falls in rankings can lead to a significant loss in sales while site’s recover their SEO to be more “Google Friendly” as it were. The latest update 3.3 has one particular change which has got SEO specialists guessing in relation to link building. Google’s blog states:

“Link evaluation – We often use characteristics of links to help us figure out the topic of a linked page. We have changed the way in which we evaluate links; in particular, we are turning off a method of link analysis that we used for several years. We often re-architect or turn off parts of our scoring in order to keep our system maintainable, clean and understandable.”

What is the link evaluation method they have turned off? Is it going to impact majorly on search engine rankings? These worries are certainly legitimate but for most people you need not be concerned if you go about your SEO strategy in the right way. Spam filled sites with innumerable keywords and links are rightly being exposed and punished by Google updates, and there is not point trying to beat the system.

Using white hat or grey hat SEO methods is the only solution to counteract continuing worries over Panda updates. Utilizing the varied options on a tool like Senuke and ensuring quality content should be your primary focus. Getting to grips with social media marketing, content marketing and producing content which people will read and share will mean you will never have to worry about Google are doing. They believe in site’s ranking for good quality, relevant content and using social media as a top ranking indicator, so do make sure you are taking the steps Google want you to make.

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The file sharing website the Pirate Bay has expressed it will attempt to defy rulings made in the UK Supreme Court that has determined that the website illegally and wilfully encourages copyright infringement on its website. The site, which unlike Bluehost shares files than hosts websites, stated its defiance in a message on its official Facebook page:

“The 29th February is the last day we offer torrents in its current form. Then it will be all magnets, which works pretty much the same. Please understand that it’s a necessary move in the saga known as The Pirate Bay. Not having torrents will be a bit cheaper for us but it will also make it hard for our common enemies to stop us.”

As I have stated the Pirate Bay doesn’t host files and so can’t be shut down in the same way MegaUpload was, but the fact it helps people to share files, much of which has copyrighted material within, has led to a clamp down of the site in some countries. In Sweden for example, the High Court has convicted founding members of the website of copyright infringement offences.

The decision in the UK may lead to a decision in the summer whereby all ISPs must block UK users from accessing the site in future. In the statement, Pirate Bay talked about using Magnets rather than Torrents. The reason being is that Magnets are far harder to pick up because they send information about the file and the location, allowing the files to be better encrypted.

In legal terms this makes no real difference and is seen as just a more effective way of evading detection and being caught in terms of the file’s location. This dispute over file sharing, piracy and copyright infringement looks set to continue through the courts, and may have effects on other websites, web s such as Bluehost and businesses online as new piracy legislation is drawn up.

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Megaupload’s co-founder Kim Dotcom was released from custody at a New Zealand court yesterday after the judge agreed he no longer posed a great flight risk. Many websites, as well as web hosts such as Bluehost, are concerned about the consequences of the prosecution of MegaUpload could be. After emerging from court, the file hosting site owner said he just wanted to see his family:

“I am relieved to go home to see my family, my three little kids and my pregnant wife. I hope you understand that that is all I want to say right now.”

No bail money had to be paid for as there is no statutory requirement in the New Zealand District court. Dotcom was no longer judged as a flight risk because no other accounts had come to light after extensive searches since he was arrested.

He has also provided the court with affidavit from Bonnie Lam, MegaUpload’s CFO that the authorities are aware of all of Dotcom’s accounts. It is therefore believed that Dotcom has the financial ability to flee New Zealand and he has a already stated he will fight extradition proceedings to the US.

The proceedings for extradition will be long and arduous and the first court date will be on August 20th. The process has to go through the United Nations too and an assessment will have to made as to whether Dotcom’s case fits extradition requirements. Dotcom and three of his associates have been charged with racketeering by the US government and the US states that MegaUpload, which is a file hosting site unlike Bluehost, has cost the economy $500m in copyright revenue. All of Dotcom’s assets in New Zealand such as his home and luxury cars have also been taken away and it will be interesting to see how Dotcom’s lawyers will look to defend their client.

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Considering the furore surrounding freedom of expression on Twitter at the moment, the social networking site has looked to placate users by providing some brand new features for IOS and Android. Twitter, where your account can be dealt with by Tweet Adder, have been under pressure in recent weeks after announcing that they would remove tweets in particular countries where they came into conflict with the law.

Since the announcement, the Brazilian government has already filed a law suit against the site and other governments are looking to request Tweets be removed in line with the site’s new terms and conditions. The announcement about new IOS and Android functionality has therefore been seen in some quarters as a way of appeasing those unhappy with Twitter’s new stance.

The new applications features include the ability to “swipe” on tweets to get even more options while staying on your timeline, such as “favourite,” “retweet,” “share it” and “reply to.”

As we have mentioned before too, Twitter are also changing the information regarding contact information as there was additional controversy lately over the fact that Twitter keeps your phones contact details for up to 18 months after you allow the site to “scan” your contacts. Twitter is now changing the language to “upload” rather than “scan” to make it clear that the contact information will be kept by Twitter.

These features will only be available to IOS and Android users though if they refresh their Twitter app update screen. Other devices such as the Amazon Kindle Fire and ICS compatible Android devices have been added by Twitter so you can access the social networking site on a vast array of different platforms so you can keep in touch with the latest information and gossip, whilst also utilizing Tweet Adder to manage your business.

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