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How to Spot Bad SEO Services: Free eBook

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is one of the most effective marketing tactics for generating leads and sales from your website. SEO can be complicated at time, and that’s why companies often outsource their SEO to trained professionals. With thousands of SEO firms, how can you tell the good from the bad?

In HubSpot’s newest eBook How to Spot Bad SEO Services, find out ten signs that can signal that an SEO firm is not worth the money. These include:

Sign #1. Making Promises that are Too Good to be True

Sign #2. Using “Black Hat” SEO Techniques

Sign #3. Targeting the Wrong Keywords

Sign #4. Employing Shoddy Linking Schemes

Sign #5. Promising to List Your Site in Hundreds of Online Directories

Sign #6. Redesigning Your Site or Creating New Pages Without 301 Redirects

Sign #7. Focusing on Metadata Instead of On-Page SEO

Sign #8. Creating Bad Content

Sign #9. Driving Irrelevant Traffic

Sign #10. Offering a One-Time Fixes with No Ongoing Maintenance

Download your copy of How to Spot Bad SEO Services, and avoid wasting money on bad SEO.

UN's First Official Report on Gays Notes Widespread Bias

The first same-sex marriages took place in the Netherlands on April 1, 2001. The Netherlands has been followed by Belgium (2003), Spain and Canada (2005), South Africa (2006), Norway and Sweden (2009) and Portugal, Iceland, Argentina, Mexico City and several Mexican states (2010). Several states in the US have also recognised same-sex marriages. 

In South Africa, a national task team on "homophobic and transphobic" hate crimes has been established following consultations with the LGTB community, according to the report. 

UN's First Official Report on Gays Notes Widespread Bias - IPS ipsnews.net

The first UN report on LGBT rights highlights discrimination based on sexuality or gender identity. 
Above, people rally to support equal LGBT rights. 
Credit: Fibonacci Blue/ CC by 2.0

UN issues first report on human rights of gay and lesbian people

Violence against LGBT persons tends to be especially vicious compared to other bias-motivated crimes

An activist waves a rainbow flag, an international symbol for the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people

In 76 countries it remains illegal to engage in same-sex conduct and in at least five countries - Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen - the death penalty prevails.

UN issues first report on human rights of gay and lesbian people

3 Ways SEO Will Help You Optimise YouTube Videos | Network Solutions Small Business Blog

All of us crave a YouTube success story. We upload videos about our products or services and start dreaming of the millions of hits we’ll get overnight that will lead to a huge increase in business.

It’s all about understanding search engine optimisation (SEO) and marketing your video as dynamically as you market your company, products and services.

1. Pick the right keywords
2. Add your keywords everywhere
3. Give them information they need to take action


3 Ways SEO Will Help You Optimise YouTube Videos | Network Solutions Small Business Blog

Pantone Reveals Colour of the Year for 2012: PANTONE 17-1463 Tangerine Tango

Dance into the New Year with this vivacious and appealing reddish orange

Pantone LLC, an X-Rite company, and the global authority on colour and provider of professional colour standards for the design industries, announced PANTONE^® 17-1463 Tangerine Tango, a vivacious, enticing hue, as the colour of the year for 2012.

Photo: Business Wire

The 2011 colour of the year, PANTONE 18-2120 Honeysuckle, encouraged us to face everyday troubles with verve and vigour. Tangerine Tango, a spirited reddish orange, continues to provide the energy boost we need to recharge and move forward.

“Sophisticated but at the same time dramatic and seductive, Tangerine Tango is an orange with a lot of depth to it,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Colour Institute^®. “Reminiscent of the radiant shadings of a sunset, Tangerine Tango marries the vivaciousness and adrenaline rush of red with the friendliness and warmth of yellow, to form a high-visibility, magnetic hue that emanates heat and energy.”

Over the past several years, orange has grown in popularity and acceptance among designers and consumers alike. A provocative attention-getter, Tangerine Tango is especially appealing in men’s and women’s fashion. Fashion designers featured in the PANTONE Fashion Colour Report Spring 2012, including Tommy Hilfiger, Nanette Lepore, Cynthia Steffe by Shaun Kearney, Elie Tahari and Adrienne Vittadini, are incorporating this attractive orange into their spring collections. A fun, lively take on a traditional autumnal hue, Tangerine Tango will surely carry through to fall fashion as well.

A winner in cosmetics because of its versatility, Tangerine Tango is a bit exotic, but in a very friendly, non-threatening way. Add a sultry flair to lips, cheeks and nails with Tangerine Tango. An unexpected eye shadow colour, Tangerine Tango is a complementary opposite that flatters blue or green eyes. When paired with brown eyes, it brings out an amber cast.

SEPHORA + PANTONE UNIVERSE

Sharing a strong passion for how colour can transform a face, mood or even an attitude, Pantone has partnered with Sephora, a leading beauty specialty retailer, to create an extraordinary collection that will change how consumers wear, feel and think about colour. Launching in spring 2012, SEPHORA + PANTONE UNIVERSE™ delivers insightful colour forecasting, timely trends and powerful seasonal product collections. To celebrate the launch, SEPHORA + PANTONE UNIVERSE proudly presents the first Colour of the Year beauty collection.

“These products allow for on-trend, uninhibited expression, while being exceptionally wearable,” commented Gilbert Soliz, lead artist for Sephora PRO. “Whether she is looking to create a bold look featuring Tangerine Tango, or if demure trend expression is more her style, the collection allows for customised wearability.”

The limited edition collection features a variety of products including eye shadow, lipstick, lip gloss, nail polish and accessories, and will be available in Sephora Americas beginning March 2012.

Photo: Business Wire

Tangerine Tango for Interiors and More

Energise interior spaces with Tangerine Tango patterned home accessories. Pillows, bedspreads and tabletop accessories in this high-impact hue add spice to any room. Or incorporate Tangerine Tango appliances and personal electronics for an unexpected pop of colour. Looking for an inexpensive way to perk up your home? Paint a wall in Tangerine Tango for a dynamic burst of energy in the kitchen, entryway or hallway.

About the PANTONE Colour of the Year

The colour of the year selection is a very thoughtful process. To arrive at the selection, Pantone quite literally combs the world looking for colour influences. This can include the entertainment industry and films that are in production, travelling art collections, hot new artists, popular travel destinations and other socio-economic conditions. Influences may also stem from technology, availability of new textures and effects that impact colour, and even upcoming sports events that capture worldwide attention.

For more than a decade, Pantone’s Colour of the Year has influenced product development and purchasing decisions in multiple industries, including fashion, home and industrial design, as well as product packaging and graphic design. Past colours include:

• PANTONE 18-2120 Honeysuckle (2011)
• PANTONE 15-5519 Turquoise (2010)
• PANTONE 14-0848 Mimosa (2009)
• PANTONE 18-3943 Blue Iris (2008)
• PANTONE 19-1557 Chili Pepper (2007)
• PANTONE 13-1106 Sand Dollar (2006)
• PANTONE 15-5217 Blue Turquoise (2005)
• PANTONE 17-1456 Tigerlily (2004)
• PANTONE 14-4811 Aqua Sky (2003)
• PANTONE 19-1664 True Red (2002)
• PANTONE 17-2031 Fuchsia Rose (2001)
• PANTONE 15-4020 Cerulean (2000)

www.pantone.com

87 Percent of Tablet Owners Using Tablets for Holiday Shopping, Finds Study

Tablets' convenience and browsing ease inspires 44 percent of owners to spend $300+ on holiday gifts via tablets

News Facts:

• According to a survey commissioned by Zmags, the global leader in on-demand rich media merchandising and customer analytics, 87 percent of tablet owners are holiday shopping using their tablets and will spend an average of $325.
• Nearly a third of tablet owners like to shop on their tablets because it is convenient. Twenty-four percent of tablet owners also like how the tablet experience facilitates easy browsing and helps them discover products via retailers' sites, digital catalogs and apps.
• Clothing, toys and luxury categories are quickly joining electronics for strong tablet commerce prominence this holiday season. More than half of tablet owners are browsing for clothes on their tablets, with 38 percent buying them via their device. Toys are browsed by 43 percent of tablet owners, with 38 percent purchasing them on their tablets. Jewellery is not far behind, with several tablet owners admitting to purchasing expensive diamond rings, watches and bracelets using their tablets.
• Tablet owners plan to engage in couch commerce for the long term. Next year, 49 percent of today's tablet owners plan to shop even more using their tablets, whereas only 19 percent of smartphone owners say they will shop more from their smartphones.

Other survey findings include:

• Fifty percent of tablet owners say the couch is their favoured location for shopping but they can also be found shopping in bed (20 percent), at the kitchen counter, in the mall and at coffee shops as well as on public transportation.
• More than half of tablet owners say shopping makes them feel happy and more excited, indulgent and generous than other forms of online, mobile or in-store shopping.
• Tablet shoppers see themselves as savvy spenders (52 percent), spontaneous splurgers (14 percent) and luxury buyers (9 percent).
• Men are bigger spenders on their tablets than women this holiday season. Fifty-two percent of the men estimate they will spend between $201-500 via their tablets, compared to 37 percent of female shoppers.

The survey of 1 500 online shoppers, including 238 tablet owners, was conducted by Equation Research for Zmags. A broader report studying the profiles and behaviors of tablet, smartphone and Facebook shoppers will be released in January 2012.

32% of Businesses Cite ‘Lack of Time’ as Biggest Social Media Challenge

(PRWEB) - Red Rocket Media, a specialist content marketing agency in the UK, surveyed marketing professionals across a wide range of sectors and found that 32% of businesses cited ‘lack the time’ as their biggest social media challenge, closely followed by 28% who cited ‘creating original content’. Others included: deciding what to say (17%), measuring ROI (13%) and engaging with customers (10%).

“The results from this survey very much echo the message we are hearing from our own customers” says Matthew Hopkins, Managing Director of Red Rocket Media. “As businesses embrace social media marketing they are very quickly realising that to get results, you need to invest a serious amount of time in creating original content which will engage your readers: time, the majority of them just do not have.”

When asked about their main social media objective, 35% cited ‘increase brand awareness’, followed by ‘form deeper relationships’ (30%) and ‘generate leads’ (15%). 10% stated ‘increase website traffic’ as their main objective with the remainder being split between ‘enhance search engine rankings’ and ‘create buzz’.

Hopkins added: “More and more companies are cottoning on to the power of social media when it comes to increasing brand awareness. Valuable content such as topic-related news articles connects people and spreads like wild fire as people re-tweet it, share it and comment on it. As long as you publish high quality, original content, there are simply no limits to the reach your brand can achieve on social media.”

Whilst the biggest challenge faced by businesses is a lack of time, it is, however, encouraging that so many are still committed to social media as a long-term investment. Over 50% of those surveyed are now spending 1-3 hours a week on social media activities, 17% are spending 4-6 hours and a surprising 15% are spending over 10 hours.

As far as social media budget is concerned, 41% will be allocating more budget to it in 2012, compared to 49% who plan to spend the same. The rest intend to reduce their spend which is likely to be attributed to the fact that those businesses who do not have the time to properly execute their social media plans naturally aren’t seeing results.

One of the main objectives of the survey was to gain a better understanding of the challenges businesses face when it comes to their social media activities. The findings have formed the basis for a white paper, written by Red Rocket Media, which addresses the five biggest challenges in turn and showcases how content marketing can provide an all-encompassing solution.

Photo SEO: How Optimised Images Can Drive Improved Visibility for Messages

Photo SEO: How Optimised Images Can Drive Improved Visibility for Messages

Content Management Systems

CMS

A content management system (CMS) is a system providing a collection of procedures used to manage work flow in a collaborative environment. These procedures can be manual or computer-based. The procedures are designed to do the following:

• Allow for a large number of people to contribute to and share stored data.
• Control access to data, based on user roles (defining which information users or user groups can view, edit, publish, etc.).
• Aid in easy storage and retrieval of data.
• Reduce repetitive duplicate input.
• Improve the ease of report writing.
• Improve communication between users.

In a CMS, data can be defined as nearly anything: documents, movies, pictures, phone numbers, scientific data etc. CMSs are frequently used for storing, controlling, revising, semantically enriching and publishing documentation.

African Mirror inc.

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African Mirror inc. is a many-faceted and textured reflection of our humanity. Indigenous, practical, philosophical, creative and steeped in Ubuntu, that’s African Mirror magazine.


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