The change was announced back in October 2009 but was delayed, presumably to let administrators prepare for the reduced tab width. Still, many popular Pages still use 760 pixel wide elements, which will look broken once Facebook  implements the change. A good example is this tab on the official Victoria’s Secret Facebook Page or Smashfit Fan Page here.

If your Page contains elements that are over 520 pixels wide, you should reduce them to that width as soon as possible.

[via Inside Facebook]

Facebook’s very existence rests on information sharing, with a public mission that gives people “the power to share in order to make the world more open,” (according to founder and CEO Mark Zuckerburg at F8 2008). The company blog touted the addition of plugins on third party sites as a further means of ensuring a personalized experience on Facebook and the web: 

Using social plugins, websites everywhere can give you more ways to experience the web with your friends… Rather than seeing popular stories, products or reviews from people you don’t know, you’ll now see content that matters to you the most—from your friends—prominently displayed.

Most of the time this information is harmless and you shouldn’t worry too much about it being used for nefarious purposes, but if you want to err on the side of caution, you can actually opt out of the program for privacy reasons — the option is called “Instant Personalization” and it’s sitting deep inside of Facebook’s privacy settings pages.

To control this privacy setting follow the steps below or to see a great article with images about  these settings you can visit Mashable website.

Under your Account tab (top right), go to Privacy Settings.

-Choose Applications and Websites (this is the spot to manage all third-party  access  to information).

-Choose to edit the Instant Personalization Pilot Program 

-Unselect the box allowing for select partners to instantly personalize their features. This solicits a  prompt box, telling you that this setting allows for a richer experience).

-Go back to the Applications and Websites tab from Privacy Settings

-Choose What Your Friends Can Share About You.

-Manage what friends can share to third party sites by checking (allowing) or unchecking (not  allowing) what is disclosed..

Webtrends

ToolLast week, Webtrends announced the release of an analytics packages that helps users track activity on their Facebook Page. The tool, found here, enables developers to track interactions on their custom tabs. Unfortunately, Facebook does not enabled third-party services to track any interactions on the main Facebook Page. Today, Webtrends also announced the expansion of their Facebook product in order to monitor Flash applications within Pages or as stand alone applications.

Facebook Insights

As I previously stated, Facebook limits what information third-party developers can monitor. That’s why the company’s Insights product continues to serve as an important tool for all Page administrators. We previously wrote about the most important things to monitor within your Facebook page insights. Ultimately, you can track demographic data, interactions by media type, and more, all of which are only accessible through the Facebook Insights product.

Core Metrics

Core Metrics, one of the larger enterprise analytics services, recently announced the launch of new services integrated into many of their existing products that enable marketers to measure their ROI from Facebook. The aim of the Facebook integration is to determine “the role Facebook plays in influencing subsequent website visits, behaviors, and conversions.”

Essentially, Facebook clicks are tracked and then can be connected to actual on-site business objectives, such as new subscriptions and sales conversions. This appears to be a more robust solution than many of the other products, but it may be data overload for the average Facebook Page administrator.
Core Metrics -

Google Analytics

While Google analytics is targeted at website owners, the analytics service can be used by Facebook Page administrators as well. Unfortunately Facebook has not enabled their FBML tag within Facebook Pages, so a London-based web development company decided to create their own solution. By using images, there is a workaround which enables Page administrators to track everything within the custom tabs.

Source:AllFacebook

Unfortunately we have no way of knowing how accurate this report is. The primary reason is that no information was shared about the sampling data. How were articles selected when testing sharing volume? Was an arbitrary data set selected for testing against Facebook’s share analytics tools? Whatever the model is, it’s definitely interesting.

I also would imagine that many Facebook users turn to their mobile devices to monitor content while on the go during the weekend. Then again, the same users who are blocked from accessing Facebook at work may be visiting their friends’ activity while in transit to and from work each day. Unfortunately this basic glimpse in to Facebook user behavior is nothing more than that: a basic glimpse.

I’d be interested to see other statistics on Facebook sharing. Do notice that your friends share more information on the weekends or is there more activity during the weekdays?

Source: AllFacebook

We think the beta rollout to all English searchers is more significant than the initial labs feature, as it exposes the contextual search results to a mainstream search audience. While it’s officially a beta product today, the Google Social Search rollout will occur over the next few days. If you don’t have Social Search already, you can expect to start seeing the social results fairly soon.

For a demonstration of Google Social Search check out the video below:

In 2009 it became easier to design your website. Businesses had the choice of do-it-yourself website builder’ tools or open source software like WordPress etc. The open source software may require some initial setup help unless the business owner is technically savvy. In 2009 ready-to-use templates also got more sophisticated in the appearance of the finished product, i.e, the published web site, and at the same time got easier to use for the end user. Another new trend for 2009 was getting a design for your website or logo as a contest through “crowdsourcing” with sites like 99 Designs, CrowdSpring and Genius Rocket.

For businesses that do not yet have a website, their goal for having a website in 2010 should be:

• Discovery: Make sure your business can be found on the internet by users searching online for a business in search engines, maps and local
• Engagement: Save your customers time by providing them an easy way to get information on your business.
• Sales: Get sales and leads from engaged visitors
• Service: provide information and tools for website visitors who have already made the purchase

2010 will be the year of both the website owner and website visitor. Businesses will rediscover the marketing power of their websites. Users with an extensive choice of information on the internet will give their blessings to simply designed sites with easy to find information. Search engines will bless sites that are updated more frequently with ranking blessing. Social media integration will help websites spread their information far and wide and savvy website owners will use analytics to continuously tweak their websites based on visitor behavior. Entry pages, bounce rate, click paths will become easier lingo to follow and use for business purposes.

2010 will be a call to action to those business owners who used the build –it-and-forget it policy for their websites to wake up and get the online marketing and brand engine going. If you don’t believe me, search Google for your competition or look how your customers are reviewing you on social sites like Yelp.

2010 Trends for web design

Find me on the Internet: Year of the Web presence

As 2009 comes to an end and small businesses look to 2010, and an online presence will become important. Highly competitive businesses use technology like websites, online marketing tools etc to succeed (Small Business Success Index June 2009). With over 47% of small business not online 2010 will be an important year to get their business online and have a web site.

Low cost or no cost ways to get a web site increase

With the enormous variety of web site tools available for small business, it may be easy to start a web presence for almost no money at all. Hosting providers offering free websites tools, blogging software providers like Blogger, WordPress etc also let you start a web presence easily. Small businesses could try these free tools to experiment and then advance to a customized hosted option. A hosted option with your own domain name would be more credible and more brand friendly for your business.

Updating frequently. Realizing the power of a Blog as a business tool

In the previous years Small businesses had set up websites and did not update them often. Even if they are not online businesses in 2010 these businesses will pay attention and update the content of their websites more frequently.

More businesses will add Blogs to their existing websites. This will give them an additional way to interact with customers. Customers can comment and give feed back on the blog. An added bonus is that these businesses have a better chance to be in search engine results as blogs are updated more frequently and search engines like blogs. Customers will like this as they get a chance to comment and also get to know the business in a very friendly and conversational way. See Lisa Barone’s  tips on cleaning up your website.

Flashy out;  practical in

2010 will be the year of simplicity. Information on the internet is already overwhelming for users. Websites that quickly provide the information without too many flashy promotions will get more visitors. Of course the exception is if you are in the entertainment business.

Personalized experience

Greeting your visitors when they visit your website will become expected in 2010. Giving them a personalized experience based on their interests will make them WOW your business. No longer just limited to sites alike Amazon, show visitors what they looked at and recommend products they may like or content that is related.

Are you for real?

Security is increasingly a concern and the importance to establish credibility will continue to be important. Visitors will look for security seals, ssl certificates, secure forms (using https:) and also validation seals. This is even more important if you are selling products online and collecting information.

You should make sure you add your website to the web master tools of Google, Bing and Yahoo. Security of your website will be very important against hackers and malware. To prevent this keep your website software always updated.

Do you know who is knocking on your web site door; Web Analytics are a crucial tool

Websites without analytics is like running a business without accounting. Websites will focus on using web analytics tools to learn which content is more popular, who is visiting and from where. Tools like Google Webmaster tools will be important to find stats for indexing.  Read Clate Mask’s article on using Web Analytics tools.

Widgets and Apps

Widgets showing collaboration between your website and other properties will become expected for websites. Some examples of using widgets is adding your latest Twitter comments, best selling products, most popular articles. This will extend to the ability to share the content using widgets like Share This, Add this allowing the website content to be shared by the visitors to their own networks.

Some great info on Lisa Barone’s post here.

Can I call you now? Adding Interactivity to your website

Chat and calling buttons on your website will be back. If people find something interesting on the website, features like ‘Click to Call “and chat or send a message will reemerge. This will also be an important analytical tool so as to track where the lead came from by using different incoming phone numbers. Earlier, these tools were only affordable by large corporations in 2010 these tools will become affordable by more small businesses. More website owners will start using  Skype , Google Voice or several commercially available options.

More Multi-media will be added to web sites

Videos and photo galleries will form part of websites . Small business will use cheaper and convenient options like FLIP HD cameras to tell the behind the scenes stories of their business and products. Uploading them to video sites like YouTube, Blip.tv etc for videos, and Flickr for Photos and embedding them in their own website and will have the advantage of being seen in both the website and the photo or video network.

In 2010 using websites like BlogTalk Radio businesses will show their thought leadership through podcasts and even their own live TV show using web sites like Livestream.

Links links links

Websites home pages will morph into portals to cater to a wide audience visiting them. Links between websites and other local community websites, events, news will be part of the website content strategy. Media rooms i.e sections of the website where small business owners can showcase coverage of their business will be an essential part of the website. Business websites will show their support to local and community causes. Content will include links to industry trends and news.

In summary if you are a small business owner you should be prepared in 2010 to show personality in your business by using your website and multi media tools to tell your story to your customers and prospects. Keeping an ear to the ground to learn about the conversations about your business like product reviews etc will become very important. You may get media and press attention by exposure of your business in social media channels. Any effort in 2010 you invest in your website will be highways to your getting more traffic customers and a better bottom line. 2010 is the year of the small business web site.

From Small Business Trends

Top Web Design Trends For Small Business In 2010

A website is a great branding and marketing tool for any small business. It is also essential for a business strategy to ensure its brand, location and products are  found in search engine listings.

In 2009 it became easier to design your website. Businesses had the choice of do-it-yourself website builder’ tools or open source software like WordPress etc. The open source software may require some initial setup help unless the business owner is technically savvy. In 2009 ready-to-use templates also got more sophisticated in the appearance of the finished product, i.e, the published web site, and at the same time got easier to use for the end user. Another new trend for 2009 was getting a design for your website or logo as a contest through “crowdsourcing” with sites like 99 Designs, CrowdSpring and Genius Rocket.

For businesses that do not yet have a website, their goal for having a website in 2010 should be:

• Discovery: Make sure your business can be found on the internet by users searching online for a business in search engines, maps and local
• Engagement: Save your customers time by providing them an easy way to get information on your business.
• Sales: Get sales and leads from engaged visitors
• Service: provide information and tools for website visitors who have already made the purchase

2010 will be the year of both the website owner and website visitor. Businesses will rediscover the marketing power of their websites. Users with an extensive choice of information on the internet will give their blessings to simply designed sites with easy to find information. Search engines will bless sites that are updated more frequently with ranking blessing. Social media integration will help websites spread their information far and wide and savvy website owners will use analytics to continuously tweak their websites based on visitor behavior. Entry pages, bounce rate, click paths will become easier lingo to follow and use for business purposes.

2010 will be a call to action to those business owners who used the build –it-and-forget it policy for their websites to wake up and get the online marketing and brand engine going. If you don’t believe me, search Google for your competition or look how your customers are reviewing you on social sites like Yelp.

2010 Trends for web design

Find me on the Internet: Year of the Web presence

As 2009 comes to an end and small businesses look to 2010, and an online presence will become important. Highly competitive businesses use technology like websites, online marketing tools etc to succeed (Small Business Success Index June 2009). With over 47% of small business not online 2010 will be an important year to get their business online and have a web site.

Low cost or no cost ways to get a web site increase

With the enormous variety of web site tools available for small business, it may be easy to start a web presence for almost no money at all. Hosting providers offering free websites tools, blogging software providers like Blogger, WordPress etc also let you start a web presence easily. Small businesses could try these free tools to experiment and then advance to a customized hosted option. A hosted option with your own domain name would be more credible and more brand friendly for your business.

Updating frequently. Realizing the power of a Blog as a business tool

In the previous years Small businesses had set up websites and did not update them often. Even if they are not online businesses in 2010 these businesses will pay attention and update the content of their websites more frequently.

More businesses will add Blogs to their existing websites. This will give them an additional way to interact with customers. Customers can comment and give feed back on the blog. An added bonus is that these businesses have a better chance to be in search engine results as blogs are updated more frequently and search engines like blogs. Customers will like this as they get a chance to comment and also get to know the business in a very friendly and conversational way. See Lisa Barone’s  tips on cleaning up your website.

Flashy out;  practical in

2010 will be the year of simplicity. Information on the internet is already overwhelming for users. Websites that quickly provide the information without too many flashy promotions will get more visitors. Of course the exception is if you are in the entertainment business.

Personalized experience

Greeting your visitors when they visit your website will become expected in 2010. Giving them a personalized experience based on their interests will make them WOW your business. No longer just limited to sites alike Amazon, show visitors what they looked at and recommend products they may like or content that is related.

Are you for real?

Security is increasingly a concern and the importance to establish credibility will continue to be important. Visitors will look for security seals, ssl certificates, secure forms (using https:) and also validation seals. This is even more important if you are selling products online and collecting information.

You should make sure you add your website to the web master tools of Google, Bing and Yahoo. Security of your website will be very important against hackers and malware. To prevent this keep your website software always updated.

Do you know who is knocking on your web site door; Web Analytics are a crucial tool

Websites without analytics is like running a business without accounting. Websites will focus on using web analytics tools to learn which content is more popular, who is visiting and from where. Tools like Google Webmaster tools will be important to find stats for indexing.  Read Clate Mask’s article on using Web Analytics tools.

Widgets and Apps

Widgets showing collaboration between your website and other properties will become expected for websites. Some examples of using widgets is adding your latest Twitter comments, best selling products, most popular articles. This will extend to the ability to share the content using widgets like Share This, Add this allowing the website content to be shared by the visitors to their own networks.

Some great info on Lisa Barone’s post here.

Can I call you now? Adding Interactivity to your website

Chat and calling buttons on your website will be back. If people find something interesting on the website, features like ‘Click to Call “and chat or send a message will reemerge. This will also be an important analytical tool so as to track where the lead came from by using different incoming phone numbers. Earlier, these tools were only affordable by large corporations in 2010 these tools will become affordable by more small businesses. More website owners will start using  Skype , Google Voice or several commercially available options.

More Multi-media will be added to web sites

Videos and photo galleries will form part of websites . Small business will use cheaper and convenient options like FLIP HD cameras to tell the behind the scenes stories of their business and products. Uploading them to video sites like YouTube, Blip.tv etc for videos, and Flickr for Photos and embedding them in their own website and will have the advantage of being seen in both the website and the photo or video network.

In 2010 using websites like BlogTalk Radio businesses will show their thought leadership through podcasts and even their own live TV show using web sites like Livestream.

Links links links

Websites home pages will morph into portals to cater to a wide audience visiting them. Links between websites and other local community websites, events, news will be part of the website content strategy. Media rooms i.e sections of the website where small business owners can showcase coverage of their business will be an essential part of the website. Business websites will show their support to local and community causes. Content will include links to industry trends and news.

In summary if you are a small business owner you should be prepared in 2010 to show personality in your business by using your website and multi media tools to tell your story to your customers and prospects. Keeping an ear to the ground to learn about the conversations about your business like product reviews etc will become very important. You may get media and press attention by exposure of your business in social media channels. Any effort in 2010 you invest in your website will be highways to your getting more traffic customers and a better bottom line. 2010 is the year of the small business web site.

From Small Business Trends

Top Web Design Trends For Small Business In 2010

 Facebook is the most trafficked social networking site in the world and ranked 2nd most trafficked website in the world next to Google by Alexa. Currently facebook has over 325+ million active members with 50% of these active members log in on the platform at any given day.

With all this growth the only question is whether “facebook” can continue to remain at the top of Google’s annual Zeitgeist report.

 The Facebook profile will accept pictures as large as 200×600. The profile image extents into the light blue area (#EFF0F5) 52 pixels above the Gray line (#D8DFEA) allowing you to  blend your profile image seamlessly into Facebook as we have done for Boost Internet Marketing  fanpage.

A few of things to keep in mind when traying to make your image  look semmless on Facebook:

1. The position of the photo is dependent on how many lines your status message occupies. The image isn’t pushed down with the rest of the page content, so the more lines your status occupies the more of the upper gray needs to be added to the image. 
2. The position of the photo is dependent on the text size of your status message, which is a similar issue to above, but actually a much bigger problem. This is to do with how the browser chooses to render that font, so it is a platform and browser problem. We have already noticed differences from Mac to Windows to Safari – each one was a pixel off even though we used Firefox to test on all three platforms.
3. The thumbnail that accompanies your Facebook feed items is only 50 x 50 pixels so if you have long and larger picture it will not fit.  Facebook has a nice thumbnail feature that allows you to pick an area of a smaller version of your profile picture so you will need to create a thumbnail of your image for you posting profile .

Examples of some profile image across Facebook below, be creative and express yourself.  If you have addition examples please post below.

Evan Carmichae has just published its 2010 list of  Top 50 Marketing Blogs To Watch. The list could open the door to the best marketing tips and strategies to help you and your business stand out.

This is year 3 for the list covering categories such as :

• Search Marketing Blogs
• Small Business Marketing Blogs
• Marketing Trends Blogs
• Social Media Marketing Blogs
• Marketing & Advertising Blogs
• Online Marketing Blogs
• Marketing & Public Relations Blogs
• Affiliate Marketing Blogs
• Marketing & Technology Blogs
• Brand Marketing Blogs

For the 3 year running Search Engine Land (one of my fav sites) has been listed along with  the site provided by Brian Solis which focuses on strategy within integrated marketing communications. can be your “hot knife” and reveal the best marketing tips and strategies to help you and your business stand out.

 Here are the links to 2008  and  2009  Top Marketing Blogs to watch list.