Have you ever considered live-tweeting an event? In the past few years, this has turned into a widespread, popularized activity included in the SEO campaigns of businesses and organizations. Now, live-tweeting has entered the world of healthcare as well, as two doctors in a Texas hospital live-tweeted an open heart surgery for the first time ever on Tuesday, February 21, 2012.

For all of you SEO marketers who think that the mobile app Instagram is just another fun, silly recreational activity, think again. Like its social media predecessors, a la Twitter and Facebook, this popular photo-sharing service has recently proven its clout as an effective marketing tool with a great deal of promise and potential. The evidence comes from Ford's use of the app to promote its Ford Fiesta throughout Europe this past fall, in a recent report by Mashable.

For several blog entries now I have reiterated how great and powerful a tool Twitter is for any business that is implementing a successful SEO marketing campaign. However, in the same way that Twitter can significantly help your company, brand, product or service, it can seriously harm you as well.

It has already been stated time and time again how socially powerful the micro-blogging site Twitter can be in the non-virtual world, and how important it must be to all SEO campaigns. Here's another inspiring story from the Associated Press on how Twitter is being utilized to impact a community in a positive way.

There has recently been some interesting news that has dropped on the international front regarding search engine optimization and social media. Russian search engine and purported Google rival Yandex announced a partnership with the social media site Twitter that would allow public posts from the micro-blogging site to be included in Yandex's Blog Search results.

Are you Pinterest(ed) yet? The biggest news from the past few weeks has centered on the social media site Pinterest, and its huge potential value to SEO marketing for companies. Are you a business owner who is just starting to get familiar with this newly popular technology? Feeling stumped as to how you can best apply this new social media tool to your company's SEO campaign? Take a look below at other businesses that are effectively utilizing Pinterest to market their businesses online.

Industry leaders in reputation management discuss the many pitfalls and advantages of an agressive brand management campaign. Not only as a defensive strategy but also as a proactive influencer to build reputation authority.

Sometimes the best way to enhance the user experience of a website's service is to integrate it with another site's content. At least, this seems to be the case with the new collaboration between Kayak, a hotel search website, and TripAdvisor, a site that allows users to submit their own reviews of hotels and other accommodations they have stayed in while travelling.

As I discussed in my last post, Twitter is quickly becoming an essential tool in SEO marketing campaigns. A new service, Chirpify, only serves to validate that, and takes the advertising – and selling – of a business's products or services to the next level.

In the wake of talented singer Whitney Houston's tragic passing the night of February 11th, 2012, there is one thing stood out conspicuously: the use of social media in spreading the news of her death, and in allowing fans from all over the world to express their condolences.

Some people lose face as a result of dropping out of school but Mark Zuckerberg transcends the mold of some; he's the CEO of Facebook, a company that filed for $5 billion (with a 'b') IPO on Wednesday.  While he's distinguishable from most 'dropouts,' he's also distinguishable from most CEOs and 'business-minded' company figureheads; for instance, Zuckerberg has been known (especially in Facebook's beginnings) to forego immediate revenue for control.

Being able to target users by OS (Operating System) is one of the many new features recently launched within AdWords and allows marketers to control their mobile advertising dollars.  As mobile commerce comes to the forefront this as well as many of the new updates will assist advertisers in focusing on the proper devices and users.

Although this update doesn't yet bear a name (like the infamous Panda update), it may be just as important. Matt Cutts, the head of the Google Webspam team, explained the page layout update on Google's Inside Search blog on January 19 as a response to "complaints from users that if they click on a result and it’s difficult to find the actual content, they aren’t happy with the experience." True story, Matt! Nothing new here, as Google has always been committed to delivering high quality, relevant results, according to Cutts.

All over the world, developers are looking for the "next big thing" in search engine optimization techniques.  Some SEO companies have developed successful strategies for their clients by keeping up with innovations in the industry and creating customized plans from the ground up.  However, with so many emerging technologies evolving so rapidly, it's hard to know where the future of SEO lies.

It is well-documented that mobile search is on the rise in the US and globally, but the numbers may surprise you. This past holiday shopping season saw increases across the board in terms of online shopping traffic and spending from mobile devices (i.e., smartphones and tablets). All signs point to the mobile web continuing to grow as smartphone and tablet adoption rates continue to climb and shoppers become more comfortable using their devices to search products and make purchases.

Taking traditional advertising and marketing communications and putting them online, the experience inherently changes. Differences in the ways marketers engage with customers online can immediately be seen in the combination of media used and the increased interactive ability of the available platforms. Further, the content continues to stand as the core of the marketing and is altered by advertising and SEO experts for maximum impact.

The entire SEO community, along with everyone else on the Internet, has been awaiting the outcome of the Protect-IP and SOPA situation.  The controversial nature of the two bills have sparked debate that has been ongoing since their proposal and both opponents and supporters continue to wait until the final decision is made to either veto them or pass them into law.  In the meantime, any news regarding either Protect-IP or SOPA instantly becomes a hot topic amongst developers and the most recent word on Protect-IP could change one very important aspect of the proposed act.

A new opportunity for SEO developers may be emerging through Foursquare.  The company has made some changes lately as part of their redesigned website and the all-new "Explore" function has potential to benefit advertisers, marketers and users alike.

Some people, outside of the online industry, shun particular gadgets and platforms, whether it's due to a technologically-inept understanding or a refusal to partake, to keep "private" matters private.  One can unabashedly share information (information ultimately available to whom?) or try to maintain a modicum of privacy in an age where people use the Internet as a canvas to illustrate everyday thoughts, emotions, plans, actions, etc.

One of your new, enthusiastic SEO clients, especially one who owns a local business, searches Google for one of his keywords only to see one of his pages ranking very well. Only a week into his campaign, he frantically calls his project manager to relay the awesome news only to learn the truth: his search results are just that, his.

The news of Google's self-penalization for violating their own TOS has been making headlines both in and outside the SEO community, but despite the negative press the search engine giant has generated on its own behalf, there is good news on the horizon for Google.

Do you think Facebook and Google+ would befriend one another on social sites? Google does a lot of things well; its search engine and paid ad platform are obvious examples. Google has enjoyed a lot of popularity and exposure in this century. Do you need to look something up online? Google it; Wait, ("Google" it?) isn't Google the brand name of the provided search engine, how did we make it into a verb? Google's savvy marketing is one reason.

Social media is a buzz-worthy topic within the online marketing community.  A lot of options are getting rolled out by popular platforms.  Recently, Facebook and Twitter added social paid options, a great tool for businesses seeking more exposure.  Additionally, the former entity added "sponsored" stories to its newsfeeds.

Most people have positive, cuddly associations to pandas.  Google changed that for a lot of online businesses back in February by implementing ongoing Panda updates.  Last week, an online source revealed data related to the updates' influence on search rankings.  It seems things are going as planned; the SERPs are populated with better results, indirectly tipping the cap to brands making modifications and SEO firms that helped.

Creating SEO campaigns for small businesses can be tricky considering locality as well as competition of keywords. Many small businesses look to an SEO to be rain makers or miracle workers in establishing online and foot traffic. So how does an SEO really manage expectations of small businesses and provide results for these opportunities?

Inside Search is Google's way of sharing critical search algorithm changes with the SEO community. The latest Google algorithm changes highlights some exciting changes that many SEOs have been waiting anticipating for months, if not longer.

I recently posted a "SEO 2011 Year in Review" article on Search Engine Journal, which sited many of the exciting algorithmn updates this past year as well as other items supporting the proclomation of Mobile and Social being key SEO performance mediums this year.

WebiMax is pleased to announce that it has been selected as the Web Hosting Search - Best Web Design recipient.  This is in direct response to WebiMax's all-in-house design team providing award winning custom designs for clients ranging in size from small biz to Fortune.

Are you debating as to whether to approach an SEO firm for help? There is plenty of literature available on the Web that both celebrates and condemns search engine optimization (SEO) and the companies that provide the service. The truth is, like any other business, there are good, bad, and all businesses in between. Years ago, Vidal Sassoon originated the marketing message, “If you don’t look good, we don’t look good,” in reference to his hair styling products. The message makes sense; to reiterate another marketing quip, ‘the proof is in the pudding.’