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Blogging is an effective way to reach a wider audience with a more personal message than a website may present. Companies that employ a well thought out blogging strategy encourage the strongest community goodwill, and that goodwill, in turn, promotes significant marketing and sales gains. It is said that success breeds success. This holds very true for successful blogs. There is chain reaction that begins with a real desire on the part of the blogger to provide value and connect with their audience. The blogger shares useful and engaging content —the latest information, help, discussion topics and ideas. More than 5% of the Fortune 500 companies blog externally. Market research done in the first half of 2006 indicated that 34% of large companies had established weblogs. Another 35% planned to do so by the end of 2006, thus bringing the total to nearly 70% A business blog can provide additional value by adding a level of credibility that is often unobtainable from a standard corporate site. The informality and increased timeliness of information posted to blogs assists with increasing transparency and accessibility in the corporate image. Business blogs can interact with a target market on a more personal level while building link credibility that can ultimately be tied back to the corporate site. External corporate blogs, by their very nature, are biased, though they can also offer a more honest and direct view than traditional communication channels. Nevertheless, they remain public relations tools. Greater word-of-mouth buzz on- and offline, higher search engine rankings, increased press coverage and superior lead generation are just some of the potential benefits of blogging in a corporate setting.

PR or page rank is a trademark of google. Page rank is a way to determine the value and importance of a page on web. Page rank varies from 0 to 10. We can view the page rank of a site simply by installing Google toolbar in our explorer. Google ranks pages depending upon the number of 'votes' or backlinks that page has on the Internet. The more quality links a page has, the higher page rank that page is going to have in general (spam link or link farm). Page rank of 0 is the minimum and page rank of 10 being the maximum a site can get. As a general rule, the higher your Page Rank against your competition, the more likely your site will appear in Google's Top Ten for a given keyword. Below is a list of some of the top PR sites on the web: # Google Website # Adobe Website # World Wide Web Consortium # Microsoft Corporation # NASA Home # The White House # Department of Energy # Keio University # US NSF (National Science Foundation) # ERCIM (The European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics)

More and more these days, social media websites are influencing search engine rankings. Having a story on DIGG or Reddit can mean a massive spike in traffic in the short-term. But the longer-term effects of that link are much more powerful. A link from a well-respected, or 'authority' site, is considered valuable. In the world of SEO and backlinks, high Google PR websites are all important. As social media networks become more popular, and widely-used, their influence on Search Engine Rankings increases. This is one of the foundations of the Web 2.0 concept - an internet which is controlled more by the end user. If a user likes a website or story, it achieves greater exposure on a social media website. And of course this will enhance 'organic' search engine results. So the effects are somewhat multiplied.

A great list of Social Media Websites

http://traffikd.com/social-media-websites/ By no means comprehensive, this Social Media website list will give you a great overview of many of the more well-known social Media and Social networking sites.

CheckIn CMS: Finally, a user-friendly CMS designed collectively by Sydney-based SHIFT Interactive and SHIFT SEO! With over ten years' experience working on every possible type of CMS, from SME websites, to Australia's largest commercial and government Content Management Systems, SHIFT have been feverishly developing what is one of the most effective Content Management Systems on the web. The overwhelming response we have had with working on these CMS Systems is that they are not user-friendly. For this reason, we have ensured that user-friendliness is a core factor in the development of our CheckIn CMS In early 2007, SHIFT Interactive and SHIFT SEO set out to develop the internet's finest CMS - one that your average web user can use, and even enjoy using! After all, the web should be a joy to use. And if you have a website, you should be encouraged to take pride in it! Three core values formed the cornerstone for all CheckIn CMS development: 1. User-friendliness 2. SEO-friendliness 3. Web2.0-friendliness All these three core values ensure that CheckIn CMS is a friendly, effective and dynamic tool to ensure that you leverage the most out of your web presence. We believe we've created the web's most friendly CMS! Can you afford not to?

CheckIn CMS: Australia-based SHIFT SEO and SHIFT Interactive have been feverishly tinkering away on their latest software creation - a fully-fledged Search-Engine friendly Content Management System - CheckIn CMS. With all the trimmings of every high-tech CMS on the web today and more, SHIFT SEO have lent their expertise to developing a CMS which pulls out all stops and ranks incredibly effectively in all search engines. Drawing from a vast pool of SEO knowledge, SHIFT have injected CheckIn CMS with every effective search engine technique known today. With regular monthly updates to the software core, CheckIn CMS is set to remain Australia's most effective CMS on the market today. Three core values formed the cornerstone for all CheckIn CMS development: 1. User-friendly 2. SEO-friendly 3. Web2.0-friendly All these three core values ensure that CheckIn CMS is a friendly, effective and dynamic tool to ensure that you leverage the most out of your web presence. Can you afford not to?

A CMS has many roles. We believe that SEO is crucial for any website, and should be at the top of the list of priorities when considering Content Management System Information Architecture, a fact that virtually all CMS developers neglect. CheckIn CMS is developed by SHIFT Interactive, in conjunction with SHIFT SEO, search engine optimisation experts. Along with ensuring that we have built a robust, secure and flexible web 2.0-enabled website, CheckIn CMS comes with all the markings of a stellar SEO-enabled CMS. Tailored from the ground up, we have employed every known code trick, boosting every possible opportunity for search engines to index our sites and ensure that your website never slips from Google, Yahoo and MSN Live rankings. We believe that we have developed Australia's finest Search Engine Optimised Content Management System. Are you using a website which doesn't rank in Google for your preferred keywords? Contact SHIFT Interactive today to find out more about migrating your website to a more effective online strategy - CheckIn CMS can transform your online presence.

Web 2.0 Design in Sydney is becoming more and more in demand. From new Web 2.0 styles to corporate blogging sites, from user controlled content sites to more interactive online experiences, today's online marketing community are beginning to embrace the powerful mechanisms of interactive Web 2.0. Recent talk of Web 2.0 is essentially heralding a new generation of interactive media techniques, which essentially represent a maturing of the industry. As web design software evolves, so too do design techniques. For many years, browser incompatibilities slowed down growth in the industry. In particular, Microsoft's refusal to conform to Web Standards in a bid to monopolise with their ASP software and servers, meant that many web designers spent 50% of their time ensuring that websites looked the same in the countless browsers that were on the market. The faster basic web designs can be implemented, the faster the industry can grow. Now, with established CSS code hacks being well-documented, and accessible to all web designers on the net, the web design industry is beginning to mature. And about time too. But all this means that finally the user experience on the Internet will begin to improve. With the implementation of Web 2.0, users will gain more control over their internet and their information. Most importantly, they will be able to moderate the amount of information that they are bombed with, and they will be able to have their say about that content.

Web design in Sydney is becoming increasingly localised. Google's Sydney office is emphasising the need for local search results. This is a healthy move for the online community. It means that if you are searching for, say, 'web design Sydney', then you are more likely to find web designers who are actually based in Sydney Australia. Google is increasingly stressing the importance of being listed in local web directories. And they are beginning to base their search results increasingly on these local search directories. Their reasoning for using local directories for search terms, in this case, sydney website design companies, is simple. Listings are the only way to accurately identify the physical location of a company. Local Sydney SEO techniques for being listed locally need to be adhered to, as do Google's Terms of Service. In the search engine optimisation world, Google have been commanding the game for the past 5 years. And they still do. Google Local Search will ensure that their results stay relevant. But beware - you'd better begin bumping up your online marketing budget. Listing in a lot of these Local directories doesn't come for free. And some - like True Local - are commanding very particularly high rates. The best way to ensure that your site is listed in Local Listings is to ensure your content is relevant to your local area. Do this by optimising the content of your site. And then ensure you submit to as many local directories as possible!

A new Web 2.0 style website design has been implemented on Sydney agency SHIFT Interactive's CMS website. Launched just before the Easter weekend, SHIFT Interactive is sporting a shiny new look-and-feel. Web 2.0 practices are search engine friendly, and have a visual aesthetic which encourages easy readability and access to content for the end-user. To complement their new Web 2.0 website skin, SHIFT will be regularly updating their Blog with fresh web design and search engine optimisation tips, aimed specifically at web users from Sydney and Australia interested in Web 2.0 techniques.

Engaging in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) techniques will massively increase website traffic to your site.

Sydney SEO Specialists SHIFT Interactive share some of their techniques with you.

SEO experts widely agree that the single most important factor to achieving good results in Google are backlinks.

That is - other websites linking back to yours.

Of course, if you do not have any content on your website, then you likely not rank very well in Google, Yahoo or any other Search Engine.

We are making a basic assumption here that your website has some well-written content on it.

For tips on SEO content, view these SEO Content resources.

For tips on backlinks, read on! There are many ways to effectively increase your backlinks.

One of the most obvious is approaching companies directly, and requesting reciprocal links - that is, they will put a link to your website on theirs, if you do the same. By far the most effective is way to increase links though is to use a reputable SEO agency, with relevant link relationships with hundreds of directories and websites.

You will notice a significant increase in your Google and Search Engine rankings if you increase your backlinks. Some SEO experts argue that up to 80% of your ranking status depends on the quality and and quantity of your website backlinks.

We at SHIFT Interactive believe that the percentage is between 65-75%. With over ten years' Search Engine Optimisation SEO experience, Sydney based Australian agency SHIFT Interactive have developed significant directory relationship with thousands of directory websites.

We can offer your company sophisticated packages for increasing your Google rankings and site traffic significantly. There are many factors involved in increasing your Google rankings.

If nobody can find your website, chances are your website will be underachieving.

Contact us today for a holistic approach to your Search Engine Optimisation and Marketing strategy.