Google Map Maker: Google Users Become Editors of US Map

New! Google Map Maker for the United States, Google finally let its users edit, add and update the map of United States for millions to see in Google Maps.

Google Map Maker same as Google Maps lets any Google user to sign-in to edit, add and update the places they know. to To ensure the accuracy and quality of Maps edits, after user saved an edit it will be reviewed by in-house moderation team. Once Google approve and accepts user contributions and map edits, within minutes it will go live on Google Maps.

With Google Map Maker users can make the map more detailed and complete starting from neighborhood, hometown, entire cities, road networks and universities. This new product from Google will ensure every place cared about by users can be represented on the map. Speeding up the time for online maps to reflect the changes whether fixing or adding details — roads, universities, bike paths, and others so that changes appear in Google Maps and pushed live to all users.

Google is also adding some new features for users, integrated within Google Map Maker is a Street View so users can use imagery to help guide their edits. Advanced search options is also added for users to find exactly what they’re looking for.

Start adding your local knowledge to the map.

• Add businesses and building outlines.
• Move place markers to the right locations.
• Build a detailed map of your school campus.

See live mapping by users around the world!

Learn and discuss

• Learn about Map Maker and how to get started.
• Get tips from the Map Maker Help Center.
• Ask questions in the Map Your World Community.

Bing Announces New Bing Business Portal (BETA)

Bing Local Listing Center has it's new brand called Bing Business Portal.

This time Bing taking it to a new level looking to compete Google Places which recently had its integration of Google Hotpot on it. The Bing Business Portal will let you claim,” verify, and manage your local business listing on Bing in much easier way through their easy to use listing tools.

Some of the changes of Bing Business Portal (BETA) over the previous Bing Local Listing Center are the ff:

• Quicker verification for business listings via phone (mail option available as well)
• Improved interface to make it easier for SMB market to use
• ‘Cartoon’ format making it easier for businesses to follow the process
• Deals integration with Facebook
• Support (rumored to be real people using those antiquated phone things) with help forums

These changes are great and helpful for business in terms of areas of internet strategy. Bing Business Portal will allow businesses to preview their listing in desktop and mobile view. They also included a feature allowing you to create a mobile site version of your listing and including a QR code as well. Adding more to it Bing Deals will roll out in desktop and mobile search.

Claim and enhance your business listing on Bing. Its free!

"More customers are searching Bing to find businesses and services in their local area. Claiming your business listing can help increase your visibility and influence customers to visit your business."

Take time to complete and make accurate business listing in Google Places, Yahoo Local Listing and Bing Business Portal or in other third-party service providers. You'll have better chances to be found by customers that are looking for you if you have accurate and complete information on you business listing.

To learn a bit more about the Bing Business Portal, you can read keynote Q&A on Bing's Business Portal FAQ.

Google Analytics Useful Guides, Tips and Tricks Collection

Gaining and better understanding of Google Analytics. These articles/blog will guide you on how to segment and analyse your incoming data, it will help you understand as well as giving you insights of your website. Below are some blogs/articles which have created some excellent best practices, tips and usages for Google Analytics filters:

• Creating a Google Analytics filter for Image Search – Yoast
• Search Term Categorisation in Google Analytics - l3analytics
  
• Google Analytics Filter for Tracking SEO Rankings - atelier-seo
  
• How To Track Mobile Visitors In Google Analytics - localseoguide
  
• Google Analytics to Tracking Google Places - Dhrub Raaj
• Tracking Local search Traffic with Analytics - Blumenthals
  
• PPC Keywords Filter for Google Analytics – E-Nor
• 5 Must Have Google Analytics Filters – Search Marketing Ads
• Basic Google Analytics Filter: Track Site Subdomains – Marshall Ball
• Stop Google Analytics From Stealing Your Valuable AdWords Keyword Data – Get Elastic
• Need the IP address of your visitors in Google Analytics Reports? Is it possible? – Merkados
• Track SEO rankings with Google Analytics – Yoast
• Custom Filters for GA: Part 3d – Luna Metrics
• Filters for GA Part 4c: Cascading Custom Advanced Filters – Luna Metrics
• Know What Your Customers Want: Analyze Internal Search Data With Google Analytics – Conversation Marketing
• Filtering Yahoo Mail and Live Mail in Google Analytics – 100 Dollar SEO
• Google Analytics Keyword Filters – Schawel Consulting
• 7 Google Analytics Filters To Help Understand Your Visitors – Doted Guru
• Google Analytics Filter to Remove Trailing Slashes – Splike
• Some Basic Information About Lowercase Filters – ROI Revolution
• Google Analytics Regex Filter Tester – Analytics Experts
• Tracking social networks with Google Analytics using filters – Brian Clifton
• How To Creata a Filter Google Analytics Help
  
  
  
  

Google Hotpot now Integrated with Google Places

Google Hotpot - the once stand-alone product would become an integrated part of Google Places.

Some five months ago Google launch Hotpot as a recommendation engine for places which attracted millions of users who rate and review venues as well as adding friends to get personalized recommendations. Adding a more personal touch and view of the world, Google released Hotpot both for iPhone and Android apps encouraging more users to recommend, rate and review places. Hotpot also expanded to support more than 47 languages.

Hotpot project manager Lior Ron once wrote on the Official Google Blog, “Hotpot is really going places: to a Google search box near you and around the world.”.


Few days ago, last April 08 2011 on the official Google blog, Hotpot project manager Lior Ron writes, "Based on this success, we’ve decided to graduate Hotpot to be a permanent part of our core local product offering, Google Places."

Google Hotpot now integrated with Google Places, Hotpot - the dish, that describes a shared eating experience will now graduate. Though the Hotpot product name will be discontinued the technology will be embodied and be part of Google Places. Both web and Google mobile apps users can expect more “Hotpotness” in Google Places, they will have more big plans and will be adding more features to Google Places in order to make it easier to rate, discover and share the places.

"Rolling Hotpot into Google Places helps simplify the connection between the places that are rated and reviewed and the more than 50 million places that already have an online presence through Google Places—places that millions of people search for and find every day on Google," project manager Lior Ron explained.

Blogger Dynamic Views for Authors and Readers

Blogger Adds Customizable Views for Readers

Blogger just added five new dynamic templates to present your blog content to your readers in different exciting ways. These five new views are made possible by using the latest in web development which includes HTML5, AJAX and CSS3 as Google continues its effort to overhaul its blog platform adding a fresh and new look to explore your favorite Blogger blogs. The new five Blogger Dynamic Views are mosaic, flipcard, sidebar, timeslide and snapshot. Mosaic and Flicard is almost similar to each other which features a wall of thumbnails and once click will zoom filling the screen, while minimizes when it's click again. However Sidebar, Timeslide and Snapshot is a sort mix putting together the content, photo blogs, and text blog.

Blogger Dynamic Views advantage and benefits:

Infinite scrolling: read more posts without having to reload or click to a second page

New layouts: different views suited to different types of blogs

Speed: download images as you view them, not all at once in advance

Interactivity: there are now more ways to experience and engage with blog content

To try the different blogger dynamic views simply add “/view” on the end of a blog url, like http://seouragon.blogspot.com/view then just tap the sidebar button to change the template view of the blog. Remember that these new views are only available to public Blogger blogs with feeds fully enabled where in public and readers don’t need to sign in.

If you are a blogger and you want to enable dynamic views just follow these steps:

1. Log in to your blogger account.

2. Go to Setting then click Formatting

3. Under Formatting look for Enable Dynamic Views and set it to YES.

4. Then Save Settings.

If you're using chrome while reading on a Blogger blog you can install this Chrome Extension for dynamic view which can be found here: Blogger Dynamic Views Add On .

After installing it just click on the Blogger icon when it appears on the browser toolbar, select the view, and you'll be redirected to the dynamic view you preferred.