5 For Friday — Links, Stories & Posts For Your Weekend (Plus A Bonus!)
January 6th, 2012 by
3 Ways to Optimize Images: Search, Social Media & User Experience — TopRank 
Does your website utilize images to catch your audience’s eye and promote user interaction? You may not be getting as much out of them as you can. Graphics add spice and break up potentially dull straight-text content, but are also a great venue for promoting your brand and drawing in surfers using image-specific searches. Here, TopRank shows you a variety of different ways to make sure all your image optimization bases are covered.
How Siri Makes Computers (and Coders) More Human — Scientific American
While this piece isn’t specifically sales-focused, it provides a fascinating look at the “humanization” of our interaction with the web — specifically Siri, the new iPhone’s AI assistant. Widely covered as the “future of search,” Siri dynamically interacts with the user to give them the information they need — no matter in what type of language the request is couched in. Here, Scientific American’s David Pogue takes a gander at what this means for human/computer interaction.
How to Build an Engaged Audience with Content Marketing — CopyBlogger
We’ve covered the importance of having a quality blog for your website, but how do you go about making sure your stellar copy and penetrating insights are seen by a consistent and attentive audience? If you’re starting from scratch, taking advice from the 30 social media pundits, bloggers, entrepreneurs and authors interviewed by CopyBlogger for this informative article may be a wise choice.
Creating a Simple Yet Powerful Social Media Marketing Plan — ProNet
Getting an audience for your blog is vital, and gaining followers and fans on your chosen social media networks is related and just as important. This article offers straightforward advice to any first-timer planning to launch and effective and eyeball-gathering media campaign that’s sure to set you apart from the rest.
Google Launches US Election Hub Website — Search Engine Land
Just in time for the presidential elections, Google has introduced their very own political hub to keep track of the 2012 race. While on the surface it may just appear to be a news aggregator, there are many interesting options for localization and trend-tracking as well. Search Engine Land has the details!
AND A BONUS! Our very own Influencer and prolific SI blogger Doug Thomas treated us to another Lunch & Learn today, this time focused on microformats and what they can do for your information organization. Click here to see the slideshow with examples and an overview!
