Bill McIntosh

Today is HUGE for both shoppers and business owners.

Google has just released a feature for users of iPhones, Palm WebOS phones, or Android-powered devices. (Google’s blog post.) As of right NOW, if you do a Google search on your phone for a product, you will see a blue dot if that item is available at a store near you! On that screen you will also see if the item has full or limited availability, the price, which stores near you have the item, the distance those stores are from you at that exact moment, the phone number of the store, and a link to get directions with Google Maps.  Read more... (266 words, 1 image, estimated 1:04 mins reading time)

If you are an affiliate marketer, you need to be aware of unethical/unscrupulous marketers. They often offer easy, fast and huge payouts. But their business practices are unethical. And they are giving affiliate marketing a bad name.

These companies will promote a product or service, take the consumer’s credit card information, bill them exorbitant fees monthly and make it nearly impossible for them to get requested refunds or stop the service. Sometimes they pass on the credit card information to other companies and add additional charges for additional services or products that the consumer knew nothing about. So what started as a small one-time charge turns into hundreds or thousands of dollars of unexpected debt for the consumer.  Read more... (267 words, 1 image, estimated 1:04 mins reading time)

There are a ton of affiliate offers out there. There is a lot of money to be made for sure. But scattered among the legitimate ones are the shady offers by companies who charge a lot of money for a much-less-than-awesome product, confuse the customers, withhold the actual amounts they will be charging, and make it nearly impossible to get your money back once you realize what’s happened.

As an affiliate marketer, you have to be responsible for what products you’re promoting, in the same way that you’d be responsible for items you sell in your own shop.  Read more... (316 words, 1 image, estimated 1:16 mins reading time)

Google has quietly been testing a new feature directly on TVs. What could this mean for the future of advertising for both local and national companies? How does this fit into my theory that the Internet is “Going Local, Social & Mobile”? You’ll want to tune in LIVE tonight and find out…

The show starts TONIGHT at 6:30 PM Pacific Standard Time / 9:30 Eastern. Stop by early & say hi:

http://www.billmcintosh.tv/live

If you are a member of my Business Inner Circle, you should go to:  Read more... (143 words, estimated 34 secs reading time)

Ah one more Google property. One more social network to figure out how to use. Lucky for you, I’ve been playing with it to figure it out, and I have a clip showing how some of the features actually work so you can see it.

Interested?

Watch the clip!

This is from an earlier show in December, but it’s more important now than ever to understand and apply local marketing to your online business.

If you remember way back in December (for internet technology that actually IS way back), Google was trying to acquire Yelp.  That was HUGE news.  Not only that, but Google got turned DOWN by Yelp.   A Google representative was quoted saying THEY are the ones who turned down Yelp…which, aside from being a tactic I used in third grade, also makes NO sense.  Google buys EVERYTHING which makes sense to buy.  They would NEVER say no to Yelp, in my opinion.  Anyway, there’s some context for you.  Read more... (217 words, estimated 52 secs reading time)

Yesterday was a BIG day for Google. And for social networking. I went over it in my live show at BusinessInnerCircle.com, as well. But I wanted to make sure and post it here so everyone knows.

Google released their newest product called “Buzz” yesterday. Essentially, it’s a social network which links your twitter feed, your youtube videos, your flickr pics, and all other social networks that Google can figure out that are connected with you…all to your gmail.  Read more... (329 words, 2 images, estimated 1:19 mins reading time)

A while back I posted a video on Youtube about my Adsense earnings. Many people have asked me how I got that Adsense Video to be #1 in searches. This past week it was asked in the live chat, so I thought I’d post the clip here for you. Now go try your hand at making a viral video!  Read more... (125 words, 1 image, estimated 30 secs reading time)

This past week a lot of great questions came into the BusinessInnerCircle.com forums. Topics answered live on the show were:

1. Graphics in websites VS SEO
2. What makes one website show up in search engines and another not.

There’s one primary and most important thing that makes the difference between a website showing up in a search and a website that doesn’t. Want to find out what it is? Watch the video! And for more secret tips and facts and training, stop by the live show every Tuesday at 6:30 pm PST, join the chat and be part of it!  Read more... (165 words, 1 image, estimated 40 secs reading time)

Did you know that the Google search results you see aren’t necessarily those that your customers see? Google is gathering data on your searches for their customized search all the time. So the more searches you do, the more your personal search results are geared toward you as a consumer.

So how do you see the raw search results without that customization? First you have to log out of Google. Go to the Google homepage and see if your email address that’s associated with your google account is showing at the top right. if so, click “Sign out”.  Read more... (313 words, 1 image, estimated 1:15 mins reading time)