After reading the news headlines last week about the acquisition of Aardvark by Google, I went straight to Vark.com to find out exactly what Aardvark is and why Google would want to purchase it for millions of dollars.

Turns out, Aardvark is a pretty cool way to find answers to almost any question that needs a better answer than what Google or Yahoo can give. Think of it as a “real-person search engine” where your questions are answered by another Aardvark user instead of a search engine result based on algorithms and keywords. When you set up a profile to ask a question, you also put in your interests and areas of expertise so you can answer questions from other users. Whenever someone asks a question about books, marketing, or social media, Aardvark IMs me via AIM and checks to see if I am busy and can answer a question. Most of the time I say yes, and most of the time, I can answer the question without having to do any research. However, if you can’t, no pressure. Simply say ‘pass’ and Aardvark will ask someone else. You can also answer questions on the website instead of instant messenger; but being on my computer all day I find it a fun distraction to be asked questions (I usually get 2-3 questions a day).

Besides a fun, unique way to ask questions, Aardvark has seems to have a tight-knit community of users and has a fun ‘About Us’ page that includes photos of happy hours and comfy couches, definitely making me want to work there. And I’m sure with their new parent company paying their bills, many more people will be looking for a job at Aardvark.

If you want to try it, visit Vark.com

I don’t know about you, but after the apparent let-down at the introduction of the iPad yesterday, I’m more than ever eagerly awaiting the debut of the Google Chrome Operating System. Do I want an iPad? Sure I do. But do I need an iPad? Absolutely not. Am I saying I’ll never buy an iPad, ever? No. But will I be waiting in line to buy it. Nope.

Here are a few reasons why I believe that purchasing a netbook with the Chrome OS install may be a better bet for me instead of the iPad:

Google Apps

I store my life on Google Docs, Gmail, and Google Calendar. I even have Google Wave and Voice. In fact, I’m typing this blog post in Google Docs right now. With the easy mobility of Google Docs– sharing with others, working on the same document from work and home without having to use a USB drive or emailing it to myself– is definitely a perfect fit for my mobile lifestyle. I love to travel and using a mobile document and storage system just makes my life work better. With the ease of Google Docs, it makes sense that Google would want to graduate towards creating a mobile operating system. Our lives are becoming more and more independent on the internet everyday, and the Google Chrome OS simply builds on this dependency.

More Affordable

Sure, $500 for a 16gb iPad is affordable– for an Apple product. But with the Chrome OS coming to a netbook near you for around $300-$500– it seems that iPad customers are paying for the name Apple rather than its real usability.

More Options Style-Wise

For now, the iPad only comes in one color. Netbooks come in all different colors, sizes, models, and brands. And with the Chrome OS being open-source, I wouldn’t have to pay for OS updates like Apple and Microsoft force me to do.

Missing Features

Does iPad have bluetooth? Nope. How about a webcam? Nope. The ability to view Flash files? Nope. What about the ability to open and edit Microsoft Word files? Nope.

Here’s a video Google released about Chrome OS. Seems logical to me. This is probably the video that got me on the Chrome OS boat. What do you think? Comment below!

A misconception held by many internet users is that you must be a user of social networking to use the real time web.  That is not the case, anyone can easily take advantage and learn from the real time web without being a member of any of the sites.  Below, we will explain how.

Anyone can search the real time web.  Several search engines have launched to help you learn what people are saying right now in regards to any search term.  You can check out this search tips page which overviews several of the types of searches which can be beneficial in the real time web.

Another way to navigate the real time web is through seeing what the current trends are.  Since people write about topics all day long, websites are able to see what current trends are through seeing what is being talked about the most. What The Trend not only shows you what the current trends are but they also show you reasons behind why a particular topic has become a trend.

Lastly, links can be researched on the real time web.  Since many people post links online in the real time web, data can be compiled to see what the hottest stories are right now.  Tweet Meme shows you the hottest stories right now along with information on how many times a particular story has been shared right now.  You can also do a search at Sency.  On the results page – you’ll see the today’s most popular links tab on the top right hand side of the page.  This will allow you to see the hot links right now for any respective keyword.

All in all – its good to learn how to use the real time web as there is a lot of information out there which gets updated each minute.

This guest post is by Evan Britton, the Founder of Sency.

New, real-time, up to the minute search has become the next big thing in both Google and Bing. While many people are concerned that this may ‘cheapen’ the quality and value of regularly indexed search results, having tweets and Facebook profiles crawled almost immediately after their conception will not be detrimental to search engine results. And here’s why:

I’m sure you’ve seen those teeth whitening or flat stomach weight loss ads on google advertising– they are everywhere. However, thanks to Google’s new initiative to ban any advertising that sells misleading products or could be considered as spam advertising, these types of ads will soon be a distant memory.  Hopefully now we will no longer have to see a flabby stomach on our sidebar as we’re reading a blog or yellow teeth asking us if we have the same!

A great explanation and summary of the new policy can be found at The Big Money: Google Does Non-Evil Thing: Bans White Teeth, Flat Stomachs.

You’ve spent countless hours trying to create a business that you want the world to know about. You’ve hired the best SEM firm in town, ran PPC advertising, and created back links to entice people to visit your site. You’re hoping that with more visitors, you’ll get to that coveted position of the first search page of search results on Google.com.

However, all of your hard work, sweat, tears, and dollars are riding on Google to present your business in a way that is professional and fair…and unfortunately, Google doesn’t seem to be getting the message.

From PDQ to pdq: Capitalization Issues

Your name is Paul David Quentin, a name that has been passed down through your family for years. You bear the name proudly and you want your business to bear the name as well. Unfortunately, there are several other businesses with the same initials, so what do you do? You use all capital letters in order to differentiate between yourself and the other businesses. Problem is Google Maps doesn’t like business names in all caps.

There are several instances in which business have registered their names with Google Maps in order to bring in more business, but when they go in search of the business name, the name has been reduced to lowercase letters. Why? Google Maps flags business names that use all capital letters and makes them all lowercase letters.

What does this mean for your business? People tend to overlook businesses written in lowercase letters because of the idea that lowercase means less important. Of course, this isn’t the case, but many businesses still fall victim to this misconception.

What used to be a proud family name has been reduced to a bland line of letters that no one seems to notice despite the amount of time and energy you’ve poured into it.

From McDonalds to Mcdonalds to McDonald’s: Lettering Inconsistency

Another problem with Google Maps is that it can’t seem to decide what to do with business names that have capital letters in the middle. McDonalds turns into mcdonalds or Mcdonald’s. McAfee turns into mcafee or Mcafee. Honestly, will an entire line of lowercase letters grab your attention on a page littered with business names and information? It’s doubtful.

Problems that Make a Business Suffer

So how does the inconsistencies in Google Maps cause problems for business listings? In order for their business names to appear as it does in advertisements, letter heads and other business literature, businesses have had to literally change their names. Example: PDQ turned into pdq on Google Maps, so the owner changed the name on the Google Maps listing to P.D.Q. in order to keep the lettering from turning into a blob of uninteresting blah.

So is Google Maps dealing with the present issues? Not in the foreseeable future- but businesses can adapt by changing the spelling of their names, adding spaces between letters or not using the Google Maps service at all.

This post was written by Danica Sorber, owner of DSorber Media Works.

Everyone seems to think that everything you put online is assessable by anyone at anytime via a simple search query on a search engine like Google or Bing. This is scary when it comes to personal or private professional information. So what do you do to keep something online ‘off limits’ to the unwanted? Ever hear of a robots.txt file? No? Well here is a bit of information on this amazing little innovation.

What Is It?

A robots.txt file is a very useful file that keeps the grubby fingers of search engines from getting a hold of specific information on your domain. When a search engine ‘spiders’ (methodically searches the internet for up-to-date information), a well placed robot.txt file will prevent that pesky little internet arachnid from seeing anything you don’t want it to see.

Consider it a spider proof “web”.

What Are Some Examples?

Here are some simple examples of ways to insert robot.txt files into your domain.

>If you’d like to keep those pesky spiders from even entering your domain you would write the information below into the robot.txt file:

User-agent: *

Disallow:  /

If you want to keep the search engine spiders out of a certain area or directory on your domain you would enter the following information into the robot.txt file:

User-agent:  *

Disallow:  /aboutme/ (or whichever directory you would like to exclude)

If you’d like to add more directories to the list, you would just add another line of:

Disallow:  /stats/

Disallow:  /account/

Etc…

All in all, it’s pretty simple and very useful.

What Are The Benefits?

If your business runs on creating spam files, emails and other unsolicited communications, creating a robot.txt file for that particular area of your domain will keep that information from spreading. Businesses all over the globe run using methods that aren’t always appreciated by the general public, and if the general public were to learn these classified things, these businesses might very well go under. Who wants that for their business?

A robot.txt file will keep the search engine spiders from crawling all over your business’ sensitive information.

What Are The Warnings?

The effectiveness of the robot.txt file depends solely on whether or not that particular search engine recognizes the ‘authority’ of the file. Basically, the robot.txt file is only as good as the search engine doing the crawling. Not every search engine in operation will heed the ‘off-limits” status present in your domain. Keep that in mind.

Overall, robot.txt files are incredibly useful in today’s world of wide open information. Keep what you want kept secret and away from the prying multi-faceted eyes of the search engine spider.

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This post was written by Danica Sorber, owner of DSorber Media Works.

There is a new way to search the web, and boatloads of users who have experienced the real time web have been impressed with the results. Traditional search engines rank sites based on relevancy.  Because of this, the results don’t change a lot; a search today will reveal most of the same sites and information that were there last month.  However, with companies like Twitter and Facebook having millions of users continue to post content and status updates – there is now real time content on the web which updates each second.  Search engines and startups have leveraged this information to offer internet users instant access to what is happening right now.

So, when breaking news happens, a real time search will instantly give you the public’s thoughts, opinions, and experiences in relation to the breaking news.  A search on Google news would give you links to articles written by people in the media, a real time search will allow you to sift through all internet users comments and thoughts.  There have been several startups which have launched search engines and tools to try and offer users a good experience in searching and navigating through the real time web:

Here is a list of three startups along with a quick overview of what makes each of them stand out:

1) Topsy (http://topsy.com)  What makes Topsy’s real time search engine stand out is that it is focused on real time links as opposed to real time content.   So, when you perform a search at Topsy, instead of seeing what people are talking about on the real time web, you are going to see what the most popular and prominent links are being shared on the real time web.  You can even sort to see the most shared links over the past hour, day, week, or month.

2) OneRiot (http://oneriot.com/)  Rumors have been swirling all over the web in regards to a partnership Yahoo is discussing with OneRiot. OneRiot offers users a real time search engine which can be sorted based on web results and video results.  OneRiot also announced in early October that it will be rolling out a platform for advertisers to pay for listings to featured content on their results pages. While most real time web companies have been focused on technology and traffic, OneRiot seems to be an early leader in the monetization of the real time web.

3) Sency*  (http://sency.com)  Sency has built a free feed for websites and blogs  (http://sency.com/feed.php).  The feed brings in real time content which updates automatically on the site or blog it is published on. The site and blog owners are able to select which keyword they want the feed to scroll for.  So, a blog about sports, can for example, have automatically updating real time content anytime someone uses the word baseball or football shows up on the real time web.

This article was written by internet marketing veteran, Evan Britton. After attending the first ever Twitter conference earlier this year, Evan Britton founded Sency in Los Angeles, California. Evan hopes that Sency will be able to continue to grow alongside the real time web.

Here are two new social media/internet campaigns that depend on internet and social media users to spread the word in order to win big.

The first is Yahoo!’s yodel contest, as explained by their official blog:

Today, we’re giving the Yahoo! yodel back to the people with the launch of Yodel Studio, a global casting call for the world’s best yodels. Yodelers who take us up on this challenge will personalize and reinterpret our yodel, competing for a chance to be featured in Yahoo!’s new global advertising campaign and on one of the world’s largest stages: the Yahoo! homepage. Your yodel will also be heard through the donation Yahoo! will make to local and global charities of your choice for each yodel submitted (up to $130,000).

Even though this is for a good cause, the massive amount of buzz this will surely generate around the internet probably doesn’t hurt either.

The next is a really new campaign for Butterfinger, starring Seth Green. This relies on social media, online games, blogging, and video.  As summarized in a press release on BusinessWire:

Someone has laid a finger on Seth Green’s BUTTERFINGER®. Nestlé USA today announced the launch of “Dude, Where’s My Bar?” an innovative online narrative game for consumers to help solve the mystery surrounding the October 2 theft of Green’s vintage Butterfinger bar. The “lite” alternate reality game starring Seth Green will call upon the clever, irreverent thinking of Butterfinger fans, as they compete to find and solve clues that could lead to the return of Green’s missing bar and a one-of-a-kind grand prize: a solid-gold Butterfinger bar worth $10,000.

This is definitely a fun, interactive campaign that will surely blow-up online, especially on Twitter and Facebook. I see a possible Seth Green/Butterfinger trending topic in Twitter’s future for sure. To partake in the fun and games, visit http://www.dudewheresmybar.com/

A lot of Search Engine Marketing “Experts” will say that a blog is perfect for getting those much-needed keywords onto your website that will help you rank higher and better in search engine organic results. The problem with that is, search engines aren’t actually “reading” your content. They are simply scanning it. And eventually, when you have an actual real person that visits your website, they will read your “content” and realize what a hack you are. They will not pass your content on nor will they visit your website again. This means that all the effort and time you spent writing blog entires stuffed with keywords and anchor text that had nothing important to say may have gotten visitors to your website, but it didn’t keep them there. It didn’t help push people to spread what you have to say via Twitter, Facebook, or email.

When it comes down to it, writing thoughtful, well-written blog entries are the best way to attract steady, relevant users to your website. Sure, they may not have all the “desired” search terms or keywords that you’re hoping to rank for, but it WILL show visitors and potential customers your expertise and make them interested in what you have to say.

In many ways, it’s harder to write for the search engines than it is for real people. Trying to fit in the word “costume” when only “costumes” seems to make sense can be a real challenge and lead to awkward sentences that will repel readers. Writing out your natural thoughts about a subject and teaching others what you have to say seems to roll off the tongue (or off the fingers, in computer-speak) much easier than any well-structured search engine blog post ever could.

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Image courtesy of Caitlinator on Flickr.