This latest update has been named “Penguin” and the main objective of the change is to specifically target webspam.

To quote Matt’s words:

“The change will decrease rankings for sites that we believe are violating Google’s existing quality guidelines. We’ve always targeted webspam in our rankings, and this algorithm represents another improvement in our efforts to reduce webspam and promote high quality content.”

If your site’s search engine traffic went down significantly since that date then your site is most likely being penalized by Google for not following the quality guideline.
A lot of you may remember that the last time a high profile and significant algorithm change occurred was around February 2011 and that was given the moniker of “Panda”. Back then the Panda algorithm tweaks were aimed at penalizing sites with poor quality content – especially content associated with content farms like article directories.

Although the Penguin update is believed to chiefly be aimed at webspam, a lot of the general rules of thumb regarding what makes a quality website in the eyes of Google still apply.

The main thing which all website owners and creators should keep in mind is that Google is always tweaking their search algorithms because, as a global multi-billion dollar a year business, it’s in their interests to provide accurate and quality search results to their users.

Matt Cutt’s even says that Google wants to provide search results which will enhance the experience of the user.

How will the Penguin update affect your sites?

For starters if you have created and maintained a solid site with original and quality content which has been organically rising up the rankings, then you won’t have much to worry about.

By “organically” we mean that you have been steadily creating quality content which has been indexed by Google and over time it has naturally risen in the search rankings.

However, if you have tried to take shortcuts and employed what are known as “black hat” techniques to try and fool Google into ranking your site above the higher quality competitors, then you will probably see some significant drops in your rankings and traffic in the coming months.

Examples of “black hat” techniques which may have worked in the past but will, over time, cause more harm than good to your site are things like:

• Unnatural and excessive back-linking
  You might have noticed by simply checking your spam folder in your WordPress administration panel to see how much garbage your Akismet plugin filters out of your comment area.
  All of these spam comments are from people (or automated robots) which leave comments with links going back to their site in the hope that they will be able to build a significant number of back-links. A lot of the time the comments are totally irrelevant and out of context to the topic at hand which makes them very unnatural.Another technique spammers employ is to try and leave comments with links going back to their sites in forums. There is also a variation of this method whereby the spammers create forum profiles and place links in their profile without ever leaving a comment.Whereas previously the technique of building huge numbers of back-links may have been effective in increasing search rankings, this type of tactic is now being targeted more readily by Google and it may be something they are addressing in the Penguin update too.
• Poorly written articles which don’t make sense because of bad grammar
  In the effort to write as many articles as possible in the shortest amount of time, some people use what are known as article spinners. That is, they will often try to recycle existing articles which they’ve found on the net, by using a spinner to reword the article so that Google doesn’t detect any duplicate content.
  The end result of sites which are primarily built using such a technique is that they are grammatically illegible and quite useless as far as being informative goes.Google is constantly introducing intelligence into their search engines and crawlers to spot things like this and penalise sites with such qualities by demoting them in the search rankings.
• Keyword stuffing
  “Keyword stuffing” refers to the unnaturally high frequency of keywords which are placed on a page. The reason why people do this is that they hope to get a better ranking for their chosen keywords by exhibiting a large number of those keywords on their pages.
  Quite often, when you read a page of a typical spammy website you will find that the content actually doesn’t make any sense because the post was written specifically to contain as many instances of a keyword as possible without any regard to the quality of the content itself.

The above are just some of the “black hat” techniques which spammers and wanna-be Internet millionaires employ in order to short circuit the work needed to succeed online.

However, with algorithm tweaks such as Panda and Penguin and future updates, these techniques will soon be as toxic as kryptonite was for superman in terms of the success of your website.

What to Do if Your Site Got Penalized?

If your site got penalized by the penguin update then you should try the following:

1. Carefully read Google’s quality guidelines
2. Make the necessary changes to your site
3. Log into your Google Webmaster tools account and submit a request for reconsideration

Did you hear about Velvet Burger? They are one of the most recent companies to have their Facebook page deleted for breaking the rules. They waved ‘bye bye’ to almost 10,000 fans in the process. You can read their message to their customers below.

You may have also heard Hell Pizza went the same way – losing their page and 20,000 fans along with it. Hell managed to get their page back through someone-who-knew-someone who worked at Facebook, but sadly – in most cases – if this happens to you, you’ll be starting from scratch.

In case you’re thinking being in a little country (Velvet Burger and Hell are in New Zealand) or that having far fewer fans will prevent this from happening to you, think again! Don’t get all up in arms with Facebook about this either, the only person to blame is … you.

When you created your Facebook page for your business you ticked a box saying you’ve read and agree to the terms and conditions. I know, I know, of course you didn’t actually read them (and I don’t blame you, there are pages and pages to read) but ignorance is definitely not bliss.

As Facebook says “We reserve the right to reject or remove Pages for any reason.” And they’re not kidding. Don’t think you’ll get a warning either! Poof! One day it could just be gone.

The bad news is claiming you didn’t know you were breaking the rules won’t cause Facebook to reverse your page deletion decision.

The good news? With a little learning you can prevent the next victim being your page.

There are Facebook rules that page admins break on a daily basis, so included in the list of what you CANNOT do that follows below are no doubt many you’ve been guilty of.

Even if you’ve been playing by the rules, you might read them and think “But everyone does that! Why can’t I?”. Well to paraphrase mothers around the world “If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?”. Kidding aside, it really isn’t worth flouting the rules.

So here’s my list of the most commonly broken Facebook rules you simply cannot do with your page. Pay attention so your page is not the next in line for the chopping block!

COVER PHOTO RULES

You know that lovely big new image at the top of your page? As tempting as I know it is, you cannot use it as an ad.

What does that mean? The list includes:

YOU CANNOT

• Include your contact details – ie: no website address, no phone number, no email and so on. That’s what your about box and info page are for. Basically if it’s a way to get in touch with you, or if there’s a field for that information on your info page, then it cannot go in your cover photo.
• Include pricing or purchase information – ie: ’40% off…’ or ‘Get yours now at our website…”
• Reference any “user interface element” – ie:  you can’t ask for, mention or even use a graphic to point to Like, Share or any other Facebook feature. Facebook even makes special mention that you cannot encourage or incentivize people to upload your cover image to their personal timelines.
• Include calls to action – ie: ‘Get yours now’ or ‘Tell your friends’.
• Use an image you do not own or have the rights to use, that is false, deceptive or misleading.

By the way, your cover image should be 851 pixels wide by 315 pixels tall and under 100 kbs in file size.

Want to read Facebook’s new cover photo rules for yourself? Here they are and here are some examples of cover photos from brands breaking the new rules.

PROMOTION RULES

Here’s where you’re going to feel guilty as these are broken all the time. It’s these rules that caused Velvet Burger to lose their page (and their 9,500 fans along with it).

YOU CANNOT

• Run any sort of promotion, competition, sweepstakes etc on your Facebook page using Facebook’s features and functionality – ie: make sure you use an app or ‘custom page’ and not ‘like this update’ / ‘share this photo’ / ‘upload your photo to our page’ / ‘add a comment’ (and so on) to enter (a more complete list follows below).
• Hold Facebook responsible: So you must include a disclaimer that releases Facebook of any responsibility – eg: You’ve got to mention something along the lines of “This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook”. This is best put on the page/s of your app and in your terms and conditions on your website.
• Following on from above, you must also disclose who the entrant is giving their information to. The usual wording is “Participants are providing information to [your company name and the name of any other companies who see entrants information] and not to Facebook.”
• Use any Facebook features or functionality as part of the promotion or participation other than liking your page, checking in or connecting to your app.
• Use Facebook features or functionality as a promotion’s registration or entry mechanism - ie: the act of liking your page or checking in cannot automatically register or enter the person in your promotion. Basically a condition of entry can be to like your page but the fan must then complete their entry on your Facebook app or custom page.
• Use the Like button as a way of voting (eg: most likes wins is not okay). Any other Facebook feature or functionality cannot be used for voting either (eg: The person who invites the most new fans wins …)
• Notify winners through Facebook – ie: don’t use Facebook message, chat or posting on the winner’s page, your page or another company’s page to notify winners.

These rules apply when promoting your promotion as well! So when you advertise (eg: Facebook ads) or reference a promotion (eg: in a Wall post) you need to follow the rules

These types of promotions are therefore NOT OK (often called Wall Promotions) because you’re using Facebook features and functionality to run the promotion:

Share this [update / photo / video etc] to be in to win…

Upload a photo / video …

Every 25th new fan wins…

Add a comment …

Invite your friends to like our page …

Answer this question …

Photo with the most likes wins …

DATA COLLECTION

Whether promotional or not, whenever you collect content or information from a Facebook user, you have to make it clear that you (and not Facebook) are collecting it.

You’ll need to notify Facebook users and obtain their consent plus tell them (or link to your website privacy policy or terms and conditions page) how their information will be used by you.

YOUR PAGE NAME

Your page name and your Facebook username must reflect / match your company name.

So if your company sells milk called Moo Juice then your page name should be ‘Moo Juice’ or ‘Moo Juice Milk’ but not ‘Milk’ as you can’t call your page a generic term – eg: ‘Beer’ or ‘Pizza’.

Your page name cannot be entirely in capitals unless your organisation’s name is an acronym. So the Bank of New Zealand can call their page BNZ but just because your logo has your name all in capitals, if it’s not an acronym, your page name cannot be all caps.

You also cannot use character symbols, such as bullet points or excessive punctuation or trademark symbols, in your page name.

FACEBOOK ADS

Before you run Facebook Ads, have a careful read through the Facebook Advertising Guidelines here. There are so many that it deserves it’s own article so for now you’ll have to do your own homework

I think I’ve set a new record for the number of uses of the word ‘cannot’ in one article!

Given how often these rules are broken and the fact the Facebook’s terms and conditions sprawl over multiple pages; I hope you’ve learned a lot. Please consider liking or sharing this article with your network to help other business owners, marketers and page admins avoid falling into the page deletion trap! Just pick one of the sharing options at the top of the page or below, thank you in advance

DISCLAIMER: Do not use this article to decide if what you’re doing is or is not okay! Other than the fact that I haven’t made a complete list of ALL the rules, Facebook updates the rules all the time! You’ll need to do your own research or check it past your Facebook Rep or agency to be sure. You can get started here: http://www.facebook.com/page_guidelines.php

Read more: http://www.marketinggum.com/what-you-cannot-do-on-facebook-page-admins-read-these-rules/#ixzz1tviKgjRS

CREDITS
(Disclaimer: We do not carry credit for this post nor any of the photographs; we are simply sharing information, you may not otherwise see, in accordance with the copyright laws and under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License of the USA)

Hire a temp.

Define the tasks you’d like help with short-term and bring in temporary help to test. If you find that you keep them occupied and your business continues to grow, the decision to bring someone on permanently becomes an easy one.

How did you go about bringing in help when it was time to expand your business? Leave a comment below!

Want to save $50?
Use coupon code: KIMTOWN at checkout. Tennille just asks that you drop her a note and let her know how CSM for Bento is keeping you organized and helping you to analyze your business!

CSM for Bento is a database template to be used with Bento to assist you in managing multiple areas of your business. 
• Stores data on your hard drive, so no internet connection is required
• One time purchase – no monthly fees!
• Sync with Address Book and iCal to view your Contacts and Calendar on your iPhone or iPad (optional – you do not have to sync)
• No additional app is needed if you choose to sync with Address Book and iCal
• iPhone and iPad Bento apps are available but not required (the full version is required to run the template)
• Video tutorials are included with the purchase of CSM for Bento

CSM for Bento allows you to enter and categorize the following data: 
• Clients, Business Contacts, Personal Contacts
• Appointments – Sessions, Business Appointments, Personal Appointments
• Tasks – Business & Personal To-Do List items
• Workflow Stages
• Referral Program Tracking
• Gift Certificate Tracking
• Birthday Tracking
• Marketing Campaigns
• Projects
• Mileage Tracking
• Invoicing (Order Income)
• Expenses

 Want to see all of the DETAILS? Screenshots, videos and more?? Visit: http://tkbusiness.com/tk/shop/csm-for-bento/

Don’t forget! You can save $50!!
Use coupon code: KIMTOWN at checkout. Tennille just asks that you drop her a note and let her know how CSM for Bento is keeping you organized and helping you to analyze your business!

Home page boasts a large 8 image grid with popup slideshows on any image clicked. The drop downs in the navigation move slightly to the right when hovered upon. Lovely little details like these are what sets him apart as a meticulous wedding photographer!

The “about us” page includes a slideshow tour of his studio and the portfolio pages showcase his wonderful images!

Take a look around and enjoy this gorgeous site!

Home Page:

Home Page Slideshow Popups:

Portfolio Page:

About Us Page:

Strengthen it with these key difference makers:

• Testimonials with photos or video
• Recommendations from previous customers
• Messages regarding special deals or promotions (available discounts, free shipping, etc)
• Links to your Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube accounts
• Instructions on how to contact you

With these enhancements, you can improve the user’s experience and allow them to get to know you better. All of which can help increase their chances of buying from you. Connect with kimtown to get started today!

Last Chance for Starter Packs:

Each year we offer introductory assortments of our best selling products at a discount price for our Trade Show season. Well, the major shows are over and these special offers will expire April 30th.

USE CODE “KIMTOWN” AT CHECKOUT FOR 10% OFF!!

Frame Bag Starter Pack

• 2 – 46×36
• 3 – 38×30
• 5 – 32×26
• 5 – 26×22
• 5 – 20×16

Show Price only $89.95
Choose from Black or Chocolate

Artisan Portrait Case

• 30 – 5×7
• 25 – 8×10
• 15 – 11×14

Show Price only $99.95 – Choose fromPeacock, Papaya, Avocado, andNatural. Sorry, the Hot One Award winning Cocoa is already sold out. Also available in Ebony and White made from machine made paper without the deckle edge.

1/2″ Box Starter Pack

• 10 – 11x14x1/2″ box
• 15 – 8x10x1/2″ box
• 20 – 5x7x1/2″ box
• 96 sheets 20×30″ tissue

Show Price only $89.95
Choose from Espresso, Kraft, Charcoal, or Black

Three external libraries included in WordPress received security updates:

• Plupload (version 1.5.4), which WordPress uses for uploading media.
• SWFUpload, which WordPress previously used for uploading media, and may still be in use by plugins.
• SWFObject, which WordPress previously used to embed Flash content, and may still be in use by plugins and themes.

Thanks to Neal Poole and Nathan Partlan for responsibly disclosing the bugs in Plupload and SWFUpload, and Szymon Gruszecki for a separate bug in SWFUpload.

WordPress 3.3.2 also addresses:

• Limited privilege escalation where a site administrator could deactivate network-wide plugins when running a WordPress network under particular circumstances, disclosed by Jon Cave of our WordPress core security team, and Adam Backstrom.
• Cross-site scripting vulnerability when making URLs clickable, by Jon Cave.
• Cross-site scripting vulnerabilities in redirects after posting comments in older browsers, and when filtering URLs. Thanks to Mauro Gentile for responsibly disclosing these issues to the security team.

These issues were fixed by the WordPress core security team. Five other bugs were also fixed in version 3.3.2. Consult the change log for more details.

Not confident to update wordpress yourself? kimtown can do it for you! Visit the shoppe for this upgrade offer!

WordPress 3.4 Beta 3 also available

Our development of WordPress 3.4 development continues. Today we are proud to release Beta 3 for testing. Nearly 90 changes have been made since Beta 2, released 9 days ago. (We are aiming for a beta every week.)

This is still beta software, so we don’t recommend that you use it on production sites. But if you’re a plugin developer, a theme developer, or a site administrator, you should be running this on your test environments andreporting any bugs you find. (See the known issues here.) If you’re a WordPress user who wants to open your presents early, take advantage of WordPress’s famous 5-minute install and spin up a secondary test site. Let us know what you think!

Version 3.4 Beta 3 includes all of the fixes included in version 3.3.2. Download WordPress 3.4 Beta 3 or use theWordPress Beta Tester plugin.

• Home page image is huge at 960px wide! Welcome your visitors with a java based slideshow (no flash) to show off your best work. Includes a bio/text area to aid with search engine optimization.
• The Gallery page has a large slideshow with thumbnail options on bottom, sides or top of the image. Choose square or rounded corners with hover colors for a more personalized look!
• The Contact page includes a simple, but customizable, contact form, an image to the left or right and a large google map on the bottom, getting visitors to your place!
• The Blog page boasts large images, a colored post title banner, comment area and social media sharing. The top of the blog page shows a full size width of your images!
• Be the FIRST to get this site in the shoppe! $100 off if purchased before April 23rd!

Special thanks to Natasha Tessier Photography for the beautiful images!

Her blog features a slideshow with text overlays, social media links adorning the slideshow, gorgeous large images with polaroid borders on every uploaded image, twitter integration in the footer, favorite vendor links and banners in the footer and a beautiful post separator to put everything in place!

Congrats on your new look Pati! It was a joy working with you!

She needed a killer senior driven blogsite that would still work for families, children and weddings. We teamed up with her design ideas and gave her an amazing site. Take a look and leave some love! (She’s still filling in some parts, so pardon the dust) Congrats on your new blogsite Tanja!!

For months the articles have been posted on blogs all over the web speaking about color trends for 2012 as well as speculating on some of the more wild possibilities. There are some interesting ideas out there, as no year has been this anticipated or shrouded in mystery since the 2000 Y2K scare.

But of all of these predictions, serious and insane, there are two good indicators for what is coming in color in 2012: These are the Pantone spring/summer 2012 predictions and Benjamin Moore‘s ColorPulse “Preservation” theme.

Here are 13 of those predictions so you can start gaining inspiration for your 2012 design choices.

Pantone Trends

First, we have Pantone. Predicting both colors that will be used in home design and those that can become big in the coming fashion year, Pantone has set the entire scheme on a set of nine palettes, each with its own theme. These themes are Nonchalance, Resilience, Subtleties, Transcending Time, Indigo Effects, The Comics, Back to the Fuchsia, Nouveau Neon and Reflections.

Each one has a unique set of colors that makes up a rather tame, mild look more common to the colder months, with a few deep shades thrown in to draw it all together. Let’s take a look at each one.

Nonchalance

This palette is meant to convey the natural lack of anxiety and care that comes along with being nonchalant. Each shade is very gentle and brings to mind a relaxing room. The blue is very skylike, such as on a clear day where nothing matters.

Resilience

The point of this palette is to show strength and long-lasting durability. It might remind you of certain foods – for example, mustard, olives, watermelon and chocolate. There is also something somewhat retro about the color scheme, and it reminds me of the fashion and design choices of the mid- to late ’60s.

Subtleties

Taking what are normally much bolder colors, Pantone finds the shades that are in between. The point is to take something familiar and tweak it to be more subtle. Results would vary depending on how you mix them, but there is a rich tone to the colors that is very pleasing to the eye.

Transcending Time

Colors have a way of bringing a time period to mind. These move past that kind of mentality and instead represent items that transcend time. Think of heirlooms and antiques that have been passed down through the generations. Elegant colors were used, like a wine red and a plum purple.

Indigo Effects

While the majority of these colors are a deep blue, they have been broken up using both intermediate and contrasting shades. You have a gray, for example, and a purple and maroon. Then, you have the more drastic light rose and beige that keep it from being too overwhelming. The effect is very relaxing, but somehow mysterious.

The Comics

Not all the palettes are meant to be seriously themed. For a more lighthearted, childlike flare, you can look at The Comics theme. Pantone put together a line of bright colors, most of them contrasting with a few middle colors to match with the more bold hues. These would be great for a child’s room or playroom.

Back to the Fuchsia

An amusing play on words, these are all very bold interpretations of the usually sedate fuchsia. Pantone has taken several shades and added in some purples and reds. There is one deep plum, alongside a green to break the pattern and give it more depth. The green itself is similar to avocado, keeping it in line with the slightly off colors in the rest of the palette.

Nouveau Neon

Very bright for a summer tone, this is one of the rare design themes to really explore the yellows and oranges that can be found on the lighter side of the spectrum. But Pantone mixes it with some berry pinks and a deep grape purple while keeping a sandy beige. It all brings to mind picnics and cocktails on the beach.

Reflections

Probably the darkest of all the palettes, these take a number of the traditional colors and find a gentler, more moderate version. You have a deep blue, a lighter blue, a maroon, a light black, a fawn beige, an off white and a deep gray. They are very pleasant and remind me of a nautical theme.

Benjamin Moore’s Preservation

The Preservation color palette set is a little bit more interesting. Rather than being made up of a specific set of colors, it is more about the emotion that they invoke within us all – a desire to match the past of our lives and our ancestors with the modern touch of our current lives. There are four sections: Heritage, Process, Protection and Enlightenment.

Heritage

This element is all about preserving the traditions and past of our world, no matter where we are from. In some cases, this will be as simple as upcyling old items or buying antiques that mean something to us as individuals. But they will also be about native patterns and tribal items or things meant to represent our own ancestors. That means a lot of browns, reds, greens, beige and sandy colors – anything that essentially appears earth tone and natural.

Process

This is an element meant to represent the evolution of mankind in all its endeavors. That includes complicated concepts come to life for the betterment of the human race and the acceptance of all through the journey of life.

Modern neutral colors will be big, such as blues, whites and grays in various shades. Blueprints and maps are expected as decorations, with a resurgence of “academic” decor. Staccato designs will be seen more, to appeal as “pixels.”

Protection

In the past there have been many design trends dedicated toward spiritual protection. This coming year it will be more about physical protection and items that represent armor encasement. Wrought iron, cages and iconic lips as well as stainless steel will be popular.

For colors, blacks, gray and chrome are all natural, with pale pinks and dark purples as potential undertones or icy blues. Metals will remain popular, such as bronze, silver and gold.

Enlightenment

Part of enlightenment in concept is looking beyond the now and into the bigger picture of the future. This element is all about that, celebrating rebirth and what is to come. Mystery, intrigue and what is to come should be reflected in the design. Faith – or lack thereof – can come through the undertones, surrounding the overall result of your choices. Futuristic metaphors and mirror images should be utilized.

Colors are airy, with white clouds and gray smoke, foggy textures and deep purples and blues. Golds and bright yellows can be mixed in to give some brightness to the palette. Silver makes a great border and accent.

Conclusion

These are only 13 possible predictions for the 2012 design year, though they come from two very reputable sources. In the end, what is important is how you put them into practice and what you can create. Let your imagination and vision guide you!

(Disclaimer: We do not carry credit for this post nor any of the photographs; we are simply sharing information, you may not otherwise see, in accordance with the copyright laws and under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License of the USA)

This article was written by Jennifer Moline and can be read in it’s entirety at Designrfix. This content belongs solely to Designrfix.