What to find a great photo or perfect celebrity picture? This list of best image search engines will help you find interesting photos in the easiest way possible. You will learn about hidden preferences, unique features that will make you searches images like a professional and actually find the best images possible.
Imagery
Imagery is my favorite image search engine due to the intuitive interface. This has a cool tabbed search interface to browse your searched images. Just keep searching new image terms, which keep compiling in new tabs, click to load full size image at the bottom or in new window. Loads 20-100 images at a time in Ajax-y fashion. Best for research and keep collecting all your search images easily. You can tweak preferences to select JPG, GIF or PNG, sort by size, sort by black and white, grayscale or color and of course get safe for work images too.
Google Image Search
Google Image Search is probably the most common image search engine you might have used. Gives you thousands of image results very fast. But a limitation is you need to click to the image source page to see the full size image (Power it up with Google Image Ripper to get no more thumbnails and load full size images directly). You can sort images by JPG, GIF, BMP or PNG, sort by b&W or color, with an option for extra large images. You can also search news content and faces too! Improve Google Image Search results using the Google Image Labeler. Use more filters to stop that NSFW image with moderate filtering or strict filtering.
Ask Images
Ask images will search your desired images and suggest ways to expand or narrow your search for better results. A unique preference is finding buddy icons. It will suggest related information from Wikipedia, videos from Youtube, news, profiles and more.
MSN Live Image Search
MSN Live Image Search searches through all images of your choice. One cool option is to search “Showing only images of your desktop size” to find that ideal wallpaper even if you do not know your display settings. Another cool feature is you can drag images from the search results to a scratchpad and create a photo collection. Find related results. You can adjust a slider to see smaller thumbnails and fit in more photos.
Alta Vista Image Search
Alta Vista Image Search has similar search results, with an option to select graphics and buttons / banners too. You can also quickly sort by a huge range of prefixed desktop sizes and very useful to find wallpapers for your desktop. Clicking on “more info” below those images will take you a list of all webpages that host that same image.
PicSearch
PicSearch claims to index 2 billion images on the web. All images are output-ed as thumbnails and click through to a framed page with the original source. Selecting the preferences you can select only animations only. You can also sort images by various image sizes based by pixels. And they are family friendly images by default, which cannot be changed. It also powers Ditto.
Netvue
Netvue is another cool image search tool. The images are organized as a slideshow, you can regulate the slide show speed and even turn it off. Browse thumbnail images to a central window, with links to original full size image source.
Flickr Images
Flickr Images - Its the top image sharing community on the web sharing their best photos with you. Many unique photos can be found, many personally photographed and with copyrights reserved. You can browse in detailed or thumbnail view. Another option is to sort by View: Most relevant or Most recent or Most interesting as judged by the community. Many Flickr users have chosen to offer their work under a Creative Commons license, which means you can use their content with some rights reserved.
Webshots
Webshots is another huge photo sharing community where people upload their choicest photos and share them. Lookout for copyright issues in these photo album collections. They have a desktop software to have fun with your wallpapers and screensavers.
What is Yahoo! Answers? Claimed to be the World’s biggest think tank, Yahoo! Answers is a question-and-answer (Q&A) site created by Yahoo! in 2005. More than two million people regularly visit the site. Now you can see the potential of this web property in driving targeted traffic to your web site for free. Since its inception, it has become popular among internet marketers to drive traffic to their websites. Other entrepreneurial online marketers have cashed on the popularity of the site by publishing e-books that guide you how to use the service for website traffic.
You don’t need to buy any e-books to use the Yahoo! Answers and leverage it for your web site traffic and link building. It is free and simple to use. And as with any other traffic techniques, you should not focus all your efforts on this one site alone. You can also use the site for getting answers to any questions you may have in more than 20 Yahoo! Answers categories. By sharing your answers to others questions regularly, you can also establish yourself as an expert and build your brand.
If you already have a Yahoo! account, you can sign in to Yahoo! Answers using your Yahoo! user name and password. I don’t know anybody who does not have a Yahoo! account. If you’re one of those few people who have ignored all the Yahoo! services and have never created a Yahoo! account, sign up now.
1. Start with a top level Yahoo! Answer category that you’re passionate about and interested in. If you’re are interested in gardening and have a gardening blog, you should start with home and gardening category. Don’t limit yourself to the top category alone, select all the subcategories also.
2. You don’t have to be an expert. If you are interested in a topic, you can do a Google search and get the the right answers to almost all the questions posted in Yahoo! Answers. Try to be the first person to answer a question and answer it correctly.
3. Don’t post vague and false answers. It is always better to verify your answers before posting it. Check even the spelling and grammatical errors before posting your answers otherwise people will doubt your answer even if it is the correct one.
4. If you have verified your answers using some authoritative sites like Wikipedia, CNN, MSNBC, Yahoo!, university websites, respected journals, etc., post the link to the source of your answer.
5. The beauty of the Yahoo! Answers service is that you can post links in your answers. But don’t post links to your websites always. Link to your contents posted in other sites like your articles published in article directories, Squidoo lenses, hubpages, blogs, digg, stumbleupon, YouTube videos etc and direct the user to your contents for more information.
6. Try to avoid opinionated political questions but if you have the fact from an authoritative source, post the link without posting your own opinion.
7. Yahoo! Answer is also a gold mine for keyword and market research on any topic. By scanning the questions in one topic, you will be able to know what information people are looking for. You can make a blog post detailing your research on that question and then link it in your answers.
8. Keep your answer succint and to the point. Just don’t provide a link to the answer. Provide as much information as possible to resolve the question and links for more information and validation only.
9. Even if the answer is simple, don’t call names and mention how stupid the question is or how simple the answer is.
10. Yahoo! Answers is a community sharing site. Participate by answering and voting on others answers.
11. Use keywords in your answers.
12. Avoid answering lots of questions in one day. Answer no more than five questions a day and do it for no more than three times a week.
13. Never, ever try to sell any thing in your answer.
Social media marketing is a lot more complicated than any other form of online promotion and few companies have recognised this. Partly because it deals with multi-facet areas, such as vertical search (based on algorithms), viral and conversational marketing, content generation and sharing, as well as brand association and reputation management. There is a need to engage, interact, blend in, create rapport and then sell the targeted idea, the feeling, the thought. Participation marketing. Community interaction requires several professional skills:
- Marketing
- Sociology
- Public relations
- IT
- Business development
1. Marketing skills are of essence and the reason is self explanatory
2. Sociology skills required for understanding the role of individuals within communities and the community dynamics. The unwritten laws of what is acceptable and what not. What adds value and why.
3. Public relations skills for reputation management and brand building. Making the right choices through a crisis and the best choices when you build a strong name.
4. IT skills and knowledge of the platforms to keep up with technological advances and new opportunities. The time to react is of essence. You need to be there before competition becomes unmanageable. Early adopters always win points.
5. Let’s not forget that we are selling something. Unless you are doing social media marketing for brand building purposes only, you need to still drive revenue to justify the investment. So promoting the product or service is the priority and it is easy to lose focus and over-promote. Equally, not thinking about sales can lead to lost business hours and no additional funds.
So when thinking about an individual or an agency to drive your participation marketing campaigns, think about experience, knowledge and ability.
Do they have the skills required?
After all, all that is at stake, is your company’s reputation.
Social media have been subjected to an authentic boom with growing users in the last monthe. They are becoming a part of the daily lives of people, companies and organizations in the same way that other media have done in the past (radio, TV, mobiles, etc). Here are some suggestions to help you enjoy your experience with these tools.
- Be unique, different, extraordinary. Only in this manner will you be able to stand out among millions of other options.
- Be yourself don´t make the mistake of trying to be someone else, sooner or later you will get bored and stop functioning
- Be a resource for others. Become useful to the community you live in.
- Produce and share original content which can interest your audience.
- Respond to doubts or questions about others.
- Be controversial. Create debate which is fundamental to capture interest in any spectacle and this applies to social media.
- Avoid being one in a crowd.
- Avoid offending other users.
- Do not waste time in absurd discussion or paying to much attention who only seek to create problems for their own entertainment.
- Listen and follow significant users in the community.
- Create new connections everyday, at least one.
- The aim is to make relations before attempting to sell a product.
- Be generous, share and try to give more than you receive.
- Take care of your images and photographs. Offer an attractive and relaxed image. Avoid forced smiles and unnatural poses.
- Think always about the community were you wish to direct a message and do it only if you are sure you are supplying something of value.
- Always reply to comments and show those who have bothered to send you a message that they have captured your interest and their message hasn´t fallen on dead ears.
- use the adequate tools for each type of message.
- Don´t pay to much attention to casual comments. Be yourself, investigate, if you make mistakes learn and enjoy yourself.
Both major and minor companies are moving towards social media marketing for business purpose. Some of the famous social media websites are Facebook, Twitter and web 2.0 tools. Some of the major developments that you can expect in social media in 2010 are:
Plays a major role in politics:
Social media will play a new marketing strategy for political campaign. One major example was President Barrack Obama’s campaign. One major reason for politicians to choose social media for political campaign is it can increase supporters, donations and build strong political network.
People can make money through social media:
In 2009 many people used social media for interacting with others but this year you will see a change as many people can make money with SMM (social media marketing). In 2010, you will notice that social media may become location specific, revenue sharing plans and targeted ads that can lead to job opportunities.
Twitter can serve billions of tweets each hour:
According to co-founder of twitter, Stone, there will be nearly billions of tweets every hour in 2010. Twitter will become important in 2010 for local news and more.
Social media would be accessible in Mobile phones:
Due to increase in sale of mobile phones, social networking would be an added feature. People would use mobile phones for watching videos, reading content, search purpose or locate a particular location.
More corporation houses would use social media tools:
Some giant corporations like Sun Microsystems, IBM, Ford, Dell etc use social media. This year you may hear more such corporations using social media tools for their business. Using social media tools are not only important but also make life easier.
Women would outnumber men in Social Media:
More Women use social media sites like Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed, Myspace and Bebo compared to men. Business week revealed in a post that “According to a Rapleaf study, while both sexes still use social networking sites in huge numbers, women are the ones holding down the fort “. Moreover more than 42 Million U.S. women use social media.
Location specific networking sites could be seen this year:
Location based network will experience severe growth in 2010 for several reasons. This feature will not only help companies locate right seeker but also help end user in hitting the right bar. Foursquare and Gowalla will monetize their network to a lucrative position faster if other network do not react fast in 2010.
Social media jobs to rise:
There will be increase in social media jobs in 2010. Social media will lead the way in redefining customer relationship with new technology. There will be more job seekers and providers in 2010.
