…did you know?

I stumbled on this information yesterday while reading, of all things, Ladies Home Journal.  (Not exactly where one would expect to find such valuable consumer and technology purchase information!)  Linda Sherry’s article in the magazine’s

money section answers the  question, ‘should I buy an extended warranty?’  Until reading this article and continuing my research this morning, I had no idea that

An Amex, Visa or MasterCard from any issuer will generally double the length of the manufacturer’s warranty for electronics and other gadgets, up to a maximum of one additional year. Confirm this policy with your credit card companies before you shop. -Linda Sherry

Intrigued,  I logged on this a.m. to my own credit card accounts and found that, yes, they do indeed, extend the warranty up to one year by on most electronics and other gadgets.  I don’t know about you, but this information just made the decision about whether to purchase an extended warranty on my future purchases a whole lot easier.

Here are links to a couple of articles you might find helpful.

Which Credit Cards Offer Warranties?  http://bit.ly/JxPby8 

5 Credit Cards That Act As Warranties  http://bit.ly/JVqJqg 

Just a quick reminder to confirm the extended warranty policy with your credit card company prior to purchase!

Related articles

• Credit Card Perks And Benefits You May Not Know You Had (fldebtconsolidation.com)
• Are You Forgetting About Credit Card Purchase Protection? (savings.com)
• 8 Credit Card Perks You Keep Forgetting About (businessinsider.com)
• The only time to buy extended warranties (wxyz.com)

Image via CrunchBase

Here is an excerpt from a blog post from HubSpot regarding Google’s new Knowledge Graph…

Today, Google announced the rollout of its Knowledge Graph, which will cause a big change to how results are delivered in the SERPs. Basically, the intent behind the Knowledge Graph is for search engines to think more like a human — and deliver results that reflect that. It’s gradually rolling out in the U.S. as we speak, but you might not see it for yourself quite yet. After the initial rollout is complete, Google will expand the Knowledge Graph to searches on mobile and tablet devices, then to languages other than English.

As Google puts it, Knowledge Graph, “taps into the collective intelligence of the web and understands the world a bit more like people do.” Wait. What exactly does that mean? Let’s take a deeper look at this rollout, and try to make things a little clearer!

What is Google’s Knowledge Graph?

To explain the Knowledge Graph, let’s all pretend we’re conducting a search in Google for the term ‘Taj Mahal.’ Before the Knowledge Graph, Google simply saw that query as a string of characters; but it means much more than that to you, a human, right? If only search engines could understand ‘Taj Mahal’ like you understand it, the results would be much more relevant to you! That’s exactly what the Knowledge Graph will help Google do, and as a result, users will see improved search results.

So think about it — what does Taj Mahal make you think of? A historic monument? A casino in Atlantic City? A musician?

Related articles

• Google reinvents search – again – with Knowledge Graph (Video) (9to5google.com)
• Google Knowledge Graph Brings Smarter Semantic Results to Your Google Searches [Video] (lifehacker.com)
• Google Launches “Knowledge Graph” : A Much More Human And Contextualized Google Search Engine [Video] (thetechnologycafe.com)
• Google’s new Knowledge Graph: Three key features (techworld.com.au)
• Introducing the Knowledge Graph: things, not strings (insidesearch.blogspot.com)

Infographic on how Social Media are being used, and how everything is changed by them. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Content marketing and social media are a match made in heaven. Theirs is a symbiotic relationship – while each one is strong individually, they can create a powerhouse together.

Toby Murdock summarizes the two individual marketing styles nicely in a piece written for the Content Marketing Institute. In it, he notes that social media marketing deals with brand awareness and engagement, and allows brands to get on level with their target audiences. Social has been around for a bit now, and businesses are finally starting to grasp how to use it to engage with customers – current and potential – and build their brands.

Content marketing, on the other hand, creates the resources and materials that ideally pull business in. It’s also instrumental in nurturing leads and moving them through the sales funnel. Brands have been creating content for customer consumption and marketing it for years – they just never gave it a name. Content marketing as a term, however, is relatively new.

As Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute says, content marketing gets businesses thinking like publishers. This means creating valuable and high-quality website content that will attract potential customers and clients.

While social media is important, it’s a much weaker link without content marketing. Social is the way you disseminate the information you have and the content you create. It’s the way you enter into a dialogue with current and potential customers and care for your community.

via The Relationship Between Social & Content Marketing | Business 2 Community.

Related articles

• Marketing Beyond the Chit Chat in Social Media (marketinginteractions.typepad.com)
• Blogging and content marketing for 4/16/2012 (e1evation.com)
• Managing Content Marketing: Expert Interview with Joe Pulizzi (reachlocal.com)
• Is selling products central to online marketing? (marketing.yell.com)

Audience Applause at MIT meeting in Beijing 00071 (Photo credit: !/_PeacePlusOne)

Would you like to become a better writer?

Would you like to create content that people will remember, tweet, and plus?

How about content that inspires your audience to click, subscribe or buy? That’s the Holy Grail, right?

It may sound difficult, but it really isn’t.

You’re about to become a writer that’s incredibly persuasive and completely unforgettable.

Ready?

Let’s start with structuring your content so your message becomes irresistible.

via 58 Ways to Create Persuasive Content Your Audience Will Love | Copyblogger.

Related articles

• Online content – What is it? (marketing.yell.com)
• Content Conundrum: How Owned Media Changes the Game (adage.com)
• 21 Things Content Marketing Experts Wish They Had Known When They Got Started (contentmarketinginstitute.com)
• 10 Content Marketing Goals Worth Pursuing (copyblogger.com)
• Boosting the Content Quality on Your Blog or Website (socialmediaexplorer.com)

Related articles

• Should I use Google Webmaster Tools (graphiclineweb.wordpress.com)
• Google Webmaster Tools come to Raven Internet Marketing Tools Platform (prweb.com)
• Google Webmaster Tools Author Stats (searchengineland.com)

Related articles

• The 11 Rules of great content on websites (newmediaandmarketing.com)
• Tools for Building Authority and Credibility Online (neat infographic) (smallbiztechnology.com)
• Three ways to improve the online perception of your company in 2012 (upandrunning.bplans.com)
• “Content Rules” That All Marketers Can Use (buildmediamarketing.wordpress.com)