Back in the days when search engines were a sparkly new Internet feature, much was made of “vanity searches,” or typing in your name to see how important you really were. Remember the thrill of discovering information in the public domain, which back then was largely positive?
That was then; this is now. For businesses, or anyone with branding needs, searching for information on yourself is a necessity —not only to validate your good reputation, but to patch things up if it’s not so hot.
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Google, the granddaddy of All Things Internet, offers its own tracking function through “Google Alerts,” a feature many use on a daily basis. It’s free, and it’s simple. It can detect mentions of you and your brand merely by entering your business name. And while it’s a decent tool, it may not be sufficient. If you’re serious about monitoring your reputation, brand awareness, or anything related to your operation, consider these alternatives that come highly recommended:

Just when you thought social media was on the verge of being tapped out on its aptitude for ecommerce vendors, Google is out with a fabulous new feature that makes shopping fun for consumers and fruitful for those of you who hawk wares online.

The “Shoppable Ads” feature is linked to search results from Google. In a Pinterest-style formatting feature, the commerce giant is rolling out a shoppable screen that allows sellers to tag multiple products on each ad. Mousing over a product reveals its price and brand.
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Not intrigued yet? You should be. Young shoppers, especially, are keen on the Pinteresting layout of Pinterest, and the ability to move quickly from a visual image to information on what the product is, where to buy it, and how much it costs.

Strict business decisions often result from employing an either/or strategy. Either you will build a storefront location and sell online, or you won’t. Either you will accept returns or you won’t.

But when it comes to advertising online, consider an alternative here and ponder the wisdom of both. When ecommerce merchants decide where to direct their ad dollars, they tend to study their options and choose one of the top two sales platforms. Facebook and GoogleAds, behemoths in marketing, searching, and advertising combined, offer similar yet slightly different approaches. Regardless of your favored business model, there is no hard and fast rule requiring you to pick one over the other.
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Search marketing firm WordStream has studied the relative efficacy of both platforms, showing the strengths and weaknesses of each. Recently it has reached the conclusion that using both in combination is your best bet.