Businesses We Love and Happy New Year!

Happy New Years to all! Here is to a prosperous 2011 filled with much growth and success.
A heartfelt thanks to all of our clients. If I forgot to give you a back link just let me know.

Businesses We Love --

Telecom!
Kid friendly cell phones
Affordable prepaid phones

Health and Insurance!
Miami’s best chiropractor
Best local pharmacy chain in Miami
Insurance for recent graduates

Services!
Miami lien search
Miami land surveyor
Extended warranties for home appliances and electronics
Psychiatric testing for law enforcement


Products!
Best ticket broker in Miami
Construction equipment and tractor parts in Miami
Affordable iPod accessories

Travel!
Best China tours
Best Tuscany, Italy tours
Experienced travel PR agency


Law!
Miami immigration law
Best young lawyer in Miami

Happy New Year!

Web Browser Roundup

It's been a fascinating year on the web (as always.) True HTML5 functionality is on the horizon, Groupon reportedly turned down a multi-billion dollar offer from the folks at Google, Zeynga increased their worth by billions through online agriculture, and WikiLeaks had their crack at changing diplomacy forever. None of this would have been possible without the under appreciated web browser. Let's talk a look at how our windows to the world changed this year:

Opera:
The Norweigan browser, is something of the underdog in the race. It is kind of hard to tell why though. Opera 11 was released to very strong reviews and opened up the platform to extensions. Opera 11 has the best tab and window management of all the browsers in my opinion. Opera is the preferred browser on the Nintendo Wii, which gives it major cool points.
Typical user: Cool teenagers and efficient Sweedish efficiency type of people.
Motto: "Look at what I am using and you are not!"

Microsoft Internet Explorer:
Microsoft did not release a significant update in 2010, only pushing minor security and stability releases. Most of the talk was regarding IE 9, which is still in Beta. The 9th go round of the browser everyone loves to hate will have a new interface and expand it's capabilities by the use of HTML5. Interestingly enough, it is rumored that it will only be available to Windows 7 and Vista. Planned obsolescence much?
Typical user: At work browsers and non tech savvy users.
Motto: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If it is broke, don't fix it either."

Mozilla Firefox:
Firefox really expanded this year. Personas and a wealth of extensions make this browser the most "fun" of all of them. The 3.6 update saw HTML5 compatibility and much faster Javascript processing. Firefox 4, which was released in beta, is slated for an early 2011 release. I think when released Firefox will see their market share climb even further.  
Typical user: Ordinary, web savvy person.
Motto: "Hello World"

Google Chrome:
It was a very busy year for Google's baby. Using an agile rapid release plan Google aimed for a new stable build release every 3 months, which they achieved. We went from Chrome 3 to Chrome 8 in a year. Updates included themes, better tabs, bug fixes, and integrated Adobe PDF and Flash Player.
Typical user: Cool techy who knows a few Linux commands.
Motto: "sudo"

Apple Safari:
Safari had a slow year. Safari 5 debuted in June, featuring usability and performance improvements as well as HTML5 compatibility. Apple did introduce the Safari Developer Program this year, (finally) releasing an extension builder tool.
Typical user: Apple fan boys.
Motto: "I <3 Steve Jobs"

Of course, the best browser doesn't matter if no one uses it, so let's take a look at market share for November 2011.

From Wikipedia

Blog stats

From our main site, www.sdsol.com

Congrats SDSol.com visitors, we break the trend and prefer Firefox to IE.

Happy holidays!

Protection Headquarters offers discounted extended warranties

Our friends at Protection Headquarters recently launched their extended warranty blog. Take a look and let us know what you think.

They have also been kind enough to offer our clients 10% off their warranties if needed. Use the promo code "SANTA."

Happy Holidays from the team!

Does Google Count Facebook Likes and Twitter Links (Social Media) for Web Rankings?

YES!

Matt Cutts, the one guy from Google who (occasionally) gives concrete SEO answers talks about it in the above video.

SearchEngineLand goes in depth about social media for SEO in a recent post.

What this means -- social media is growing in importance. It is not a standalone factor anymore, but part of the search space.

What this does not mean -- that you should start sending random friend requests and spam your existing friends with links.

New Book Releases from the Family

It has been a productive time for the extended SDSol Family indeed.

Abe Peck, the reason why our marketing manager’s missives are [usually] typo free, deserves congratulations on the launch of Medill on Media Engagement. The book is a collaboration of many of the best and brightest professors from Northwestern’s journalism school, and draws on nearly a decade of research carried out at Northwestern University’s Media Management Center.

Clarence Page, who has won more Pulitzer Prizes than I have seen, says
“With groundbreaking research, lively anecdotes and real-world ideas, this book offers a fresh and insightful look at what today’s media audiences seek. Beneath the surface of an audience’s quest for useful news and information lies an appetite for a memorable and shareable experience. This book will help you to know it when you see it.”

Highly recommended for content creators, whether online or off, it is available on Amazon. Medill on Media Engagement is the book to buy to become a better writer, editor, or even blogger. 

Suzanne Peck, the reason why our marketing manager exists in the first place, deserves congratulations as well. She, along with her BFF and colleague Penelope Wong, released Ruff: A Lost Dog Tale. Ruff is a fun, informative read which gives concrete strategies to manage change in both the professional and personal realms. 

Suzie Reider, who as Head of Advertising of YouTube clearly knows what she is talking about, calls Ruff
“A cheerful, quick read. The tale reminded me of Maurice Sendak's writing, while the workshop portion is clear and well presented-tackling core workplace issues of alignment, difference, power, collaboration, courage and teamwork.“

Did I mention Ruff accomplishes this through amusing parables involving canine characters? Ruff: A Lost Dog Tale is highly recommended for those looking for a lighthearted business book like Who Moved My Cheese but better, funnier, and more interesting.