We’ve heard the rumors for weeks, and seen leaked versions during an Android developer’s Google+ Hangout and in one employee presentation. But now Google Drive, Google’s cloud-storage service, is official.

Announced on the company blog Tuesday, the service will integrate with Google Docs and will allow you to access files from anywhere and collaborate on documents with colleagues.

via Google Officially Launches Google Drive.

Google has come a long way since it started as a research project in 1996, and it may only be just getting started. The company posted a video and timeline that highlight the evolution of Google and hint at what to expect from the search engine giant in the future.

via The Evolution of Google Search in Six Minutes.

Click here to join me on Google+.

https://plus.google.com/106882297456629622134/posts

So many great stories hitting the air waves about Google+ but really enjoyed and recommend this one by Likeable Media called The 5 People You’ll Meet on Google+, and Mashable‘s 19 Essential Google+ Resources is a great roundup of all resources Google+ includes tips, reviews, polls, etc.

Official Google Blog writes…

Today, we’re releasing +1 buttons to the whole web. As a result, you might start seeing +1 appear on sites large and small across the Internet.

Read all about it via The +1 button for websites: recommend content across the web.

If you’re serious about coming up at the top of Google Search Results or becoming a sought after webmaster, you need to subscribe to Google’s Official Google Webmaster Central Blog.

In today’s post they talk about Panda and 23 things they consider would make a site ‘rank’ higher including four (4) that make utilizing the services of a professional writer/editor/webmaster more important than ever:

1. Would you trust the information presented in this article?
2. Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in nature?
3. Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?
4. Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site?
5. Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?
6. Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site, or does the site generate content by attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?
7. Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?
8. Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
9. How much quality control is done on content?
10. Does the article describe both sides of a story?
11. Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?
12. Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?
13. Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
14. For a health related query, would you trust information from this site?
15. Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?
16. Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?
17. Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?
18. Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
19. Does this article have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content?
20. Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?
21. Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?
22. Are the pages produced with great care and attention to detail vs. less attention to detail?
23. Would users complain when they see pages from this site?

Did Panda effect you?

Search for yourself using keywords your target market might use and find out how you rank. Remember to log out of Google before you do if you want the ‘real’ results. If you’ve been effected and need help, give us a call. Our team of experts would be happy to provide you with a complimentary quote to help you rank higher in Google and other key places you should.

Once you’ve verified your listing, you can enhance the Place Page for your business by adding photos, videos, coupons, and even real-time updates like weekly specials all on your Place Page. Verifying your listing gives you the opportunity to share even more information about your business with Google.

For more information, visit Getting Started – Google Places Help.

Just read Website Magazine’s article Facebook is the New Google which makes an awesome argument for businesses and organizations who’ve not already created a Facebook page to do so now.

Did you know that…

time spent on Facebook in the U.S. during the month of August surpassed the time spent on Google sites for the first time in history.

Readers are urged to set goals, monitor progress with Facebook’s tools and analytics, make your page interesting and informative, reward your Facebook Fans with discounts and special promotions, update it as often as you can and promote it with Facebook ads, user groups of interest/useful toyour audience and “Find us on Facebook buttons”.

If your business is not yet on Facebook, contact me and I’ll have my team pillage your existing marketing collateral, create the new page for you, automate your news (from your blog), and send you a one-pager that provides you with tips to make it work harder, and instructions on how to manage your profile on this awesome marketing vehicle.  Why not expose your business to the over 500 million active users of Facebook – that check in at least once per week?

Hat’s off to The Blog Herald team who had a look at the history and timeline of Google and compiled in an infographic in their article Google’s History: A Visual Look at the Search Engine’s Timeline | The Blog Herald…

Ever since its launch in 1998, the company founded by Sergey Brin and Larry Page, has continued to grow and always expanded more and more. Today when thinking of Google it isn’t just a search engine anymore but also one of the biggest advertising platform world wide (the biggest?), a software distributor and a mobile phone manufacturer. Google is rumoured to venture even further and recently announced Google TV, an operating system for television sets. Only yesterday the company announced that it is positioning itself better in the VOIP and telephony space as well. Nobody knows when the company will stop to acquire and expand its services.