Google’s long awaited social network project, Google+, has been recently released to lucky few, while the rest of the world willing to try the “not Facebook but like Facebook” new kid on the social front are bound to wait. While in most cases restricting your beta release to a restricted group might be a bad idea, in Google’s case it seems to be working great.

Browsing my Google Reader today (yes, my online life is completely dependant on Google), I saw a quite a lot of stories on how to get invites faster, news roundups including the Google announcement, reviews, good or bad, and everything in between. While some proclaim Google+ another failure at getting the social concepts right from the search giant, others are already focusing on the features and how to leverage this new networking channel. Bottom line, the Google+ project keeps getting lots of coverage. 

Even if some were not that interested in trying a new social site after finally getting the hang of Facebook and Twitter, the fact that they can’t just access it at will does spike their curiosity. If you’re like me and want to try something before deciding if it works for you or not, then you’re probably also looking forward to getting  to play with Google+.

One secret of social media sites is that while some fail and other succeed, they all attract Internet users who want to test them. People are looking for a shiny new toy or a new way to promote their business, but regardless of their reasons, they will try a lot of new comers. I know I tried FriendFeed, Plurk, Reddit, Mixx and other such websites when they showed up and never used them or stopped using them along the way. And there were hundreds of thousands like me.

Google is Google. We love to hate them and keep a close eye on everything they do. So launching something new that a lot of people do want to try (just for kicks or because they secretly love to hate Facebook just as much) and then restricting access is a plan bound to make people anxious and eager to get access even more. Sure, some will be alienated, but when the secret society turns into public access for everyone and anyone, there will be hordes rushing in to try it. Maybe more than half will call it quits after a few days, maybe they’ll stay. The initial strategy still works!

A while ago, I tried to access a website I like to read, home of the odd and unusual, offbeat news, with plenty of gorgeous pictures to support the content, and flawless copywriting. To my surprise, Google had blocked the site in my browser, because it contained malware. This happened because of a flaw in MediaTemple’s security patches for sites built on WordPress, that allowed hackers to insert a malicious script. It had to be there, unobserved, for quite a while, if Google decided to block the site.

To my knowledge, many MT customers who host there blogs, have to pay enormous sums, sometimes ridiculously high, for hosting, bandwidth, etc. A popular site like Life in the Fast Lane has seen, no doubt, bank-breaking bills. The price would be well worth it, if the site owner had peace of mind. But if it happened once, who says that it will never happen again.

MT assumes no responsibility whatsoever for WordPress-based sites hosted on their servers. This, in my opinion, doesn’t justify the high prices paid by their customers. Some bloggers are not IT experts – a hosting company has to provide a level of support that gives these website owners security and confidence.

Luxembourg-based Stidia is such a company.  Stidia’s IT engineers actively monitor logs, server access, website uptime, and fluctuations. In addition, they also simulate full scale attacks on Stidia servers and client websites, and apply the fixes without disturbing their customers. The monitoring is on-going, the highlight of this company’s offering, human powered service versus automated security patches.

I am not aware of their prices – the services are available, apparently, only for Stidia’s corporate customers. An amateur blogger cannot always afford the price of safe hosting like this. But for Life in the Fastlane, this could be a better choice than MT – and who knows, even cheaper? Although server-location could be an issue: Life in the Fastlane would become a Canadian website hosted on a Luxembourg server. Server location would influence search engine positioning for the site, probably not in its owner’s best interest. On the other hand, it’s always better to be a few positions lower in the search results, than not appearing at all because of a Google ban.

So if your website is in need of desperate attention, Stidia’s engineers might be the answers to your problems. Or some other company that offers actively managed hosting. If you can think of any, list it in the comments, and don’t forget to add server location for us.

Disclosure – Stidia is a Pamil Visions PR customer

I love reading SEOBook and from the SEO perspective, I think Aaron Wall is quite the guru. I also think he’s got very cool marketing and business development insights to share. But it seems Twitter is where our opinions start to differ. According to his post about Twitter, this microblogging platform is a big page rank waster, mostly because of the no follow links. True. He also seems to think there’s little to gain from using Twitter. Aaron also quotes Seth Godin on the fact that, just like the phone, Twitter is only a connecting medium, not a marketing medium.

My question to you is: if you could (legally ) listen to people’s conversations on the phone, hear them when they mention your product or service, if you could start your own conversation with them, wouldn’t you be all over the phone? I know I would!

Twitter might be nothing more than a connection between many dots, but it’s an extremely transparent one. You can literally watch thoughts spread through word of mouth. Tweets and retweets and the circle keeps growing.

And don’t forget the ROI you get from investing in relationships! I’ve seen this idea in the post’s comments, but I feel it needs to be stressed out. Twitter is a great place to meet interesting people. You might have hobbies, passions, causes or business in common, no matter which, this limited characters outlet is a great place to build a meaningful relationship.

Does it generate value for your business? Let’s see, you learn new things, you meet key people, others spread news, reviews and quick notes on your products or services, you interact with business partners and potential clients. Isn’t all this valuable?

I’ll use myself as an example: I’ve found inspiration for my business blog on Twitter, I’ve found resources I would have otherwise missed, I’ve been exposed to innovative ideas and picked up some new tricks on the way, I’ve met some potential clients, but most of all, I’ve built relationships with truly amazing people.

Yes, Google ranks might suffer because of Twitter. But is rank the only thing that matters? I think I’d take a few people talking about the services I provide and driving new customers my way over half a point of Google PR any day! Especially if those doing the tweeting are key influencers for my potential customers.

I won’t deny it, it’s easy to get lost on Twitter at times, it’s hard to keep it strictly business. It’s better defined as chit chatting with friends, plus some other benefits.

What do you think? Can Twitter create enough value for you business, to be worth integrating Twitter strategy in your overall business and marketing plan? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section!

It’s today! And while not all languages have a dedicated pirate vocabulary, we’re all fascinated by these seamen. It’s a fun day and everyone seems to be talking about it. I first found out of it from John Cass of PR Communications. Through his post, I found out everything about this day.

What then caught my eye was Barbara Rozgonyi’s article on how the buzz around this day evolved in the last two years. I wonder how it will all evolve now that Google is joining in and Facebook is teaching us how to talk “pirate”. I’m sure Barbara’s search results will double in a few days!

Now, if you’re like me and can’t talk like a pirate with your friends, here are some other ideas to celebrate: invite your friends over and have a pirate themed party (this will require great event planning efforts ), watch some pirate themed movies or read something pirate related. Have fun!