But, did you know?  There are many generous acts of kindness you can do right from the convenience of your home  laptop that will truly add value to someone’s life or business.

We’ve compiled a list here to help get you started!

1)      Write a glowing review of a product that you like on Amazon

2)      On Amazon, click the Yes button that you found someone’s review helpful.

3)      Write a glowing review of a place you like on Google Local.

4)      Write a glowing review of a place you like on Yelp.

5)      Retweet something you like on Twitter.

6)      Comment on someone’s blog post.

7)      Answer a question on a community forum, such as Yahoo Answers or Google Groups.

8)      Digg a news article you like on Digg.

9)      Make a blog post of interesting people to follow on twitter and tweet a link to it.

10)   Follow those who follow you on Twitter,  but you don’t currently follow.

11)   Tweet something glowing about a webinar, presentation or a blog post.

12)   Follow someone new on Twitter.

13)   Give out props or thank a colleague or friend via social media (Twitter or Facebook).

14)   Comment on a Linked-In post.

15)   Comment on someone’s Facebook status.

16)   Find a new friend to add on Facebook.

17)   Tell others about a product you love on Facebook.

18)   Write a nice tip about a  business on Foursquare.

19)   Say happy birthday to a friend on Facebook.

20)   Give a special promo offer  to your fans on Facebook and followers on Twitter.

21)   Thank a person who Retweteed you.

22)   Thank a person who commented on your blog.

23)   Link back to a person who linked to you or mentioned you.

24)   Follow a company you like on LinkedIn.

25)   Like an ad on Facebook.

26)   Like an article or product using their Facebook like button.

27)   Share an article you’ve read with others via any social media channel.

28)   Join a group on LinkedIn.

29)   Join a group on Facebook.

30)   Like a company’s page on Facebook.

31)   Forward an email newsletter you love to a friend or colleague.

32)   Share a YouTube video with someone.

33)   Thumbs up for a YouTube video you enjoy.

34)   Suggest a product to friend via Facebook , Twitter & Linked-In.

35)   Write a nice recommendation for someone on LinkedIn.

36)   Rate an iPhone app.

37)   Recommend a new friend to someone on Facebook.

38)  Scan and post some great old photos and share them with your friends and family.

Make today your day to volunteer in the online social media community and you’ll be sure to bring a smile to someone’s face.

…And Innovations Galore!

At today’s Google Search Event in Mountain View, the company unveiled a number of impressive innovations — further evidence, if any was needed, that the company is not content to rest on its laurels.

In the “gee-whiz” category is the all-new “Google Goggles” feature, available via its Android operating platform for mobile devices. Google Goggles let’s Android-powered phones with cameras snap a picture, which it then interprets. For instance, snap a pic of a bottle of wine, and Goggles brings you reviews for it; snap a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge and get location, Wikipedia and other information; take a picture of text and Goggles uses optical character recognition (OCR) to complete a search for the keywords present.

In the “on-the-go” category, Google has improved its mobile application in three powerful ways: voice, location, and the above-mentioned Goggles feature. On the voice front, it now takes in-depth vocal queries and Google says it returns more accurate results than past efforts.

In terms of Location, Google Mobile’s new homepage will now include search guidance based on location. For instance, if you enter a search query for a product and your location, Google will return mobile search results that include the inventory available of the product at stores close to your location. Add to that Google’s new “Near Me Now” feature, which displays nearby restaurants or ATMs or movie theaters, and you’ll never be without something to do no matter where you may find yourself. Finally, Google’s new version of Mobile Maps for Android is also integrated.

Last, but not least, in the “I want it now” category, Google has officially integrated real-time search with its indexed information. At the event, Google’s Matt Cutts tweeted something via Twitter while the presenter was demonstrating the new search capability, and the tweet streamed into the results page instantly. In addition to tweets from Twitter, Google will also look at blogs, Facebook updates and MySpace feeds, among other real-time data sources.

To see real-time results in your search results, select the “Latest” option from the “Show Options” sidebar in search results pages.

Google will also show real-time trends, and has now officially moved its Trends feature from Google Labs into their main search product. Google Trends could be the ultimate tool for keeping your fingers on the pulse of the global zeitgeist.

One of the most overlooked pay-per-click (PPC) campaign tactics is neglecting to filter out “negative” keywords–that is, those keywords that can bring you loads of traffic that doesn’t convert. Not only does the traffic fail to convert, you’ve paid for each of those clicks.

Let’s say you’re an Internet Security company that specializes in preventing denial of service attacks and computer worms. The keyword “worms” may be an important search phrase for your company. However, it’s also very generic and can also apply to the popular Internet game called Worms and your garden variety earthworm.

Bidding on this keyword may drive up impressions and traffic but you could see little in the way of conversions.

For the “worm” example, negative keywords could include: worms, earthworms, garden worms, red worms, worms 2, worms armageddon, can of worms, and intestinal worms (egads!), among others.

Filtering out these negative keywords is critical to campaign success because it improves conversions and reduces your cost per click. That’s because once you indicate in the PPC tool you’re using (i.e. Google, Yahoo, etc.) the negative keywords for each ad campaign, your ad will not appear for these keywords.

This same concept is particularly good to use if you’re a retailer selling consumer items, such as shoes. For example, let’s say you’re selling ladies red flip flops. You would use negative keywords to filter out all other colors of flip flops plus “heeled” sandals and other descriptive words. This way your ad appears only for search phrases such as “ladies sandals,” “flip flops,” and “red flip flops” (to name a few).

To determine your list of negative keywords, you can use keyword tools that come with each PPC tool or you can use fee tools such as WordTracker.  These tools tell you which keywords people have used in the last month (or year) and the search volume for each keyword.

You can also use your Web analytics or site logs to determine which keywords people used to find your Website but have no bearing on your products or services. This information is important because it’s specific to your site versus the “global” information provided by keyword search tools. Analyze your site logs and then add the non-converting keywords to your list of potential negative keywords.

In addition, you can use the search engines themselves to find negative keywords. Using the search phrase “red flip flop sandals” in Google, you can see that Google also recommends search phrases “wedding flip flops,” “men’s flip flops,” “leather flip flops,” and “rainbow flip flops”. If you’re selling ladies red flip flops, then you don’t want your ads appearing for “men’s flip flops,” so add this negative keyword to add to your list. And depending on your flip flop, you may want to include “wedding flip flop” as well.

Obviously, you can spend a lot of time researching negative keywords across all three search engines – Google, Yahoo! Search, and Bing – plus analyzing your various PPC reports. You can perform these tasks manually or you can use a tool that automates this task for you (small pitch!) such as our Yield Web Marketing Suite, which features a PPC module that manages your keyword list, including negative keywords, in real time.

If you missed it, be sure to read Part One of our SEO Strategies Series: Powering Up Your Keywords. In this article, you’ll learn how to choose the right keywords – whether for PPC or SEO – that best describe your business and products.