All Ping

Hipkey is a small pocket sized device that helps you keep track of your valuables. All you have to do is attach Hipkey to your electronic items, bags or any valuable thing. This device has proved very handy for mothers with young children. You can simply attach this to your child’s shirt if you are afraid of losing him in a crowd. The device has an easy one time setup which can be done with your phone or tablet. Your Hipkey device shows its current location at every time on your phone/tablet. This can be handy for those who keep losing their valuable items.

As mobile gains an edge, search engines are pushing for local, location-based results for queries. This way, users are able to utilize on board apps for tracking down a storefront, finding contact info and calling directly from a page, and checking out online reviews. One of the best ways to optimize for this market is to play up Google+ Local and Places.

The Place for Business

Google Places is a way to add business listings to search queries. More likely than not, any given business will already show up in one aspect or another. But like with any other Web-based marketing tactic, it is important for you to take complete control of how people find and view your company. First, Places has companies provide accurate contact information before entering a verification process.

Businesses also have the opportunity to register for AdWords directly through Place’s Business Bungalow, or control panel. AdWords is a pay-per-click service that can help a company’s inorganic search results by pulling up a listing in a query. You’re able to target demographics and adapt keywords to changing markets, but business’ will find these campaigns expensive without natural, organic search results power.

Check out Brand’s Command Center to see how they build a network of positive reviews and incoming news and links to their customers. Even if you aren't looking to improve your branding or online reputation through paid services, the chart below will still give you a good idea of how you can surround yourself and your blogs with positive articles and link building around your sites. Integrating new content, search engine tracking, knowing when/where your band is mentioned and continually building new incoming links are all great ways to improve your brand/blog awareness online.

Local Focal Points

Google+ Local is more of a social media platform than a listing service. However, every scrap of exposure helps in the long run. By creating a business page/profile, you are able to circle up with industry-related companies and connect with consumers just like you would on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. However, unlike these other social media platforms, Local is Google-friendly. When an everyday user queries a search for a clothing store in their area, for example, results with Local tie-ins increases the chance of upping page rankings. But as mentioned before, it is important for companies to cover all of their bases instead of counting on one service rather than another.

The Rule of Two

For almost every enterprise out there, it is helpful to register both Local profiles and Place listings. The more control you have over your own brand’s positive online exposure the better. In essence, both platforms allow companies to share business NAP info (as in name, address, and phone numbers), company images, comments, and reviews. According to Search Engine Watch, the most important feature out of the two are Google Map listings, an advantage even Web-based businesses can use by adding URLs and consumer ratings.

Whether you are an online blog, personal brand or a land based local business, be sure to take advantage of all the link building and branding opportunities you have at hand to better improve your reach and reputation online.

Not only has Apple replaced Coca-Cola as first among the 100 most valuable brands based on criteria that include financial performance, this is the first time that the soft drink known for slogans like “It’s the real thing” has not been No. 1.

Apple’s arrival in the top spot was perhaps “a matter of time,” Jez Frampton, global chief executive at Interbrand, said in a recent interview. Apple was No. 2 last year, climbing from No. 8 in the 2011 report.

“What is it they say, ‘Long live the king’?” Mr. Frampton asked. “This year, the king is Apple.”

The 2013 report begins: “Every so often, a company changes our lives, not just with its products, but with its ethos. This is why, following Coca-Cola’s 13-year run at the top of Best Global Brands, Interbrand has a new No. 1 — Apple.”

The report estimates the value of the Apple brand at $98.3 billion, up 28 percent from the 2012 report. The value of the Coca-Cola brand also rose, by 2 percent to $79.2 billion, but that was not sufficient to give Coca-Cola a 14th year as Interbrand’s most valuable brand.

Although “Coca-Cola is an efficient, outstanding brand marketer, no doubt about it,” Mr. Frampton said, Apple and other leading technology brands have become “very much the poster child of the marketing community.”

That is underscored by the brand in second place in the new report: Google, which rose from fourth place last year. In fact, of the top 10 Best Global Brands for 2013, five are in technology: Apple; Google; Microsoft, No. 5, unchanged from last year; Samsung, 8, compared with 9 last year; and Intel, 9, compared with 8 last year.

Samsung’s ascent followed the company’s adoption of a new brand strategy called the Brand Ideal, which includes “a greater focus on social purpose,” Sue Shim, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Samsung, said by e-mail. That reflected research indicating American consumers would switch brands to “one that was associated with improving people’s lives,” she added.

I.B.M. — No. 4 in 2013, down a notch from 2012 — is ranked as a business services brand. Otherwise, technology would account for six of the top 10.

“Brands like Apple and Google and Samsung are changing our behavior: how we buy, how we communicate with each other, even whether we speak with each other,” Mr. Frampton said. “They have literally changed the way we live our lives.”

Among other transformative technology brands that performed well in the new report was Facebook, which climbed to 52 from 69 last year, its first year on the list.

However, not all technology brands fared well. BlackBerry, which tumbled last year to 93 from 56 in 2011, has disappeared from the list. And Nokia, which dropped to 19 from 14 in 2011, finished this year in 57th place — “the biggest faller” among the 100, Mr. Frampton said.

Among nontechnology brands, a notable addition to the list was Chevrolet, at 89, the first General Motors brand to rank among the Best Global Brands.

“It feels good to hit the list for the first time,” Alan Batey, global head of Chevrolet at G.M., said in a telephone interview. “It’s a great first step, but we’ve got a long way to go. There are a lot of big brands in front of us.”

The milestone reflects how General Motors has been “making a conscious effort to globalize Chevrolet,” Mr. Batey said, selling the brand in 140 countries in ads that play up attributes like “value for money and designs that move hearts and minds.”

Commonwealth, the creative agency for Chevrolet, “played a key role” in helping the brand make the list, he added. Commonwealth is part of the McCann Worldgroup division of the Interpublic Group of Companies.

Last year, when Coca-Cola finished atop the Best Global Brands list for the 13th consecutive time, an executive at the Coca-Cola Company acknowledged the streak but noted that “nothing lasts forever.”

A year later, the executive, Joseph V. Tripodi, executive vice president and chief marketing and commercial leadership officer, had this reaction: “Of course, we would like to remain on top of the list forever. That said, we are honored to continue to be included among such an esteemed group of global brands, and we congratulate Apple and Google, both valued partners of ours.”

“We’ve seen the value of technology brands rise as they create new ways for people to stay connected virtually,” Mr. Tripodi said by e-mail. “We understand this, as the lasting power of our brand is built on the social moment of sharing a Coca-Cola with friends and family.”

“Creating these simple moments and delivering on our brand promise each and every day remains our focus,” he added, “as we continue to grow the value of brand Coca-Cola for decades to come.”

If it is consolation, Coca-Cola remains far ahead of Apple and Google in likes on Facebook fan pages. Coca-Cola has 73.2 million, compared with 9.8 million for Apple and 15.1 million for Google.