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LONDON (AP) As Usain Bolt races down the Olympic track, will London's Internet infrastructure be able to keep up?

Let's hope so.

Experts say the network should be able to cope but they warned of sluggishness during peak times and said an unexpected surge could easily push the system over the edge.

British Olympic Association chief executive Andy Hunt has predicted that the 2012 Olympics will be the "Twitter Games," and those responsible for London's network of fiber optic cables, phone masts and Wi-Fi hotspots are bracing for a data deluge as the events get under way.

"There is the potential for a massive hit on the infrastructure," James Blessing of Britain's Internet Service Providers Association said.

Mobile company Vodafone said it also expected a data tsunami, saying "this summer it's going to be the equivalent of England playing in the World Cup final on Christmas Day, every day for the 17 days of the games."

Network engineers face a one-two punch: One is the influx of smartphone-wielding spectators, many eagerly updating their Facebook status from the Olympic Stadium or keeping up with the medal tally on Twitter. The second is unprecedented flow of video being streamed live to the Internet by Britain's national broadcaster, the BBC.

The combination has the potential to snarl Internet traffic. Olympic planners have already told London businesses to prepare for sluggish service during the games or even interruptions "in very severe cases." Data rationing remains an option, even if those involved played down the possibility.

Nationally, one of the biggest contributors to the Internet surge is expected to be the BBC, which plans to provide live coverage from up to 24 locations besides its three main channels of edited content. The broadcaster predicts that the footage, streamed to computers across Britain, will help generate a terabit (1 trillion bits) per second of traffic at peak times the equivalent of 1,500 people downloading a feature-length DVD-quality movie every minute.

"It's between five and 10 times their normal output," Blessing said.

More here:
Olympics to strain UK Internet infrastructure

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Americans are more connected than ever -- at least to the Internet.

A new survey by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) attempts to quantify just how much we value access to the World Wide Web and its findings are somewhat surprising.

Asked what they would give up for a year in order to maintain access to the Internet, 77 percent of Americans said they'd forgo chocolate, 73 percent alcohol, 69 percent coffee and 21 percent said they would go a whole year without sex.

BCG also tried to determine in dollar terms the worth of the Internet for most people living in the U.S. As it turns out, U.S. consumers would need to be paid roughly $2500 to live without the Internet for one year.

What do Americans value the most about the Internet? General search, e-mail and access to online banking and investing.

Dominic Field, partner at BCG and author of "The Connected World: The $4.2 Trillion Opportunity," joined The Daily Ticker to discuss the report, which aims to uncover the impact of the Internet economy on the U.S. and global economies.

As you might imagine, the size and scope of the web and its uses and users are multiplying fast. There are currently 1.6 billion global Internet users today and by 2016 the number is expected to nearly double to 3 billion, or half the world's population, says Field.

Today the Internet contributes $2.3 trillion to the global economy and is expected to grow to $4.2 trillion in about four years.

The Internet contributed $648 billion to the U.S. economy in 2010, or 4.7% of GDP; more than in any other country. To put that in perspective, the Internet economy is the eighth-largest sector in the U.S. and ahead of the Federal Government. Today, the Internet economy is growing at 6.5% a year in the U.S., one reason BCG believes this sector could eventually help propel the country out of recession.

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Internet Access More Important Than Sex, Alcohol: BCG Study

Small business owners who have just begun their SEO campaign will find that there is no end to the depth and complexity inherent in search engine optimization. Many companies try to take a do-it-yourself mentality to SEO implementation that ends with them sloppily stringing together popular search terms or stuffing keywords on contextually irrelevant web pages. Some businesses implement SEO so poorly that, in some instances, Google may disregard their website as a spam site. The result is a significantly low ranking that will make the business show up in only the most specific term searches.

Starting or running a start up company presents many challenges forentrepreneursno matter what the service or product. The last thing CEOs may consider is their Internet marketing strategies or Brand management. In addition, most likely that is not their area of expertise nor do they have the time to implement the tasks required to gain the valuable exposure required.

Improperly-handled SEO campaigns are increasingly common these days, but it is not a fate that need befall all small businesses. It is always recommended that a company turns to a top SEO agency when approaching any search engine optimization project. Once a marketing firm has been selected, then the business will be able to run a successful SEO campaign. However, its important to bear in mind that there are several key points that should always be kept in mind when approaching SEO.

The first step in any SEO campaign should always be determining who the intended audience of your good or service is. While its easy to simply focus on your business as the driving force behind your SEO operations, it always helps to be a more specific in your approach. By selecting a certain product as the core keyword of your campaign, you will be able to attract more traffic than otherwise.

Although your focused keyword may not have a hundred and one uses, you should always try to be as forward thinking as possible when considering other optional keywords. Sometimes the search term that Google looks for may not be the same one that you would have typed when looking for it yourself. You should always do research to find other ways that web surfers may try to look up your product or service.

A well-designed website is one that funnels users from page to page effortlessly. By interlinking your site so that relevant pages connect to one another, youll find that even the less visited branches of your website will see more traffic. As a result, you can expect your website to have better domain authority and, as a result, a higher place among the search engine rankings.

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Top 10 Helpful SEO Tips for Small Business Owners

According to the 2012 MarketingSherpa Search Engine Marketing Report, of all SEO tactics available, content creation works the best, but takes the most work, says Kaci Bower, Research Analyst, MECLABS.

B2B Internet marketers need new content to enforce and build upon keyword strategies, acquire links, and attract attention in social media.

In my experience, effective SEO-centric content creation requires planning on both the long and short term impact, and a strict attention to detail. With a myriad of responsibilities on the B2B marketers plate, it certainly is not uncommon for details to be missed and corners to get cut.

Some of the SEO best practices I see get missed:

With a little assistance from Help a Reporter Out, here are four examples of B2B content marketing initiatives, that stand out because of their focus and adherence to SEO strategy as well.

Digital marketing software vendor Neolane recently launched an infographic poking fun at a significant challenge campaign management providers face, the ability to overcome the onslaught of spam in online marketing communications. Running through the social media marketing initiative, here are examples of key SEO best practices merged into the process.

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4 Examples Of B2B Content Marketing Executed With SEO Best Practices In Mind

He walked down the quiet street, a leopard in the concrete jungle. Eyes down, but watching the angles. Hands in his coat pocket concealing but preoccupied. It was then from the shadows a figure emerged, unwanted but unrelenting.

"Hey buddy, you lookin'?", poured forth with a cloud of smoke.

"Naw, I don't do that crap." he blew back. "Don't ya know that stuff will get you messed up? Just look, right up there" as he pointed to the surveillance camera across the way. "Google sees everything."

The fedora topped stranger faded further into the darkness. "These are some awesome high PageRank links though. Cheap. And you just know the other guys are using." ... How this ends, you tell me?

OK, enough with the silliness. But it brings to mind a few things that are actually worth discussing. Let's explore a few concepts.

Now, this one seems to be one of the largest heads on the many headed hydra of SEO paranoia. Time and time again we see those that truly are out-thinking themselves.

Yes, it is duly noted that Google (and other IR systems) have an entire wing of the AIR command dedicated to dealing with those that might seek to manipulate their creations. There are even more than a few IR lectures on video where those pesky programmers seem almost psychotic when discussing such matters.

But it's still just not as prevalent as some passionate pros seem to envision. That's the tricky thing with search engines. The programmer types don't always get what they want.

Certainly, Matt Cutts would just love to increase his budget and sway. But these aren't always the realities.

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SEO & Google: The Ugly Truth