Internet Business Resources

Ever since Microsoft released its new Bing search engine in June, the company has
been pouring a huge amount of money and effort into making Bing a strong competitor
to Google.

They’ve spent millions on ad campaigns, made a landmark deal with Yahoo to power
its search and PPC ads, and have lured a bunch of big-name companies to participate
in their Bing Shopping “Cash Back” program.

… They’ve even struck a deal with the Seattle Seahawks NFL football team to have
Bing decals sewn on to the team’s practice jerseys. (Now that’s innovative advertising!
But then again, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen owns the Seahawks, so it doesn’t come
out of the blue.)

Share and Share Alike
Microsoft’s latest strategy to lure people away from Google is intended to make it easier
for Bing users to share their search results with friends.

Bing & Ping is still in beta, but will get rolled out in full sometime in the next couple of
months. It will allow searchers to click on a button right under a given search result
and instantly share that information with other people via Facebook, Twitter, or email.

Here’s an example of what it will look like when it’s released:

bing & ping
… As you can see, in this example users are encouraged to invite their friends to see a
football game… but they could just as easily send the game scores to friends in order to
gloat over the fact that their team is beating the pants off their friends’ team!

What does this mean for you?
If your site has a good ranking with Bing, then anyone who uses that search engine will
be encouraged to share your listing with their friends and family. And that could send a
lot more customers to your business!

For example, say you own an Italian restaurant in Chicago…

When someone searches for “Italian restaurants Chicago” in Bing, when your site appears
as one of the first listings, the searcher can easily send your website to his dinner
companions, so they can decide if it’s where they want to eat.

Or maybe you sell an eBook teaching people how to get their picky toddlers to eat their
vegetables. When a frazzled mom finds your site through Bing and likes the information
you offer, chances are good she’ll forward your site to all of her friends who are in the
same boat.

Microsoft is banking on the idea that if it’s easier for searchers to share information with
their friends, they’ll use Bing more often. If so, that means a good ranking with Bing will
soon be sending a lot more visitors your way.

Set Yourself Up For Success
To make the most of this feature, you’ve got to include keyword-rich, benefit-driven
content in your meta-description tags. That’s the text that Bing uses as the descriptive
part of your listing on the search results page. You have to make it eye-catching and
appealing so it stands out from the rest and compels searchers to click on your listing
instead of the competition’s.

That way, more people can see what you offer and share it with their friends and family.

“Bing & Ping” is currently still in beta but Microsoft is inviting people to join their Fan page
so they can be among the first to test and use this new system. If you’re interested in
getting more traffic from Bing, then we encourage you to check it out.

But will it survive Google Wave?
Of course, this whole “Bing & Ping” sharing tool will probably get blown out of the water
by Google Wave once it gets up and running… it sure will be exciting to see how all these
new search developments stack up against each other!

Have you tried Bing yet? Do you think it poses a significant threat to Google or is it the
proverbial mouse going up against an elephant?