Measuring individual influence in Social Media is as coveted as it is elusive. While many tools claim to calculate authority, it is the definition of influence that requires clarification in order to grasp the relevance and differences of existing tools and services.

For the sake keeping this discussion on track, let’s define influence. According to Merriam-Webster, influence is having the power or capacity to cause an effect.

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No reputable Search Engine Optimization (SEO) company should have you expecting good search engine results in less than 3 months, but there are some cases where you can get a top 10 Google ranking in as little as 6 days, even with a brand new website! Understanding how some sites get ultra-fast rankings can help you gain a competitive advantage and spot opportunities when they come along, and it can also give you an appreciation for the hard work that goes into SEO for reputable, long lasting sites that hold onto top rankings for years.

First and foremost, there are a few things to understand about SEO that may be important for the novice. Sites in some sectors can take a much longer time to get rankings, because of the level of competition and the potential for abuse. A traditional expectation for getting into the Google Top 40 is at least 3 months, and despite the debatable nature of the “sandbox” theory, it would be foolish to expect competitive results in record time. Nonetheless, it does occasionally happen, and some of our testing has shown rankings within a few days of domain registration, without a single link from another external website.

Here are some factors that get sites ranked in record time: (more…)