How to Improve Traffic with Micro-blogging
July 24, 2008
One of the most popular off-shoots of the Web 2.0 space has been the advent of micro-blogging. This capability enables users to post short “updates” (usually no more than 140 characters long) in lieu of lengthy blog posts and has means to share this information within a specific community or the internet at large. While this can be as simple as status updates on the popular social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, there’s more to it than just that. Micro-blogging sites such as Twitter, Pownce and Plurk take things further and enable users to embed url’s and rich media items (pictures, music, video, etc).
However, just because you have these new capabilities doesn’t mean you’re going to generate SEO gold. You have to know how to author your content properly.
When promoting url’s via micro-blogging, its important to give the link context as concisely as possible without coming across has being spammy. Use these resources to share things that you think others will find useful or entertaining. If you’re promoting a product or service, position the link so that it comes accross as being useful or entertaining to others.
So if you’re going to mention that you really like the content of a particular site, be sure to mention “why” so that your post has context so that Google, Yahoo and the other search engines have something they can sink their crawler’s “teeth” into.
WordPress 2.6 Upgrade Available
July 15, 2008
For all those WordPress users out there, be certain to upgrade to version 2.6 which is out today. WordPress is certainly a favorite blog/cms platform of ours, for its ease of use it matched equally by its search engine optimization friendly design.
Be sure to check out this video about all the new features and improvments as well as upgrade instructions. Remember to backup your existing web files and database BEFORE you upgrade!
Google, Yahoo to Index (some) Flash
July 1, 2008
With the announcement that Adobe was providing optimized Flash Player technolgoy to Google and Yahoo, the SEO community has been a buzz about what this could mean for the industry. Until now, practically all content located within a flash or shockwave file has been invisible to search engines. The news here is that this new technology would enable search engines to read some text elements within flash….but any graphical text would still be invisible to search engines (save for ALT Text descriptions).
Phaseous on Fox Business
June 25, 2008
Phaseous is featured in this article on Fox Business by Nancy Colasurdo. This piece is a great representation of our approach to branding, site building and optimization.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/personal-finance/web-site/
Internet Anonymity
June 23, 2008
During the days of the early Internet (web 1.0 as some refer to it), as soon as folks were able to get online they began searching for and participating in the discussion of special interests (such as playing electric guitar) that mirrored their passions. Due to the limitations of technology of the day (i.e. number of characters, folks with similar names, etc), this Web 1.0 world was full of creative and sometimes auto-generated screenames (like johnny6785). A side effect of these limitations gave birth to the dawn of Internet Anonymity where folks could act as they wished online without much fear of having their true identities revealed.
Fast forward a few years. That small discussion board that a person has been contributing too since 1999 has grown dramatically in both number of visitors and depth of content. On the net, johnny6785 has positioned himself as a guru within the realm of all things electric guitar. The Internet has made it possible for him to connect with folks around the globe and develop his online reputation. One problem though……who exactly is johnny6785?
Phaseous Phact: Since everything we do on the Internet arguably will remain there forever, its important to use your real name (or corporate identity) if you wish to positively participate in the disucssion and develop your online reputation.
Online Reputation Management
June 16, 2008
Data is a funny thing. It’s easy to create, but difficult to destroy. Many successful businesses provide data recovery and forensics services. The fact is that even when we think data has been erased, in most cases the data is still floating around somewhere. In the world of blogs, social networking and the syndication of content, this is even more true. An interesting example of this: Back in the year 2000, I was on a business trip in Chicago. While at dinner with friends, I was casually approached and then interviewed by a reporter saying he was covering the 2000 election. Turns out I was quoted in The New York Times, but I had no idea this happened until summer of 2007 via a google alert for my name. This goes to show that anything you say, even many years after it was first published online, search engines are still indexing and serving up relevant information.
Phaseous Phact: When writing an email or posting content online, don’t write anything you wouldn’t want to appear on the cover of the New York Times.
Content is King
June 9, 2008
People often ask me, “What are the secrets to Search Engine Optimization?” When I inform folks that the technology and techniques to properly optimize content for the web has been around since practically its inception, they are quite surprised. With all of the pomp and circumstance surrounding web site design over the past several years, many designers and programmers have lost sight of what is important. They are too concerned in how something looks (want to make something “great”) and pay no attention to how the public will actually find the site they are building! To put it simply, content is king. Without quality, relevant and timely content, no search engine is ever going to find your site. Through the proper use of META data (meta title, meta keywords and meta description) at the point of document publication, combined with how the actual page copy is authored, make all the difference in the world. Especially so, when it comes to how search engines find, index and ultimately serve up your information.
Phaseous Phact: Write into your marketing plan a strategy for regularly releasing new information, content and updates about your company progress. Keep it fresh..keep it real!
The Truth About Links
June 2, 2008
The more credible sources you cite in making any argument, the more sound your argument will come across. The same can be said for how search engines gage your online reputation. If a search engine considers a particular site an authority on any given topic, (for Google this is called “page rank”) it links to content on your website. Chances are those same search engines will put a higher relevance on the content of your site than your competitors. The old-school belief that any inbound link is a good link is out of date. Search engines have become wise to the many link-farms and link-spammers that have appeared all over the internet in recent years.
Phaseous Phact: Seek out major blog sites and media outlets to provide links to your site, since they are more credible.
Why META Data is Important
May 27, 2008
So you’ve invested a lot of time and money in your website. You’ve got a great looking logo and professional copy. One problem though…..no one knows your website exists! Many of my clients have been in theis scenario at some point, and often the solution is (thankfully) quite simple. Once quick look at the source code of any web page reveals that there is not META data entered. Even worse, the exact same META data exists on every page of the site! Search engines look negatively upon both of these situations since they look to META data for clues as to how to index page content. In the case where there is no META information, the search engine is left to figure out what your page is all about. Without meta titles, keywords, descriptions and header tags showing search engines the way, chances are your content is not going to be indexed well. In the case where there is the same META content throughout the site, search engines look at this as spamming….an act which they look down upon and will ultimately penalize your ranking in search results pages.
Phaseous Phact: Don’t leave indexing up to the search engines. Provide accurate META content each time your website is updated.
Is Social Networking Right For You?
May 19, 2008
With booming sites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed, etc., many of my clients have asked for my help in the social networking space. Many are surprised when I suggest that they shouldn’t do anything at all. Sure, its a very powerful area to participate in, and has far-reaching capabilities. The ability to build online communities and manage them from central locations is truly something marvelous. However, to truly take advantage of the benefits that these sites and services offer, it takes time. More specifically, its not enough to just create a MySpace or Facebook profile and say you’re an active participant in the social networking world. Quite simply, you have to live in it and make it a part of your daily routines in order to see the benefit of that space. Nobody wants to see an abandoned MySpace or Facebook profile. No one is going to follow you on Twitter if you never post. No one is going to subscribe to your RSS feeds if you don’t have anything to say. So before you take that leap into the social networking space, consider for a moment if you’re willing to shift the way you work and communicate.
Phaseous Phact: If you want to dive into social networking, designate one person in your company to monitor the pages daily. This is an ideal task for interns!
