Google Office 2.0
Posted by on August 31, 2006 at 01:49 PM
How do you tap into Microsoft's $12 billion/year Office application revenue stream? If you're Google, give it away for free of course.
Google recently announced the beta release of Google Apps for Domains.
Google Apps for Domains is mainly targeted towards small to mid sized businesses, offering Gmail, Instant Messenger Chat, Shared Calendars, and a simple web page creator application.
What does this mean for businesses? It's Google's way of attempting to convince millions of Microsoft Exchange and Messenger clients to move over to Google's free applications.
Rumor has it that Google also plans on adding Google Spreadsheet and the recently acquired Writely to the overall offerings.
From an IT standpoint, this is a substantial shift in thinking. No servers to house or maintain? No Windows Exchange problems?
From a monetary standpoint, this could be a huge savings for any small to mid sized business. While you can import/export spreadsheets and text documents with these services directly to and from Google's online servers, Google is hoping that the next trend will be online creation of documents.
Naturally, all this comes with controversy. Nothing is truly free after all.
How will Google monetize all these free offerings? Every time you send office documents, Google will prompt you to open documents in Google’s new suite, allowing for collaboration and, presumably, making money from advertising.
And there's the privacy controversy, as with all Google products. Before you sign up, you may want to carefully read the disclosure.
Tags
google apps
google office
Google, Apple & Disney. Oh My!
Posted by on August 30, 2006 at 04:09 PM
I love synergy. The thought of multiple, independent objects or forces coming together to create something greater than their sum is truly an amazing phenomena.
On my daily run, (okay, perhaps "daily" isn't the right word) my weary legs propel me down the road at about 7 miles per hour. Those same legs, when clipped to my recumbent bicycle send me zooming along at 25-28 miles per hour with the greatest of ease. Synergy.
When two things work together, be they simply man and bicycle or some of the largest media/technology corporations in the world, the results can be extraordinary - which is not to say good or bad, just extraordinary.
The recent election of Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, to the board of directors of Apple Computer Inc. creates another tie between the two companies. Arthur D. Levinson, Ph.D. has served as a director on both companies' boards for a number of years.
The potential created by the newly strengthened relationship between a technology-focused company (Apple) and a content-focused company (Google) is as big as it gets in a world where content drives the technology that serves it.
Technology pundits are forecasting an eventual end of the paid music download model, and heralding Schmidt's new post as an iTunes reliant Apple Inc. reaching for some new shtick. Or that the whole thing might be some scheme to show PPC ads to iTunes users.
Prognostications such as those fall short of realizing what such board-room relationships really can signify. Likewise, the term "synergy" seems like an understatement when trying to consider the far reaching effects alliances like these can have.
This is bigger than internet search, and definitely bigger than iPods.
Google, with its immense market share, and unequalled ability to organize and deliver content to internet users compliments handily Apple's reaches into the world of music, and video delivery technology. Throw into the mix Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, and member of The Walt Disney Company's board of directors and right before your eyes the future of online content and media delivery is being penned.
Designer's Block? Try Crop Circles
Posted by on August 29, 2006 at 12:41 PM
As a designer I am often looking around the web for design inspiration. I've always been interested in artists like Andy Goldsworthy and Christo who use natural elements or the landscape in making their art.
Designers are always borrowing their inspiration from one place or another and recently I've come across something I've never considered before.
Crop circles.
To me, many crop circles look like candidates for a unique logo design. The shapes are interesting, work well compositionally and all you need to do is move the circles around a bit, add some gradients, slap your catchy business name on it and voila... you have your own timeless web 2.0 logo.
With that said I've decided to do a little research and find some of my favorite crop circles and give it a shot.
Okay so it needs more TLC to be a classic but you get the point.
Some of my favorite crop circle images:
u-szeged.hu
Wired
Temporary Temples
Even Firefox has gotten in on the whole crop circle trend.
As a designer I'm always looking for assets to put in the toolbox. Feel free to pass this little gem along to your creative team and enjoy your new out-of-this-world logo.
Local Search, You're Upsetting My Wife
Posted by keirsun on August 28, 2006 at 04:08 PM
Today is my wedding anniversary. Don't worry, I planned ahead this year - at this moment there's jewelry hidden in my basement, wrapped and everything.
I just hope my 3 year old hasn't already found it and claimed it for her own.
But it's a good thing I sometimes think ahead and I'll tell you why. I decided to search for an anniversary gift this year using local search. It seemed like the logical search choice since I prefer to buy locally. But that's when things started get ugly.
My problem? Not knowing exactly what I wanted to buy my lovely wife.
My search engine? Google Local (or Maps, whatever you want to call it).
My keywords? Anniversary Gifts
I like to start my searches a bit broad and then get specific when I see something that catches my eye. But in this case, I went blind.
Out of numerous pages of search results, not one listing caught my attention. Obviously, this is when I try a new search phrase. But let's think about this for a moment.
The first 3 pages of local search results for anniversary gifts contained nothing more than florists, golf courses, Sears and a church. All 4 of these make some sense, specifically the florists. But are you telling me that not one of the um-teen thousand retail stores in my area has made an effort to list themselves under the keyword anniversary gifts???!!!
In particular, there's more than a shiny handful of jewelry stores in the area. But not even one of these businesses, which supposedly specialize in helping wild-eyed husbands running home late on anniversary night find a gift, showed up in my search results.
So here's my question: How long is it going to take for local businesses to catch on?
Some, such as those busy florists, have realized that people like me no longer pick up the yellow pages, or have time to window shop. But I still buy gifts, and I want to spend my money locally.
I'm begging local businesses, please start using the advertising channels that are available to every consumer with internet access. Because I don't ever want to see the look on my wife's face when I come home empty-handed on August 28th.
Tags
local search
google local
Mobileity: The Mobile Web Moves Forward
Posted by chip on August 24, 2006 at 11:12 AM
Well it has been a few months since my last update on the world of the mobile web. With this market moving as fast as it is, there have been several interesting developments in that time. So I figured it's about time I revisit this topic to give a little credit to all those interesting and innovative ideas that are helping to move us closer to a world without wires.
Webaroo Improves:
Now if you read my last update you are well aware of what Webaroo is and that I personally, am a big fan of the concept of being able to have a searchable web even when your offline. If you are not familiar with Webaroo, feel free to read that post real quick.
Now that we are all either caught up, or don't care to get caught up, Webaroo has released an improved version of their program recently. The improvements include support of multimedia attachments, new browsing buttons for easy navigation, and increased controls that include the ability to manage file sizes as well as the maximum amount of disk space allocated to the program including alerts when you are approaching the preset limit. You can find all the details at Webaroo's official site.
Opera Mobile:
Opera, arguably the best browser available; and defiantly the best out-of-the-box browser, (once Firefox is tweaked properly it certainly puts up a good fight) has recently announced the release of a few different mobile versions of their browser. These include Opera Mobile for the Pocket PC, Opera Mini for cell phones and an Opera for Nintendo DS that is scheduled for release this fall. As more and more devices gain mobile abilities, Opera will ensure your mobile browsing experience is the best it can be.
The Mobile Campus:
While there are several things that campuses all over the country, and the world for that matter, are doing to provide Wi-Fi access to students, Dartmouth has to be the frontrunner in innovation.
For a 200 year old Ivy League university, Dartmouth is on the cutting edge when it comes to offering Wi-Fi services to students. In 2001 they were one of the first universities to implement a campus-wide wireless network, and now they are continuing the tradition of early adoption by upgrading their system to allow students access to video, TV programming and VoIP phone service with unlimited long distance; all of which are covered by their room and board fees.
Windows Live Wi-Fi Rumors:
It has been reported in BetaNews that Microsoft is inviting testers to help them with the creation of Windows Live Connection Center Wi-Fi.
This service is said to be two-fold. The first part is an application that will automatically locate and connect to local hotspots including an integrated database which maps out locations for users. The second is a searchable interface that allows a user to search by city, state or zip code to locate Wi-Fi locations wherever they may be. This one makes me wonder why Google hasn’t built something like this into their Maps or Earth utilities.
While I realize there are several more things happening in the world of the mobile web all the time, these are just a few that have been on my mind this morning. If you feel I have not included something of significance, feel free to add to the conversation by posting a comment.
Tags
mobile search
mobile marketing
mobile technology
Google Coupons - No Sunday Paper Required
Posted by on August 23, 2006 at 12:31 PM
You no longer have to wait for the mail or newspaper to arrive at your doorstep to receive the latest promotional offerings by local businesses in your area. With Google Maps (also known as Google Local), these offerings are closer than you think.
In an August 15th press release, Google announced that it has partnered with the direct marketing powerhouse, ValPak, to offer print-at-home coupons for business listings found on Google Maps, also increasing the reach for ValPak's current print-at-home coupon sponsors.
So how does it work and what's in it for Google?
I decided to perform my own test on Google Maps, in search of listings that featured coupons.
Search term: Junk Removal
On the second page of results I located a well respected company, 1-800-Got-Junk? Underneath the general contact and location information is a link for Coupons. I immediately clicked on the link and was taken to a separate page titled, Google Coupons. There it was, a printer friendly page containing 1-800-Got-Junk's contact information, a map for their Jacksonville location and a coupon for $10 off the next time you book a service.
What's in it for Google?
Currently, there are no plans for Google to charge for this service. Google hopes to generate enough interest with a company that it encourages them to jump on board with search advertising.
My overall experience and what it means for businesses?
With a quick search and a few clicks of my mouse, I was able to locate a business providing the service I was interested in, along with an incentive to try them out. As the popularity of Google Maps increases and the word spreads, I believe we will see more businesses showing up in the listings with coupons.
Internet savvy business owners and entrepreneurs alike, looking for a dynamic way to reach their audience could benefit from adding their business to the free listings on Google Maps. Did I mention the service is free, and adding a printable coupon to your listing is free?
Sounds like a no-brainer to me - especially coming into the 4th quarter, when consumers are looking for a location to obtain that hard-to-find Christmas gift for Uncle Ned. Maybe adding the coupon will be enough of an incentive to bring them in your door. And hey, it's free!
Tags
google coupons
online coupons
google maps
valpak
Online Resources with a Human Touch
Posted by anne on August 22, 2006 at 02:55 PM
In today's world, most companies have a department to handle personnel issues within the business. Referred to as Human Resources or, in its infancy, the personnel department, HR has evolved from an informal paper pushing function of the organization to a more formalized and informational tool/resource for both employer and employees.
To be an effective HR professional in today's market, it's imperative to be familiar with both federal and state laws. That means having the right information at your fingertips in a matter of minutes or at times, seconds.
I thought it might be helpful to cite some of my favorite resources that have been helpful to me as an HR professional.
Employment Laws
The Department of Labor does its best in providing information to employers regarding a variety of employment laws. Covering everything from the Fair Labor Standards Act to HIPAA, the DOL website is a most resourceful tool for many human resource professionals.
HR Management
The Society for Human Resource Management is one of the world's largest associations devoted to human resource management. With a minimal membership fee, the SHRM serves the needs of HR professionals by providing the most essential and comprehensive resources available. They offer "Live Help" online, which connects you directly to a SHRM Information Specialist for direct assistance with human resource-related questions.
Job Banks
With Michigan facing a number of job losses this year, unemployed workers can post resumes at the Michigan Talent Bank. Jobseekers can also search more than 15,000 new job openings monthly and post resumes for more than 40,000 employers to find. Employers can sign up to search more than 600,000 resumes and post job openings. Best of all, it's free for all users.
Background Checks
For employers who want formal and accurate background checks for new recruits, there are a number of reputable companies out there. From my own experience, ChoicePoint helps HR professionals make smarter decisions in a world challenged by increased risks.
Wellness Programs
Many companies today provide an employee wellness program. At a past workplace, I invited a Weight Watchers representative in once a week to help employees build a healthy lifestyle along with lunchtime yoga sessions. Employees and employers can visit Weight Watchers for workplace wellness program ideas.
Health Plans
To continue on the healthier path, employees can find facilities and doctors participating in their health plans by visiting their providers' websites. Knowing the type of health plan offered by your employer (PPO, HMO, etc.) makes it easier to find a wealth of information about your health, dental and vision plans.
Common health plan providers include BlueCross BlueShield, PriorityHealth, VSP, and Delta Dental.
If you are part of a company that has an HR professional either on or off site, ask about the online resources available and applicable to you. These tools allow you to gather information in a moment's notice and make decisions that are right for you. It's that simple.
Google Sub-Links?
Posted by drew on August 21, 2006 at 10:30 AM
Snippets, if you will. Google has been testing these additional site link snippets for about a year, in fact, almost exactly a year. In that time, many webmasters have questioned what the requirements are to get these link snippets on their #1 Google listing.
Even when M. Cutts reported on his blog about them, a conspiracy theory ramble started about how to get these nifty elements added.
Is it only for large sites? What about heavily trafficked sites? Both of these theories were proven wrong through other tests.
What about PageRank numbers? Nope, try again.
There was even a theory about using Google Toolbar data, which Matt kinda shot down, but did say they wouldn't rule out the use of it in the future.
Matt did say in his original blog post that it was purely algorithmic. "The algorithms pick the sites where this could be helpful," Matt stated. This immediately made me think of the "I'm Feeling Lucky" principle. That being, if Google thinks you are trying to find a specific site, they'll give you the snippets to navigate into the site immediately without having to go in through the homepage. It makes complete sense for Google to do this, as they've always been on a mission of improving their user's experience.
The SEW Blog provides a few rules, one being:
"...snippet links are displayed for the top result for a 'brand' search or 'domain' search. (For example, 'zappos' and 'zappos shoes')"
I'm not completely convinced that this rule is true from the results I received. Some of my own testing with very specific brand and domain searches yielded the result I wanted at the top, but I wasn't given any link snippets.
I have to believe Google is still working the bugs out of this one, as after a year of positive feedback from the internet community they still haven't implemented it on every first place search result. We have to simply be patient with Google as always and they'll give us what we want.
Tags
google link snippets
google sub-links
Random Rants - Wikipedia Woes & Matt Cutts Videos
Posted by on August 18, 2006 at 01:30 PM
Wikipedia Copy Woes
A few weeks ago, I was doing research on the term "Semantic Web" and came across this Wikipedia Definition.
What caught my eye immediately was this block of text that appeared above the entry:
"This article or section seems not to be written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia entry.
Please improve the article or discuss proposed changes on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions."
What are they trying to say - that it doesn't sound completely affected and full of academic jargon? Although I do respect how resourceful Wikipedia is, the editors have forgotten an important point in that online copywriting is a far different beast than copywriting for some venerable academic tome.
I'm not saying that Wikipedia entries should turn into subjective essays full of personal opinions, slang, or God forbid, run-on sentences. But couldn't they at least be a little bit more engaging?
Maybe I'm playing with fire here suggesting that Wikipedia entries need to lighten up a bit. But I completely disagree that they should have to be written in a "formal tone".
I instead recommend that we listen to the wise words of Nick Usborne when he asks why on earth we continue to focus on "bringing an 'ATM' style to the most interactive, vibrant, networked, warm and essentially human communications space imaginable."
Here's another interesting link I found on Wikipedia: Wikipedia Articles Needing Style Editing. Who decides which articles get relegated to this sorry category? A bot? I wonder.....
New Video Posts from Matt Cutts
Am I the only person who is less than thrilled that Matt Cutts is now answering juicy SEO questions via video? Well, I have a good reason. I wear a hearing aid, and his videos are definitely not closed captioned.
I find it ironic that a representative of Google, with its mission to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful", would present data in a video-only format.
It's a usability nightmare for a variety of reasons, from the fact that most professionals can't disturb their coworkers by playing noisy videos at their desks to the fact that it's hard to go back and re-read or reference a favorite excerpt to the fact that, oh yeah, I can't even hear him in the first place. (Was that a run-on sentence?)
Disclaimer: I think Matt Cutts' blog is a valuable resource, and one that the SEO community is very grateful for. I just wish I could hear what he was saying.
Tags
wikipedia
matt cutts
Growing Up Google
Posted by dave on August 17, 2006 at 03:32 PM
Whether made as a conscious decision, or instituted through a forcible takeover, it happens to all of us. At some point we stop being carefree children and start to become responsible, bill paying, 401k investing adults.
After this change occurs, nothing is ever the same. Now, instead of worrying about being home for dinner you worry about insurance rates, mortgages and retirement plans. It's amazing how things change.
To help prevent the "generification" of its brand name, Google recently sent out a series of legal letters to media organizations, asking them not to use the company name as a verb.
While reading about these letters, I realized that Google is going through that same life change.
No longer the carefree teenager it once was, Google is now a parent with bills and stockholders it needs to look out and provide for. And although Google may not be ready to admit it, from its seemingly unending AdSense network to Google Checkout, Google is no longer just a search engine focused on providing you with the best results. It is a business.
No longer without responsibilities, no longer carefree, no longer the "cool kid". Welcome to adulthood Google.
Tags
google
google letters
AOL Search Logs Reveal the Importance of Copywriting
Posted by steve on August 16, 2006 at 11:46 AM
By now, many of you have heard about AOL's mistake of releasing three months worth of search logs to the public last week. The logs were posted on a research site for a short period of time, allowing visitors to inspect the data and help build a better understanding of how users search the web.
After an outbreak of blog posts publicized the release, the AOL search log, containing over 30 million search queries of more than 650,000 users, was taken down.
But it was too late. Mirror sites were already up and running and privacy advocates were up in arms.
One site, titled AOL Stalker, was even created to specifically allow users to browse through the AOL search log breach and examine user search data. As you can probably imagine, there's some pretty funny stuff, and some stuff that's not so funny. Let's just say I wouldn't recommend making the site perusal a father-daughter activity.
The site also breaks down some interesting search data, which is where I want to focus.
This search data shows a basic click distribution analysis of the more than 30 million searches released from AOL. Some of the data isn't surprising, such as the fact that the site with the number one position generated far more traffic than any other result, or that not being on the first page of results dramatically lowers your traffic.
What was interesting, however, was the percentage of searches that didn't generate any clicks at all.
According to the analysis data, nearly 50% of all AOL searches (46.6% to be precise) failed to provide traffic to any website.
What does this mean? It means that users weren't presented with relevant search results.
Even more surprising is, according to the data, nearly half of the 16.9 million searchers that failed to click, kept searching by following the "next page" link. That means these searchers even made an effort to keep looking but weren't enticed enough to click on what they saw.
While this isn't a mind-boggling discovery, it does provide hard evidence that there is a significant need to not only attain high rankings in the search engine results, but to also attract potential customers with appealing copy when they get there. After all, what's the point if you're just going to get "nexted".
Tags
aol
aol search logs
World Changing Websites
Posted by on August 15, 2006 at 04:35 PM
A couple days ago, The Observer (A daily newspaper from the UK),
released an article describing the 15 websites that they feel have
changed life the most significantly in the 15 years since the invention of the web.
As one can expect, the big three are there as always:
Google, Ebay and Amazon.
When two of these three have largely made the transition into true verbs, who can effectively argue the range of their influence.
Also appearing in the list are a few of the "user generated content" portals: MySpace, Blogger, YouTube and Wikipedia.
I'd like to join in the chorus of congratulations for anyone who made that list.
Now, if your website wasn't selected for this year's list, don't give up hope. Popularity is indeed a fickle master, and can change favorites with little or no warning.
In the meantime, there are a number of steps that you can take to help raise awareness of your products or services. A respectable SEO firm can help channel more potential clients to your digital front door. Alternatively, a series of podcasts could also help to help to introduce clients via an entirely new channel.
Tags
Google
Ebay
Amazon
MySpace
Blogger
YouTube
Wikipedia
Search Engine Optimism
Posted by Christopher on August 11, 2006 at 10:18 AM
I’m dating myself (I might as well—no one else will. HA HA HA!), but do any of you remember the time in which the Internet was borderline magical? When luminaries no less brilliant than Timothy Leary would get up on stages and predict a world in which he and a friend from Singapore could play tennis in real time without leaving their living rooms, all via the magic of the Internet and virtual reality? (I saw that on “Peace Day‎ at Michigan State; I was like, “dude, tennis?‎) The dewy days of the mid to late 80s in which if you even knew someone who had a dial-up, had access, you were practically a spaceman?
In my work I occasionally am provided a glimpse into a world that most of us have chewed up, spat out, chewed up again, then spat over the side of a fifteen-story parking ramp. Then run over on the way out. The idea that the Internet is a place of magic, that computers and search engines are the stuff of wizards, demons, unicorns, and Tron. And all I can say is “awwwwwwwwwww!‎ And I want to tousle peoples’ hair. And my burnt-black popcorn kernel of a heart grows three sizes.
Recently while doing keyword research for one of our clients, I generated a list of terms that people have plugged into search engines. Near the bottom of the list were a few phrases that had been used, surprisingly, more than once (admittedly, maybe by the same person) that made me go all Care Bear inside. I’d like to share them with you (industry-related and thus potentially client-confidentiality-ruffling identifying terms replaced by Smurf language):
“Where do I [Smurf Smurfy Smurf] in Ottawa County, Michigan?‎
“I need help [avoiding Papa Smurf and his incessant slavedriving] by five o’clock on Tuesday.‎
“Please help me find a [pretty Smurfette dress and matching Smurfette shoes; indeed, an entire Smurfette ensemble] before next week.‎
Holy Smurf!
So, I guess what I’m saying is that, even in our jaded, rarified world, a world in which if we don’t get what we want on the first search, and if the time required to wait for the results of that first search is longer than five seconds, we’re liable to throw our computers into the street, there are still people out there for whom the Internet is a thing of magic, to be spoken to humbly, as though it’s a reference desk librarian. There are still people out there today who ask the Great and Powerful Internet for help, as though it’s a bush-league Wizard of Oz.
Awwww, you little cuties!
Tags
search engines
keywords
Surfing with Mom
Posted by on August 10, 2006 at 04:21 PM
I’m not an average web surfer. As a designer, I spend enough time sifting through sites and analyzing design to realize that I have evolved. It’s a reality that became painfully obvious last night as I sat and watched my Mom searching on the web.
There’s nothing better than surfing with Mom in order to get back in touch with the every-day web user. I think anyone involved in usability should do it at least once in their career. Mom was going widget hunting and I was fortunate enough to observe.
IE 6 opened in no time (forget Firefox) and we were off. First stop, Google.
When I search my results pages, I usually scan both the titles and URLs. My Mom went straight for the Google AdWords. Unfortunately, the link wasn’t what she was looking for so she typed google.com into the browser’s address bar and tried the same search again.
This happened repeatedly until she’d visited all the ads on the first results page, never visiting a single "real" search result. She then typed google.com into the address bar one last time before performing a search for amazon.com.
Upon arriving at Amazon, she moused over the top navigation, scrolled down the home page and clicked an arbitrary link on the left. The link was entirely unrelated and when asked why she clicked it, she said she had given up. After a couple more minutes of scanning text, she slid the mouse and keyboard over to me and said, "You drive."
Lessons learned:
- Web users evolve at different speeds
- It’s always worthwhile spending time with Mom
A Borat Premier & Searching for Borat
Posted by duncan on August 09, 2006 at 07:59 AM
"I have never heard you laugh that hard before," my wife of seven years said to me as we left a Traverse City Film Festival showing of the film Borat last Sunday, August 6, 2006 at two o'clock in the morning.
She was right, and I couldn't remember laughing that hard either. At one point during the film I was laughing so hard I literally couldn't relax my torso enough to get my behind back down into my seat. I was holding on to the arms of my theatre chair for dear life as every piece of me spasmed with laughter. Even through the pain I couldn't look away. I wasn't alone. It seemed the whole audience felt the same way. Did I mention Borat is a funny film?
I am always looking for tie-ins between my social life and my work life as Director of Client Services at an online marketing firm. In this case I wanted to jump on my bicycle to get right home and hit the search engines to see what people are saying about Borat.
In only its second year the Traverse City Film Festival has become a great success. While dozens of films were shown this year, likely none will be remembered like Borat. The full name of the movie is Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. One of the reasons Borat had such a big impact in Traverse City (TC), is that the film has not been officially released yet. In fact its official premier isn't until next month in Toronto. The national release may not be until November. The film is also a bit controversial because of the comic nature of Sacha Baron Cohen the film's star. Cohen plays a character named Borat Sagdiyev. Borat is a journalist from Kazakhstan. He leaves his home country to travel to the United States to do a series of reports to help the people of Kazakhstan understand American life. Along the way he unwittingly offends just about everyone. Much of the laughter from the audience in TC may have been due to the shock people felt from the zany things the character did during the film.
When I went to the search engines to find out more about the film there wasn't much to be had. A few sites mentioned that they now have the trailer available for viewing. A couple of articles surfaced that mention the film playing at the TC Film Fest. I wasn't able to find much about any of the rumored controversies that buzzed amongst the festival goers last week. There were no reviews that I could find. This is probably because barely anyone has seen the film.
I even went to Google Kazakhstan. Yes, Google Kazakhstan at Google.kz. I typed in Borat and looked for pages only from Kazakhstan. I did find a few negative comments in the pages I could read in English. I didn't spend time with the non-english pages. Overall not much out there.
How exciting. To be part of a cultural phenomenon before it becomes a phenomenon. I realized that by writing this blog, I would likely get hundreds if not thousands or tens of thousands of readers directly from search engine results pages. Count yourself among them now. There are several reasons this page appears well in the search results for the keyword Borat (at least for now). I don't want to go into detail here about how search engine optimization works, just point out that is does work. This blog also exemplifies the power that blogs can have on influencing public opinion in the information age.
On my bike ride home from Borat I wondered what people were saying online about the movie. Little did I know then that my own curiosity and initiative would make me a big part of that process. Remember folks, if you want to drive traffic to your website from the search engines, you need to provide relevant content that the search engines can find and index. You need to talk about something that people are searching for. And it certainly helps if you're one of the first ones to start the buzz.
Who are You? Yahoo! Mail and Search Engine Results
Posted by teal on August 08, 2006 at 03:49 PM
"Personalization" on the web is becoming very popular. Sites like MySpace and Yahoo! seem to go to great lengths to allow users to create their own "identities" online - both intellectually and physically. Even MSN allows the user to change the background color of the homepage, thus creating their very own "personalized" search medium.
Because it is ever-so-interesting to see how I am allowed to represent myself online and how I perceive myself (given the limitations of my choices) I decided to see how I look in Yahoo!'s eyes. With Yahoo! Mail a user can create a physical icon of oneself which is displayed when they open their email. Until you choose the physical aspects of yourself you simply get a gray window with an outline of a person with hair that looks like Albert Einstein’s.
When I entered Victor Frankenstein’s laboratory, aka, Yahoo!’s face, hair, skin color, eye color, etc. choice bank, I honestly felt a little limited. But then again, how could I expect them to provide me with choices like, dishwater blonde hair or blue-ish gray eyes? Even with my limitations, I began my creation - let’s see, blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin, well, I like this outfit, it really represents my personal style, and this background really shows who I am.
Voila! It’s me!
Because of my investigation, when I check my Yahoo! email at home, I can see "Teal" staring back at me, even blinking occasionally. She has blue eyes and short blonde hair - she looks just like me.
This whole idea of online representation got me to thinking about the choices we are given online and what they and their limitations represent. Overcoming the limitations of the internet - search results, specifically - is what my job is all about. Working in search engine optimization, we are always looking at ways for our clients to avoid being constrained by the limitations of the search engines.
Idealistically, the central goal of a search engine is to provide the user with a thorough set of choices based on the user's query - but this isn’t always the case. In SEO, we try to locate these tendencies and work with them so that our clients will be successful on the internet. In combination with other SEO strategies, we are working to help the search engines recognize relevant websites to return in search results.
So until the perfection of search engines is complete, we are going to have to make due with our somewhat limited choices. However, unlike the limited options available to build the blonde hair, blue eyed cartoon character adorning my Yahoo! Mail, users have more than a few choices and can always refine their query to enhance the choices they are presented with.
Tags:
Yahoo!
MySpace
search engine results
personal web identity
Straight Up Site of Interest - Podcast Production & Tracking
Posted by keirsun on August 07, 2006 at 04:19 PM
It's time once again for our Straight Up Site of Interest. This monthly post focuses on forward-thinking internet technologies and the websites that preface them. After sharing the view, you'll have another answer to this very important question: "How can I market my website?"
This month's topic: Podcast Production and Tracking
We're doing something today that we haven't done yet with this monthly posting - tooting our own horn.
Straight Up Site of Interest: PodGarden
In our Own Words: "Oneupweb’s podcast services can design, produce, optimize, host and track your online production."
First Impression: Stroll the paths of our PodGarden to become familiar with the basics of podcasting and Oneupweb's podcast services.
Key services include:
- Podcast Production - From copy writing and cover art to the final studio mix, Oneupweb takes a professional, full-service approach to producing podcasts.
- Podcast Optimization - Similar to website optimization, the same principles apply to optimizing podcasts. After all, what good is a podcast that no one listens to?
- Podcast Tracking Services - keep track of how many downloads and
subscribers your podcast has, and see where they came from - a first for the industry
Why is it time to start thinking about podcasting?
In a July 2006 report, Nielsen//NetRatings reported that over 9 million people had recently downloaded an audio podcast, and more than 5 million people recently downloaded a video podcast.
Analysts predict the podcast audience to grow to 50 million in 2010. I have a feeling that number will be larger. And why shouldn't it? We're talking about on-demand audio and video content - the consumer chooses what, when and where they listen to/watch.
And with the "#1 music download store" adding podcasts into its main menu, iTunes has clearly recognized the growing demand for the medium. Have you?
Don't forget to read about July's Straight Up Site of Interest for Online Yellow Pages.
Tags
podcasting
podcast tracking
podcast optimization
A Coalition of the Unwilling
Posted by tim on August 03, 2006 at 04:18 PM
There’s been recent news about Google, Yahoo!, and MSN joining a coalition that also includes the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) and the Media Rating Council in order to standardize the definitions of click fraud.
At first read, this seems like big and welcome news in the search marketing industry. And it is. It’s about time anyway.
Google and Yahoo! especially have known that click fraud has long been one of the major concerns for anyone who’s dabbled in pay-per-click for any significant time or with any real money. The fraud has been around almost as long at PPC itself (younger only by as long as it took for the first fraudster to over-click a competitor’s ad).
I’ll reserve final judgment until we see the definitions and other results that come from this new group. I just can’t help thinking though, that this is the result of legal actions against the engines and now they want to ‘repaint’ a rosy picture. Google’s recent class-action suit was just made final by the judge and Yahoo! has cases still pending. The only one who can claim innocence from reactionary tactics is MSN, but they’ve learned by watching.
I hope that having parties independent from the engines involved as well helps make this a very worthwhile endeavor, but only time will tell.
Build and protect your corporate image(s) online
Posted by on August 02, 2006 at 03:49 PM
If I were to start talking about optimizing content, most of our readers immediately conjure up visions of text … words, words, words. Generally, what we don’t think about are visions of images. Pictures, pictures, pictures. And we should. I checked on a number of big brands to see what Google thinks is a relevant image. I got a lot of logos, which is appropriate. Then I checked a number of medium sized brands and the story didn’t have the same happy ending. But who cares about other companies …
Right now, search Google Images for your company name. How many pages before you get a version of your logo? First page? Second? Too many to count? How about the names of your executives? Names of your products or services packages? Are there any unflattering images being associated with your brands … or are your competitors’ images coming up ahead of yours?
Of course content is king, but don’t let your images make your organization look like jesters. And you can’t stop at optimizing the images appearing on your website. Review other resources as well:
- Photos journalists use in articles covering your company
- Bylined articles where authors’ photos are featured
- Images, photos and graphics distributed with press releases
- Exhibitor profiles on event sites
- Speaker profiles
- Logos on directories or industry association sites
- Podcast icons [cover art]
- About.com or Wikipedia images
- Blogs
- Newsletters
- Analyst reports on your company
Keep in mind that an out-of-date photo is better than no photo at all. What if you find an image that is irrelevant, off strategy or downright derogatory … Proctor & Gamble’s first-page images include one of Pinocchio with a longer-than-normal nose and the title, “Liar, Liar, Proctor & Gamble on Fire.‎ That image is probably not listed under the marketing team’s successes. It’s from July 15, 2005. A year ago. Hmmm. On their site’s press room there are dozens of images. And some very nice exec portraits—a great one of the global marketing director. More relevant than Pinocchio? I checked 15 pages of Google images to see if any came from www.pg.com and didn’t find any. The good news is that on page four of the search engine image results, the photo of their headquarters appears (as pictured on Wikipedia). It’s from their corporate image library. I think they have some image optimization to do.
But again, who cares about other companies! Get crackin’ on optimizing your images.