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joi, 10 martie 2011

Commander-in-Cute

Your Daily Snapshot for
Thursday, March 10, 2011

Photo of the Day

President Barack Obama greets William Jawando, Deputy Associate Director of Public Engagement, his wife Michele and their four-month-old daughter Alia in the Oval Office, March 9, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

SEOptimise

Product URLs – a Duplicate Content Minefield

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 06:57 AM PST

Over the past few months I have been conducting lots of SEO Audits for a vast range of clients of all sizes. One thing that always seems to come out of the audit as a significant action is to look at the URL structure and duplicate content, with a special note for the product URL.

I find it extremely frustrating that with today's technology and the skill set of most developers, CMS Platforms still generate multiple URLs for products associated with several categories. This instantly generates duplicate content for a single product, and if this is replicated across hundreds if not thousands of products, a serious duplicate content issue occurs.

To give you an example of what happens with some CMS Platforms (all CMS platforms are different), I have described a scenario below that is from the point of view of both a merchandiser and platform.

Merchandiser: a leading retailer has a new product that needs adding to the CMS.

CMS Platform: generate a generic URL that incorporates the product title and the SKU:

www.domain.com/product/product-title-plus-sku-number-011232

Merchandiser: the product that was added is a waterproof jacket; this fits into three categories, which were selected from the options available.

CMS Platform: generate three new URLs, BUT they are SEO friendly with keywords included.

www.domain.com/category/sub-category-1/product-title-plus-sku-number-011232

www.domain.com/category/sub-category-2/product-title-plus-sku-number-011232

www.domain.com/category/sub-category-3/product-title-plus-sku-number-011232

Merchandiser: the product is added to the correct brand

CMS Platform: another URL is created for the brand product.

www.domain.com/brand/product-title-plus-sku-011232

THREE MONTHS LATER: the winter season comes to an end, so the close of season sale is on.

Merchandiser: the product didn't sell very well and was added to the sale.

CMS Platform: a new URL is created for the product that is now associated with the sale category.

www.domain.com/sale/product-title-plus-sku-number-011232

The scenario above describes adding the product to three different core categories, a brand and sale category, resulting in the creation of five different URLs to go with the generic product URL.

Now what is the issue with that, when they are keyword rich?

One of the biggest, if not THE biggest issue with e-commerce sites is the amount of duplicate content that is created, the majority by products and product listings. The above shows a perfect example of how duplicates are being created by multiple product URLs through CMS Platforms.

So how do you solve this issue? There are a couple of ways, depending on how far you are along with the CMS and how co-operative your web development team are.

1. When adding a product to the CMS, make sure that the platform creates just ONE generic URL (www.domain.com/product/product-title-plus-sku-number-011232 ) that can then be associated with multiple categories, brands, sale page etc. This will allow the merchandiser to select multiple categories to associate the product with, which will link through to the same URL. By ensuring the use of just one URL, the amount of duplicate content would be significantly decreased.

There are numerous large brands that are already using this method to good effect, although in slightly different ways, including:

John Lewis
http://www.johnlewis.com/27573/Style.aspx
http://www.johnlewis.com/173405/Style.aspx

Amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0470554185
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-KDL32BX300-32-inch-Widescreen-Freeview/dp/B004AHKUJA/

2. If your web development team are unable to change the way the URLs are generated, speak to them about automatically creating a rel="canonical" tag for each product with the generic URL added. This will provide the search engine with the generic URL to index instead of the other multiple URLs

3. If you are unable to implement either of the above recommendations, then I would suggest 301 redirecting the multiple URLs to the original generic URL. Before going ahead with this option, I would strongly urge you to try everything you can to get your web development team to implement either of the first two options. Option 3 will take up a considerable amount of time, with collating the different URLs for each product and then 301 redirecting them.

How does your current CMS generate product URLs? Is your web development team co-operative when you suggest SEO enhancements, or do your requests go unanswered? As a web developer, are you looking to improve the product from an SEO perspective? I look forward to hearing your views, not just from SEOs and Online Marketers, but also from web developers in the comments below or on Twitter – @danielbianchini.

Working Together to Keep Our Kids Safe

Good morning,

As a mother, it breaks my heart to think of any child feeling alone or afraid in their classrooms, on the playground or even online. But every year, nearly one third of school-aged children -- upwards of 13 million students -- are bullied.

Bullying in our schools and communities isn't a rite of passage or part of growing up. It's unacceptable.

Today, the President and I are attending a White House Conference on Bullying Prevention to talk about how we can work together to make our schools and communities safe for all of our children.

You can watch the Conference live online, participate in special online discussions throughout the day, and watch a special video message from Barack and me:

Every child deserves a chance to grow up happy, healthy and safe. Kids who are bullied are more likely to have challenges in school, abuse drugs or alcohol, or have health and mental health problems. As adults, it's up to us to send a message that bullying of any kind for any reason isn't OK.

Parents, teachers, coaches, faith leaders, elected officials, and anyone else involved in our children's lives have a responsibility to set a good example through our own behavior and to take action when we see bullying in our communities.

That's what today's Conference on Bullying Prevention is all about – working together to find solutions to keep all of our children safe. I hope you'll take some time today to tune in and join the conversation:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/Bullying-Prevention

Sincerely,

Michelle Obama
First Lady of the United States

P.S. To learn more about what you can do in your community to prevent bullying, visit StopBullying.gov.

This email was sent to e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com.
Unsubscribe e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com | Privacy Policy
Please do not reply to this email. Contact the White House

The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 • 202-456-1111

Seth's Blog : Assuming goodwill

Assuming goodwill

Productivity comes from interactivity and the exchange of ideas and talents.

People are happiest when they're encouraged and trusted.

An airport functions far better when we don't strip search passengers. Tiffany's may post guards at the door, but the salespeople are happy to let you hold priceless jewels. Art museums let you stand close enough to paintings to see them. Restaurants don't charge you until after you eat.

Compare this environment of trust with the world that Paypal has to live in. Every day, thousands of mobsters in various parts of the world sit down intent on scamming the company out of millions of dollars. If the site makes one mistake, permits just one security hole to linger, they're going to be taken for a fortune. As a result, the company isn't just paranoid--they know that people really are out to get them.

This is the fork in the road that just about all of us face, whether as individuals or organizations. We have to make an assumption about whether people are going to steal our ideas, break their promises, void their contracts and steal from us, or perhaps, that people are basically honest, trustworthy and generous. It's very hard to have both postures simultaneously. I have no idea how those pistol-packing guys in the movies ever get a good night's sleep.

In just about every industry (except electronic money transfer, apparently), assuming goodwill is not only more productive, it's also likely to be an accurate forecast.

Trust pays.

• Email to a friend •

•

miercuri, 9 martie 2011

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Tremendous News: Wisconsin Senate Passes Collective Bargaining Bill with Democrats in Hiatus in IL; Significant Step Towards Abolishing Slavery Taken
Five Years of Housing Supply and 5 or 6 Trillion Dollars of Additional Pain
Ceridian Index Positive 15th Month, but Slowing, Suggesting "Tepid Growth"
Bloodstained Property Map and Trampled Rights; China's Population: 1.3 Billion; Construction Underway: 43 Billion Square Feet

Tremendous News: Wisconsin Senate Passes Collective Bargaining Bill with Democrats in Hiatus in IL; Significant Step Towards Abolishing Slavery Taken

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 06:16 PM PST

Just moments ago came excellent news from the state of Wisconsin. Republicans passed a law greatly restricting collective bargaining of public unions.

In a legislative maneuver to outflank Democrats cowardly hiding in Illinois, Republicans stripped the legislation of all budgetary items. As a result, a quorum of senate members need not be present to vote and the bill sailed through.

CNN Politics has the full story and a video in Wisconsin Senate passes union limits despite Democratic walkout

Wisconsin's Republican-led state Senate passed Gov. Scott Walker's proposed restrictions on collective bargaining for public employees Wednesday, getting around a Democratic walkout by stripping financial provisions from the bill.

"Tonight, the Senate will be passing the items in the Budget Repair Bill that we can with the 19 members who actually do show up and do their jobs," Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, the chamber's Republican majority leader, said in a statement announcing the move.

The Senate's 14 Democrats had fled to Illinois to prevent the chamber from attaining a quorum and passing the collective bargaining measures, which they have called an unnecessary attack on the rights of public employees. Republicans were able to move ahead by voting only on the non-financial aspects of Walker's proposed bill, which requires fewer members for a quorum.

"The Senate Democrats have had three weeks to debate this bill and were offered repeated opportunities to come home, which they refused," Walker said in a statement on the vote. "In order to move the state forward, I applaud the Legislature's action today to stand up to the status quo and take a step in the right direction to balance the budget and reform government."

Sen. Mark Miller, the Democratic Senate leader, said Republicans "conspired to take government away from the people."

"In thirty minutes, 18 state senators undid 50 years of civil rights in Wisconsin," Miller said in a statement condemning the vote. "Their disrespect for the people of Wisconsin and their rights is an outrage that will never be forgotten."

Major Step Taken to Abolish Union Slavery

I commend governor Walker, the Wisconsin senate, and everyone brave enough to tell public unions to "go to hell"

Indeed it takes bravery because of coercion, thuggery, vote buying, and extortion by public unions. Regardless of Walker's motivation, abolition of slavery is always and everywhere a tremendous idea.

In case you do not understand how votes for collective bargaining is a vote for slavery, please read Paul Krugman, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher, others, Ignore Extortion, Bribery, Coercion, and Slavery; No One Should Own You!

Congratulations to Governor Walker, the state of Wisconsin, and to all the partially freed slaves for this major step in the right direction. More work remains.

Please send this link to Stephen Colbert and Bill Maher because both are hopelessly ignorant as to what this bill is really about.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Five Years of Housing Supply and 5 or 6 Trillion Dollars of Additional Pain

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 04:16 PM PST

In a Bloomberg Interview on Housing, Michael Feder, chief executive officer of Radar Logic Inc. says there may be as much as 5 years' worth of housing supply.

Feder, speaking with Matt Miller and Carol Massar on Bloomberg Television's "Street Smart," also discusses the Obama administration's efforts to prevent foreclosures and plans to overhaul Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

If the inline video below does not play, please clock on the above link.

Select Feder Quotes:

"We are terribly concerned with what is ultimately the pain hast to be taken. The number could approach aggregate mortgages 5 or 6 trillion dollars. The question is how much of that is overhang and how much of it has to be written off."

"NAR says based on inventory and absorption rates we have little over 8 months supply. The reality which you add up all the houses for sale, houses vacant not yet on the market, houses underwater, seriously delinquent, in foreclosure, almost in foreclosure, the number is closer to 60 months, 5 years"

"Who is going to absorb the foreclosed homes?"

I agree with Feder's analysis, and that is why I have stated that even if home prices have bottomed in some areas they are not going to shoot up anytime soon. There is no need to rush into buying a house in my opinion.

It's an excellent video. Please play it.

Addendum:

This is a dated video
The timestamp I saw was more recent. However, I still believe the analysis is correct.
Mish

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Ceridian Index Positive 15th Month, but Slowing, Suggesting "Tepid Growth"

Posted: 09 Mar 2011 10:05 AM PST

The Ceridian shipping index measures real-time trends in diesel fuel usage and correlates well "over time" with Industrial Production. Month-to-month analysis is subject to much error. For Example, Ceridian's economist was looking for a weak Christmas season following its "Recovery Time Out" report last October.

That report was negated by a December forecast suggestive of a strong recovery. In turn, the strong recovery forecast has been negated by weak January and February numbers. Today's report reflects February numbers.

Please consider February PCI Continues to Signal Slow Growth

The Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index™ (PCI), a real-time measure of the flow of goods to U.S. factories, retailers and consumers, fell 1.5 percent during the month of February. Coupled with the 0.3 percent loss from January, this latest data eliminates the strong gain (1.8 percent) experienced in December 2010. However, February marks the fifteenth straight month of year over year growth indicating that economic recovery, while fragile, remains underway.

"The PCI performance in the first two months of this year suggests weakness in some parts of the economy," states Ed Leamer, chief PCI economist and director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast. "Nevertheless, our outlook for 2011 is for continued economic recovery – we expect GDP to grow at the historically "normal" rate of 3 percent, accompanied by a persistent level of high unemployment."

Over time, the PCI has shown a strong correlation with the government's Industrial Production (IP) figures. For January, the PCI forecast of modest growth (.3 percent) was more positive than the Fed's initial reported estimate of negative 0.6 percent. For February 2011, the PCI estimates that IP will experience a slight decline of 0.02 percent when it is reported on March 17. Similarly, relative weakness in the PCI over the first two months of this year suggests that GDP for the first quarter will come in below consensus, near the lower end of the range of current forecasts that range between 2 percent and 5.5 percent. For the year, the index continues to suggest GDP growth sufficient to drive continued modest growth in employment but not back to the peak levels attained in late 2007.

"February's spike in diesel fuel prices to well over $3 a gallon likely did not drive the weakness in the PCI this month," explained Craig Manson, senior vice president and index expert for Ceridian. "However, if the trend persists, higher prices will likely have an impact in the coming months as consumers are robbed of spending power. As a leading indicator for the goods producing segment of the economy, the PCI is sensitive to this dynamic and should provide early indications of direction and magnitude as higher fuel prices impact the broader economy."

Seasonally Adjusted Ceridian Index

The above chart suggests an inventory replenishment overshoot culminating with a strong Christmas season. Now we are back to below trend growth for the last couple months.

Over the past two months, forecasters have been marking up their expectations for 2011 and 2012. The 51 Wall Street Journal forecasters' predictions for 2011 Q1 GDP growth range between 2% and 5.5%, with 90% of the estimates targeting growth in the first quarter at 2.9% or higher. Weakness in the PCI over the first two months of this year suggests that GDP for the first quarter will come in below consensus, near the lower end of the range of current WSJ forecasts. For the year, the index continues to suggest GDP growth to be in the "normal" historical range of about 3%, which will likely drive continued modest growth in employment but not back to the peak levels attained in late 2007.

I am entertaining and have been for some time, the idea that recent hiring may be nearing a crest. Employers, especially retailers were light on employees and ramped up in fourth quarter of 2010. At the beginning of the year they did not lay off as many as normally expected boosting seasonally adjusted hiring.

Now it remains to be seen how long that recent hiring lasts. Bear in mind it takes about 125,000 jobs a month just to keep the unemployment rate flat, all things being equal. Yet all things are not equal, the participation rate had been falling like a rock. Without millions dropping out of the labor force, the unemployment rate would be close to 12%, not the reported 8.9%.

I expect to see the unemployment rate rise if discouraged workers start seeking jobs and perhaps even if they don't.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Bloodstained Property Map and Trampled Rights; China's Population: 1.3 Billion; Construction Underway: 43 Billion Square Feet

Posted: 08 Mar 2011 11:52 PM PST

The Financial Times published an interesting article a couple days ago on the concept of growing democracy in China.

Despite a few anecdotes in the article, the idea of a large or growing democracy in China is unfounded given Chinese central authority trampling of human rights and property rights, on top of having the world's largest central planning scheme.

However, what most caught my eyes was the sheer amount of real estate malinvestment, given wages are grossly out of alignment with the costs to purchase the units now under construction.

Please consider China: A democracy is built.

In many ways, property is the focus of the story of modern China. The double-digit economic growth of the past decade has been driven in part by the real estate explosion in more than 100 cities that has accompanied the process of industrialisation. It is also at the root of an apparent "super-cycle" of rising commodity prices that has lasted several years. Some observers see property as the country's main economic vulnerability because of the potential for the growth of a bubble – "a treadmill to hell", as Jim Chanos, the American investor, has put it.

In the past couple of years, there has been an epidemic of violent confrontations over forced demolitions as the urbanisation drive that has accelerated in the past decade has spread away from the coast, boosted by the massive stimulus programme that began in late 2008. The demolitions are behind as many as 65 per cent of large protests in rural areas, according to research by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

In January, a 38-year-old woman was killed by a digger in Henan province, north-central China, as she protested against a construction project. In November, a man in the north-east set himself on fire during a stand-off with a demolition crew. One citizen has set up a website called Bloodstained Property Map to chart the incidents. It uses Google maps to mark violent evictions, and provides background information and media links. So far, there are nearly 200 incidents on the map, with regular additions.

"When I say that new housing is being built right now on land covered in blood, people know what I mean," the site's founder, who prefers to remain nameless, told Chinese media last year. "Media coverage can gradually fade out, so we need a new way to constrain the problem.

The danger posed by urban development is not only the creation of a property bubble but also of widespread political conflict.

"This is a very distorted model of urbanisation that cannot go on for ever," says Prof Tao.

Unsustainable Math

Except for a few anecdotes of "victory" the article is brutally mistitled. However, it is well written and researched. It is worth a closer look to see what it took in terms of the trampling of lives needed to create China's boom.

Also note that second graph. China is approaching 4,000 million square meters of construction, most of it residential. That is approximately 43 billion square feet of ongoing construction, for a population of 1.3 billion people of which only a very tiny percentage can afford to buy that construction.

Is it any wonder China has so many vacant homes, offices, malls, and even cities.

In case you missed it, please consider Amazing Satellite Images Of The Ghost Cities Of China on the Business Insider.

"There's city after city full of empty streets and vast government buildings, some in the most inhospitable locations. It is the modern equivalent of building pyramids. With 20 new cities being built every year, we hope to be able to expand our list going forward."

More Vacant City and Reckless Credit Expansion Stories

Timing the China Property Crash

Speculation, Investment Scandals, Fraud, and China's Hard Landing; Miracle of Chinese High-Speed Rail will be Reduced to Dust; Peak Oil Doomsday Clock

Chinese Bank Lending Spree Continues; $75 Billion New Loans First Week in January Alone; Inflation Gone Amuck

Implosion of the China "Fabric City" Frenzy

10 Signs of Speculative Mania in China

Email from a Chinese on China's Real Estate Bubble

China bulls insist this is sustainable. The construction numbers alone vs. the overall population shows otherwise, even if the Chinese could afford to buy those units.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

joi, 10 martie 2011

Commander-in-Cute

SEOptimise

SEOptimise

Working Together to Keep Our Kids Safe

Seth's Blog : Assuming goodwill

Assuming goodwill

More Recent Articles

miercuri, 9 martie 2011

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Pagini

Persoane interesate

Arhivă blog

joi, 10 martie 2011

More Recent Articles

miercuri, 9 martie 2011

Pagini

Persoane interesate

Arhivă blog

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