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marți, 16 august 2011

SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog

Posted: 16 Aug 2011 05:51 AM PDT

This post was originally in YOUmoz, and was promoted to the main blog because it provides great value and interest to our community. The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of SEOmoz, Inc.

Goodnewscowboy famous avatar

Sunday, August the 7th, was a sad day for the Moz community when we lost a beloved member due to cancer.

Maybe the newest don’t know him, but there was a “Dog” here that was the smartest and funnier commenter of all: we knew him as goodnewscowboy; his real name was Bullitt Darlington.

The Moz community is proud of these qualities, so well expressed by the SEOmoz TAGFEE Tenets:

Transparent and Authentic;
Generous;
Fun;
Empathetic;
Exceptional.

and Bullitt was the best example of this philosophy.

Transparent, because – even though he used for a long time the photo of his beloved golden retriever – we always knew he was talking from his soul;

Authentic, because he never hide himself behind a curtain of presumed knowledge or superiority;

Fun, because he was able to invent the most amusing joke and his a la Laurel & Hardy comments threads are going to be in the story of the SEOmoz blog;

Empathetic, because he was there when someone needed it, with an email, with a tweet, with a comment in Facebook;

Exceptional, because his intuition was so lucid, that he was able to argue and well guess so many things in SEO and marketing... while declaring, in his honestly and humbleness not being a real SEO.

Yes, SEO was not Bullitt’s main profession. It was his dream, what he wanted to be and what he started to be and preparing to make as his real job, one of the passions that made him fight his cancer. But he was an SEO in his heart.

I still remember a night this last January when I, Bullitt, Casey and Dr. Pete where having a totally not SEO chat on Twitter. It was like a conversation friends have sitting in a bar and sharing a beer, nothing remarkable, but unforgettable was that sensation of closeness we felt for few minutes.

We left with a promise that Bullitt’s health prevented us from making: to have the same conversation but in person during the last MozCon in Seattle, where we all were going to be.

Bullit last avatar... it was a fight to convince him use his real photo.

Bullitt has passed away, but someone only dies when the last memory of him fades away. His 2689 comments here will make live in our memory always. Go and read them… and remember a man called goodnewscowboy.

From the SEOmoz staff:

We remember Bullitt Darlington, aka goodnewscowboy, as the most kind, witty, helpful and warmhearted soul to grace this community. Donations in Bullitt's memory can be made to the Salvation Army, one of goodnewscowboy's favorite charities.

Below are some of our favorite comments from goodnewscowboy. Feel free to share your own memories in the comments below. He wouldn't want it any other way.

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How to Get Search Volume Data Straight into Excel [Mozcon Debrief]

Posted: 15 Aug 2011 02:00 PM PDT

Posted by richardbaxterseo

A few weeks ago I attended (and had the honour of speaking at) Mozcon. Mozcon is without a doubt the best SEO conference I’ve ever been to, and I’ve been to a lot. It rocks to be amongst so many stars! Anyhoo, just to say thanks to the Mozteam for flying me over to sunny Seattle, I brought them a new toy to play with. And the best part, it’s free for anyone to use.

Introducing the Adwords API Extension for Excel.

Oh Gosh, Richard Made a Video

My team were insistent – no light piano jazz this time. It sucks. I have no idea what’s wrong with them – elevator music is awesome. So here’s a quick tour in my best British accent. Think: “shine yer shoes, Guvnor?” (If you’ve ever heard Rand’s Brit accent attempts, you’ll know where I’m coming from with that.)

Get Yourself an Adwords API Key

Obviously that’s a pretty quick tour in the video, so it didn’t include the fiendishly simple set up process. So you know, you’ll need an Adwords API key. Adwords API keys are available to My Client Center account holders. Get one of those from here. For whatever reason, it’s tough to migrate to an MCC account from a plain old Adwords account, so take my advice and create a fresh Google account login for your Adwords API.

Learn the Queries

Learning the queries is pretty easy. Here are the most important:

getAdWordAvg()

getAdWordAvg(keyword,"[MATCHTYPE]","[COUNTRYCODE]","DEVICE")

Example: =getAdWordAvg(A1,"EXACT","GB","WEB")

Description: returns average search volume from the adwords API. Matchtype accepts broad, exact and phrase match. Country codes can be found in the Adwords documentation and devices can be mobile or web.

arrayGetAdWordStats()

arrayGetAdWordStats([TABLE],"[MATCHTYPE]","[COUNTRYCODE]","DEVICE")

Example: =arrayGetAdWordStats(myKWlist,"EXACT","US","MOBILE")

Description: array formula (auto adds {} brackets) will return data from a list of keywords in a table (average search volume and seasonal data).

arrayGetAdWordIdeas()

arrayGetAdWordIdeas([TABLE],"[MATCHTYPE]","[COUNTRYCODE]","DEVICE",[NoOfResults])

Example: =arrayGetAdWordIdeas(Table1,"BROAD","US","WEB",20)

Description: array formula (auto adds {} brackets) will return suggestions from a list of keywords in a table (average search volume and seasonal data).

I Want, I Want! Gimme the Download! Gimme!

Just so you know, the full installation guide is over on SEOgadget. All you have to do is download this zip file and run setup.xls. That’s all!

After years of working with Excel, I’m still really excited by it. It’s solved a lot of problems for me in the past and I'd just like to personally thank my chief data wrangler and master datasmith of Choice, Tom Gleeson. He rocks.

I’d really love to hear your thoughts, feedback and of course how you’re using the extension to work smarter in your keyword research.

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How to Use a How to Article Graywolf's SEO Blog

How to Use a How to Article

Posted: 16 Aug 2011 09:50 AM PDT

If you work on any aspect of SEO, Internet marketing, PPC, or social media, chances are good that you’ve come across a lot of tutorials or how to articles. Some of them are really good, and you want to use them in the future. But unless you have an organized, disciplined way of keeping track of the information and making it actionable, it’s just going to collect dust in your bookmarks. In this post, I’d like to teach you how to take it to the next step: use the information, make it actionable, and implement it as part of your long term workflow.

If you’re very good at saving information and remembering that you have it somewhere, Evernote is probably the best solution. It allows you to actually save the content of the page in case the page ever goes offline in the future. While I do use Evernote, I find Instapaper and a To-Do list work better for me (I use toodledo, for those of you who care). When I come across something on Twitter, Sphinn, Ziteapp, or elsewhere on the web, I send it to Instapaper to read on my iPad at a time that works best for me. If it’s something that is a tutorial/how-to/actionable or something I want to add to my yearly audit or site audit or “master plan,” I use a secret email to send it to my to-do list. Every few weeks, I’ll set aside some time to process the posts I have sent there. Here’s what I do as I look at the post:

Ask myself whether it’s something I need to add to my master plan, site audit, yearly content review, or library of plugin/programming/functions.

Ask myself whether this is something new, or is it updating/modifying/adding to an existing action list/checklist.

Is it breaking down into action items something I need to do, or should the work be outsourced?

Obviously updating or editing an existing bits of information is easier than starting from scratch. However, to be the most helpful and teach you the full concept, I’m going to start from scratch. Let’s assume I want to start a Facebook fan page. What are the current steps and best practices? I’ll be taking a look at three different posts. These were written in 2011 so, if you’re reading this post after that, the actual information may have changed, but what I really want you focus on is the process of extracting the information into bite-sized, do-able chunks. Here are the three posts I’ll be using:

To get started, we’ll go through each page and break it down into step by step directions. For example, here is what I would come up with needing from those three pages:

Information Needed

Category/Subcategory:
Desired Vanity URL:
Name:
Founded:
Website:
About:
Overview:
Mission Statement:
Physical Address:
Phone Number:
Awards:
Product:
Email:
Avatar Photo:
Extra Product Photos (5):
Secondary Admins:
List of 25 friends to secure vanity URL:
Custom Tabs:

Pre-Launch Functions to test

Test post
Test post from 3rd Party Tools (Hootsuite)
Test RSS Integration
Test Mobile Posting
Enable Insights
Third Party Tool Integration (Raven Tools, etc.)
Wall Settings – Set default view, fan permissions
Photos – allow fan posting and or tagging

Now, depending on who will be using the list, you can add notes, suggestions, and reminders. For example, while most people use a square avatar for their Facebook picture, you can use a tall photo for enhanced visibility (200px X 600px). So that might be something worth adding as a note to your documentation. This post only covers the most basic aspects of setting up a profile and getting it public-ready. It doesn’t discuss how to promote it, advertise with it, or increase engagement with fans. All of that is beyond the scope of the article.

What I really want you to grasp here is that, when you come across a tutorial or “how to,” develop a plan to make the information valuable and useable over time. Don’t worry if it seems like you’re starting in the middle. If you set out to write a tutorial on how to do something from start to finish, it can sometimes be a daunting task. If you just get started and add as you go, it’s a lot less intimidating.

One warning I do want to bring up is to beware of cookie cutter or prescription SEO. Having a checklist is good for making sure you meet all the technical requirements or have all the pieces in places when starting a project. If you follow an identical plan for all your sites and don’t realize that some things don’t apply or aren’t the best solution for every situation, you will run into problems down the road. You need to learn when things don’t apply, aren’t right answer, or are the completely wrong answer. For example, your first girlfriend may have found your karaoke and air guitar tributes to 80′s hair band ballads funny and endearing, but your second girlfriend might not. Learn to adapt to the situation.

So what are the takeaways from this post:

Look for articles that teach you how to accomplish a goal.
Develop a workflow that allows you to break something down into small, do-able tasks.
Develop a library of best practices, work flows, start up procedures, or an audit checklist.
Review and update the process as needed.
Beware of falling into a cookie cutter process. Understand that sometimes you need ignore, adapt, or change your plans.

photo credit: Photospin

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This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

How to Use a How to Article

President Obama and a big, red barn

Your Daily Snapshot for
Tuesday, August 16, 2011

President Obama and a big, red barn

For the third stop of his Rural Bus Tour in Peosta, Iowa, President Obama hosts a Rural Economic Forum at Northeast Iowa Community College. At the Forum, the President and members of his cabinet will meet with small business owners, private sector leaders, rural organizations, and local government officials to discuss growing the economy and accelerating hiring in rural and small towns all across America.

President Barack Obama holds a town hall meeting at the Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa, on the first day of a three-day Economic Bus Tour in the Midwest, Aug. 15, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

SEOptimise

The Google+ Honeymoon is Over: How to Deal With It

Posted: 15 Aug 2011 05:00 AM PDT

Initially Google+ was the darling of most media pundits. It was shiny, new and it grew like no other social network before. It was a typical infatuation with a new hype. Now that most Internet power users have already joined and been trying Google+ for a while the honeymoon seems to be over.

Several issues have marred the rise of the new Google social network.

Most of the issues are home grown. The dynamics of a top down social media launch, where the tech celebrities and social media mavens get the invitations first, can scare off the average user. However, these people are the backbone of Facebook’s success.

Real name fiasco

Probably the most covered Google+ problem is the massive number of deletions of user accounts by Google. Seemingly everybody suspected of not using her or his real name got banned. Prominent business accounts such as Mashable have been removed as well, in preparation for the launch of regular business accounts. Even well known users who actually were using their own names were banned. Last time I checked there were still many “keyword accounts” on Google+, so the crack down on fake names isn’t as successful as it might seem.

Traffic down

After the initial frenzy and explosive growth of the Google+ user base, the actual usage of the site tanked. There were conflicting reports, but at least two independent analytics providers confirmed that downward trend.

Endless and obnoxious discussions

Two things I haven’t yet encountered on Facebook and Twitter are endless and partly obnoxious discussions. I’ve already argued that Google+ is basically like a huge forum and that it encourages discussion with strangers but also some rather obnoxious ways of arguing. I have been disrespected almost like on old school ”social” sites, such as Digg, Reddit or StumbleUpon. These might not be downright flame wars that were common in the early days of the Web but encountering complete strangers in heated discussions can contribute to such behavior, despite users arguing using their real names.

Tech celebs flooding the stream

When Google started sending out Google+ invitations, it was mostly their social media cheerleaders who got them at first. The usual suspects, such as Robert Scoble, tried to convince their following to join Google+ as well. Google+ also suggested some of the tech pundits by default for you to add to your circles. I did add just a few of them and they almost immediately flooded my Google+ stream, making my regular peers almost disappear.

How Google+ deals with Google +1 votes

The way Google+ deals with the +1 votes on third party websites and search results is not self-explanatory. On Facebook you send the likes from other sites directly to your stream. On Google+ you don’t see the +1 votes from elsewhere. They get displayed in a separate tab on your Google Profile, which nobody really checks. Also, the website buttons do not count +1 votes from Google+ itself. Both types of +1 votes seem to be disconnected completely.

Adware infested tools for G+

While we are used to having lots of third party tools for Twitter and Facebook and most of them being trustworthy, the first tool I installed for Google+ was a rogue attempt to hijack my browser search and other preferences without my prior consent. Why? They replaced my default search engine with a Google Custom search that they make affiliate money on. Most other tools are limited to Google’s own Chrome browser. So apparently they want to bundle Chrome and Google+ in a way like Microsoft did with Windows and Internet Explorer back in the days. Do you really have to use Chrome for advanced functionality on Google+?

So how do we deal with all these issues? Are there enough annoyances to leave Google+ already? I don’t think so. I’m not an early adopter for the sake of early adopting anymore. I use tools when and how it makes sense.

For now, Google+ is a worthwhile addition for some use cases.

For example, it can be a good substitute for blog comments that are dominated these days by people who want to sneak in a link. Here you can get real feedback from people who are actually interested in what you write.

As I had a Google Profile with my real name long before Google+ I didn’t have to use a fake identity or a pseudonym. If you don’t want to use your real name you should stick with Twitter, or even better Tumblr, where people mostly use nicknames. Otherwise wait for the official business profiles.

Whether the traffic is really down or not, the growth in users does not equal the same level of growth in engagement. Well, this was to be expected as people do barely have the time to socialise on the several sites they are already members of. Some people will be less active on Twitter and Facebook to make time for Google+. Other people may return to the networks they are used to.

I was less active on both Twitter and Facebook during the initial testing phase of Google+. Now I use it only when I really want to. I seldom do, because the use cases for Google+ are not useful enough yet. It’s too small for sharing yet, and I don’t have the time to discuss much, so I will only show up once or twice daily, mostly to check my notifications. Is this a sign of a premature death of the network? Not really, it’s just the routine arriving.

Discussing on Google+ sometimes reminds me of the days of so-called Newsgroups, aka Usenet. Back then you had to use your real name as well, and despite this people lashed out at you. Many “experts” were keen to show off their skills by making you feel inferior. IMHO that’s one of the reasons why the Usenet is now almost forgotten. I simply contribute less to discussions or do not return once I notice that the discussion starts getting personal and over the top. You will always find people who disagree for the sake of disagreeing, but you can get away from such futile discussion without much fuss despite the notifications.

Ignoring technology celebrities who talk all day long is not that easy when they flood your stream. You have to remove them from your circles and then the flood stops. Google+ suggests you add them again afterwards, but you can simply click the “x” then. You also have to look out for which discussions you take part in. Tech celebs get dozens or hundreds of comments, so you keep getting notification for days with stuff not related to your own reply. Just engage with your peers and everything will be OK.

When the Google +1 button appeared on Google search results I wasn’t impressed. Later the website button was released as well and I found out that for me it was much better to be able to approve of great content and sites without having to share each one of them. The number of sites I plussed quickly grew but I didn’t annoy anybody. Entering Google+, I assumed that I would at least be able to +1 an article from the Google+ stream so that it would show up on the site as well. It doesn’t work though. So I have to click +1 twice. It seems the buttons are connected to entirely different databases.

I click +1 on Google+ to express gratitude and approval to someone who has shared a good piece of content, while I do it on websites and search results to say “thank you good post” to the webmasters themselves. This way I can or have to click +1 on the same item several times, as many people can share it and I can +1 it each and every time. Sometimes I do. It’s like on Twitter: you can retweet the same post more than once.

On Twitter I’m also used to lots of third party tools I could improve Twitter with. The first thing I wanted to install on Google+ was a Twitter client for it, but it not only did not work, it was also a scam. As I mentioned earlier, the rogue software changed my browser preferences without asking me to make money off my search usage. It took me a while to fix the problem even after uninstalling that rogue script. I haven’t installed any Google+ enhancements ever since. I only occasionally use Google Chrome in its Google spyware free version called Iron. I do not intend to install lots of Chrome extensions to enhance my Google+ experience. Indeed I don’t feel the need to.

The Google+ notifications are distracting enough. I’d prefer not to use G+ more than once daily. I use Twitter throughout the day and I don’t need Google+ to add more work to my schedule. Ideally I can check it once daily along with my emails. I have disabled most notifications though, as I got flooded with them via email. So I only check them when logged into my account.

So all in all, these Google+ annoyances are manageable. Google+ is not perfect but it’s not yet bad enough to abandon it. Like Facebook it probably never will. We will swallow everything once we depend on it, but that’s another story.

* CC image by Christine.

Seth's Blog : Three things clients and customers want

Three things clients and customers want

Not just the first one.

And not all three.

But you really need at least one.

1. Results. If you can offer a return on investment, an engineering solution, more sales, no tax audits, a cute haircut, the fastest rollercoaster, a pristine beach, reliable insurance payouts at the best price, peace of mind, productive consulting or any other measurable result, this is a great place to start.

2. Thrills. More difficult to quantify but often as important, partners and customers respond to heroism. We are amazed and drawn to over the top effort, incredible risk taking on our behalf, the blood, sweat and tears that (rarely) comes from a great partner. A smart person working harder on your behalf than you'd be willing to work--that's pretty compelling.

3. Ego. Is it nice to feel important? You bet. When you greet us at the door with a glass of white wine, put our name in the lobby of the hotel, actually treat us better than anyone else does (not just promise it, but do it)... This can get old really fast if you industrialize and systemize it, though.

This explains why the local branch of the big insurance company has trouble growing. It's hard for them to outdeliver the other guys when it comes to the cost effectiveness of their policy (#1). They are unsuited from a personality and organizational point of view to do #2. And they just can't scale the third.

Put just about any business with partners into this matrix and you see how it works. Book publishing, for sure. Hairdressers. Spas. Even real estate.

The Ritz Carlton is all about #3, ego, right? And on a good day, there's a perception that the guys at Apple are hellbent on amazing us yet again, delivering on #2, taking huge career and corporate risks on our behalf. As soon as they stop doing that, the tribe will get bored.

(There's a variation of ego, #3, that comes from being in good company. This is what gets people to sign up for Davos, or to choose ICM as their agent. Your ego is stroked by knowing that only people as cool as you are part of this gig. Sort of the anti-Groucho opportunity. Nice position, if you can get it, because it scales.).

It's tempting, particularly for a small business, to obsess about the first—results—to spend all its time trying to prove that the ROI is higher, the brownies are tastier and the coaching is more effective. You'd be amazed at how far you can go with the other two, if you commit to doing it, not merely talking about it.

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marți, 16 august 2011

SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog

SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog

Oh Gosh, Richard Made a Video

Get Yourself an Adwords API Key

Learn the Queries

I Want, I Want! Gimme the Download! Gimme!

How to Use a How to Article Graywolf's SEO Blog

How to Use a How to Article Graywolf's SEO Blog

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President Obama and a big, red barn

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Seth's Blog : Three things clients and customers want

Three things clients and customers want

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marți, 16 august 2011

Oh Gosh, Richard Made a Video

Get Yourself an Adwords API Key

Learn the Queries

I Want, I Want! Gimme the Download! Gimme!

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