Central Perk

miercuri, 18 aprilie 2012

ZOMG! Mozcon Agenda Now Live (and Early Bird Pricing Ends Friday)

Posted: 17 Apr 2012 05:03 PM PDT

Every year, our annual summer customer conference, Mozcon, sells out to capacity, and this year is shaping up to be no different. In my opinion this is largely due to the speakers and the format. The content is among the best I see each year because the conference has developed a reputation as a forcing function for "upping one's game" on quality of tactics and presentation delivery.

I'm excited because over the past six years Mozcon has risen from a small training event to become something that influences and inspires me throughout the year. It makes me want to step up my game - in my writing, my presentations, my entrepreneurship and the work I do in the marketing field overall. I've seen it do that for hundreds of others, too, and it's the best reason I can give as to why you should be there.

I'm posting about it tonight because we've just announced the full speaker and presentation lineup:

This exceptional group of folks are those we've seen deliver consistently phenomenal talks at events around the globe and many are the writers who've delivered exceptional content here on the Moz blog and across the web.

It seems almost hard to believe, but in the latter half of 2011, I felt so many of the seeds planted by great Mozcon talks sprouting in the blogosphere and social channels of the SEO/marketing world. From Avinash's presentation on analytics to Bob Rains' stories of moving from black hat to white hat to Wil Reynolds' mining of the social graph for link opportunities and Martin MacDonald's unforgettable look at scalable embeds, the sparks that flew at Mozcon caught fire time and again.

This Friday's the final day to get the early bird price of $699. I hope to see lots of you there!

p.s. FYI for those who didn't catch it, Google whacked a lot of sites over the past 48 hours. I expect we'll have a blog post up soon on the topic, but be sure to check out this good discussion started by Cyrus Shepard on G+.

p.p.s. If you can't make it to Mozcon, there's two other west coast events in June I highly recommend - SMX Advanced in Seattle (also usually a sellout show) and Distilled's first ever Searchlove on the west coast, in Berkley, CA (at which I'm speaking).

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Accountability for Our Energy Future

Your Daily Snapshot for
Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Accountability for Our Energy Future

Yesterday, President Obama announced a new series of steps to strengthen oversight over energy markets -- while asking lawmakers to pass legislation aimed at curbing illegal behavior and holding the people who manipulate those markets accountable.

As the President said yesterday:

We can't afford a situation where speculators artificially manipulate markets by buying up oil, creating the perception of a shortage, and driving prices higher -- only to flip the oil for a quick profit. We can’t afford a situation where some speculators can reap millions, while millions of American families get the short end of the stick.

Photo of the Day

President Barack Obama looks at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship trophy as he approaches Tony Stewart's car during an event on the South Lawn of the White House, April 17, 2012. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers Tony Stewart, center, Kyle Busch, and Ryan Newman, right, watch nearby. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

Who are your heroes?

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Who are your heroes?

For more than 40 years, presidents have presented the Citizens Medal to Americans who have performed extraordinary acts of service for their country or their fellow citizens.

Now we're looking to honor a new group of heroes, and we need your help.

Take a moment to nominate Americans who have performed exemplary deeds of service outside of their regular jobs and who have provided inspiration for others to serve.

You can view the full criteria and get started on a nomination here:

These individuals come from different backgrounds, and they've devoted their lives to different causes, but they're united by a commitment to selflessness. They've each devoted their lives to helping others. And the 2012 Citizens Medal is a chance to highlight these everyday heroes for all they do.

Here are a few examples of Citizens Medal recipients from last year:

Ida Martin created an organization to help working families, disabled residents, and senior citizens in South Carolina who had suffered a financial crisis.
John Keaveney, who fought in Vietnam, founded New Directions -- a home for homeless and disabled veterans with addiction and mental health problems.
Margaret Martin founded the Harmony Project to make quality arts education available to those in some of the most underserved parts of Los Angeles, California.

Each of them is a testament to the impact that a single individual can have on his or her community and on the world.

If you know someone like Ida, John, or Margaret, please take a moment to nominate them for the 2012 Citizens Medal before April 24:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/citizensmedal

Stay Connected

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

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Web Evolution and The Future Of SEO – Brighton SEO

Posted: 17 Apr 2012 06:34 AM PDT

Last Friday I had the joy of attending Brighton SEO and listening to Philip Sheldrake's presentation on future visions for SEO. He presented some very interesting stuff on how the World Wide Web as we know it will evolve and how we will make sense of the ever increasing volume of data contained within the web. Our role in SEO is set to change, however SEOs that are adaptable, flexible and willing to work with different types of information and different departments within the organisation will survive.

More People, More Things, More Data

The world's population is rapidly growing and is set to reach 8 billion people in the next decade. We produce and consume large quantities of resources. The amount of data we produce is extensive; from content and documents on the internet, to output signals from electronic devices to environmental sensory trackers that measure things like temperature, electricity consumption, traffic and flow of water. We can quite easily collect this data however applying intelligence to turn it into useful information by identifying patterns is becoming more and more difficult.

Big Data, Big Info & Maybe Big Knowledge?

Big data is the term coined to describe data sets that are so large it becomes difficult and awkward to extract valuable information from them within a reasonable time frame. We can quite easily collect this data however the larger the sample set the more difficult turning it into useful information becomes.. To take it one step further is to turn this information into knowledge and make the data work for us in ways that have been previously unattainable.

A New Era For The Web

The third decade of the web and we are beginning to witness a change in how the data contained within the internet is being rationalised and organised. Sheldrake used three different names for to describe this new era.
"Web 3.0"
"The Web of Data"
"The Semantic Web"
I wish to use the term The Semantic Web as semantics is the study of meaning and this era represents how we will make sense of the data contained within the internet. We are growing and evolving the web to convert the current web of unstructured documents into meaningful data that can be manipulated and filtered by machines. These machines will be able to join sets of complicated data, helping us become aware of what is going on and solve problems that previously were not able to achieve.

How will this work?

Resource Description Framework (RDF) provides a standardised language for defining web based ontologies which enable richer integration and interoperability of data. It's a way of structuring web information using a variety syntax formats called triples.

{subject} {predicate} {object}
Gillian Cook works in SEO.

RDF extends the linking structure of the Web to use URIs to name the relationship between things as well as the two ends of the link. Using this simple model, it allows structured and semi-structured data to be mixed, exposed, and shared across different applications.
Using RDF we are able to categorise data correctly and by doing this we are able to link data in new ways. Linked Data is a term coined for the best practice of exposing, sharing and connecting pieces of data, information, and knowledge on the Semantic Web using URIs and RDF.
This isn't something that is forecast for the future it's something that is already happening now. Google are already encouraging the use of Microformats – simple conventions or entities with their own properties that can be used on web pages to describe a specific type of information – e.g. a review, a recipe, a business.

What Does This Mean For SEO

When we consider how SEO is perceived, at times it seems like SEO's are doing everything in their power to elevate their websites to the golden prize of 1st position in the SERPs, even if it means breaking the rules of the Google game. Yet when conceived in this way, SEO is a limited practice as the internet will become more regulated and transparent hence diminishing this type of online behaviour.
However if we consider our role in SEO as working with search engines to deliver users the right content at the right time in the right format then our position is no longer in jeopardy. Content for content's sake will need to change as organisations become defined by their flows of data and information. The role of SEO will be defined as "improving the presentation, discoverability, machinability and usefulness of data, information and knowledge for all stakeholders". As Pierre Farr mentioned at the start of the conference, SEO is not dying it is simply evolving over time as we have seen it do in the past. What's good to know is that that according to Sheldrake, SEOs have the relevant skills to take on the challenges of the future.

Seth's Blog : Two ways to buy the expensive

Two ways to buy the expensive

Buying something like a house, a piece of fine art, a used car or a business is as much a marketing exercise as selling that very item might be.

There are two common approaches. The first is to denigrate.

Explain that the seller has bad taste. That the car isn't in good shape. That the art was poorly selected for the resale market. Poke holes in the business model, the management team or the landscaping design.

Better still, make the seller feel as though she's on thin ice. Bring an exploding offer to the table and watch her squirm as it goes down in value from day to day. Point to others that have waited too long to sell and how they ended up regretting it. Question her values and her judgment.

In other words, go for the win, where winning is defined as getting a great price.

There are two problems with this approach. The first, and the biggest, is that anything you truly want to buy probably has multiple buyers interested, and with better information available every day, the best stuff is going to be sold to someone else. Your denigration strategy is going to inevitably limit your pool of available items to sellers with self-esteem or desperation issues.

The second problem is that the word spreads. Your gallery or your buyout fund or your dealership quickly earns a reputation (there's that marketing thing again) as the buyer of last resort, once again creating an environment where your approach determines what's available to you.

The alternative is to respect and to communicate. After all, you're here to buy something--I'm guessing that's because you think it's worth something more than you're willing to pay for it. So value the judgment and taste of the seller. Be clear about what you like about it, be honest about the value that's been created. Even better, instead of coming in high and then figuring out ways to bully and lower your offer, come in low and enjoy the process of bidding it up, making the seller root for you and look forward to hearing from you. (This is particularly useful when making an investment where you want management to be happy with you after the deal is done).

In a fair market, it's entirely likely you'll end paying precisely what you would have paid using the other method, but you'll be offered more works, more stuff worth paying for, and your reputation will reflect that. Most of all it's important to understand that we're not talking about bushels of wheat. Very little is a commodity, and the method you use to buy your expensive item may be even more important than how much you pay.