Need Help with PRO? Introducing the Help Hub!

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Need Help with PRO? Introducing the Help Hub! Posted: 13 Aug 2012 07:53 PM PDT Posted by Kenny Martin At SEOmoz, we know that learning complex software applications can be time consuming and challenging, kind of like playing chess with a Wookie. Having well-written and comprehensive onboarding materials can help to decrease the learning curve, thus preventing droid dismemberment. Excellent documentation, videos, and "getting started" guides are a key differentiator between software that is successful and software that slowly fizzles away. We've gone to great lengths to bring knowledge to the SEO and inbound communities with our daily blog articles and handy Beginner's Guide to SEO. However, getting up to speed with our PRO application has been a challenge for all of us. We're happy to announce that the previous PRO challenge ends today. Introducing: the new SEOmoz Help Hub! This project has been at the forefront of our Help Team for the past six months. You may have seen me around the blog before; I'm Kenny, and I designed the look and feel of our new Help home base. The walkthroughs, videos, and screenshots are by my fellow helpster, Nick Sayers, our Communications Chief. Together with the rest of the Help Team, we'll be working to bring you the most high-quality self-help customer service experience on the web. What are you waiting for? Check it out now! Over the past few months, we have been fine-tuning our Getting Started Guides, honing our video editing skills, and taking feedback from our new users. Previously we used our customer support software's forums for all of our documentation needs. Sure, these forums were better than having nothing at all, but they didn't allow for many of the features needed to make our help resources useful for new customers. Largely, our old forums lacked the functionality we needed as they existed off of the www.seomoz.org domain. This opened the door for odd issues with cross authentication between the forums on SEOmoz and other stunted processes. We wanted a system that was unique to SEOmoz so customers could easy navigate to a central location to learn about our tools. With the launch of our new Help Hub, customers can become zen-level power users in a single afternoon. SEOmoz PRO levitation initiated! Learning new software through wordy guides and a plethora of screenshots is a good start, but we wanted to shoot for the stars. The new Help Hub hosts a series of finely-tuned video screencasts, which can put the learning process into hyperdrive. Videos are the best way for the community to see where and how to do something on PRO with ease, which is our ultimate goal. In summation, the process should be as quick and painless as a Michael Bay film. Now that we've launched, we'll continue to gather awesome video analytics to see how people are engaged in our content and make improvements to make them even more engaging! At SEOmoz, we use Wistia to host our diverse catalogue of videos. Why? Because Wistia is amazing. Their software allows us to see just what sections of our videos are skipped, replayed, and scrobbled back and forth. This information allows us to cut out any fluff and isolate potentially confusing aspects of our videos and even deeper issues with our software itself. Wistia documents user information to help us create video content that you, our awesome community members, really want. To better measure engagement and success, we are also going to ask for customer feedback. At the end of each article in our Help Hub, you will find a "Was this document helpful?" section. All responses are logged and reviewed so that we can better improve our help documentation over time. Feedback is crucial to this process as we want to know what customers are missing in our learning materials, and also what aspects of our product are the hardest to learn. The most common questions that are submitted to our help team will be identified and added to the documentation, or used to refine current copy to make an article clearer. We've dedicated a trove of resources to guarantee that our new Help Hub is improved on a regular basis. As mentioned above, Nick will be managing the Help Hub and making sure the content is fresh, consumable, and accurate. He will also be blogging about our new venture into customer education as it evolves, so be on the lookout for his stellar posts! In sum, if you are just getting started with SEOmoz PRO and want to get up to speed quickly, or if you're long-time member and haven't explored some of the new features, don't forget to check out our Help Hub and get schooled. Let us know what you like and what you want to see improved in the comments below. This is your Help Hub, after all! Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

400% Higher Throughput Mozscape API Now in Beta, And Seeking Testers Posted: 13 Aug 2012 03:12 AM PDT Posted by randfish If you've used or considered using the Mozscape API to retrieve link metrics data, we've got something unique to share - a brand new beta of a much faster, more robust API. This beta version currently has just a few testers (and we're seeking more), but thus far, we're seeing remarkable results. Carin, who manages the big data team here at Moz, helped share the story with me last week: The current API is not able to support everyone's use case! Some people need to make a lot of calls in a really short period of time - our API currently can't support more than 10 requests/second (even for paid users). Others have a large list of URLs they want to update metrics on every new index release - our current API doesn't support batching very well and will timeout with batch sizes larger than 50 URLs. The beta version has made some serious performance improvements with single URL throughput and can handle 200 requests / second - the beta API is seeing a 400% throughput improvement, although response times will still be the same To address batching users we've developed a new batching model - online batching (available in the beta API) and offline batching (coming soon to the beta API) Online batching: the maximum amount of results we can process in a POST without a timeout from S3. This has been improved from 50 URLs to 500 URLs in one batch request Offline batching (still in development): for batch sizes larger than 500 URLs, offline batching will process through the entire list (probably up to a certain limit not yet decided) and return a downloadable CSV link to S3 where all the data will be available. Since this is still in development, it is not clear the SLA on offline batching, but this feature will be also be available for beta testing as soon as it is feature complete! Mozscape's API is pretty big today - we served 154,352,249 (154 million) requests in the first 10 days of August and returned 1,186,736,774 (1.2 billion) rows of link metrics data. You can still sign up free or try our paid API, but if you have serious demand for high-volume or large batches of link data, we'd love to have you in the beta for the new API. Just contact Andrew Dumont - andrew@seomoz.org - and he'll get you set up! Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

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Helping Our Farmers Cope with the Drought

Your Daily Snapshot for Tuesday, August 14, 2012   Helping Our Farmers Cope with the Drought Farmers in Iowa are among those struggling with the fallout from the historic drought. Crop yields for corn and soy beans are down sharply, driving up the cost of feed and making it more expensive to raise livestock. Yesterday, President Obama saw the damage first-hand and described a new effort to help livestock producers. Touring McIntosh Family Farms in Missouri Valley, Iowa, the President announced that the Department of Agriculture will begin to buy up to $170 million worth of beef, pork, chicken, lamb, and fish, and he's encouraging the Department of Defense to do their part as well. Find out how President Obama is working to help our nation's farmers. President Barack Obama tours the McIntosh family farm, which has been affected by the drought, in Missouri Valley, Iowa, Aug. 13, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) In Case You Missed It Here are some of the top stories from the White House blog: Celebrating the Soldier Athletes on Team USA The Olympic and Paralympic teams include a record number of servicemen and women, both active duty and members of our reserves. President Obama Congratulates the Curiosity Team President Obama calls the team that landed the Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars. @Whitehouse Celebrates the 2012 Olympic Games in London Like people all over the world, the White House has been using Twitter to celebrate the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Today's Schedule All times are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). 10:15 AM: The Vice President delivers remarks at a campaign event 12:25 PM: The President delivers remarks at a campaign event 4:30 PM: The Vice President delivers remarks at a campaign event 5:00 PM: The President delivers remarks at a campaign event 8:55 PM: The President delivers remarks at a campaign event Get Updates Sign up for the Daily Snapshot Stay Connected     Facebook Twitter YouTube Flickr Google+     This email was sent to e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com Manage Subscriptions for e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com Sign Up for Updates from the White House Unsubscribe | 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 : Who decided to add the noise?

Who decided to add the noise?

Five or ten years ago, did people start saying, "I don't go to Yankees games any more--the stadium isn't noisy enough, and there aren't enough ads on the big screen TV?"

The new arena in Newark is purpose-designed to pump as much distortion-free sound into the seats as possible—and they're not afraid to use it at any opportunity.

Noise/music/distraction is as much a marketing choice as your logo or the coupons you use. When the harried clerk at the Delta counter starts yelling into the PA system, that's marketing as well.

The calculation (if it gets made at all) is a complex one. How will this investment in speakers and amps translate into increased attendance? (or sausage sales?)

When you turn the stadium into a real-life video game, when the audience can't hear the players or the skates on the ice, you will no doubt attract an audience—but they will be the drive-by masses, not the lifetime fans. The choice to delight the masses at the expense of the diehards seems easy in the short run, but it's ultimately crippling to the future of the brand.

There's no doubt that louder concerts make rock concert goers believe that the performance was better. But beyond that, have they done the math? [And yes, this series of questions probably applies to your project too, noise or no noise].

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Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

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• Hollande's Honeymoon is Over; 54% of Voters Unhappy; Unions Promise "War" in September
• Mish on Max Keiser: Jobs, Birth-Death Model, Inflation-Deflation, Gold, Student Loans, Demographics, Housing
• Gary Shilling: US in Recession Now or Within 3 Months, Deleveraging Will Take 5-7 More Years

Hollande's Honeymoon is Over; 54% of Voters Unhappy; Unions Promise "War" in September Posted: 13 Aug 2012 07:22 PM PDT As France slides deeper into recession, Public confidence in Hollande slides. 54% are unhappy with president François Hollande's overall performance. Only 33% trust government to cut debt Only 40% think Hollande can find a solution to the eurozone crisis. However, people are happy with free money. They approve Hollande's reducing the retirement age to 60, from 62, for some workers. Lowering retirement age may make the affected workers happy, but the policy is economic folly in the face of increasing lifespans. Moreover, those poll numbers are 100% guaranteed to get worse as Hollande is doing all the wrong things economically such as raising income taxes and supporting financial transaction taxes. Hollande's job proposals are even worse. War over Peugeot The Financial Times also notes France's powerful CGT union has promised "war" in September over the closure of Peugeot's carmaking plant at Aulnay near Paris. Peugeot fired 8,000 workers and that has both the unions and Hollande howling. For more details, please see Car Maker Peugeot to Cut 8,000 Jobs, Close Plant; Shape of Things to Come. The union "war" will further pressure Hollande to follow through with his Economically Insane Proposal: "Make Layoffs So Expensive For Companies That It's Not Worth It" This is how I described the proposal in the preceding link: Four Things, All of Them Bad Mass layoffs will occur before the law passes. Companies will move any jobs they can overseas. Ongoing, if it's difficult to fire people, companies will not hire them in the first place. Corporate profits will collapse along with the stock market should the need to fire people arise. The proposal to force companies to sell plants rather than fire workers as outlined by Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg and Labour Minister Michel Sapin is nothing short of economic insanity. Government Spending Over Half of French GDP In Quick Facts on France, Heritage says "Government spending has increased to a level equivalent to 55 percent of total domestic output. The deficit remains more than 6 percent of GDP, pushing public debt up to more than 80 percent of GDP." Unemployment will Rise, GDP will Sink In a recent panel discussion in Spain, Paul Krugman said he would start to worry when government spending is over 50% of GDP. France is already there. As Hollande steers France further into the gutter, French unemployment (already over 10%) is bound to rise and GDP will sink. Krugman's cure? More government spending of course. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

Mish on Max Keiser: Jobs, Birth-Death Model, Inflation-Deflation, Gold, Student Loans, Demographics, Housing Posted: 13 Aug 2012 12:47 PM PDT About a week ago or so I taped a session with Max Keiser regarding a number of topics including Jobs, the Birth-Death Model of businesses, Inflation, Gold, Student Loans, Demographics, Housing, and family formation. The video was published a couple of days ago. Since the video was taped I talked one more time with the BLS and can provide a better description of what is happening with the birth-death model. I will comment on the birth-death model and my conversation with the BLS in the future, but no, I still cannot explain in detail the "black box" that converts unadjusted numbers to seasonally adjusted numbers Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

Gary Shilling: US in Recession Now or Within 3 Months, Deleveraging Will Take 5-7 More Years Posted: 13 Aug 2012 10:03 AM PDT In a Daily Ticker Interview with Henry Blodget, economist Gary Shilling makes the case the US is already in recession. "We've had three consecutive months of declines in retail sales," says Shilling, president of A. Shilling & Co., an economic research and forecasting firm. "That's happened 29 times since they started collecting the data in 1947, and in 27 of the 29 we were either in a recession or within three months of it." Shilling expects this recession will last about a year and shave about 3.5% from growth from peak to trough. This time is different, says Shilling "because a lot of things that normally go down in a recession are already there, like housing." And policies that normally help revive the economy are absent. The Fed can't cut interest rates because they're already near zero and the housing market won't be a catalyst for growth, Shilling says. Before the last presidential election Shilling said that whoever got elected then wouldn't get re-elected because the economy would still be weak with high unemployment. Now Shilling says he'd like to see one party in control in Washington because it increases the odds of cuts for entitlements and could help "restore confidence in Washington." But even then he says it will take five to seven years to complete the deleveraging that's already underway before the economy recovers. Case for Recession On June 21, I made the case 12 Reasons US Recession Has Arrived (Or Will Shortly) On July 11, I wrote Case for US and Global Recession Right Here, Right Now; Recognizing the Limits of Madness; Permabears? More QE is Pointless While everyone is looking for another round of QE, on August 1, I explained Another Round of QE is Pointless. Would Another Round of QE Help? Everyone is looking for the Fed to do something. I have to ask what good could it possibly do? Yield on the 10-year treasury is about 1.5%. Would it make any difference to businesses if it was 1.25% or even 1%? I suggest additional monetary stimulus would not do anything to spur job creation and it would continue to punish those on fixed incomes. An additional round of QE could ignite a further rally in equities (already in bubble land). However, one of these QE moves by the Fed will blow sky high, and with equities priced beyond perfection, the next round of QE may be the one. Timing the Recession Shilling thinks the recession started in the second quarter. Obviously, I agree. It will be interesting to see when and where the NBER places it. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

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Damn Cool Pics

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• Gotye - Somebodies: A YouTube Orchestra [Video]
• Hilarious Faces of Synchronized Swimming
• Redneck Innovation
• Hot Girls in Latex Cosplay Costumes
• Orphaned Spotted Lamb Adopted by Dalmatian Dog
• Social Media and College Admissions [Infographic]

Gotye - Somebodies: A YouTube Orchestra [Video] Posted: 13 Aug 2012 03:43 PM PDT So many Gotye covers so little time. Gotye himself used the abundance of internet covers to make this video mashup:

Hilarious Faces of Synchronized Swimming Posted: 13 Aug 2012 11:51 AM PDT Buzzfeed has collected forty-three poses that likely weren't quite as traumatic from a distance, but up close might even cause Stephen King to lose a few winks.

Redneck Innovation Posted: 13 Aug 2012 10:49 AM PDT

Hot Girls in Latex Cosplay Costumes Posted: 13 Aug 2012 09:21 AM PDT Most cosplay outfits are very hot, but there's just someting about a skin tight latex outfit that just, well, makes them a whole lot hotter. Enjoy the hottest latex cosplay outfits we could find on the internet.

Orphaned Spotted Lamb Adopted by Dalmatian Dog Posted: 13 Aug 2012 09:15 AM PDT An orphaned spotted lamb in South Australia's Barossa Valley has been adopted by a Dalmatian dog, according to local media.

Social Media and College Admissions [Infographic] Posted: 13 Aug 2012 08:58 AM PDT Social media outlets such as Facebook and YouTube are actively being used by college admission offices to not only recruit students but also check up on future prospects to see if they truly make the grade. Via OnlineColleges.net

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