What's Your New Year reSEOlution: Top Ten reSEOlutions for 2010

You’ve tried several years before but this time, come January 1, 2010 your New Year reSEOlution is to be more SEOrganized, pay more attention to the detail, save on SEM spending and track those milestones once and for all. You’ve been ready since January 2007 but are so busy that you get off track and end up putting it back in the rainy-day pile for next quarter. Hundreds of rainy days later and you have no idea what your SEO program is let alone the basic concept of relevant keywording and linkbuilding. There are probably hundreds to thousands of FREE SEO tips you can incorporate into your internet marketing program. I’ve listed below a top ten list to help jump-start your 2010 New Year reSEOlution. Along the way, I’ve included a few helpful URLs that will provide you with many more SEO tips to choose from.

1. Review your SEO stats for the past 3 years, if possible, and analyze and incorporate SEO strategies and plans accordingly

2. Create a spreadsheet of your SEO program and include timelines, milestones and all the other relevant items. Make sure you update and review this sheet on a daily to weekly basis and adjust your SEO strategy accordingly; Don’t forget to leave plenty of space to add on to as you move down this list

3. Review meta tag keywords and make sure a comma is after each keyword and that the max is no more than 250 characters (including spaces); This is a common error that is overlooked, however, this can make or break you organic positioning

4. Incorporate keywords in your anchor text; this can take a very long time to complete depending on how many links are on your web site. You may want to segment and delegate this to several on your team and schedule updates on a regular basis

5. Update meta tag descriptions regularly, and make sure the characters do not exceed 200 (including spaces); Meta tag description is the snippet that is included with your organic search listing. The more creative and appealing your copy with relevant keywords that match your web site the better chances you have of being indexed more prominently

6. Review title tags and make sure you use 3 to 4 relevant keywords, repeating them each at least 2X but no more than 3X; Characters should not exceed 150 (including spaces) For example, a jewelry site might have the following title: "AnnHarringtonJewelry.com, discount diamond rings, diamond jewelry, diamond engagement rings, antique jewelry, modern jewelry" – note the web site URL address is 1st, then followed by the use of keywords "diamond" used 3X, "rings" used 2X, and "jewelry" used 3X, all relevant to this the web site; All following the SEO industry standard as mentioned in this section (see 1st sentence).

7. Maximize the social networks, e.g., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. For ideas on how, visit these 2 resourceful sites that have plenty of suggestions - searchengineland.com and seomoz.org

8. If you have many images, make sure you are incorporating image tags into your code otherwise you risk spiders and crawlers ignoring your site

9. Optimize your site map; I’m amazed at how many web sites are not optimizing their site maps; Yes you’ve had a site map since the web site was first created but is it optimized to include relevant keyword descriptions, etc?

10. Submit your site to reputable search engines such as Yahoo, DMOZ, Aviva, Business.com, etc.

Remember your 2010 new year reSEOlution program is a WIP (work in progress) and the more regularly you review, update and add to your existing SEO program, the more impact your SEO will have to your bottom line.

Wishing you and yours a healthy and prosperous 2010!

written by Gloria Buono Daly (c) 2009

Tiger Woods vs Slutty Women vs Charitable Organizations: Their World According to Google Search Results

What is our world coming to? During this time of giving and celebration, Christmas, Hanukkah, etc., the world according to Google search results (see tables below), is more concerned with Tiger, Elin and the other women instead of charitable organizations and giving. Thank you media! Why does our world always want to see the big guy fall down?

Photo above: The Woods Family in better times. As appeared on sun-sentinel.com, Getty Images Feb 17,2009

I’m truly hoping that Elin and Tiger Woods pull through this.  I’m also hoping that Tiger decides to donate monies to charities instead of to all those “what would you call them, they deny they are prostitutes, hummm hellooo!” (Oops, one exception - Jamie Junger who emphasizes she did not receive money from Tiger).  Do we really care about kiss and tell stories by these slutty women who appear to act like prostitutes? At this point, the issue is out, and if I were Tiger, screw the gold-digging slutty women and donate to charity instead of paying them off to not speak. Why place money on those sluts to only encourage more to come out and try to get rich off of you? Feed the poor; Not those filthy, sluts!  I'm also disappointed in Gloria Allred, Esq. In my opinion paying someone to keep their mouth shut is also a form of prostitution. Hilarious that suddenly these sluts want to come off as being saints, dugh! I'm hoping that we the people all try searching for some charitable organizations and think about volunteering, doing some good, donating to the poor and hungry, etc. Here are a few popular charitable organizations: United Way, Catholic Charities, City of Hope, Make A Wish Foundation, American Red Cross, United States Golf Association, National Christian Foundation, Salvation Army (oops almost forgot this one, not on the list below). And let's light a candle for Elin and Tiger's children, instead of reading all that sensational crap out there online, on tv and in print.

Below is a brief summary snapshot of my findings from Google exact searches as of 12/14/2009. The analysis below illustrates all things Tiger, Elin and other women represent almost nine-tenths (87.762%) of the total Google exact search results while only about an eighth, 12.38%, exact search results coming from some of the most popular charitable organizations.

Below are descriptions of exact search from which the summary totals above were derived.

Source: Google Exact Search, 12/14/2009

written by Gloria Buono Daly (c) 2009

Interesting web crawling service at Web 2 Expo in NYC

On Wednesday, November 18th while at the Web 2.0 Conference at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City, I found an interesting web crawling service provider, 80legs. Their product is a service platform for web crawling which provides their customers (web site owners) the ability to design their own crawls and the power to crawl up to 2 billion pages per day. What this means is that web crawler technology is now affordable for smaller companies and individuals -- clients will pay for only what they use (e.g., $2.00 / million pages, $.03 per CPU hour, etc.). Although there is much controversy in regards to the future of Web becoming more real time centric vs. indexed searches, many industry experts, including 80legs CEO Shion Deysarkar, believe indexed crawlers will be around for a long time as there is so much data compiled vs. a smaller amount of relevant real time populations.

Deysarkar actually got into web crawling because he felt it was one of the best use cases for the grid computing platform provided by his sister company, Plura Processing. "We initially thought of building specific tools that took advantage of web crawling, but we ultimately felt that providing a platform for web crawling would be more powerful and interesting," says Deysarkar.

When asked where he thinks Web 3.0 will be going versus Web 2.0, Deysarkar believes that Web 3.0 is all about turning the unstructured content (e.g., information retrieval from keyword searches via google, yahoo, etc.) on the web into structured data (e.g., databases from query html forms, flickr, etc.) . “At 80legs we can really help with web 3.0 because we can throw a whole lot of bandwidth and compute-power towards those big barriers to solve the web 3.0 problems,” says Deysarkar.

To view Web 2.0 Facebook Album go to http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=122609&id=794796434&l=87f2b2fa43 

For more information  go to: http:80legs.com, http://80legs.wordpress.com/, or http://twitter.com/80legs

written by Gloria Buono Daly (c) 2009

Look at the social media tool I found at Web 2 Expo in New York City

On Wednesday, November 18th while at the Web 2.0 Conference at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City, I found a social media tool at exhibitor booth, The Social Collective. This company was involved with the hosted social networking and scheduling software that powered the SXSW and Oracle OpenWorld conferences. Their newest product, CrowdCampaign, is a social tool that aids businesses, non-profits and any person interested in building its brand and reaching its target demographic through the use of Twitter.

Clinton Bonner of The Social Collective, got involved in social media networking while working with a company called Topcoder, Inc. “They have a 200,000 person community of software developers and they host global competition. They use marketing proliferation and the know-how-of-the-crowd to get things done. And that’s how I ended up in social media marketing and crowdsourcing,” says Bonner.

When asked where he thinks Web 3.0 will be going versus Web 2.0, Bonner believes it is all about sensors integrated with social media networks. “They call it the Web of things, the sensors telling humans how to do things more efficiently and better and that’s what the next version will bring,” Bonner adds.

As an online marketer specializing in all things digital marketing and volunteer for many non-profit events where budgets are tight, I can envision “CrowdCampaign,” a valuable social tool for building a community while building brands and increasing activity 24/7. For more information call Clinton Bonner at 860-608-9074 or go to: http:crowdcampaign.com, http://twitter.com/crowdcampaign

written by Gloria Buono Daly (c) 2009

Social Networking Your Way to a Job

On November 16th, students and professionals gathered at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center Campus in New York City for a discussion on the social networking challenges and opportunities. The panelists addressed various aspects ranging from basic networking and promoting your personal brand to integrating Web 2.0 technology into career networking.

The panel was moderated by Eileen Sharaga, President, Career Resources. The speakers included Donna Sweidan, Founder, CareerFolk, LLC, Ronna Lichtenberg, CEO/Co-Founder,Videotrope, and Tonia Mattu, Career Coach and Consultant, Mercury Group.

INTEGRATE

While the internet is increasingly crucial for career networking, Sweidan believes that to be most effective, integrating social networking is the key to building your brand. “LinkedIn is like an online resume. The Professional Process is also valuable on Facebook,” says Sweidan. “Twitter is huge for professionals,” she added.

KNOW YOURSELF

While social networks are powerful, Lichtenberg recommends that you be very clear about why a hiring manager should hire you. “Know your differentiation and know what makes you stand out,” says Lichtenberg. “Like Seth Godin’s Purple Cow,” she added.


BEING OUT THERE

While it is important to spend time on your computer, social networking can be a distraction. “You can’t be in your pajamas all day on the computer,” says Mattu. “Get out of the house and your energy will come off differently,” added Mattu.

Q&A

On what it takes to become an advocate on social media, has a lot to do with knowing what you want and identifying the tools and knowledge. “I’m naturally curious and I like to read great blogs from all over the world. You can visit my Twitter account and see who I’m following to understand,” says Sweidan.

HELPFUL TIPS FOR CAREER NETWORKING:
• Make sure you are on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter
• Start and Comment on discussions
• Know your brand, what sets you apart
• Speak in Present Tense when describing yourself
• Be prudent in asking and providing endorsements

This seminar, produced by Center for Communication, is part of their 2009 Fall Seminar Series and appears as a weekly television series, Media City on NYC TV. This program is also video-streamed on the CenCom Website.


written by Gloria Buono Daly (c) 2009

The New Web 3.0 vs Web 2.0: The Impact of Web 3.0 on Digital Marketing

According to OpenInnovators.net, at the Seoul Digital Forum 2009 (this past May), Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt was asked to define the term Web 3.0 and here’s what he said: “Well, the Web 2.0 is a marketing term, and I think you’ve just invented Web 3.0″ - Eric Schmidt

His response went on to describe the various aspects of technology driving Web 3.0 from building to combining applications and multi-platform devices, to social networks, blogs, micro-blogs, emails, etc.

All of the technologies have been around in Web 2.0, so it’s not necessarily advancements in technologies but advancements in creativity, innovations, new engine launches and how the new Web 3.0 is going to be utilized. Digital marketers will be required to revise strategies, media and marketing plans accordingly and quickly. Major differences have to do with the way search engines will customize searches more intelligently, intuitively, relevantly and most importantly, in real-time (e.g., social networks merged with indexed searches, etc.) as well as how companies will need to manage information more efficiently.  The latest application to help businesses for the new Web 3.0 is Twitter’s launch of CoTweet; For more information go to Wall Street Journal’s November 9, 2009 article, "Twitter Start-Up CoTweet Launches Paid Service" by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter. When Web 3.0 becomes mainstream, the entire strategy, research and analytics will need to change. Existing marketing and media plans that are successful for Web 2.0 will not have any impact in Web 3.0. For more on the basics of understanding these differences, I highly recommend reading “Web 3.0 -- Intuitive World Live Web69” by Benjimester.

Below is a listing of three helpful tips for all digital marketing executives to consider incorporating into their media and marketing plan as Web 3.0 becomes mainstream:

1. When Web 3.0 becomes mainstream, the most important challenge will be that search engine algorithms will be relying more heavily on customized, relevant, real-time responses particularly with the wide array of applications, devices, multi-platforms, and how companies and digital marketers will need to react.  More applications e.g., Twitter’s CoTweet, will be offering their own pay per click programs, and indexed search results will no longer have impact as it did in Web 2.0. Therefore, the existing advertising and marketing strategies and campaign spending used today to leverage SEO in Web 2.0 will no longer apply in the new world of Web 3.0.
   
2. Anticipate implementing innovative new strategies and understand that most of the metrics you utilize today will most likely not be relevant with the new Web 3.0 search engine marketing and optimization algorithm.
   
3. Stay on top of new applications (e.g., CoTweet), optimization and marketing trends and learn all you can about how these changes in search engine algorithms will impact your internet marketing SERP (search engine results pages) and revise your marketing and media plans accordingly.

There's a lot more to come and that will have to go into the Web 3.0 digital marketing strategy. Stay tuned for more information and helpful tips by bookmarking this blog  and visiting more often.

Also I would love your opinion; please answer this poll   about Web 3.0 vs. Web 2.0  Thanks!

written by Gloria Buono Daly (c) 2009

Twitter’s Business Model: Will figuring the figures shift the social networking paradigm?

A recent article by Jessica E. Vascellaro and Michael Corkery of The Wall Street Journal “Twitter Lines Up Additional Funding” (Friday, September 25, 2009, Corporate News, B3) has sparked my interest and prompted me to share my thoughts on the latest funding fury. Twitter is in negotiations to receive up to $100 million to enable them more time to determine an appropriate business model they can transfer into economic value. According to the article, the business model may include the implementation of a database of twitterers segmented by keyword content from tweets which I believe may result in altering Twitter and the social networking media paradigm.

Many corporations believe that like RSS feed concerns back in 2005, Twitter is creating more risk of compromising ad spending since internet users are able to create their own PR buzz and get the information they want for free, and may push Twitter to incorporate a pay per click (PPC) program. When and if this occurs, I see Twitter becoming a “micro-search engine marketing” program, competing for dollars with the Googles, Yahoos, and MSNs of the world.

RSS and Twitter are almost identical systems which is why I believe a smart move for Twitter, besides due diligence, would be to model their business after Real Simple Syndication (RSS) as well as the leading search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN). RSS feeds, initially developed in 1999, became mainstream in 2005 and have been successfully and effectively publishing many updated periodicals in real time in an open free environment ever since. Anyone with a web site or blog can add the RSS icon to their site and get subscribers for free.

Although RSS and Twitter are different, both share the identical process:

• a user clicks on an RSS icon (twitterer’s icon) to subscribe (follow) to a feed (tweet)

• Twitter is limited to 140 characters, RSS is not and can be as long as it needs to be

• RSS feeds are used for publishing blog entries, news, audio, video, etc. and users can bookmark the feed; Twitter users are still new and are not yet using Twitter to it’s full potential the way others are using RSS

• Users add RSS onto their blog and submit their blogs to submitter sites or directories to increase the chances that people subscribe to their RSS feed much the same way twitterers follow others to get followed and post their Twitter links

• A big difference is that with Twitter, users post information about a new web site they have, include a link to it, write brief promo copy to attract other Twitterers to visit their site or follow, something we are unable to do with RSS

When used creatively, Twitter, like RSS feeds, can add hype and increase the chances of creating various internet revenue streams. RSS has been enabling many companies and individuals with the potential for additional revenue streams and affiliate programs on the internet; All this for free. Why then would anyone want to pay for Twitter should they create a database when we are able to have the entire Twitter universe now for free?

Below is a listing of some factors that I believe would need to be considered before developing and implementing a business model for Twitter:

1. “Twitter Narcissists”: How do you weed out “Twitter narcissists?” There are individuals doing up to 100 tweets per day to get thousands of followers so they can brag about it. And then what, do you sell a “Twitter Narcissist” list to a corporation for them to post an online ad? That just might happen and prove to be phenomenal.

2. Revealing Identities: Twitter and other social networks enable users to create profiles where they can include all personal things about themselves including age, gender, geographical area, hobbies, interests, join business groups, etc., along with all other types of content

3. Privacy: Some folks are putting personal things about themselves for the world to look at without ever realizing what they are doing, e.g., Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, etc. Issues are going to arise such as invasion of privacy, etc. prompting the FTC to intervene and incorporate more compliance laws. Our economy is strapped enough and now more government spending due to Twitter. Can our government afford this?

4. “What’s in it for me?”: Twitter is still so new.  Individuals are still learning and do not want to post without a clear reason and direction; There is no way to determine what twitterers are tweeting for their employers vs. who is tweeting individually, etc. Why would individuals continue to create buzz about something if Twitter is capitalizing on it without anything in it for the Twitterers making the buzz?

5. Identity-Centric Database: People are following other tweeters because of interests and the feeling of freedom associated with Twitter. Some even end up meeting them at events to discuss their passions, becoming colleagues, etc. Commercializing databases of Twitterers who originally participate for the uniqueness and freedom of Twitter may possibly hinder the uniqueness of the original intention of the social and professional networking media paradigm.

6. I’ve been tweeting for the fun of it and to let folks know what concerts, professional events, fundraisers, other places, etc. I’m attending or have attended,  as well as topics I’m interested in, blogs I’ve written, etc. I'm not utilizing all of the tool enhancements out there that can add thousands of followers to my Twitter account in one simple click. I’m Twittering to learn of groups that have similar interests similar to how I use my LinkedIn account.  Every now and then I  llike  to announce my new web site http://allthingsdigitalmarketing.com (which is still not up yet) but I will continue to include it and mention the status of this project. I’m also thinking about ways to capitalize (e.g., Adsense, etc.).

7. Twitter Account Segments: Corporate, Non-Profit, News Media, Non-News Media, Political Media, Non-Political Media, Individual Twitter Account – Segmenting corporate twitterers is going to be a very subjective and difficult task. Currently, many companies and individuals have multiple Twitter accounts. There is risk that many will opt out if they are forced to pay for accounts, posting links to their company site, blog, etc.

8. Assessing Twitter Analytics: Many experts are looking way too deep into the shallow stats and believe that they can judge the effectiveness of twitter by analyzing Twitter percentage rates of people's tweets (aka Twitter rate %) . All a Twitter rate % means is that that people are tweeting back and forth to each other. I’m not sure how a company can justify spend advertising dollars based on a Twitter account % rate. People talk back and forth on the phone, back and forth via email, via blogs, etc. Does that make your telephone wire or email more successful than another persons? It is going to be very difficult to measure which tweets are effective and which are not especially when attempting to base on the amount of tweets going back and forth to one person. There are also those of us who use the auto-responds, purchase software to get additional followers, etc.

9. Compromising Corporate Productivity: With all of the Twitter buzz lately, I still believe that anyone spending inordinate amounts of time Twittering at work is doing a big disservice, wasting valuable time and compromising corporate productivity; Eventually ending up with our country having more corporations going under and being bailed out at our (we the taxpayers) expense

10. Twitter is simply one of the many internet tools (i.e., RSS, email, podcasting, webcasts, micro-blogs, social and professional networks, etc.) used to integrate into a marketing program. There are many other social networks that can be used. Changing or adding on to Twitter other than what it currently is, may shift Twitter into an entirely new product, like a “micro-search engine,” or risk losing uniqueness, and tweeted into oblivion by becoming another friendster, lifestream, linkedin, facebook, flickr, etc.

written by Gloria Buono Daly (c) 2009