Pimp My Keywords

SEO Tactics, Tips & Helpful Advice - No. 34

Word has it Yahoo has started rolling out a search update.

According to Yahoo, you can anticipate "some changes to our crawling, indexing and ranking algorithms over the next few days and expect the update will be completed soon."

Therefore, do not panic.

Your ranking may go up. It may go down and, when it's all said and done, you'll probably be back at where you are today.

Best advice?

• Keep optimizing
• Write fresh content.
• Make sure you have strong Page Titles and Page Descriptions
• Improve your inbound link building efforts.
• Quit worrying about algorithms.

Digital Non-Conference: Interactive Media and the Law

This panel, moderated by Nilesh (Neal) Patel, Counsel with Frost Brown & Todd, LLC, was by far the most interesting (and most ignored by attendees) session in the two-day AdClub Digital Non-Conference set Nov. 14-15 in Cincinnati.

The panel included Jill P. Meyer (Partner, Frost Brown & Todd, LLC), Michael Fry (Greenebaum, Doll & McDonald PLLC), Elaine Skeldon (WonderGroup) and Jeff Jones (WonderGroup).

In record time, the group covered legal issues involving interactive media; how to protect websites and companies, and what are the risks involved.

Jones and Skeldon introduced ToppsTown, a virtual world created by WonderGroup for Topps Baseball Cards. The website is genius. It allows to participate in "e-trading" baseball cards and bringing them collections to life. They can trade electronic cards; create their own clubhouse and play games to earn points and buy more e-cards.

Ah, now to the lawyer stuff:

"From where I sit, anytime you are interacting on a website and asking someone to post content or play on the site, that peaks the legal interest," says Meyer. "There are virtual worlds; news sites with i-reporters that are asking you to create content.

"Social media is what you are hearing about every day," said Jones. "It's a big part of advertising"

And, thus, their are going to be legal issues.

"Lots of legal issues, but what brings them all together is the lack of control," said Meyer. " What is the content going to be? Shear lack of control is a legal issue. Much of this is limited to advertising, but other things are involved such as terms of use and privacy policies."

Fry agrees.

"There are legal risks. What are you saying? What kind of music are you playing? What are you saying about brands? When users bring that into your site, then you are exposing yourself to all kinds of liability," said Fry.

Patel noted that, when given the chance on a website, someone will always do something bad. For example:

• steal (copyrights, trademarks)
• be mean to others (defame, threaten)
• post obscene stuff (nudie pics, porno)
• misrepresent (false claims, false advertising)

"When you are developing sites for others to populate, do you have a screening process?" said Patel.

What about the content?

"As long as you are hosting a website for others to develop the content, how is it set up? There is a contractual issue there," said Meyer. "Whoever is creating the content is responsible."

Other areas of discussion included:

• Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and obtaining verifiable parental consent prior to collecting personally identifiable information. ToppsTown not only abides by COPPA in seeking parental approval for any children under the age of 13, but does not collect and keep that information for data purposes.
• "That information is only used to get parent concent. Then it is thrown away," said Skelton.
• "Any personal, for a child under the age of 13 - name address, anything that can allow a company to come back and identify a user, they cannot collect," said Fry.
• When do you need to call the lawyers? "Call them early," said Jones. "Have a meeting with the programmers and lawyers. Understand the logic so you can build it."

SEO Tactics, Tips & Helpful Advice - No. 33

Links to other websites can have a positive effect on your website if you link to the right websites. Here's a summary of Google's statements:

• Relevant links to other websites can help your website visitors.
• Outbound links can also help your credibility.
• A very positive effect on links to other websites is that they help you to build relationships with other domain experts.

Links to other websites can have a negative effect on your website if you don't monitor to which websites you link.

• Google doesn't like paid links.
• Google recommends not to have more than 100 links per web page.

Official Google Statement 

Digital Non-Conference: An Overall Review

Some thoughts to share of the first-ever AdClub Digital Non-Conference held Nov. 14-15 in Cincinnati, Ohio:

• The event was held at the Hyatt in downtown Cincinnati, with breakout sessions at various pubs. Interesting. Friday's breakouts were good; one pub breakout on Saturday (just one) was rough due to the cold weather and rain. There were both good points and bad points to having attendees leave a central location and scatter around downtown.
• There was NO wireless Internet connection at the Hyatt. How can you have a "Digital" conference with no Internet connection?
• Speakers need to educate and not advertise. Just tell me your name and your company name and let's get to the reason why I am there. I don't need to learn about your new book, or your new product, or your new software development team, or your new client. I came (and paid) to learn.
• I thought there was too much "gloom and doom" by some of the presenters, especially by the event's final keynote speaker Ted McConnell, Manager of Interactive Marketing and Innovation with P&G. Not only did McConnell have enough charts to choke a cow, he ended the event with a downer presentation. Yeah, let's all get fired up now, huh?
• Where were all the other local ad agencies, marketing firms and SEO companies? Why didn't they attend?
• Are people willing to give up their Saturday as part of a two-day conference? The dwindling attendance on the second day proved they are not. The attendance was good on Friday, but not on Saturday. Perhaps, a Thursday-Friday platform is better.
• All of the presentations were recorded by Screaming Bob and will be released as podcasts soon.
• Overall, the event was good. It gives AdClub something to build upon for next year.

Digital Non-Conference Chris Heile: Digital Technology Goes Beyond The Computer Screen, Way Beyond

Chris Heile, Vice President of Advertising at HyperQuake, presented "Digital Technology Goes Beyond The Computer Screen, Way Beyond" during the first breakout session at the Cincinnati Digital Conference Non-Conference Friday and Saturday, November 14-15.

Some highlights from Heile's presentation:

• "Brand is how you connect to consumers. How do you reach them, but not violate them?
• "The consumer has changed. Technology has changed.
• "How do we marry the giant technology of the web with everything else? There are more products, new products and consumers have instant access to them. Consumers ask 'what else can you do for me?"

Heile and his staff pointed out that there could be 15 different brands of vodka. What makes the brand of each one different and better?

"Some brands offer status. Being part of a group, access, exclusivity (you feel you are more important)."

Digital Non-Conference Keynote Adam Symson: Think Profitably, Act Locally

Adam Symson, EVP of Interactive at E.W. Scripps Television Group, was the keynote speaker Friday to kick off the first-ever Digital Non-Conference.

Some highlights from his presentation:

• "I believe in the power of search advertising. Forty percent (40%) of all online dollars are search dollars. I am a huge believer in search.
• "However, search is one element of effective advertising. Some are spending all of their advertising budget next year in search (ALL of their advertising budget..wow). What did they do before Google?
• "While search is great, local search is even better.
• "Can a successful branding campaign be pulled off using only search?"

Symson pointed out the website kypost.com where advertisers are targeting potential customers in the 859 area code. They call it "life in the 859."

"The Internet is the wild wild West, said Symson. "However, if you buy an ad on the web (and you have no control), what is the ad going to be placed next to? The Mini Me sex video? You get what you pay for. Do you have control over the ad?"

Symson mention a local model, which is "pay per view" vs. "pay per click." Both, he said, are important.

"I am a big fan of PPC. It is very effective. Search and PPC are part of the mix, but there is something to branding. There's still something to display branding."

Symson went on to say:

• "What's going to happen with local search? It's difficult to look past 1-2 year years, but you need to provide the customer with the best experience when they are on your website.
• "We are trying to get the content out; trying to get where the people are.
• "The web is what you want to see and when you want to see it."

Symson noted that users previously would not be able to share the video player from WCPO. If you did, you might receive a cease and desist letter. Today, however, users are encouraged to use it, take it, put it on their website and play it.

Cincinnati Digital Hub Initiative Blogging Sites

You can follow the Cincinnati Digital Hub Initiative Non-Conference Conference - which takes place Nov. 14-15 - at the following sites:

Digital Hub Initiative Blog
http://digitalhubinitiative.blogspot.com/

AdClub Cincinnati Blog
http://adclubcincy.wordpress.com/

Twitter
www.twitter.com

Search Twitter
http://search.twitter.com/
(Search for the event or our Twitter tag #CNCC)

Pimp My Keywords (this blog)
www.cincinnatisearchengineoptimization.com

This page will be updated as we learn of others blogging about the event.

SEO Tactics, Tips & Helpful Advice - No. 32

There are eight weeks left until the end of 2008. What are you going to do in order to earn higher rankings in search engines and attract more traffic to your website?

Wait until 2009?

No.

Start now. Consider:

• How long has it been since you've updated your company's website?
• Is your content fresh?
• Are you publishing your company's press releases on your website?
• Have you ever written an article about your service, your products, your talented staff?
• What are your Page Titles like? Look at your web pages. Are your Page Titles labeled as Home and About Us?
• What are your targeted keywords?
• What is your website's call to action? Is there one?
• Do you want your visitors to complete a form for more information? Does it work? Are there too many required fields and, thus, it turns away potential customers?
• Have you ever written and published a "white paper" offering awesome information to a potential customer/client?
• Do you have a Blog?
• Are you a guest writer for other websites and blogs?
• Have you ever earned a strong link from another website pointing back to your website?
• Do you currently have a Pay Per Click campaign with Google or Yahoo? Have you tried it?
• What other online advertising campaigns are you doing?
• Is your firm currently conducting Social Media Optimization?
• Do you have a Facebook or LinkedIn profile?
• Do you Twitter? Plurk? Or Ping?

Consider the opportunities!

How To Hire A Local SEO Firm

There are a few search engine optimization firms in Cincinnati. Some specialize in only SEO. Some do website design and SEO. Others are "experts" in 10 different website specialties.

Here's an easy way to start looking for a local SEO firm:

1. Go to Google.
2. Search for "Cincinnati SEO" (or replace with your own city).

Now, let's consider some facts:

1. If the search engine optimization firm isn't ranked in the Top 10 on a simple keyword phrase that is both their city location (Cincinnati) and their specialty (SEO), can they really get your website ranked high on local keywords?
2. If the firm tells you "oh, we'll, we are not focusing on local keywords, we're targeting bigger fish..." Really? They're not looking for local business? (Oh, but they want your business, right?).
3. If they totally overlooking local keywords, ask them what keywords they are targeting. Then, jump over to your computer and do a quickie search on Google. Are you impressed yet?

It is totally amazing local search engine optimization firms are hired when they have no keywords ranked in the Top 10 or Top 20 or even Top 30 in Google.

Yes, perhaps price is driving your purchase decision. Some Cincinnati firms are cheaper than Purple Trout.

However, a cheaper price doesn't mean better results.

Don't forget: the reason you started looking for an SEO firm is because you wanted better rankings, more traffic, more leads and more sales. Right?

Oh, by the way, our website - www.purpletrout.com - is ranked No. 1 in Google on the keyword Cincinnati SEO, while this blog is No. 7 (that's two websites in the Top 10 on the same keyword).

None of our local competitors share that honor.

Don't Fall For Snake Oil Salesmen

Recently, a potential client showed me another SEO firm's proposal. It wasn't because she was trying to get a better price, but because she was confused.

You see, the other SEO firm gave her some bad advice about search engine optimization, including:

• ...they would add non-visible website elements.
• ...they would add hidden code.
• ...they would update non-visible website elements.
• ...they would update all hidden code.
• They also made a big deal of submitting the clients' website to DMOZ.

If your SEO firm ever mentions the words "hidden" or "invisible" do not hire them! These tactics are "black hat" and unethical.

DMOZ (Open Directory) used to be a highly leveraged with Google, but not any more. Apparently, the potential SEO vendor wasn't well informed on the demise of Open Directory.