South Florida Web Marketing Blog

By now you know you need to focus on authority, your own, as well as relationships with other authorities. But what are the best strategies for developing authority?

From an SEO perspective, building authority only works if you have some sort of web presence for people to capitalize on. For the purposes of this column, it’s assumed that you have a blog, a social media presence, or both. Actually, you want to have both, because blogging and social media can reinforce each other in powerful ways:

Search engines try to measure personal (or organizational) authority the way people do. Your ability to obtain real links, fans, likes, +1s, or shares will be driven by that perception. In other words, don’t go buying likes, +1s, links, shares, or whatever.

In this column, the words “authority” and “influencer” will be used somewhat interchangeably. People or organizations that are seen as authoritative generally have a significant amount of influence on others.

Behave Yourself!

The first set of considerations relate to how you’re perceived. These are an important part of the process.

Gain Trust

You can’t be thought of as an authority if you aren’t trusted. Of course, it is possible to be trusted by one group of people, and not others. For example, Ann Coulter is trusted by right wing Republicans, but not by Democrats.

Be Consistent

If you establish a strong position on something, think long and hard before changing it. While there are times when you should change such a position, if you frequently flip flop on the positions you take, then you’ll have problems. People need to know, in general, what to expect from you.

Show Expertise and Value

If you have no value to bring to the conversation, then the authority will not follow, regardless of whatever else you do. In fact, you need to be providing value on an ongoing basis, not just once.

Be Natural and Authentic

Being natural and authentic makes being consistent easier to do. Having to remember what position you took on something when it isn’t your true opinion is asking for trouble. People can sniff out when you aren’t being true to yourself.

Solve Problems for Others

It’s great to show expertise, but if no one is actually helped, who cares? Look beyond demonstrating your skills.

Go out of your way to help people with a need. Show that you solve real problems. It’s great PR.

Help Promote Others

As you gain more exposure, make sure to give back. Promote the works of others. Link to them, tweet them, introduce them to people, and share their content.

Promoting the content of recognized authorities is a double win. It’s very likely to provide value to your audience (they are perceived an authorities for a reason), and it helps you build a relationship with them.

Be Social

Socializing is a great tool. Hanging out with people and being likable counts for a lot! This is a great way to build trust, and get introductions that are helpful to you. Besides which it’s fun!

Be Seen!

Focus on how you can help build up your authority in your industry. The key is to be seen. The following ideas may seem pretty basic, but they work.

Go to Industry Conferences

This is a great way to meet people. There’s no better way to build a relationship than face to face. Go watch current industry authorities speak at conferences like SES.

Sit in the front row and go up and introduce yourself when the session is over. Make sure you have something interesting to say that will capture their attention.

Speak at Industry Conferences

Pitch yourself as a speaker at industry conferences. If you have no prior speaking track record, pitch a case study or new real world data. Conference organizers love real world examples and data.

If you can’t do either of those, come up with something truly unique and fresh. A pitch arguing that you will cover an old topic better than an established speaker isn’t likely to work.

Write for Industry Journals

The strategy here is similar to pitching yourself as a speaker. Bring something really new and different to the table, that is quantitative in nature. Hard facts and figures are more likely to get you in the door.

One alternative strategy that will work too, is to get a current authority to recommend you. Expect to start with a single article, not a column. Once you get one really good article under your belt, you’re on your way.

Meet People Face to Face

This is an expansion of the “attend conferences” concept. There are other places where you can meet people, and influencers as well. For example, local meetups or even social gatherings.

Use your network to help you get invites. Whatever you do, don’t crash anyone’s private social events unless invited!

Get an Introduction

Get introduced to an influencer by someone in your network. If you don’t have a current connection via your network, work on expanding it! Personal introductions from a person trusted by the influencer are gold.

Make sure you bring something of interest to the conversation when you end up meeting an influencer, be it by email, phone, or face to face. Face to face is first choice because it’s more personal, with a second choice of phone, then email, but accept whatever is more comfortable for them.

Wrap Up

Yes, this is real work, and you have to allow time for it to unfold. But, in today’s hyper competitive world of search, this investment is essential.

Today’s publishers face a serious challenge: differentiate or die. You’re competing with way too many people, regardless of your market. Developing authority is a way to stand out – to people and search engines alike.

Register now for SES London 2012, the Leading Search Social Marketing Event, taking place 20-24 February, 2012. SES Conference Expo features presentations and panel discussions that cover all aspects of search engine-related promotion. Hurry, early bird rate expires February 3!

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2131604/12-SEO-Authority-Building-Tips

Like many in the SEO community, the closing of Yahoo Site Explorer was a difficult pill to swallow. YSE was one of the most powerful tools in helping search experts to deconstruct the most important factors of an increasingly complex algorithm.

For those of us who have spent the past several years using YSE to conduct competitive analyses, a few indefatigable qualities dominate a page’s likelihood to rank highly in search engines:

• Quality of the site linking.
• Quality of the page linking.
• Anchor text linking.
• Thematic relevance of the linking site.

Given that this information isn’t new in search circles, why are many marketers still struggling to generate the incoming links required to succeed?

Why So Many Link Building Efforts Fail

Failed link building efforts typically occur for one of two reasons:

• Links were not obtained.
• Only low quality links were generated (such comment, nofollow, and low quality directory links).

The root of many failed link building campaigns usually stems from a misguided approach. Too often, companies engage in commoditized link building, such as hiring an SEO firm for (X) number of links per month. While the logic is sound, the output can be frequently less than desired because the vendor now has a quota objective as opposed to a performance objective.

If we know (and we do) that link building is an effort in quality over quantity, why have we become so hell-bent on link numbers?

To overcome these misaligned incentives, it becomes critical to rethink link building activities. One of the best ways to do this is to apply group dynamics to the problem.

Make Link Building a Win-Win

Historically speaking, three of the most effective link building mechanisms all involve some principal of a win-win relationship. In each of these cases, the person giving the link actually receives a tangible benefit from the transaction:

• Free tools: The benefit of the supporting this tool is less financial and more psychic in nature as the linker has an incentive to contribute to its long-term health (assuming it provides strong value).
• Guest blogging: This provides traffic and worthwhile content for the blog host.
• Link purchases: The linker receives immediate financial benefit for providing the link. (Important note: this is against Google Webmaster Guidelines and, in rare cases, can result in website penalties or bans)

These tactics can also be used in unison, as guest blogging can be a fantastic way to drive links and promote the creation of a new tool.

With these ideas in mind, the process of link building fundamentally shifts to one that is rooted in creating means the linker, not the transactional outcome of acquiring links.

Model the Benefit of a Top Ranking, Then Offer Incentives

Now that we’ve established the strategy and tactical methods required for effective link building, it’s important to tap a motivated individual within an organization (or agency) to execute properly.

One of the most powerful methods of achieving the results is to incentivize ranking for specific keywords. Paid incentives are a powerful way to reach ranking goals, and it’s frequently helpful to create payout phases such as the following:

• Payout 1: When keyword ranks on Page 2 of Google
• Payout 2: When keyword ranks on Page 1 of Google
• Payout 3: When keyword ranks in top 5 of Google
• Payout 4: When keyword ranks No. 1 on Google

To answer the question of “how much?” it is first critical to understand the impact of that keyword ranking number one on Google.

To derive this value, you will need:

• Total monthly volume (exact match) of the keyword in Google AdWords.
• The average value ($) of an expected conversion.
• Click through rate for each position.

Next, multiply the monthly search volume by the expected CTR and this should yield a good estimated traffic result based on the goal position. Now, multiply that times a benchmark conversion rate of 1.5 percent to establish potential sales driven from the keyword rank. This should provide a strong conceptualization of the revenue that will be driven from this keyword ranking and starting point for bonusing effective implementation.

Recap

Effective link building only works with a strong understanding of the types of link required to succeed and the proper means to motivate your linkers and link builders. The best knowledge in the world is useless without a scalable way to grow.

Register now for SES London 2012, the Leading Search Social Marketing Event, taking place 20-24 February, 2012. SES Conference Expo features presentations and panel discussions that cover all aspects of search engine-related promotion. Hurry, early bird rate expires February 3!

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2133255/Creating-Win-Win-Link-Building-Scenarios

I was recently questioned by a colleague who was surprised to learn after all the talk about mobile apps and smartphones, that Google doesn’t have a library of apps. By that, I mean Google lacks native apps for platforms like iOS, Blackberry, Windows Phone, and yes, Android.

This is the heart of the industry-wide “apps vs. mobile web” debate. Apple wants an app-centric world because it gets 30 percent of app sales. It also wants the functionality endemic to native apps in order to maintain the quality standard that sells iPhones.

Google on the other hand wants a mobile Web-centric world because, put simply, that’s where search happens. Conversely, think of the lessened need for search while you are within narrowly-defined sets of content and functionality, otherwise known as apps.

But there are still user expectations for app-based home screen navigation, which Google doesn’t want to forgo on Android handsets. Here’s where web apps come in. Think of them as glorified bookmarks: websites masquerading as apps on smartphone homescreens throughout the land.

Wild Wild Web

Many believe apps vs. mobile web isn’t really a debate because the right answer is “both”. That’s slightly Utopian as the real world contains resource constraints for mobile product developers who must decide, if not which platform to develop for – at least which one to develop first.

Though comScore puts app and mobile web use at parity, there has been much greater attention and resources devoted to mobile app development. For developers, there’s greater functionality in smartphone SDKs, and for users it’s a warm fuzzy environment (i.e. app stores), to discover apps.

Compare that to the mobile web which is reminiscent of the wild west that was the early desktop web. Content is under-optimized and hard to get to. Mobile website developer Duda mobile measures 1.25 percent of websites to be optimized for mobile. Google says 21 percent of its advertisers have optimized sites.

In addition to lack of content, another gating factor for users is the search process within the mobile browser. Rather than lots of finger tapping to search a mobile web that is under-optimized, many smartphone users – especially on iOS – have opted for the decidedly more user-friendly app route.

But this will turn around: though apps aren’t going anywhere, we’ll see more growth in development of mobile websites over the coming years. In the past few weeks alone, we’ve seen this from OpenTable, Wine.com, and of course Google has long relied on web apps over native.

Having less to do with which tech heavyweight is backing the standard, the shift to web apps is more a function of economics. It’s cheaper for developers to build and maintain a mobile website than an app; and you’re available to any phone with a mobile browser, rather than the fragmented OS scene.

Of course there are quality advantages with native apps, but HTML5 provides app-like functionality for mobile sites. That of course will be difficult for things like high end games or apps that need more direct access to the graphics chip and processor. But for many apps, it’s sufficient.

But what about discovery? The challenge of finding websites, compared to app store search, is one of their biggest stumbling blocks as mentioned. But this will ease up with the combination of more intuitive search like voice and visual (i.e. Siri), and a mobile web that isn’t so daunting.

GoMo, Young Man

It’s no surprise that the company taking the biggest steps to solve some of these problems is Google. One of its biggest mobile initiatives of late is to support mobile websites that are optimized for the mobile browser (rather than being a scaled down version of the full desktop site).

This started in September when Google announced that it will bring mobile website optimization (or lack thereof) into its ranking factors for mobile search quality score. This of course applies to its mobile search algorithm only (doesn’t affect desktop).

In other words, any site that wants to rank higher in Google mobile search – a growing source of engaged, local, and commercially geared traffic – has to get itself in order. Besides being de-ranked, there’s other evidence that lost business results from un-optimized mobile sites.

Joining this effort is the recently launched “GoMo” campaign. This is an online educational resource for businesses to optimize their sites. It includes a list of endorsed vendors and even a simulator (“gomometer”) to see how your current site looks on mobile.

Though an un-optimized experience reflects more on the site itself than on Google, the search giant is in a game of “help us help you”. Together, both entities win by way of more traffic and search volume. The latter slowly happens through the reinforcement of the quality of the mobile web.

As this propagates, more mobile sites will be built, necessitating someone to index and make sense of it all… Guess who? But there could be even more on the line here for Google than where it previously hung its hat. 65% online search market share is eclipsed in mobile…where it owns 95% of search.

Register now for SES London 2012, the Leading Search Social Marketing Event, taking place 20-24 February, 2012. SES Conference Expo features presentations and panel discussions that cover all aspects of search engine-related promotion. Hurry, early bird rate expires February 3!

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2127356/Googles-Battle-for-the-Mobile-Web

For many people who aren’t involved in search engine optimization (SEO) on a regular basis, it’s easy (or so they think). You simply create a website, write some content, and then get links from as many sources as you can.

Perhaps that works. Sometimes.

More often than not, the craft of SEO is truly a unique practice. It’s is often misunderstood and can be painfully difficult to staff for. Here’s why.

SEO is Science

By definition, “Science” is:

1. a branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws: the mathematical sciences.
2. systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation.
3. any of the branches of natural or physical science.
4. systematized knowledge in general.
5. knowledge, as of facts or principles; knowledge gained by systematic study.

Anyone who has performed professional SEO services for any length of time will tell you that at any given time we have definitely practiced each of the above. In some cases, changes in our industry are so rapid that we crowdsource the science experiments among peers (via WebmasterWorld forums or Search Engine Watch forums).

Unfortunately, Google doesn’t provide step-by-step instruction for optimization of every single website. Every website is unique. Every optimization process/project is unique.

Every website represents new and interesting optimization challenges. All require at least some experimentation. Most SEOs follow strict methods of testing/monitoring/measuring so that we know what works and what doesn’t.

We have a few guidelines along the way:

• Our “branch of knowledge” is well formed in what Google provides in their Webmaster Guidelines and SEO Starter Guide.
• Our unique experience. Just like you might “learn” marketing by getting your bachelor’s degree in marketing, you really aren’t very good at it until you’ve worked in your field and gained real-world experience. There are so many things that you can read in the blogosphere regarding SEO that are complete crap. But, if you didn’t know any better, you’d buy off on it because “it sounds reasonable, so it must be true!” So, be careful to claim something is 100 percent “true” unless you have enough “scientific” evidence to back up the claim. Otherwise, it’s called “hypothesis”:

1. A supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation. 
2. A proposition made as a basis for reasoning, without any assumption of its truth.

SEO is Also Art

By definition, art is:

the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects

I’ve worked with and befriended many incredibly bright SEOs in my years in this business. It is those who manage to blend the scientific skills with the creative thoughts on how to experiment/improve programs are the gems.

Getting creative with SEO is thinking of how a marketing program can encompass social, graphic design, link building, content generation, and PR to drive toward a common goal.

Getting creative with SEO is also about reworking a website’s design/code so that usability and accessibility improve, while maintaining brand guidelines and keeping with “look and feel” requirements, yet improving SEO.

Every day, we must get creative in determining how to best target keywords by determining which method of content generation gives us the best chance at gaining a presence in the search engines and – most importantly – engaging our audience.

Should we write a blog post? Should this be best handled in a press release? How about a video? Infographic? New “corporate” page on the site? There are a multitude of ways that we might determine to target a keyword via content.

The Perfect SEO

Today’s SEO is so much more involved than SEO of years past. When I hear people saying that they’re trying to determine if they should hire an in-house SEO or an agency, I will give them the pros and cons of each (and there sincerely are pros and cons of each).

But one factor which I believe leans toward the strength of an agency is that there’s typically going to be a team of individuals, each with a unique skill set. And, these individuals can share examples of what works and what doesn’t, with each other (scientific experiments often occur), they can bounce creative thoughts off of one another and collectively provide more value than any one person might.

Our industry needs more of these highly-skilled “freaks of nature” who blend both the scienctific skills and artistic creativity of SEO.

Register now for SES London 2012, the Leading Search Social Marketing Event, taking place 20-24 February, 2012. SES Conference Expo features presentations and panel discussions that cover all aspects of search engine-related promotion. Hurry, early bird rate expires February 3!

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2129924/SEO-is-Both-Science-and-Art

Getting your voice heard on the internet is never easy. It can be like setting up your soapbox on a crowded street, and waving frantically to get passers-by to pay attention. You might be an expert in your chosen topic, with pearls of wisdom to dispense on X particles or Z-list celebrities, but how do you get people to stop long enough to listen?

The answer is finding the right balance between SEO-friendly content and readability.  It’s essential to make sure the Google (and Bing) spiders – and therefore readers – can find your website or blog. Knowing a few tricks can help you climb their rankings, without sacrificing your sparkling writing or specialist knowledge.

Choose Your Keywords

Keywords are the most important aspect of SEO , so think about them before you even start to write. It can be hard slotting keywords in afterwards without sounding clunky and forced.

Brainstorm words and phrases you think people are looking for, and use trusted tools such as GoogleAdWords to help pick the best. Consider how much competition there is for each phrase.  Instead of catch-all terms such as “travel agency” consider more specific terms, such as “Italian luxury travel specialist”, to sell your particular area of expertise.

Place Keywords Carefully

Search engines don’t just analyze which words you use, but where you place them. Getting keywords in the title or first sentence is obviously a good start. Many newspapers change their pun-heavy headlines to more SEO-friendly versions on their websites.

You need to find the right keyword density – “keyword stuffing” can be penalized by search engines, as well as being a turn-off to readers!

Don’t forget “hidden places” to put your keywords, such as meta tags and image captions.

Use Free Tools

Take advantage of free tools, such as Google Analytics which can assess where your site traffic comes from and which aspects need more work.  For bloggers, WordPress has various plug-ins that can help you choose the best post title and keywords, avoid duplicate content and make the most of meta-tags. Mashable has a list of the top 20 WordPress SEO plug-ins.

Become An Expert on Your Topic

Let’s say users are searching for “Edinburgh travel tips” or “easy Christmas recipes”. If you’ve got several articles on the same topic, then search engines will assume you know what you’re talking about. Choosing a targeted area of expertise will help you get on that coveted first page of search results.

Use Links Wisely

It’s not just what you write that counts. Clever use of links will help your site climb the rankings – including ones to other parts of your own website. If another page has relevant information or you’ve written a similar post in the past then add a link. Just don’t overdo it!

Wear the right Coloured Hat

SEO techniques are sometimes referred to as “white hat” or “black hat”. Search engines regard “white hat” techniques as legitimate ways to optimize your website and help users find the information they want. “Black hat” techniques refer to practices such as using hidden text, or having separate versions of websites to deceive search engines. They might work in the short term, but could lead to Google blocking your site – not a good strategy!

Write for Your Audience

“Content is king” may be a cliché, but it’s basically true. SEO techniques can grab readers, but engaging writing keeps them there. Don’t let your text get so loaded down with keywords your main points get lost. Giving away useful information or creating a lively, informative blog is the best way to keep readers coming back to your site.  Think of your audience. Are they interested enough to plough through a long piece of text? Or do they just want the basic facts as quickly  and succinctly as possible?

Make it Readable

And on the same theme, make sure your writing is easy on the eye. Break up chunks of text into subcategories, and use images effectively. Lists can be a good idea – and a way to repeat keywords without readers noticing! Use short sentences and leave plenty of white space.

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Article source: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-create-seo-friendly-content/36880/

Social media and SEO go hand-in-hand when it comes to building your online brand. The two disciplines are intertwined more than ever and the most successful websites are the ones who have managed to leverage social media for SEO and vice versa. No longer existing in separate silos, the lines between social media marketing and SEO are slowly disappearing.

In order to give your brand the best chance at succeeding in the online world, here are 3 ways you can derive SEO value from your time spent on social networking sites:

Link between profiles
Think of social media marketing like the wheel of a bicycle. Each social profile is one of the spokes and your website is the central hub linking them all together.

You never want the visitor’s journey to end at any given social profile. By interlinking your social profiles with each other, as well as with your website, you are encouraging visitors to extend their interaction  with your company and your brand. The longer you can keep them engaged the better chance you have of getting them to convert.

Linking between profiles also gives you the chance to connect with your target audience on more than one platform, increasing the amount of touch points your brand has in their online lives. For instance, if someone connects with you on LinkedIn, why not send them a message inviting them to follow you on Twitter and to Like your Facebook page? You don’t know which one of these social profiles plays the most important role in their online social lives, so by  creating a loop between all of your social profiles you are helping ensure your message gets heard at least once.

Keep in mind that the end goal of social media marketing should be getting your social connections over to your site, not driving traffic from your site towards your social profiles. Don’t dedicate prominent real estate on your website to giant “Connect with us on Facebook!” buttons. Your site should focus on converting your visitors, not turning them into fans/friends/followers. Keep the “connect with us” buttons on your site, but don’t let them overshadow the other goals of your site.

Promote your content

Content marketing forms the backbone of your SEO and drives most of your online marketing tactics in general. But creating great content is only half of the battle. It doesn’t matter how unique, informative, inspiring or useful your content is if no one sees it. That’s where social networks become incredibly valuable from a marketing perspective. Social media marketing thrives on fresh content and gives your social connections a reason to interact with your social profiles. It keeps your brand top-of-mind and present in their online social lives.

Every time you (or one of your connections/readers) share a piece of your content on a social network that creates a valuable inbound link for your site. Not just ways to drive traffic, these social signals are being used by the search engines to determine the importance of your content. The more times a piece of content is shared across various social networking sites the more valuable it becomes and the better it will rank in the long run.

You don’t have to publish the whole blog post to your Facebook wall either. A small snippet and image is enough to attract the attention of your network. It’s a teaser to get them interested and give them a reason to head over to your actual blog/site to read your content.

Customize and optimize profiles

Social profiles can rank in the search engines like any other webpage. Make sure you take full advantage of this opportunity and properly optimize your profiles like you would your site. For instance, Facebook allows users to create custom URLs for their pages; this is a great place to target your most relevant keywords. You should also focus on targeting relevant keywords in your biography or info sessions.

Not every profile will allow you to post the same amount of information, so it’s important to ensure consistency across your profiles. Before you start getting really heavily involved in your social media marketing, write a few company biographies of varying length that all focus on the same core message. You want to present a unified brand across all of your social profiles so you don’t accidentally confuse your audience.

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Article source: http://www.seoarticles.com/2011/10/13/3-ways-to-get-more-seo-value-from-your-social-profiles/

The YouTube Team has introduced a new homepage – which we saw a sneak preview of a couple weeks ago – unveiled a new Channel design, and gave the video-sharing site a fresh coat of digital paint.

With more than 3 billion videos viewed each day on YouTube, why bother? Well, with nearly eight years of new content uploaded every day and last month’s announcement that a hundred new channels are coming soon from well-known personalities and content producers, YouTube wanted to make it easier for users to find and keep tabs of what they want to watch.

Of course, YouTube created a short video that provides a tour of the new YouTube homepage and explains how users can create their own customizable YouTube channel.

Here are more details on the big changes that you’ll see when you visit YouTube today:

• New homepage: The YouTube homepage makes it easier to find and follow a user’s favorite Channels. On the left side of the homepage, users with a YouTube account can create their own, personal, customizable YouTube Channel line-up. They can browse recommended Channels; customize their homepage’s feed; and link their YouTube account to Facebook or Google+ to see what their friends are sharing. The new homepage feed YouTube launched earlier this year is now front and center on the homepage. YouTubers can switch between feeds by clicking on different Channels on the left.
• Customizable Channels: In addition to the homepage’s new focus on helping YouTubers find and organize their favorite Channels, YouTube has also updated the look and feel of the Channels themselves. YouTube has launched a new Channel design that is focused on helping users find videos. Since different uploaders have different marketing goals, YouTube has created new Channel templates to meet their needs whether a YouTuber produces one video a week or has thousands of videos for fans to browse. TheCraftyGemini has uploaded a video talking about the new features, and Zack King (FinalCutKing) has uploaded a video providing tips how he’s taking advantage of the new design.

• New overall design: To bring the new homepage and Channels designs together, YouTube has also applied a fresh coat of digital paint across the whole site. In July, YouTube unveiled an experimental design called Cosmic Panda. They’ve used user feedback to improve their overall design, and have now rolled out a cleaner and simpler site, with a consistent gray background, bigger video thumbnails, and a more streamlined watch page.

Now, YouTube has given its video pages a makeover before. Back in early 2010, YouTube rolled out what it then called “one of the biggest redesigns in YouTube history.”

But to make sure that most of its users, partners, and advertisers embraced this week’s big redesign, YouTube provided an early preview, code named Cosmic Panda, on July 7, 2011.

Now, normally you can count on someone, somewhere to sound like Commander Leonard “Bones” McCoy, M.D. in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), who said, “And they probably redesigned the whole sickbay, too! I know engineers, they LOVE to change things.” And there were a couple of comments along that line back in July.

But by providing a preview of its new design, the reaction to Cosmic Panda was generally positive.

For example, Jeremy Scott of ReelSEO said,” I’ve tried it out, and I must say… it seems pretty cool to me at first glance. The redesign isn’t so drastic as to be jarring. A lot of things are still in the same places. But there’s definitely been a face-lift, and a healthy dose of the color gray has been liberally added in many shades.”

He added, “This thing is outstanding in my opinion. Simplified and slick. The red chat-balloon icon on the bottom right lets you toggle the video’s annotations on and off, and when captions are present, you’ll have another little toggle icon for turning those on and off as well. And as you can see, you can still change the video resolution or jump up to full-screen view with the click of a mouse.”

So, I think that the redesign unveiled yesterday will take some time for everyone to get used to, but the overall reaction will probably be positive. YouTube took its time, used Cosmic Panda to get user, partner, and advertiser feedback to figure out what they’d gotten it right and what needed further tweaks, and then incorporated that into yesterday’s redesign.

It’s smart to test changes before making them – especially when YouTube is getting 800 million unique visitors a month, has more than 20,000 partners in 22 countries, and is monetizing more than 3 billion video views per week globally.

Register now for SES London 2012, the Leading Search Social Marketing Event, taking place 20-24 February, 2012. SES Conference Expo features presentations and panel discussions that cover all aspects of search engine-related promotion. Hurry, early bird rate expires February 3!

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2129874/Major-YouTube-Redesign-Zooms-in-on-Channels-Video-Discovery-Social-Sharing

Automattic JetPack Stats Plugin Hijacks Comments on Self-Hosted WordPress Blogs without Permission
November 21, 2011 · 26 comments
by BufferShare

One of the benefits of knowing really sharp bloggers is they notice and warn other bloggers right away of changes that are detrimental to their blogs.

When business coach and online project management consultant Vernessa Taylor noticed that the subscribe to comments function Ileane usually used was replaced by an email from WordPress.com, they discussed the issue and realized the latest update of JetPack Stats – a WordPress provided stats plugin – was the culprit.

Read more…
http://www.growmap.com/automattic-jetpack-stats-plugin-hijacks-comments

Good small business websites build brands and bring in customers. In order for this to happen, people to actually visit, and for that to happen, a website needs to be designed around the principles of SEO, or Search Engine Optimization.

SEO, put simply, is how to make it easier for web users to come across your website when searching on Google, Bing, or any popular search engine. We’re not talking about Googling “Jerry’s Taco Kingdom” and seeing if you actually find Jerry’s website (if that’s not happening, then Jerry has other problems to worry about). If Jerry has effective SEO, then a web search for simply “tacos”, “Mexican food” or “restaurants with tortillas” ought to bring up his site as an early result, thus bringing hungry new visitors to his page.

Why is SEO so crucial for a new, small business? With the right design, a SEO-friendly page can become more than just a helpful information source about your company; it can be a cost-effective, precisely targeted marketing tool, able to generate as much (or more) brand awareness as a mailing campaign or a television ad. Traditional advertising can certainly be effective, but it’s a blanket approach. For all of the eyeballs you’re paying to reach, you’re very likely spending money communicating with people who have no interest in your product. By comparison, anybody who arrives at Jerry’s Taco Kingdom by searching for “tacos” online is almost definitely already interested in them.

There are a number of potential ways to boost your site’s SEO — caveat being “potential”. Google, Bing, and Yahoo securely guard their search algorithms, so nobody knows just exactly what factors will boost you to the top of the results page. That being said, there are a number of tactics that can certainly knock you down several steps, which leads us to a list of do’s and don’ts:

Do:

1. Design for your target customer. When putting together the actual meat and potatoes of your site, you’ll want to make sure you’ve checked off a number of basic tasks — ensuring the site appears properly in different browsers and complies with modern W3C standards, making sure all your images are linked properly, double-checking that viewing your site doesn’t lead to seizures in small children, etc.

When populating the body and tags with SEO-geared keywords, though, you may want to try being more specific than usual. To return to the above example with Jerry’s Taco Kingdom, the obvious keyword to include would be “taco”. Even with tacos being as delicious as they are, Jerry will be competing with thousands of other sites in the always popular taco market, and his page may have a tough time getting bites — yes, we went there.

So, what if Jerry tries to cast a narrower net? Perhaps the Taco Kingdom is one of only a few taco joints in his hometown of Wichita. Jerry might include keywords like “Kansas Tacos” or “Wichita Mexican Food”. He’ll face less competition in those searches, and he is also more likely to get customers searching from the area his business serves.

2. Earn the Internet’s trust. It may sound like a Catch-22, but in order to get visitors to your site, you’ll want to prove you’ve been getting visitors to your site. As unfair as it might seem, SEO experts agree that a large portion of your SEO is based on things that occur outside of your website. It’s one thing for Jerry to claim that his site is the premier source for taco-based news and gossip, but if everyone else starts saying it by linking to his site, visiting his site and including his site in their social networks, the search engines will take notice.

The important factor in this step is patience: you can have your own content optimized perfectly on day one, but boosting your site’s trustworthiness will take at least a few months. Don’t try to jump the queue by paying sites to link back to you, either (see Don’t suggestion #1).

3. Consider a blogging approach. You might think writing a blog might take far more effort than you’re prepared to devote to your website, but it’s no secret that writing fresh content is powerful for your SEO. Before you start putting together a plan for dozens of blog posts, it’s important to consider your approach. Do you want to run your own blog or would you rather contribute an article to another blog?

Doing the former will help you build up keyword-rich content that your users might find your site through. Be sure to use keywords effectively if you do that. When you contribute to other blogs with your unique expertise, the backlinks generated through those posts can be even more effective in building your SEO “juice”. Of course, if you’re ambitious, you can do both and cover all your blogging bases. The important thing is to decide what you can handle and stick to your plan.

Don’t:

1. Don’t try to game the system. Your website needs to be genuine, full of user-friendly, original, and honest content. The general rule of thumb is to create your site for your visitors, not the search engines. Have you ever browsed a site and discovered, hidden at the bottom via invisible text, several paragraphs full of nothing but keywords? This is done in an effort to catch the eye of automated sitecrawling programs, which regularly scan the web on behalf of the major search engines to try and catalog the millions of sites that make up the Internet.

However, getting caught at this kind of tactic is a surefire way to get your site yanked out of the search listings altogether. The same goes for plagiarized content, inaccurate content or other methods meant to appeal to robots and not users. Fill your page with valuable content that an actual human would want to read, and you’re well on your way.

2. Don’t forget to track your progress. Like anything you want to see change. You need to track your progress and see if you’re getting closer to reaching your goals. With websites, this means setting up a package like Google Analytics and monitoring how people get to your site and if it’s happening how you expected.

3. Don’t set your expectations too high. Doing your own SEO strategy is a learning process. Unfortunately, you can’t see your results right away. It can take weeks or months for your tactics to play out and earn you the results you’re looking for. The good news is that with patience and practice with the items shown above, you’ll get to where you want to get with SEO.

Photo Credit: Marynchenko Oleksandr/Shutterstock

Matt Shampine is co-founder of New York-based startup Onepager. Prior to Onepager, Shampine co-founded design agency Simande, where his responsibilities included business development, client relations and project management. He is also co-founded and currently runs website We Are NY Tech, where he profiles one person a day from the New York tech community and moderates the job board.

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Article source: http://betanews.com/2011/11/13/smart-seo-tactics-for-small-businesses/