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September 28, 2007

Friday Recap

It’s kind of cold and gloomy here in Southern California today. Bad weather in SoCal means you get to treat yourself and basically run amuck. Susan and I are going to celebrate with some burgers and funnel cakes for lunch later. Maybe there will even be spiral-cut whole potatoes with tangy cheese powder. Heart attacks are delicious.

Speaking of Susan, I think I’m going to be nice and go buy her some new shoes. What do you think about these? I’m particularly fond of the rat shoes. She’ll love them. My hope is that she’ll love so much that she’ll go out and buy me one of the many unlocked iPhones floating around. That’d be fun for everyone. [If I buy one, it's going to be for me. Plus I never wear rat after Labor Day. --Susan] Ew.

In case the shoes don’t go over well, WikiHow has a nice article on how to apologize. I don’t think I’ll need it, though, I mean, she’s the one trying to kill me. I’m just being a good pretend friend.

The Onion revealed Google’s plans to create thegoogle.com, a site for older adults who have trouble accessing the mighty complicated Google.com. Google hopes the new site will soon replace “Yahoo Internet Website.com” as the most popular engine for the over 55 set. Heh.

Todd Friesen thinks people are going too crazy over the Facebook/Microsoft rumors that have been circulating as of late. I think Todd was going a little crazy with that sweet URL. Let’s throw sheep at him!

Oh, and did you hear? Google sent Shimon Sandler legos. Giant legos. Want!

This week, Googler Niniane Wang shared an uncomfortable story about what happens when you’re a female alone in a strange place with a married man. Basically, he forgets he’s married and begins stalking you. Sweet! Ladies, be careful out there. Guys are dumb.

Cracked.com has a list of the 8 most needlessly detailed Wikipedia entries. I’m torn. I agree that I don’t need a detailed recap of every episode of 7th Heaven (or any episode, for that matter), but I’m very interested in the line of succession for the British throne. I mean, how else am I going to know who I need to marry so that I can become a real live princess? [Oh no, I'm removed from succession for being Roman Catholic! Now what do I do? --Susan]

The Consumerist advises using rust stickers to make your car look like crap and therefore less steal-able. If sticker application doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, just drive your car into a pole. That works equally well and you don’t have to worry about the stickers coming off.

Writers know that sometimes there is a great danger in creating dummy headlines. You see, sometimes you forget to take them out. I can’t tell you how many blog posts were almost titled “Something Something Something” or “Really Clever Title”. [For every time that one was, I had to listen to ten minutes of whining about how I didn't give her a good headline. Yes, "We're going to be eaten by bears" was my fault. No, I'm not sorry. --Susan] That one awesome headline has been your only contribution to society, to date.

Look. It’s a shampoo bottle that comes with very specific instructions to help moms ride the bus to beautiful. Is that like the short bus? Susan talks about having to ride that one a lot.

Comcast tells us something I’ve been telling my mother for years. Skorts are never, ever appropriate attire. I don’t care what day of the week it is, where you’re going or how old you are.

What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever seen? Is it a lounging lizard posing on a mini purple sofa? I bet it might be.

Research says that exercise doesn’t necessarily make you lose weight. I wonder if eating lots and lots of funnel cake does? I’m going to go try.

Friendly Tip: If the mobile home you’re living in catches on fire, it’s okay to run and bring the dog with you. Just make sure you also remember to bring the children.

Things I Learned From BoingBoing This Week:

Lastly, everyone at Bruce Clay, Inc. (except Susan) wishes Bruce a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Bruce, our fearless leader and keeper of the Red Vines, will turn 105 on Sunday. Well, 105 in Internet years anyway. Congrats, boss! (Hmm, Google and Bruce’s birthdays are just mere days apart. It’s like fate or something.)

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/28/07 at 12:17 PM | Comments (0)
See more entries in Fun Stuff

September 27, 2007

Live.com Re-Released, Actually Relevant Now

Quick! Microsoft just rolled out a new and improved version of Live.com and TechMeme is on fire! It’s just so beautiful to watch.

Yes, Microsoft held its big Searchification event yesterday and the bloggers are all in a tizzy. There was even liveblogging by Vanessa and Todd. (Wait – There was liveblogging and no one called me? Am I not pretty enough for you people?)

I wasn’t at the event, but it's okay (I guess). There is plenty of coverage. So much coverage, in fact, that it’s somewhat hard to figure out what’s important, who’s just biased and what’s sounding a little too much like a press release.

Here’s what I think you should know.

  • An Actually Relevant Index: For me, this is the biggest improvement of them all. The new Live.com index is now four times as big as the old one. Sweet! I did some standard query testing to try things out, and I have to admit, the results are decent. I’d even go as far as to call them “relevant” and maybe even “useful”. Microsoft revealed that they’ve incorporated more clickstream data to help the ranking and relevancy process. Things are looking good, guys. Congrats!

  • Deeper Verticals: We mentioned the kick ass new version of MSN Video yesterday, and the guys from Redmond aren’t stopping there. Microsoft is making “deep investments” in the areas of entertainment, shopping, health and local. Why? Because, according to their numbers, 40 percent of searches fall into these categories. Their investment includes creating special results pages for queries related to these verticals, along with health and local. These “special pages” will give users a comprehensive overview of the topic, using blended search elements like images, reviews, ratings, and maps.

  • Better Rich Answers: The new version of Live Search will include a revamped Answers platform that will give users instant responses to queries related to weather, images, celebrities and entertainment, sports, stocks, Yellow Pages, maps or quick facts. It doesn’t seem quite as in depth or impressive as Ask’s offering, but still, nice.

  • Another Rebranding?: I haven’t heard this anywhere else, but Mary Jo Foley reports that Microsoft still isn’t sold in this whole “Live” thing. I guess they find it just as silly as they rest of us. Live Search General Manager Derrick Connell told Mary Jo that Microsoft continues to look at how they can improve branding. Perhaps a new name is in the works?

  • Dedicated to Fall/Spring Release Schedule: Microsoft will stick to its Spring/Fall release schedule for every year Live continues to exist (that sounds promising, eh?). The upcoming spring release will involve enhancements around community. I guess we’ll hear more about that once the flowers start blooming. [Hands up on people who actually think they'll make that schedule? --Susan] Shh, don’t kill their buzz.

And that’s everything you need to know about the new release in a nut shell. Microsoft is getting a lot of press right now and I keep hearing about how they’re “equal to Google”. First of all, I don’t think that’s true. Is Microsoft better than it was a year ago? Sure, but it’s still not in the same league as Google. And quite frankly, no one, not even Google, is doing blended search as well as Ask.com.

And even if they were as good as Google (whatever that really means), it wouldn’t be “good enough”. Google has the brand, Microsoft doesn’t. In order for users to trust them, they’d have to be light years ahead of Google, and they’re not there with this release. They did a great job of increasing the size and relevancy of their index, they did some funky things with their maps, added some new features, but I haven’t seen anything that is really different. So far it’s just been catch up. Needed catch up but catch up all the same.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/27/07 at 12:12 PM | Comments (1)
See more entries in MSN Search

September 26, 2007

Yahoo Podcasts, MSN Video, & Google Video Alerts? Oh, My!

Yahoo Closes Down Podcasting Site

This made me kind of sad, but Read/WriteWeb reports that Yahoo will be closing down its 2-year-old podcasting directory effective October 31. Bummer. As the screenshot depicts, Yahoo doesn’t give any information regarding why they’re closing down the site, they simply offer an apology and expiration date.

There’s been talk that the reason for the closure may be that they’re revamping their entertainment offerings (Yahoo Music, Yahoo TV, etc), and perhaps podcasting will be included in that. Frankly, the site could use a little clean up. The currently podcasting directory isn’t altogether user-friendly. There weren’t any RSS feeds and users were forced to log in with a Yahoo ID in order to download any of the content. Hopefully, we’ll see a fresh launch sometime soon, or at least I’m going to go ahead and keep telling myself that. The podcasting audience is just starting to grow; I’d hate to see Yahoo miss out on an excellent opportunity to reach people. We’ll see what happens next.

Microsoft Rolls Out A (Much, Much) Better Video Search

Microsoft released a new version of its MSN Video site, hoping it provide a better experience for both users and advertisers. R/WW’s Marshall Kirkpatrick took a look and called it the video site of the future, adding that it’s not pretty, but it is something you need to check out.

Why is it the video site of the future? Because MSN is implementing a new time-based advertising system that will deliver ads based on the amount of time a user spends viewing, not how many clips they watched. The idea is that advertisers will be able to insert an ad at set time intervals, perhaps every 5 minutes or so. I’m not so sure about this. My thought would be that if I’m trying to watch a long video and you’re inserting an ad every 10 minutes, well, I’m probably not going to stay very long. I’m most likely going to get highly agitated and then go blog about it. That may just be me.

And I’m inclined to disagree with Marshall over the attractiveness of the site. I don’t really remember what the old site looked like, but I happen to think the new site is quite pretty. Its openness encourages readers to browse through Microsoft’s video catalog and engage with the site. Also neat is the split screen format Microsoft is using so that users can view one video while still browsing for something better. Ah, it’s my type of video viewing.

Google Alerts Get Video

Google is making it easy for users to track interesting video content with the release of new video Google Alerts. Now you can keep tabs on videos about the things important to you the same you do with Web, news and blog content. I set one up for Bruce this morning and found some interesting videos that I hadn’t seen before. Good stuff!

Fun Finds

Performancing had a good post about learning how to blow your own horn. It seems that sometimes this modesty thing ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. I rule.

ResourceShelf lets us know that the Google/DoubleClick hearing will take place tomorrow (Thursday) and that search nerds can listen to it live online. Ooo! I’ll be listening, will you?

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/26/07 at 5:23 PM | Comments (0)
See more entries in Branding, Design, Google, MSN Search, Microsoft, Search Engine Optimization, Yahoo

Blyk's Ad-Supported Mobile Service Experiment

Earlier this week we mentioned Pudding, a company that was going to scary lengths to provide an ad-support phone service to its users. We discussed how free phone calls were good, but how monitoring our phone calls was bad, a little slimey, and kinda sort of made us not trust you. Today, we bring you a company that appears to have been able to mix phone free service with targeted advertising and isn’t at all creepy! Pudding people, get your pencils out.

UK-based Blyk is looking to pair advertisers with the lucrative 16-24 demographic by offering them free mobile service as long as they agree to view targeted advertising in return. Basically, once users sign up, they’re issued a SIM card to place in their phone. That card gives them 43 free voice minutes, as well as 217 free text messages. In exchange, members agree to view up to 6 picture or text messages a day. There’s no pressure to acknowledge or respond to the ad, they just have to tolerate them. Oh yeah, and if you go over your minutes or allotted text messages, it’s on you. Members will be charged 20 cents per additional text messages, 30 cents per minutes and $2.00 per megabyte for their mobile data use. Ouch, that’ll add up.

There are obviously some kinks in the new Blyk system. I mean, most young people will go through 43 voice minutes and 217 text messages in 5 hours, but still, I like where this could go. I know I’m an old fart at 25 (thanks, Blyk people), but I would totally sign up to view targeted advertising if it meant I didn’t have to pay for at least part of my phone bill.

I am curious to see how it’s all going to work, though.

One thing mentioned in the Unstrung article was that members would be asked to fill out a questionnaire in order to create a personal profile and pair them with relevant advertising. That’s great and will probably reduce the amount of noise users receive, but will there be any kind of targeting on top of that? For example, if users are surfing the Web and visiting skateboarding Web sites on their phone, will their ads change to reflect that? Or is everything being based off that that initial interview? It seems to me that the personal profiles will need to updated as user interests change. We have to keep in mind that in some cases we’re talking about high schoolers. Their interests change daily, sometimes hourly.

I’m also curious as to whether the texts members received from advertisers will count as part of their allotted 217 free texts. If so, 6 text messages a day multiplied by 30 days in a month, means members are actually only getting a whopping 37 text messages to use at their own volition. My little brother is 20 years old and would finish that before breakfast. That may be a huge source of frustration for members.

I’ll be really interested to see how this little test run goes because if it works in Europe, a place where text messaging runs rampant, there’s hope that it could work here, as well.

I want to see if users will actually engage with the ads or if sending 6 ads a day will cause users to simply ignore them. I want to see if members are going to be willing to pay the additional charges when they go over (which they will) or if they’ll get so frustrated that they change plans (or swap out SIM cards). I want to see what kinds of ads users will be viewing, which advertisers will step up to the plate, and what the clickthroughs are going to be like.

We’ve been hearing so much about how the year for mobile is coming. Maybe this will be it. I’m waiting for the results.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/26/07 at 5:18 PM | Comments (1)
See more entries in Pay-Per-Click

September 25, 2007

IM is coming; IM is coming! Facebook IM, that is

Sam Sethi has a great scoop over at Blognation reporting that Facebook will be getting a Flash-based IM client as early as this Friday. Holy Huzzah!

Sam was privy to an early preview of the forthcoming instant messaging application and says it doesn’t require users to download or install any kind of software. Even cooler is that, unlike most Facebook apps, this one doesn’t require you to register in order to use it. All users have to do is sign in and they’re good to go.

I know Susan is over there rolling her eyes but this is actually a really big deal for Facebook users. It means Jane and I will no longer have to send each other a series of 27 Wall messages late at night in order to talk LOLCats to one another. Now we can just use Facebook IM? Aren’t you excited for us?

Seriously, though, adding a central IM application to Facebook, where all users can communication with one another without having to worry about varying platforms (AIM/Yahoo/MSN/Skype, etc), will help make Facebook even stickier than it already is. [I still don't get why you couldn't just use a regular IM program. --Susan] Because that assumes that all of your friends are using the same IM program. Which they’re not.The longer users stay on site, the bigger the opportunity it is for advertisers and marketers to capture users’ eyes and clicks. This is why Facebook is worth $300-500 million to Microsoft. Once again, it all comes back to the ads.

I don’t think it’s in the cards, but I’d almost love to see Microsoft buy a 3-5 percent stake in Facebook. They’re just sitting on that ad deal they signed last year, watching it collect dust. Seriously, if you’re going to sign an exclusive ad deal to prevent someone else (e.g. Google) from doing something with the site, then you better be prepared to so something yourself. Lisa’s getting bored with waiting.

You can see some screenshots of Facebook’s forthcoming IM client over at Blognation.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/25/07 at 5:57 PM | Comments (1)
See more entries in Social Media

Which Bloggers Do You Read That No One Else Does?

If you were paying attention to the blogosphere or the conversation going on over at Sphinn this past weekend, you probably heard the rumbling regarding search engine optimization bloggers. There was some heated debate as to what their responsibilities may or may not be to the outlying community, and what their audience has a right to demand from them.

There are plenty of obvious answers to this. Search bloggers have a responsibility to be fair, to get the facts right, to note their sources, to link out to opposing viewpoints, lots of stuff. I think most of us recognize this.

For me, though, there’s one biggie that doesn’t get touched on nearly enough, and it’s this: If you’re an SEO blogger, it is absolutely your responsibility to highlight new voices. To help bring attention to the people who are saying important things but are getting talked over. It is so important to the success and growth of our industry.

This is something that, truthfully, has been on my mind for awhile now. Not so long ago, a thread was started on Sphinn asking that when users submit something to the site, that they identify early on in the description who the author is. The common consensus was that doing this would help readers connect with authors or blogs that they respected. It helps expert content get noticed.

I remember commenting to Susan that the whole idea of this made me very uncomfortable.

I understand lots of things. I understand that there are some authors out there who have reputations stronger than others. I understand that we all have people that we’re naturally inclined to agree (and disagree) with. I understand that people don’t want to “waste their time” on writers with bad priors. I get that, I do. I just wonder if we’re not doing a great disservice to all the new voices out there. I wonder how many great articles are getting ignored because their names weren’t instantly recognizable.

You can argue that, in the case of Sphinn, by putting the names in the descriptions that, over time, new voices are found. If each one of Danielle James’ blog entries is submitted as “Danielle James wrote”, then after a while she will gain a reputation for writing great stuff. And that’s true, but in order for that to work, someone has to be submitting it. Someone has to go out there and find that great content and submit it for her. She could do it herself, but unless you have someone like Tamar or Chris submitting things for you, trying to go “hot” is an uphill battle.

As search bloggers, are we doing enough of that? Are we going out and finding the rare pieces or are we relying too heavily on the A-listers? Do you leave your feed reader and hunt for new voices or do you just spend your entire day in there?

I know that I try and find new eggs. And when I do find them, I link to them. Perhaps I could be doing more of that.

And I’m not knocking the system or pretending that I’m doing everything in my power to help others gain more attention, but as search bloggers, I really feel finding new voices is one of our most important responsibilities to our community.

Tell me: Who do you read that no one else does? Who do you think is the best new voice out there is? How did you find them?

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/25/07 at 4:28 PM | Comments (9)
See more entries in Blogging

7 Site Usability Mistakes That Bug Me

Hi, my name is Lisa and I have a problem. During the day I work for a pretty cool search engine optimization company, but you see, eventually I go home. And when I do, I turn into a regular searcher. I have needs and I’m looking to your Web site to help me fill them. Some of you are doing a great job (I heart you), but there’s a bunch of site owners who are letting me down.

For whatever reason, I’ve been doing a lot more searching lately than usual and I’m finding a lot of great stuff. I’ve been seeing an impressive number of sites that clearly understand what search engine optimization is and why being well-branded on the Web is important. But somehow, these same sites are still committing all sorts of usability and design faux pas. I’d like them to stop.

Here are some of the common usability mistakes that bug me and that you should absolutely avoid making on your site:

1. Your Site Content Isn’t Written For the Web

My lease is almost up on my apartment and I’m trying to find a new apartment complex that sucks just a little bit less than the one Swat, Jack-Jack and I are currently living in. I decided to consult the Web site for The Acorn, a local classifieds publication, for assistance. Here’s what their rental listings page offered me:


You see what they just did there? Instead of creating a usable Web-version of their content, they decided to just scan what they already had in print. Nice.

Are you kidding me? If you want to know why sites like Craigslist and Facebook are ruling marketplace listings, it’s because they know how to make their content usable. Scanning your content and placing it on your Web site, does not a Web presence make. The Acorn is losing out on potential new subscribers doing things the way they are. Either you’re going to have a Web site or your not. There’s no middle ground.

Dear Acorn, please fix this. Also, consider renaming. Thanks.

2. Confusing Navigation/ I Can’t Use It

Here is one of the apartment complexes I was considering:


Click through and try navigating through the site using Firefox. Tricky, eh? Sure, sometimes you get lucky and you can actually click on something, but most of the time, the home page (which, BTW, has the ugliest URL ever) renders completely unusable. Bad.

Oh, and don’t even get me started on all the empty white space they’re not taking advantage of.

3. You Talk To Me without Asking


There is one thing that will send me running from your Web site without fail: if I land on it and you immediately start talking to/singing at me without my permission, for no reason.

I didn’t think sites still did this, then I visited The Bangles Web site (shut up, they were playing at a local fair recently) and was forced to listen to their “Web site Greeting”. In case you were curious (I wasn’t), their “greeting” is basically just a recording of the ladies talking over one another. As soon as I heard it, I was so totally gone. Don’t force users to interact with the media you have on your site. Audio and video features should always be opt in, not opt out.

4. Your Site Is Designed Entirely In Flash


I get it, you like Flash and making your Web site pretty. That’s great, but guess what, I don’t. And your users may not either. Some of them may not even be able to access it. That’s a great way to alienate a whole bunch of people.

It bothers me when most sites opt to do this, but it really bothered me that the Marines chose to. I’m on the Marines’ Web site because I want information; there’s even a good chance that I may be somewhat frantic when I get there. Make it easy for me to find out what I need to know. There’s a very good chance that I’m not going to want to see a movie or look at an endless line of staged pictures. Anticipate these needs.

Also, unless there’s an HTML-complement to it, your site map should not be designed in Flash. Marines, please change that.

5. You Use Tiny, Tiny Product Photos or None At All!

Searchers and shoppers are known for being visually oriented. If you’re a manufacturer or ecommerce site, you need to be including product photos on your site to help guide users. But just as important as having photos at all, is having usable photos. Don’t just stick users with the thumbnail. Give them some way of zooming in or clicking through to a larger secondary image.

Customers want to see what they’re getting before they agree to buy. I want to be able to zoom in and see actual apartment floor plans. I want to see the trim on that jacket. Bigger photos allow for more detail and allow users to trust that you’re going to give them what you’re promising.

Think about it: Would you buy a product without being able to see it first? I wouldn’t.

6. Not Changing the Color of Visited Links

You’d think that in 2007 this would be pretty obvious, but surprise, it’s not. Good, user-friendly, accessible Web sites tell their users where they are, where they’ve been and where’s left to go. They don’t keep them in an endless cycle of “did I click on this yet?”

Realize that your users aren’t traversing your Web site in a straight line. They bounce around until they find what they’re looking for. They may not realize that they’ve clicked on the same link 5 times until they’ve clicked on it time number 6. If you’ve ever been in this situation, you know how frustrating it is. Make it easy for users to tell where they’ve been by differentiating the link color. It just makes everyone’s life easier.

7. You Immediately Break My Trust

I’m not going to lie, when I’m on your Web site, I’m judging you. Big time. If you make me register before I can even access your site, I’m going to assume you have something to hide and I’m going to leave.

If your site is filled with typos, I’m going to assume you’d take the same care with my order that you did with your copywriting. See ya!

If your Title tag reads “Welcome To My Site”, you type in ALL CAPS, or you’re still rocking the frame, I’m going to assume know that you’re stuck in the ‘90s and decide not to do business with you.

Site usability and site design matter. Search engine optimization and good rankings are important, but they don’t mean a thing if you’re turning users off as soon as they click through to your site. Take the time to really examine your site and see where it needs work. Is the message you’re sending the one you intended to send out? Do users enjoy interacting with your site? Or are you bugging them?

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/25/07 at 3:27 PM | Comments (18)
See more entries in Design, SEO, SEO Tips & Tricks, Search Engine Optimization

September 24, 2007

Pudding Is Delicious, Eavesdropping Is Not

A long, long time ago, when I was just a small girl, pudding was something that was yummy and delicious and would always somehow end up all over my face and between my fingers. However, now that I am grown, The Pudding is scary stalking software that eavesdrops on your phones calls and then tries to sell you stuff you don’t want based on what it hears. I miss old pudding; new Pudding gives me nightmares.

In case you’re enjoying yourself living under that rock, The Pudding is a new Web service that invites users to make free phone calls from their PC to any land line in the United States. The one small catch is that computers will be listening to your call and using voice recognition software to serve up relevant ads on screen. Of course, none of that is mentioned in their shiny press release. They simply talk about the “cool new dimensions” and “timely information” they’ll be giving you. Ooo, I trust them already!

Don’t worry if those little hairs on the back of your neck are standing up right now. So are mine.

Honestly, the entire Pudding concept terrifies and confuses me. Pudding Media’s CEO Ariel Maislos seems to think that privacy traded for personalized content is something the world is ready for. I’m not so sure. Even as the folks at TechCrunch try and compare Pudding to Gmail, I’m still not sure.

I mean, I get the argument, I do; but it just doesn’t work for me. There is a ginormous difference between allowing Google, a company I trust, to scan my emails for keywords, and letting a company I have never heard of listen in on my phone calls with voice recognition software. Especially when that company won’t even publicly acknowledge what it is they’re doing.

To try and ease privacy concerns, Pudding promises that they’re not keeping recordings or logs of past phone calls, and that ads are only being served based on a user’s current call. That’s nice. I’m sure lots of people will take their word for that. I’m not inclined to be that trusting, myself. It seems to me that the best way to prevent the government from subpoenaing the full transcript of my phone records at a later date is for them to never exist in the first place.

What I’m really kind of curious about is how this is going to work. According to the New York Times, this is what a normal ad will look like:


Okay, now I may not have done that well in math class, but to me, that looks more like 6 ads, not one. And here’s the bigger question – Can’t I just minimize that window and go on with my life, talking to my friend Samantha and ignoring all the ads? You would think that Pudding wouldn’t allow that, right? Which means that Pudding may actually freeze up your computer so that you physically can’t close the window, thereby rendering your computer useless. I’m sure that’s going to go over well with users.

Even if we forget about the creepy factor and the possible jamming up of a computer, I can’t see users declaring Pudding anything but universally annoying. Instead of being able to pay attention to their phone conversation, they’re going to have a page of ads staring them in the face. How long do you think it’ll be before they forget whatever it was they were talking about and just start talking about the ads themselves? [Apparently not very long. --Susan] This may be good for advertisers, but it’s probably not going to be good for your personal relationships.

I really can’t see anyone getting on board with this. Users are going to be freaked out, and advertisers are going to be fearful of being associated with so much creepy. If you want to make phone calls on the cheap, go use Skype. We don’t need Pudding.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/24/07 at 3:48 PM | Comments (3)
See more entries in Pay-Per-Click

Your Private Facebook Info Isn’t So Private

I love Facebook. I love Facebook so much that if I had a choice of donating a kidney to a dying Facebook or a dying Susan, I’d definitely save Facebook. [Possibly even over someone you actually like too. --Susan] Please don’t interrupt me when I’m speaking. My love for Facebook originally was a result of how private it was. I had control of who could see my information and how much of it they could see. I was lulled into a false sense of security and all my friends were, too.

A few weeks back, Facebook announced that it was going to start opening up user profiles to the search engines. Hearing that, I was somewhat concerned. The first thing I did, before even reading the rest of my blog feeds, was march my little self over to my Facebook Privacy settings and make sure that I was opted out of that nasty, secret-spilling little feature. It’s not that I have anything to hide; it’s just that I definitely do. My Facebook profile is holy ground. I don’t need that stuff ending up in anyone’s search results. I mean, what if you all find out that I’m not nearly as innocent as I make myself out to be? That would be horrible for my image!

Given all the precautions I’ve taken to hold on to my secret Facebook identity (opting out of indexing, giving out lots of limited profiles, etc), you can imagine my horror/surprise when I was playing around with Bloglines this weekend (yes, they have returned my feeds) and discovered this:


Oh, look at that. That’s some private Facebook information being returned for my name. That’s…not good. Curious as to where they were pulling that from I clicked on the source blog.


It’s coming from my Facebook friend John Harmon’s Facebook notifications. John and I may be 89 percent alike in what attracts us to potential mates (so, um, John, wanna go out or something?), but we’re apparently very different when it comes to protecting the privacy of our Facebook profiles. Where I enjoyed Facebook’s walled garden and being able to control who saw what parts of my profile, John has decided to open his profile up to all, exposing me in the process.

And even better! If Top Secret Lisa Facebook Information is showing up in Bloglines, where else do you think its showing up? Check out the top two results for my name in Ask’s Blog Search:


So. Not. Cool.

Sadly, I’m not sure what I can do about this (other than demanding that all my friends close off their profiles). It doesn’t matter how much you try and protect yourself; if others that you’re associated with are willing to be open about their information, then it seems like you’re at some degree of risk, too. Apparently, the entire world now has a right to know that I accepted John Harmon’s Friend Request and then sent him a Facebook message (which, since we’re apparently sharing, was about the fact that his Notifications were being indexed.)

Or maybe the fact that information is getting out has nothing to do with John opening up his profile? Is me sending John a Facebook message or accepting a Friend Request even part of his public profile? As far as I’m concerned it’s not. What if John and I were having some sort of illicit affair? This could seriously put a damper on my home life. [Because Jack Jack would be jealous? --Susan] I’m talking to my people here. Please go keep yourself busy by “editing” something. Your resumè, maybe.

There’s been a good degree of Facebook backlash lately, most of it rooted in the fact that, with the birth of all these pretty Facebook applications, we’re being forced to give up a little bit more of our privacy. Part of the information that was revealed about me was a result of the Quizzes application I voluntarily installed. Rae Hoffman recently blogged about her own problems with the Compare People application. That stuff doesn’t so much concern me. I mean, it does, but I realized (and have accepted) that it’s because of my own actions that information is being revealed. I opted into that. I don’t feel like I opted into this. And I’m not so convinced that John sharing his public profile qualifies as him opting in either.

I want to know why random Facebook trivia about me is ending up in the SERPs. And why now?

The stuff leaked about me was pretty trivial, but this could turn into a serious reputation management issue if users can’t control what’s getting into the index. Do I care that the world knows that I’m Facebook friends with John Harmon? Not particularly, but what if I posted new work information that wasn’t public yet? Or if it’s revealed that I’m messaging Jason Calacanis a lot, or they start indexing pictures (be afraid, Rae)? My Facebook profile may be pretty tame compared to others, but even so, if made public, it could cause me a whole world of trouble. Susan would know all the trash I talk about her. And those pictures of her I’ve posted? I could lose my job for real this time.

I chose to align myself with Facebook because of the promise that my information was closed off from people I didn’t want accessing it. Now that’s changing and it makes me more than a little concerned about what may end up in the SERPs next. If you’re a Facebook user, I’d caution you to pay close attention to what’s showing up for your name in the SERPs. You may be surprised.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/24/07 at 11:50 AM | Comments (8)
See more entries in Social Media

September 21, 2007

Friday Recap

Hey guys. If I sound a wee bit sad today it’s because Susan is back in the office after being out for a glorious 5 work days. It’s taking me some time to get used to her again. To welcome her back, though, I was thoughtful enough to leave her a photo on her desk.

I think she knows which Tech Writer is which bird, don’t you, Susan? [I put it on my bulletin board as a permanent reminder of how much better my life is going to be when firing you finally works. --Susan] Yikes, time to up the meds, killer.

I have a new obsession. It’s called LOLSecretz and it’s a beautiful hybrid of LOLCats and Post Secret. No, it has nothing to do with anything, I just felt like sharing. Moving on then.

Greensboring.com helped me to discover the #1 FireFox extension in the universe. What does it do, you ask? Whenever you hit Stop in your browser, it sings the phrase “Stop. Hammer Time”, and yes, it is just as awesome as you would imagine it to be. [It slows down productivity like woah because you stop every page from loading about four times. --Susan] Did you just say “like woah”? And Bruce still employs you?

Also from Greensboring.com: The Scooby Doo Mystery Machine is for sale! Score.

Coming back to search for a bit, there’s lots of speculation that tiny, little Vanessa Fox is worth $30 million. That’s pretty impressive. I think I’m worth 7 Fruit Loops. Five if the Fruit Loops in question are red or blue. [In case people are about to claim that I should pay her more, I'd like to point out that I gave Lisa a bag of Fruit Loops. By her own estimation, she's now overpaid. --Susan] But I already ates them. Now I need more fundz!

Greg Boser is calling for SEOs to put on their thinking caps and decipher 50 SEO-inspired vanity plates. Greg will announce the winner next week and the lucky individual gets an all expense paid trip to Pubcon in December.

Andy Beal is paying people to read his blog again. I mean, he’s offering a “prize” if you tell everyone why you love Marketing Pilgrim so much. I don’t have $500, but if you write a blog entry telling the world why you love the Bruce Clay blog, I’ll keep you in my prayers at night. I hear He pays a lot better than Andy. Or at least the benefits are higher.

Philipp Lenssen posted a video depicting what would happen If YouTube Comments Met Real Life. Basically, we’d all suddenly be inflicted with Tourettes.

Bulletin Board Forum gave users instant access to their favorite pop videos of the greatest decade of them all – the ‘80s. Today needs more New Kids On The Block, don’t you think? Hang tough!

The crazy people over at How To Wake Up Early gave us 9 reasons why you should wake up early (go figure). In response, I give you one reason why you should sleep in – all that extra sleep!

According to Yahoo, the most in demand baby Halloween costume for 2007 (so far) is the baby frog Halloween costume. Baby frogs! [The second most popular are baby fairy costumes. Look at the baby face! --Susan]

The Wall Street Journal reported that those trendy little tattoos females have been getting on their lower back may actually kill you. Okay, I lied, they won’t kill you, but they do make getting an epidural quite risky.

Anyone who knows me knows that I. Love. French Fries, but even I wouldn't eat Applebee’s French fries. So many ews.

Things I Learned From Boing Boing This Week:

  • Alaska Airlines will soon offer inflight wireless Internet. Score! Sadly, it won’t be ready in time for my flight with them in December. Darn.
  • Transparent frogs, transparent frogs! You can see what’s in their bellies!
  • Those crazy Japanese people have come up with yet another wacky invention – an electronic bubble wrap toy. I have officially added it to my Christmas list (along with this new Seatbelt bag! Hi Mom.).
  • Urban cup holders come in handy for when you’re standing next to a street post with your cup of coffee and you suddenly realize that you need both your hands. Because, you know, that happens a lot. Especially here in Simi Valley, CA.
  • Rugs made of (fake) leaves help New England girls to feel at home even when they’re living in Southern California. Sigh.
  • A man woke up during an autopsy because the pain was “unbearable”. Ohmygod.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/21/07 at 5:14 PM | Comments (2)
See more entries in Blogging

How to Encourage Clients to Engage In Social Media

Dealing with clients sometimes means having to rein them in. Take Bob, for example. Bob was doing some reading on the Web the other day and he heard that making it to the front page of Digg will automatically make him a millionaire and turn his unborn children smarter, prettier and more well-liked. He wants to be on Digg. Right. Now. He doesn’t care what you have to do to get him there.

But not all clients are like Bob. Sometimes you get clients that are more like Susan -- afraid of social media and convinced that “widgets” are what they call scary Australians. Susan would rather stick with traditional search engine optimization methods, than try anything new. It’s your job as her SEO to encourage her to try new things that may help with her Internet marketing efforts. You have to calm her fears.

Here are some of the common fears we see and some tips on how to get clients to Just Let Go.

Client Fear #1: Control! Don't make me give up my control!

This is a big one. Most clients are terrified of giving up complete control of their brand or image. They're afraid that entering the social space will open the door for their users (and maybe their competition) to start talking about them. And what if it’s negative?

There are two things you need clients to understand. First, their customers and competitors are already talking about them. By participating in the conversation, it at least gives them some ability to control what is being said. Second, realize that social media isn’t about giving up control of your brand to the masses; it’s about accepting the evolution that’s occurring. By connecting with users, you’re left better able to form positive relationships and act on the insight they provide. Don’t look at it as handing yourself over to the wolves; think of it as a way to get your customers to work for you.

An example of this in action: Customer Reviews.

Sure, you may be terrified to actually let customers comment on your products directly on your Web site, but you shouldn’t be. During the User Generated Content & Search panel at last month’s SES San Jose, Matt McGee told the audience that 85 percent of the reviews on Yelp are positive, and that 80 percent of the users leaving ratings on BazaarVoice.com are giving 4 or 5 stars. People aren’t as vicious as we tend to think they are (only Susan). And so what if you do get a few bad eggs? Negative comments help to build trust in a brand. People become skeptical when they only hear good things. In other words, haters give you street cred!

Client Fear #2: Social media has nothing to do with my industry!

Not every site is going to lend itself to social media, but many will. Sometimes it's your job to help your clients to see that. Say you have a client who is an environmental planner. They may not feel that social networking can help them or that’s there’s even a place for them on the Web. They’re wrong. Take away this fear by doing some research and showing them the neighborhoods that care about the same things they do. Maybe they’re not familiar with sites like Care2 or BeGreenNow. Be their guide.

Don’t force your clients into social media, but if you feel like there’s an opportunity that they’re missing out on, show them that. Help them understand that just because they have a “traditional job” doesn’t mean they can’t benefit from social media.

An example of this in action: Your client is a veterinarian who just now decided to build a Web presence.

Encourage them to get involved with one of the million animal-related social networks out there (Dogster, MyCatSpace, Animal Buds, etc) and help answer animal-related health questions for users. Try to find a local version of these sites. Allow clients to ask questions directly on their site, or create their own animal board where users can join and talk about their pet hamsters. By simply joining the conversation, you can help your client build a strong community around their practice, while also setting themselves up as an expert.

Client Fear #3: Social Media is “silly”. If I try it, I’ll look silly too!

Plenty of large corporations have begun to realize the positive effect that “socializing” can have on their brand, but even more of them haven’t. To them, social media is that annoying thing that will be going away soon. It’s what all the kids are into. They are far too sophisticated for that.

Wrong. By not participating in social networking and somehow thinking you’re “above” it, it makes you look old and tragically unhip to your audience. By being anti-social and refusing to leave their bubble, these large corporations are actually hurting themselves. Ask them how they’re going to explain to their CEO why that little mom and pop shop doing all that silly viral stuff is outranking them for their site’s most important keywords? What big corporations sometimes fail to realize is that social media gives them a unique opportunity to interact with brand evangelists and potential customers.

An example of this in action: The Will It Blend video.

How much money does Apple have to spend on advertising and search engine optimization? I’m thinking a lot, right? So then explain to me why some folks armed with just a blender, a video camera and an iPhone were able to challenge them in the rankings for one of this year’s most highly competitive term – “iPhone”. In this case, Apple probably didn’t mind the all the fuss about the Will It Blend video, but it’s a good example of how the little guy can outrank even the biggest of dogs if they’re crafty enough.

Again, I’m not saying that social media is a perfect fit for everyone. If you don’t think it will work for your client, don’t waste your time trying to sell them. But if you do think it’s something they could really benefit from, don’t let their own fears stand in the way of their success. Sometimes a little education may be all they need to go from a total Susan to gung-ho Bob.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/21/07 at 2:45 PM | Comments (5)
See more entries in Social Media

September 20, 2007

The day I broke up with Bloglines

Dear Bloglines,

Hi, it’s Lisa again. How are you? I’m just going to get to the point. I think it’s time for us to see other people. We just don’t “work” together the way we used to. It's time for me to move on.

Let’s face it; we’ve been having problems for awhile. I’d go to you and you wouldn’t be there. You’re just so unresponsive and unreliable these days. I can’t count on you anymore. I mean, sometimes you’re there for me and sometimes you’re not. Sometimes you’re timely in telling me what I need to know and other times you just leave me hanging. I have to hear from Barry or Andy or Danny what I should be hearing from you. How can you be in a relationship without communication or trust? You can’t!

Last month, you promised me you were going to be better. You gave me new viewing options and advanced features and I fell in love with you all over again. But now I realize I was just allowing you to sweep our problems under the rug. You haven’t changed; we were both just pretending.

But I was willing to forgive you and keep believing that, in time, things would get better on their own. But then today happened. Today you just took my heart and smashed it into a million, billion tiny little pieces. I came to visit you after I returned from lunch (I had to go home and get my wool socks) and when I came back, I saw this:


Where are my feeds? You stole them from me. All of them!

I’m sorry, but I can’t do this anymore. I think it’s time for us to see other people. I’m going to spend some time with that other guy, maybe even some of his friends, and I think you should take this time to work on yourself, too. You’re not living up to your full potential. You can be better, I know it.

So, I guess that’s it. The past two years have been great but we just don’t fit together the way we once did. Take care of yourself, okay? Good luck in the future.

All my love,

Lisa Barone
Former Bloglines enthusiast

PS

All my feeds are gone. What are you subscribed to? Send me your list.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/20/07 at 3:41 PM | Comments (9)
See more entries in Blogging

September 19, 2007

You Can’t Automate Search Engine Optimization

Susan likes to try and pretend that the world doesn’t actually revolve around me, but I know better. How else can you explain Loren Baker’s post about Commerce360’s attempt to automate search engine optimization? Clearly, all this talk about automating SEO campaigns was designed to get me all riled up, right? I mean, it had to be.

In his post, Loren talks about Commerce360’s plan to develop automated SEO software, software of the future. You see, these days search is “just too complex for humans to effectively grasp” and an “automated search optimizer” is the way to go. Making the situation even crazier is that according to Commerce360, they’ve actually raised venture capital to support this idea. That means there are people out there even crazier than the folks working at Commerce360 – the people who have decided to fund it.

I’m kidding. Sort of.

Now, I know that I’m still somewhat new to this space and that back in the day automated SEO was as popular as Bruce’s mustache (hi, Bruce!), but is Commerce360 really serious about this? Don’t we already have an automated version of search engine optimization? It’s called spam, right?

I’m sure there are parts of the SEO process that can be automated, but the bread and butter of your search engine optimization campaign has to be human engineered. Automated systems may help you to get the bleeding to stop, but if you want to be at all competitive, you need more than fancy computers and tools. You need brains and creativity and relationships and people capable thinking outside the (computer) box.

Anyone who’s been in this industry for awhile will tell you that SEO has never been about simply creating a page that’s technically sound, there are tons of human factors that go into it as well. This is especially true today when the engines are starting to focus on things like user intent and personalization. To be successful you can’t just create a page that’s better in the eyes of the engines, it also has to please your users. Your users who are human. An automated process isn’t going to be able to help you do that. I don’t care how smart you think it is.

One of my favorite parts about Commerce360’s spiel on why automated SEO is the way to go is when they state that “the typical paid search campaign is run by an English major with a spreadsheet”. Surely, they say, there has to be a better way.

First of all, hiss!

Second, I’d be much more inclined to trust an English major to write my ad copy than I would a machine. An English major has a brain; they have a strong understanding of the language and will be able to pick up on subtle language nuances that a machine will miss. I have never been a fan of computer generated content.

Over on Sphinn, Michael Dorausch makes a good point, suggesting that perhaps the automation process could be beneficial for a small mom and pop shop who can’t afford a traditional search engine optimization campaign. I hear what Michael is saying, but I still wouldn’t feel comfortable doing it. It doesn’t matter how big or small your site is, if you’re going to do SEO, you should put your energy into doing it right. SEO isn’t about the formulas. It’s about crafting your site to reflect the intent of your users. You just can’t train an automated system to do that.

Don’t get me wrong, we have an entire ToolSet filled with automated SEO tools that help us perform our day-to-day activities. The thing is, we complement those tools with trained SEO analysts. Analysts who are able to look at the data they’ve received and decide whether the changes the tools recommend are accurate or not. No tool is going to give you 100 percent accurate information all of the time. They’re only as smart as you programmed them to be when you programmed them to be it. Hell, if Google has to hire human engineers to monitor its own system, why in the world would you think you wouldn’t have to?

And, really, why would you want to? The overhead of having to create an automation system and then continually updating it to reflect the changes in the search engines algorithm will surely end up costing you more than a traditional SEO campaign ever would. And I’m assuming you’re going to create a different automation system for each engine right? You’re not?

The fact of the matter is, as search engine optimization evolves and becomes more complicated, we need SEO to become more human-oriented not less. We need campaigns to be designed to meet actual user needs, not scientific formulas. If you want to automate your optimization efforts, go for it. Who cares about those users and their needs anyway?

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/19/07 at 4:45 PM | Comments (19)
See more entries in SEO, SEOToolSet, Search Engine Optimization

September 18, 2007

Bruce Clay, Inc. Blog Marks Its 1,000th Entry

Hey!

In case you weren’t keeping track, I thought it’d be fun to note that this here blog entry, the one that you are reading at this very moment, is the 1,000th post to ever hit the Bruce Clay, Inc. blog. Pretty sweet, eh?

I’m far too cool and sophisticated to get excited over such a silly milestone (quiet, you), but if I had my way, the Tech Writing office would be filled with balloons and puppies and cupcakes to commemorate the occasion, and everyone would have to wear their The Lisa shirts to work!

But that’s not happening. The only prize I get today is that Susan is out of the office until Thursday. I guess that’s good enough, because as we’ve established over the last 800 entries or so, Susan is evil.

The blog has seen a lot of change since Susan started it back in 2004. It went from being updated every third Monday of every other month, to being updated several times a day. Sometimes we even stop talking about puppies and babies and Luck Dragons long enough to stay on topic. And when we do, people actually read what we’re saying and (sometimes) leave comments. It’s all quite exhilarating and we’re having a lot of fun, in case you couldn’t tell by all the “huzzahs”.

Because today is kind of a big deal for us me, I thought I’d take a second to say two things:

  1. Thanks! For reading the blog, for commenting and for supporting us. We realize that without you there would be no Bruce Clay, Inc. blog.
  2. If there’s something you want to see in the blog, let us know! We’re always looking for ways to improve things around here. What do you want to read about and what can you live without? How can we make the blog better? Its okay, you can tell me, I’m asking. And if the thing you can live without is Susan, then don’t worry; I’ve already started a petition to get that ball in motion.

Seriously, this is a fun milestone for us and we realize it’s less about us and more about you. So, thanks for sticking with us through 1,000 blog entries. Here’s to a few thousand more, huzzah!

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/18/07 at 9:55 AM | Comments (9)
See more entries in Blogging

September 17, 2007

Better SEO Training, Education Breeds Better SEOs

Lee Odden started an important conversation last week asking if SES, SMX, and Pubcon Can Coexist peacefully or whether too many search engine optimization conferences will lead to a saturation of the market.

Personally, I think there’s absolutely no reason why these conference series can’t all exist in a state of perfect bliss. The industry is growing and we need all the education in search we can get. I say, bring on all the SEO training you can find!

It wasn’t so long ago that the only educational and networking opportunity available for search marketers was Search Engine Strategies. It was a big show that took place a few times a year, giving otherwise reclusive Internet marketers a chance to come together (and out of their caves), talk about the latest methods in search engine optimization and compare war stories. And when the industry was just starting out, that’s really all we needed. But times have changed. This industry is a whole lot bigger and more advanced than it was back then.

And the rapid growth that we’re seeing in search engine optimization training is part of that. There are plenty of conferences and educational opportunities available today. You have Pubcon and Search Marketing Expo and the DMA and SEMpdx and all the other smaller search marketing shows that take place throughout the year. As the industry has matured, so have the opportunities for SEO training and education. I don’t think you’ll find anyone who doesn’t think this is a very good thing.

I have no doubt that the abundance of search conferences will be able to coexist peacefully. I think we’re going to start seeing shows become smaller and more targeted, and you don’t have to look any further than the Search Marketing Expo conference series to see this in action. Danny Sullivan and his gang had their debut Advanced show back in June, then we saw SMX Travel and now we’re gearing up for SMX Mobile and Local and SMX Social Media. Each show is smaller, it’s more specialized. It gives off an entirely different feeling than the typical SES. It’s not as corporate or as intimidating.

To me, the niche shows are what the future of search conferences really is. I can’t help but wonder if SES will start to phase out some of their smaller shows (Chicago, perhaps) and concentrate on their flagship shows like SES San Jose and SES New York. I think SES will be where search marketers start out before graduating to SMX Advanced and the more targeted shows. I haven’t been to a PubCon yet (coming in December. W00t!), so I haven’t experienced the environment yet to know where that will fit in.

I look forward to the specialized shows. As search engine optimization becomes integrated into the marketing departments of large corporations, I’m sure we’ll start to see specialized shows targeted to inhouse SEOs. We’ll see more international shows and shows that are more region-specific. Shows that focus on specific verticals or industries, shows that that discuss either advanced search engine optimization techniques or stress the fundamentals, etc.

The best part of having multiple search conferences that take place throughout the year is that opens the door for new experts to emerge. It’s exciting to attend new shows and get to listen to and interact with new speakers. This industry could desperately use some new voices and new trusted faces.

In an industry that is as exciting and dynamic as ours, I don’t think we have to worry about saturating the space with too many conferences. There’s room for everyone, especially if you’re offering some type of specialized training opportunity, which is what I think we’re going to start seeing.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/17/07 at 5:14 PM | Comments (0)
See more entries in SEO, Search Engine Optimization

Google Is Evil, Bloglines, Free Pass To SMX Local

Google Is Evil. Again. Yawn.

Cory Doctorow had all the conspiracy theorists worked up today with Scroogled, a fiction piece he wrote for Radar Online about the Google of the future. In the story (and that’s all it is, people, a story), Cory writes about what the world would look like if Google was nefariously working with the DHS and in control of your entire life. Muahaha!

To honest, the whole story is kind of frightening. It shows a world in which citizens disappear for no reason and the security people at the airport can question you about the things you’ve searched for online and the contents of your email. They can’t actually see your search data or read your emails, of course (that would be illegal), but they do have access to the ads you were shown. It’s up to you to explain why Google thought you would be interested in ads for model rocketry. And you better be able to…

I read Cory’s story and giggled, but of course there were others who read more into it and got out the tin foil. To that I say: We’ve already had this discussion! Google is not evil. They’re not too powerful. They are not Big Brother. Michael Gray just needs more hobbies.

Bloglines Takes The Morning Off

So how did you spend your Monday morning, the morning that’s arguably the busiest of the whole week? I spent mine visiting each one of my blog feeds individually. Fun, right? Actually, no, it’s not, but I had no other choice since Bloglines decided to take the morning off, as it does periodically. I’m sorry, guys, but this is really unacceptable.

I think I’ve been pretty vocal about my Bloglines love. I have not switched over to Google Reader like Susan, Barry Schwartz and other sane people have. I heart Bloglines and I’m sticking with it. For me, the UI is better, the shortcuts are better and it just feels like home. But then it dies and makes me want to hurt it. Hard.

Bloglines, I live and breathe on my ability to access my RSS feeds. Being informed is my job. When you go down, my morning pretty much stops because it means I have to navigate to each of my blogs individually. That takes A. Lot. Of. Time. Time, that on a Monday morning, I don’t have. Your new beta version is great. It’s probably a little more than I need, but others love it, so I can forgive all the new features that I’ll never use. There are, however, two things that I absolutely must have from you if we’re going to be BFFs.

  1. I need Bloglines to work. Always.
  2. I need it to be quick to update.

They are the only two things that I need and yet they’re the two things Bloglines seems to have the most trouble with. Sort it out, guys. I’m begging you.

[/end rant]

FREE Pass to SMX Local and Mobile!

Pat Sexton is offering up a free pass to next month’s SMX Local and Mobile show in Denver, Colorado. All you have to do is leave a comment or drop him an email explaining why you deserve the ticket more than anyone else in the whole entire world. Your answer can be humorous, clever, and/or serious, just make sure it’s compelling. And, since we’re talking about Pat, I’d say that mentioning alcohol or alluding to how much alcohol you’re going to enjoy while in Denver may not hurt your chances, it may actually help. Good luck!

And while we’re talking about SMX shows, it’s worth noting that SMX Social Media Marketing is taking place in NYC on Oct. 16-17 and tickets are going fast. There are some great speakers in line for this one so you better act soon!

Fun Finds

TechCrunch shows you how to follow the TechCrunch40 conference online if you’re not lucky enough to be there in person.

Muhammed Saleem authored 4 Reasons To Write On The Weekend and 4 Posts To Do It With in case you’re not blog-obsessed enough.

And bloggers should also check out Performancing’s 27 Tips for Building a Kick-Ass blog.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/17/07 at 4:03 PM | Comments (1)
See more entries in Blogging, Branding, Google, SEM Events

Click Here For More Information...On Something

Over at Copyblogger, Brian Clark is arguing that Google has made people retarded (yikes!) and brainwashed them into using poor, action-less, wordy anchor text. Basically, he says that instead of using anchor text to tell users exactly what they want them to do (“click here”, “read more”, etc), today’s Internet marketers are trying to please the Google gods with their keyword use and confusing readers in the process.

Brian explains his frustration:

Another reader once chastised me for wasting anchor text with the words “click here,” even though my primary goal for the link was to get people to click (shocking, I know). This is when I first realized that Google is truly making people retarded. Somehow, this person no longer saw links as navigation for actual people to use; they only exist to pass on “juice” according to an algorithm that no one fully understands

Brian’s main argument seems to be that site owners will always get better results if they tell users exactly what they want them to do. If you want them to “click here”, then tell them that. Brian’s opinion is supported by some interesting data from MarketingSherpa that found using terms like “click here”, “read more” and “continue to article” actually improve clickthrough rates as much as 8.53 percent.

Well, fine. Data is very nice, especially when it says what you want it to. However, I still don’t buy it. In my humble blogger opinion, there is absolutely no substitute for keyword-rich anchor text.

The truth is, using descriptive anchor text tells the search engines and your readers what the page you’re linking to is about. Both groups use it as a way to build relevance for key terms. It has nothing to do with inflating rankings or “tricking” the engines, using keywords in your anchor text is common sense and it’s probably one of the most important factors in your entire Internet marketing campaign. Unless the site you’re linking to is about “click here”, there is no reason to be using that as your anchor text.

I think the problem is that some people seem to associate the term “keywords” with “keyword-stuffing” or “spamming”. They hear about how important keywords are to search engine optimization and they think that’s their only use. But that’s not the case. Sure, keywords are important to your SEO efforts, but they’re also what users are looking for while navigating your site. If your internal links are keyword-rich, then they’re able to see that your site is relevant to their needs and they’ll be more inclined to click through to the rest of your site. If they can’t determine that in 15 seconds or less, well, then they are so totally gone.

This may be hard for the copywriters out there to hear, but not every visitor on your site is actually reading your perfectly-written content. Some, maybe even many, are just scanning your page looking for the terms they’re interested in. A link that reads “click here for more information” isn’t going to grab them because they didn’t read the paragraph above it. More information on what? They don’t know because you didn’t tell them. If the links uses descriptive anchor text like “Boxer Puppy Information” or “Puppy Adoption”, then that skimmer is going to find that link and click through.

Simply put, descriptive anchor text aids site usability. It tells visitors what’s on the other side of that hyperlink. It lets them know that if they click on the link at the bottom of your page they’ll be taken to a site or a page that discusses [X]. Using “click here” as your anchor text is like searching the Internet using Google’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” button. Seriously, someone give me a flashlight and a map and tell me where I’m going.

And what about the search engines? If you don’t include keyword-rich anchor text, how are they going to know what that page you’re linking to is about? They’re just going to assume you’re about clicking or reading, things that probably have nothing to do with that site or page. Help the engines out by using terms that help build subject matter relevance.

No one is debating the value of using call-to-action words. It’s very important that site owners help lead users through their sites. But there’s a middle ground between stuffing your anchor text with keywords (bad) and assigning “click here” to every link on your site (also bad). And not to be a jerk, but if I see you’re using “click here” for each link on your site, I’m going to assume you don’t know what you’re doing.

The good news is you don’t have to choose. You can present a call-to-action without losing out on a valuable opportunity to insert keywords. The simple “click here” can be rewritten to read “click here for cute puppy photos”, with “puppy photos” acting as the link. Action words and key terms can be combined to create a stronger punch.

If people get a little anchor text-obsessed it’s because it’s extremely important. It only takes a few seconds to rewrite that anchor text so that it best serves the users and engines. Why waste a valuable opportunity to be descriptive with keywords when you don’t have to?

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/17/07 at 3:35 PM | Comments (6)
See more entries in SEO, SEO Tips & Tricks, Search Engine Optimization

September 14, 2007

Friday Recap

Happy Friday, people! It’s late in the day so let’s just get right to the good stuff, shall we? Okay!

I don’t know if you have as much difficulty as I do trying to decide what to have for lunch (yes, Simon, I know, I’m indecisive), but if so, the Wheel of Lunch is your very best friend. You tell it where you live and the colorful spin wheel will tell you what your tummy secretly desires. Huzzah!

What would another search week be without more Facebook buzz? A boring one, that’s what! This week Jeremiah Owyang had the ingenious idea of outing all those who have annoyingly poked him on Facebook, Todd Friesen pointed to the new Facebook theme song that I now can’t get out of my head, and Stanford University officially jumped on the FB bandwagon offering a course in building Facebook applications. Sweet!

It was also a week of learning, as Gary Price let us know that the Oxford English Dictionary added some new words, including cowabunga, ya-yas, and bird-dog. (What in the world is a bird-dog? Actually, never mind, I don’t want to know). On a similar note, Seth Godin went ahead and coined his own acronym – NFYB, which means Not For Your Blog aka Blog This and You Die.

Michael Gray was kind enough to offer Britney Spears some career advice this week. I know, we’re all very educated and above celebrity gossip, it’s just that every time I see that photo of Britney and the umbrella, well, I giggle like a little girl.

Third Eye Dumb posted a collection of finger-sized animals and I squealed the entire way through. I mean, look, tiny baby finger-sized monkeys!

Did you know that some kitties eat melon? Did you know they were capable of actually holding an entire melon slice and gnawing on it like a 6-year-old boy? I didn’t. Now I do.

I’ll be watching where I step thanks to Deputy Dog. It seems there are some crazy big holes in the earth that I never knew about it. Those damn aliens.

Something else to look out for: Giant pigs made of clouds.

According to this sign, if you see a mountain lion you’re supposed to fight back. If by “fight back”, they mean “run like a little girl to the nearest mountain lion-free zone”, then yes, I totally agree. I know what happens to people who do try and fight back the real way. They get eaten.

Choose your friends wisely, folks. You don’t want to be the guy whose “friend” put the fake marriage proposal on the big screen at Yankee Stadium and got you slapped by your girlfriend. However, if you’re not that guy, the video is totally hilarious and I recommend you all watch it. Twice.

Nathan Weinberg pointed to the Internet People meme that highlights all the ridiculous things that have “hit it big” online in the past few years. The song is kind of annoying but if you tune it out, it’s worth a giggle.

And this just in: Old people hate young people. This must be why Susan and I don’t get alone. Tell your friends.

Things I Learned From Boing Boing This Week

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/14/07 at 5:03 PM | Comments (2)
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Are Your Customers Happy?

As Internet marketers, it’s our job to make sure that our customers are happy. Not minimally satisfied, but happy with our services. Sure, you can’t please all of the people all of the time, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive to. Successful marketers are constantly looking for ways to improve their company and product line. One of the most effective ways to do that is through customer feedback.

Your customers may not know all the specifics of your business, but they do know what they need from you. They know what problems they’re having and what’s holding them back. They know what doesn’t work quite the way it should and what new features would make their lives easier. If you want to make your product or service better, ask your customers what they want to see. Customers are like bloggers, they come complete with opinions. And it’s that voice and input that is going to help your company to be successful.

I don’t think I’m telling you anything you don’t already know. On the surface I think most companies recognize how valuable their customers are. But I wonder how many companies really take customer feedback seriously.

Keeping clients happy is something that we often talk about internally at Bruce Clay. We get a sense from our interaction with them and the fact that contracts are being constantly renewed, that they are pleased with our services, but how do we know for sure? How can we engage them in order to learn more, better ourselves and ultimately create even happier clients?

There are tons of ways to get customer feedback. Companies will create satisfaction surveys, stuff comment cards into mailings, make phone calls, or maybe they’ll even set up focus groups. The method that you use to interact with customers isn’t that important to me, what I want to know is if you’re (a) really giving them room to tell you what they think and (b) if you’re listening. Are you encouraging them to engage or are you leading them down the path to give you the answer that you ultimately want. It’s like when you were a kid and your mother would ask if you wanted chicken for dinner while it was already in the oven. Sure, you could say no, but then you got the dreaded Look of Death. The one that burned a fetus-sized hole straight through your soul.

To get the most out of customer feedback, site owners really have to understand what they’re being told. Sometimes that means reading between the lines. You must give customers room to say what they want to say. Sure, you can give specific answer options or rating systems, but make sure there are enough options for them to say what they want to say. In other words, don’t do what WordCamp just did.

I attended WordCamp back in July. It was fantastic. I learned a lot, met a lot of great people, and besides being stranded in the SFO airport overnight for “wind”, the whole experience was quite enjoyable. That was two months ago.

Yesterday, I received a customer satisfaction asking me to rate the event. When I opened it up, I got the distinct feeling that the folks behind WordCamp really didn’t want my opinion. Why? Well, because there was no room to actually state an opinion or offer a genuine comment. All I was able to do was rate each of the sessions by giving them a vague “Didn’t Attend”, “Not Good”, “No Opinion” or “Loved It” assessment. I’m sorry, but there are light years of middle ground missing there. What if I liked it but didn’t love it? What if it was okay but I felt like the presenters could have done a better job? It takes a lot for me to really love something. Ask my kitties, they’re constantly working for their supper.

To be fair, the WordCamp survey did include a few general questions, asking for my favorite and least favorite aspect and what I’d change. The questions were okay, but the boxes where I was to provide my answers were curiously small. Maybe I could have typed all I wanted to inside them, but I didn’t feel like I could. I felt like they just wanted me to write a few positive words and then get out of there. I didn’t get the feeling they were really interested in my opinion, so in the end, I didn’t really give it to them.

You don’t want that to be the feeling customers get when you ask them for your feedback. You want to give them plenty of room and ways to express themselves and voice their opinion. If you don’t give them a place to do it on your site, they’re only going to go somewhere else, and you may not like where that is.

I’d also ask that if you’re going to get feedback from customers about a product they just purchased or an event they just attended, do your best to make it timely. WordCamp was in July. I realize July wasn’t all that long ago, but it was long enough that I don’t remember most of the sessions, even though I wrote about a number of them. WordCamp and the month of July are locked back in my head behinds lots of birthdays, search conferences, company retreats and life events. I would have liked to have received this survey 2 weeks after the event.

Listening to customers and acting on their feedback helps your company to earn a reputation as someone who cares about users and customer service. Encourage them to voice their opinion. You’ll not only end up with happy customers, you’ll ultimately end up with a stronger company.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/14/07 at 11:16 AM | Comments (1)
See more entries in Branding

September 13, 2007

The Online Customer Service Problem

It’s been an interesting few days on LED Digest. On Tuesday, Ron Coble started a thread about problems with customer service and the conversation hasn’t stopped. In his post, Ron highlighted a few bad experiences he’s had with e-commerce Web sites, including the time he contacted the customer service department to see how much it would cost to ship a lounge chair and ottoman to the home of his 87-year-old father. Surely, the customer service department would recognize an easy conversion and be quick to respond to Ron’s question, right?

Appears not:

“As I write this, it has now been 3 weeks and never so much as a reply. Now wouldn't you think that if someone is asking about delivery charges that they are pretty far into the purchase decision and you would want to follow up with that person immediately?”

After Ron’s original post, several other LED Digest subscribers joined in to share their war stories about dealing with e-commerce sites and how sometimes customer service is severely lacking, frustrating users and causing site owners to miss out on sales. It seems we have ourselves a wide-spread problem.

Here’s a quick note to all the site owners out there in case this wasn’t clear from the beginning: Customer service is part of Internet marketing. Online marketing isn’t just about creating a flashy pretty Web site. Pleasing and responding to the needs of your customers is actually a very big part. Without them, your Web site is nothing more than a placeholder on the Web. Where’s the value in that?

By being quick to respond to customer concerns, problems and inquiries, it helps to establish trust, something that is so very important on the Web. You want your customers to feel like you’re there for them. You want them to feel like your site will still be there tomorrow, that there are actually people behind it.

Anyone who has seen me out and about knows that I’m a big fan of Seatbelt bags. They’re sturdy and adorable and I have quite a collection. They’re also fairly expensive, at least for a 20-something trying to support herself in one of the most expensive states in the universe. That being said, when I’m on the hunt for a new bag I send their customer service people a lot of questions, mostly via email. And you know what? They actually answer me, and very timely at that. And because of that, I trust them. I trust that I’m going to get the product they’re offering in the condition they’re promising. I trust that their site is credible. And I trust that should there be a problem with my order (which there never has been, they’re awesome), that they’ll be around to replace it or at least help me sort it out.

That’s what Internet marketing and branding is about. It’s about establishing trust and showing customers that you care about them.

So much of Internet marketing is about establishing these kinds of relationships. It’s why sites put pictures on the About us page or write friendly bios. It’s why we try to design Web sites to be intuitive. It’s about meeting users needs so that they feel comfortable enough to do business with you. Sure, search engine optimization and keywords are important, but they don’t mean anything if you’re ignoring users when they try to make contact.

Any company with a contact or email form should have a prompt system for answering any and all inquiries that come in. It’s just good business. Now, of course there are honest mistakes, the time when that email is accidentally directed to your spam folder or the days when life just gets in the way and you’re unable to check email, but those circumstances should be the exception, not the rule.

Ask yourself, how long does it take you to respond to a customer email? How long does it take to get a contract out? To pick up the phone and make contact when necessary? To respond to a support call? Are you responding to users as quickly as you should be? These are all actions that build trust and they’re all very important to your brand, both online and off.

With all the money you’re spending on search engine optimization and Internet marketing, don’t forget the personal touches that will help your site stand out. You don’t want to frustrate people to the point where they’re complaining about you so loud in discussion threads that nosy bloggers pick it up, do you?

Now, go check your email.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/13/07 at 2:55 PM | Comments (3)
See more entries in Branding

An SEO Quiz, Shady Optimization Companies & Ask.com Maps

So, we didn’t get eaten by bears after all. (And no, it wasn’t because we brought whistles, Volker). I’m kind of sad because it seems while we were up in Yosemite for our annual company retreat, the SEO industry went right along head without us. Didn’t they realize I wasn’t going to be around to blog? Like, seriously.

Okay, here’s some of the stuff we missed and maybe you did to.

SEOmoz’s Search Engine Optimization Quiz

Earlier this week, SEOmoz released a link baity Dark Lord of SEO quiz (complete with a new badge!). The quiz is 75 questions, covers the basic and advanced principles of search engine optimization and got a pretty public lashing when users, including Danny Sullivan, began disputing the expertness and biasness of the test.

Lots has already been said about the SEO quiz, but I think Vanessa Fox really hit the nail on the head when she said it was basically an SEOmoz compatibility test. If you agree with the questions and answers that SEOmoz has marked as “correct”, then you share similar SEO methodology beliefs as the Mozzers. It also means you’re probably a pretty big SEOmoz blog reader and you may have a life-sized Rand/Rebecca/Jane doll hidden in your closet.

I played around with the quiz a bit this morning. For me the problem is that SEOmoz was trying to create the definitive quiz on search engine optimization. I don’t think that’s really possible at this stage in the game. Search engine optimization is always changing. It’s going to be damn near impossible for anyone, even Rand and company, to create a quiz today that will be just as relevant and useful a year from now. I mean, sure, there are optimization basics that will always hold true, but methodologies shift and change. Principles are evolving. What we thought 6 months ago may not hold true today.

The fact is, it’s really difficult to give a definitive “right” answer when you’re talking about search engine optimization. There are so many “what ifs” and variables that come into play that in some instances there are either (a) more than one right answer or (b) no “right” answer at all. Danny Sullivan did a good job capturing this sentiment in his Dissecting an SEO quiz. Someone should give Danny a cookie.

Would You Stay With A Bad SEO Company?

Barry pointed to a very interesting Cre8asite Forum thread earlier this week. In the thread, Cre8asite member Miriam tells the story of a Web development client of hers who has been receiving optimization services from a company that may or may not have been practicing good SEO. Miriam expressed her concerns to the client and recommended that the client perhaps end their contract with said SEO company. The client, who understood Miriam’s concerns, was hesitant to switch companies in fear he would lose all the rankings he had earned. Miriam consulted the Cre8asite community to get their advice on what this client should do.

I can completely understand this client’s fear, but I really think it’s time to find a new search engine optimization company. One you can trust. I mean, how in the world are going to improve your site and increase rankings if you can’t trust the people running the project? You can’t.

My advice? Terminate the contract and change all of your passwords/information so that the company no longer has access to your site. Then, find yourself a respectable SEO company. Don’t waste your time or money with this kind of “SEO”. It’s not going to benefit you, your site or your customers.

I really don’t think this client need worry about any sort of drop in rankings, as it’s highly unlikely that switching companies will have any such impact on a site. If they were going to stop SEO altogether, then maybe, but simply switching providers is not going to hurt you. And if it did…well then that search engine optimization company was doing some seriously shady tricks and it’s in your best interest to get as far away from them as fast as you possibly can.

Ask.com Releases Embeddable Maps, New Features

Ask has followed Google’s lead, giving users the ability to embed a map directly onto their Web sites. The map appears as an image and links off to the full map over at Ask.com. Also cool is that Ask lets users include all the notations and drawings that users are able to use when they customize their maps. Yey, Ask!

To embed the map, just click the “embed” link located at the top right hand corner of any Ask map. Then copy the code and paste it directly onto your site, blog, etc. Simple, eh?

Rounding all the new Ask mapping features, users can also now adjust their routes if they don’t like the one laid out by Ask (Susan will be so excited), and there’s a new zip code business search to help you find all the pizza places in a certain vicinity. I’m sure it works for other businesses too, but pizza is clearly the greatest.

If you haven’t already done so, you should check out Nathan Weinberg’s comments on the new Ask mapping features. He raises a good point, questioning why Ask.com still uses two separate mapping services – Ask Maps and Ask City. When are we going to see these two merged?

Fun Finds

NxE had a fun piece of linkbait with the Fifty Most Influential Bloggers. Familiar names include Neil Patel (I wonder if he needed a permission slip to be included?), Rand Fishkin, Matt Cutts, Michael Arrington, Guy Kawasaki, and my personal favorite, Heather B. Armstrong.

Google wants to put a robot on the moon. Or something.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/13/07 at 2:50 PM | Comments (4)
See more entries in SEO, Search Engine Optimization

September 7, 2007

Friday Recap

Tamar says, now that Labor Day has passed and I’m sitting here writing the first Friday Recap of September, that summer is officially over. I’ll admit, that made me sad. For about two seconds. Then I remembered I live in Southern California where summer exists year round. Huzzah, suckers!

Big announcement over here at Bruce Clay, and no, I don’t mean that one. Today is unofficially We Heart Susan Esparza day. Why? Because she was kind enough to whip up a batch of her awesome sugar cookies and bring them into work for everyone to enjoy. Finally, a reason for her annoying existence. Enjoy your day, Susan. Tomorrow I go back to openly hating you.

If you have a few minutes to spare, I recommend you taking a look at Ralph Wilson’s video interview with Mike Grehan. In it, Mike talks about universal search and where search is going next. Better yet, he does it all in a British accent. Huzzah for The Grehan!

Something really weird happened this week: SEOs became funny. I know, it’s hard to believe but it is true! Matt McGee had us laughing with the Top 21 Signs You Need a Break from SEO, Rebecca Kelley (finally) finished her SES San Jose Comic Strip, SEO Theory took a few shots at your favorite SEO faces, Philipp Lenssen discovered that Marissa Mayer almost killed AdSense, and Digital Heretix crafted a few posters to help explain search engine optimization to newbies.

As a result of all the giggles that were had this week, I’m in a pretty fine mood today (see aforementioned sugar cookies), but in case you’re suffering from a case of the grumps, here’s a heartwarming video to help turn things around. The little baby hand kills me. As did the bunny jumping up the hill.

Just as it has happened a million times in my dreams, thirteen tons of chocolate melted to create a chocolate river that flooded the streets of Germany. Mmm, a chocolate river! We’re happy to reported that no Oompa Loompas were reported injured. [Which is a much better outcome than the 1919 Molasses Flood --Susan]

A super scientific study has found that men are attracted to “hot” women. I know, shocking. Look out for next week’s study that will discover that Krispy Kreme doughnuts may be linked to obesity.

Speaking of delicious flavor, the Consumerist reports that Krispy Kreme is in serious trouble and will be declaring bankruptcy on 15 of its Chicago-area stores. Sad. Those damn Chicagoans clearly don’t eat enough doughnuts.

If you like being “healthy” and “fit” like the Chicagoans, here are some easy ways to lose 50 pounds a year, ways to lose weight at work (like by perhaps not eating a gazillion of Susan’s sugar cookies), and a list of the best snack bars to munch on. I know, I’m awesome. You can name your six pack after me. [That's sort of creepy, Lisa. --Susan]

Happy Birthday to the cute little two-headed tortoise who turned 10 this week. That’s five years for the first head and five years for the second.

If you find yourself watching the clock today, try your hand at the SMS Crossword puzzle and make the time go by a bit faster. And if you’re really bored, there’s always the butt quiz that tests your ability to pick out the backside of famous people. C’mon, you know you’re curious.

If you have a second, you may also want to drop Barry Schwartz a note or an email to say hello. He’s so lonely he’s been sending himself letters. Poor guy.

This guy ate live octopus and then dumbly compared it to eating a gummi bear. I’m so not kidding. I hope that octopus climbs back up this throat and smacks him.

More proof that clowns eat babies. Even more scary? I think I wore that same outfit the year I was a clown for Halloween. I have the pictures to prove it.

CollegeScholarships.org announced they’ll be offering a $10,000 blogging scholarship to “one exceptional student blogger”. And just as I am thinking about grad school! Kidding. Sort of. The scholarship winner will be announced during November’s Blogworld & New Media Expo, which I really, really want to go to, coughSUSANcough. [Can I get you a cough drop? --Susan] - No, but you can cover AdTech New York for me so that I can hit Blogworld! Deal? K, you tell Bruce.

Things I Learn From BoingBoing This Week:

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/ 7/07 at 12:45 PM | Comments (2)
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September 6, 2007

We're going to be eaten by bears!

Hey, guys, a quick Bruce Clay programming note for you:

On Sunday, Sept. 9 the entire Bruce Clay, Inc. gang, and I do mean the entire BC gang, will be headed towards Tenaya Lodge in Yosemite, CA for the annual company retreat. We’ll be there through Wednesday so you can expect the blog (and the office) to be a whole lot quieter during that time.

If you’re a faithful blog reader, I didn’t want to leave you empty-handed or make you fear that Susan had finally done something outrageously horrible to me. To help make up for our absence, here are some fun things you can do when you would have been reading the always awesome Bruce Clay, Inc. blog

  • Click here and spend some quality time with our Green Monster. Yes, I am the one that gave him that nickname. Yes, it is because I am a die-hard Red Sox fan. And no, I don’t want to hear your opinion about the most awesome team in baseball.

  • Practice pronouncing my last name. After listening to Matt Cutts and Jim Lanzone stumble over it, and then hearing Danny Sullivan’s how-do-you-pronounce-it tangent on SearchCast, it seems my name is a little more difficult to pronounce than I originally thought. Let’s see if we can get this straightened out while I’m out of town: It’s Barone. Like Brr-Own. Or like Ray Barone. It’s not BaronEEEE. Practice. You’ll get it. I have faith.

  • Early Adopters can collect their iPhone refund and donate it to me.

  • If the Lisa-withdrawal gets real bad, you can find me on Facebook or dig through our blog archives and comment on that entry that you meant to say something about but never actually did. We like blog comments.

Okay, that should keep everyone busy and out of trouble until we’re back in the office bright and early Thursday morning. Have no fear; we’ll still be here tomorrow so you can expect your usual Friday Recap goodness. I wouldn't leave you hanging, would I?

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/ 6/07 at 5:34 PM | Comments (1)
See more entries in SEM Events

De-Blog your Blog and Increase Readers

Today’s the day you’re going to make that big pitch to your boss. The one that will get him to sign off a new project you’re spearheading and will hopefully earn you a big, big raise. Huzzah!

Now do you deliver the presentation using fancy visuals and a professional looking PowerPoint? Or do you hand him the scrunched up napkin you scratched your initial ideas on and let him decipher on his own what’s a graphic and what’s just the remnants of that yummy chocolate dessert you sinfully enjoyed? My guess is that you’d opt for the first. Why? Because presentation matters. It’s why those pretty people get all the good jobs, after all.

Performancing had a post the other day about How to Attract Readers Who Don’t Read Blogs. They talked about things like implementing good search engine optimization, commenting on other sites, issuing press relea