SEO study #7

Today's topic is more about good blogging skills & philosophy. I really liked that. Life boils down to having sound philosophy and taking sincere effort either it's building a blog or running a business.

-------------------------------

Google AdSense and automated spammy "can I buy a link on your site" emails have made virtually every important online publisher aware of the value of links.

In mid 2007 Google began editing toolbar PageRank scores and rankings for many sites that were selling links. It is getting harder and more expensive to buy your way to the top through link rentals.

At the same time, more and more people are writing online. Setting up a blog only takes a few minutes. There are hundreds or thousands of people talking about every topic imaginable, so if you create something remarkable and capture the attention of a few thought leaders who like it, you are going to get links. But how do you create content that people will like?

One of the easiest ways to predict a future and to predict what people like is to imerse yourself in your topic. If you are passionate about a topic, know more about it than anyone else, and openly share information, then eventually people will notice and link to you. If you know what people are interested in, rather than asking them to link to what you have, create something that they would be interested in linking at. Express your worldview and your bias in a way that matches their worldview.

Each of us is the most relevant thing in our own lives. It sounds selfish but it is true. If you promote other people they will be more likely to promote you. Popular bloggers search to see what people are saying about them. If you want someone's attention linking at them from a blog post on your site is an easy way to get them to notice you. This article about Paris Hilton explains how the concept works in the real world.
http://chartreuse.wordpress.com/2006/09/18/why-paris-hilton-is-famous-or-understanding-value-in-a-post-madonna-world/

Social interaction of any type leads to links. Speak at a conference? Someone will likely blog about it. Want to get thought leaders to promote your site? Create a community project or contest and ask them to participate. Or give out awards. Lack the budget needed to go to conferences? Moderate forums, comment on related blogs, and build social relationships.

But for people to take you credibly you need to make sure your website adheres to good web credibility standards. Is your domain name memorable? Does your design complement your copy? Is your content interesting and conceptually unique? Does your site have an editorial component and voice, or is it a boring low-value thin product database? Is your about page memorable? Is your site easy to use and understand? Do you have a brand people care about? You do not need to "have it all" to get started, but the more credible you look the faster you will gain momentum.

The Cluetrain Manifesto stated that markets are conversations.
http://www.cluetrain.com/
Blogs are the leading medium upon which those conversations happen. If you are a blogger, read the Blogger's Guide to SEO to get the most out of your blog.
http://www.seobook.com/bloggers
Even if you are not a blogger, the Blogger's Guide to SEO can help you understand the mindset of bloggers and why blogs quickly became a foundational part of the web.

Work to improve your site every day. Over the course of the year fixing or creating one thing a day will lead to a large advantage. Building up a leading market position can take years, but once you get at the top those years are the barrier to entry which prevent others from being able to replicate what you built up.

ps: You can get an overview of website credibility here
http://training.seobook.com/website-credibility

Source: SEOBook email, Aron Wall
(March 11, 2008)

(Pls notice: mostly the post is mostly excerpts from the "source" for the purpose of self-study and archiving. Therefore, when IPR issue arises I am willing to abide by the law.)

magazines' web sites are still proving more effecti...

Source: MEDIAWEEK, Dec 17, 2007 v17 i46 p24(2).

Title: Digital divide: magazines' web sites are still proving more
effective in attracting readers and ads than their digital
editions.(magazines)
Author: Lucia Moses

Locations: United States
SIC code: 7310; 2721

Electronic Collection: A172635719
RN: A172635719


Full Text COPYRIGHT 2007 Nielsen Business Media, Inc.

When Digital Editions of consumer magazines first appeared on the scene, they
dangled out the hope of bringing back wayward print subscribers and appealing
to advertisers with new, rich-media opportunities.

After a few years of dabbling in digital editions, publishers' hopes remain
largely unfulfilled. Large numbers of subs haven't materialized; for the first
six months of 2007, only 56 consumer magazines reported paid digital
subscriptions to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, up from 23 two years
earlier. As a result, few ads are sold against digital editions, which
essentially mimic their print progenitors.

Many publishers' experiments went no further than using digital issues to tide
over new subscribers until they get their long-awaited first issue. (One
reason is that, happily, magazines' Web sites are doing a better job of
attracting new subscribers.)

Chuck Cordray, vp and general manager, Hearst Magazines Digital Media, said
that Hearst found its Web sites are a better way to interact with readers than
digital editions are, and so digital editions have dropped in priority. "The
experiments we've had did not have the same legs as the Web sites," Cordray
said.

"For us, we've seen most of our growth on highly interactive formats that work
best in an online format." As for attracting ads, he said, "We're strong
believers that print has some pretty hard-to-duplicate advertising."

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Cimarron Buser, vp marketing, Texterity, a leading digital magazine platform,
acknowledged that the advertising stream has been more of a dribble than a
gush. "It's not as often as we would like, and I think it's the process of
educating advertisers," Buser said. A belief among some publishers that
digital editions compete with their magazines' separate Web sites also could
be to blame, Buser said. (His company has evidence that digital editions
actually support the Web sites by linking readers there, he added.)

Still, some persistent publishers have found digital editions can serve useful
roles in courting niche audiences and readers living abroad.

"Publishers are realizing they have to do more than just put a digital edition
up on their site, that you have to build programs around it for readers,
advertisers," said Rich Maggiotto, president and CEO of Zinio, another leading
e-publishing platform.

Hearst's Popular Mechanics has used the software to create custom publications
that it has used as circulation builders. In July, it will publish a DIY
handbook that will contain subscription offers throughout and be sent to
current as well as prospective subscribers culled from Hearst's database,
publisher Bill Congdon said.

Others are using their digital editions to serve ex-pats. Playboy, one of the
earliest digital edition users, reported more than 40,000 paid digital subs in
the first half of 2007, 40 percent of them overseas. Phyllis Rotunno, senior
vp, subscription circulation for Playboy, said that the digital edition--which
includes videos, music and extra photos--hasn't translated into new print
subscribers. But it's helped Playboy tap into a new source of people overseas
who weren't already print subscribers, Rotunno said. "What it's doing for us
is bringing in incrementals," she noted.

Others are using digital editions to appeal to readers' eco-friendly side. In
honor of Earth Day, Active Interest Media's Yoga Journal offered subscribers
the option of getting the May issue digitally instead of in print.

Some publishing executives still believe the format has advertiser potential.
At Bonnier Corp., subscribers who have opted to receive digital editions of
titles like Wake Boarding and Cruising World over print have grown over the
past two years to represent 5 percent of Bonnier's total circulation. Peter
Winn, director of planning and development in consumer marketing at Bonnier,
believes the number is big enough to warrant talking with advertisers about
rich-media opportunities on the digital editions. "Now is about the time when
we're ready to at least expose advertisers to this as an option," Winn said.

Congdon sees new possibilities for digital editions as the publishing
platforms add more features, while laptops, tablet PCs and e-readers gain in
popularity. "On the ad, a 30-second video could be played," he said. "Or if we
do a story on building a deck, a two-minute video could have the editor
talking about how to do it."

Still, media buyers are skeptical about the format. Bill Bell, group media
strategy director at Lowe New York, questioned the value of a digital edition
to advertisers. "I don't think they go online to read a magazine," he said.
Online, he said, "you're there for a purpose. You're looking for something."

-- End --

Keeping It Cool: Texterity iPhones It In.

Source: Min's B to B, Dec 3, 2007 v10 i46 pNA.

Title: Keeping It Cool: Texterity iPhones It In.
\
Electronic Collection: A172029364
RN: A172029364


Full Text COPYRIGHT 2007 Access Intelligence, LLC

By Steve Smith, Digital Media Editor for min, min's b2b and min's Digital
Media Report

Sometimes being cool for cool's sake is good enough for me. Take for instance
digital magazine provider Texterity's impressive new iPhone versions of 52 of
the digitized publications in its stable. While generally I find most mobile
extensions of B2B products to be more sexy and novel than actually mission
critical and functional, this experiment in mobile design succeeds in charting
a path for more portable business pubs.

The version 1.0 of an earlier, less robust Texterity for iPhones greets you at
the door (IPHONE/TEXTERITY.COM/MAGAZINES) with the covers of scores of titles,
including Baseline, Pizza Magazine and even Powder Bulk Solids--not your usual
hip iPhone fare. Enter into any of the mags and a top line menu lets you see
full thumbnails of every page in the book or a menu of more precise
navigational tools. There is a full search function and a TOC as well as a
sharing mechanism for email links. The search tool is particularly good,
because it lets you search against specific issues of a title and customize
the appearance of the search results. The results themselves are beautiful
thumbnails of the relevant page with a quote that locates the keyword.

Because of the Safari browser interface, the actual pages look fantastic, and
a tap on any area of a page zooms in easily. The only thing missing, and this
is a limitation in Safari, is a cut and paste utility that lets you create
your own clippings. Generally, you can push and pinch, zoom in and out of
pages as you do with any Web site via the great Safari interface.

While Texterity's is one of the most deft Web applications I have seen for the
iPhone, there is a new world opening up to content providers on the platform.
Apple forced third parties to use "off-deck" Web-based applications to appear
on the iPhone in the original design, but the company recently announced it
was opening the iPhone up to third party developers by releasing a software
development kit (SDK) in February. This means that designers cannot get direct
access to the Apple deck and design full-fledged software applications that
integrate content with communications, mapping, calling, etc.

But why do iPhone applications matter at all to B2B publishers? After all,
with an estimated 2 to 3 million iPhones in the U.S. by early next year, this
is a pretty small target. In fact, the business utility of the iPhone is
limited, since it doesn't work well with many business networks and internal
e- mail clients. Apple made no secret that it is a consumer-facing device.

In fact, the target is broader than the iPhone, since all of the Web
applications that work on the iPhone also work on the new iPod Touch
multimedia player. The "Touch" is a phone-less iPhone essentially, with all
the touch screen interface and WiFi-enabled Web browsing of the phone.
Arguably, the Touch may sell more units than the iPhone, and it is that
platform of WiFi multimedia devices where the Texterity design gets
interesting.

Increasingly, mobile devices will have larger screens, fatter pipes and more
flexible interfaces. All of our content will move from the limitations of the
current WAP page and SMS messaging into mobile broadband on richer receivers.

When I spoke recently to Cimarron Buser, VP of marketing at Texterity, he said
that with good marketing and awareness of the alternative, up to 15% of B2B
readers are showing a preference for the digital versions of their business
pubs because of superior convenience and searchability. When the company sends
its e-mail ticklers to digital subscribers reminding them a new issue is
available, Texterity sees typically a 30% to 80% email open rate for the email
and a 10% to 50% "read rate," which indicates the user clicked through to
engage the magazine. Compared to the usual read rates of print versions of B2B
pubs, Buser says that percentage is pretty good.

The digital magazine format has always been in need of a technology on which
it can work more effectively. Back in 2001 when many of these companies first
emerged, the likely target was the laptop. Downloadable magazines (the early
model for this platform) sold themselves as fully portable apart from the Web.
You could read your stack of magazines from the laptop on the plane. When the
Tablet PC came out in the early 2000s, that too was touted as the perfect
reading device for digital magazines because of its oblong orientation and
book- like format. The new Amazon Kindle book reader also has magazines in its
mix.

The iPhone and iPod Touch, along with new mobile Internet browsers from Nokia,
are helping to revive interest in the portable multimedia device coming from a
different direction. While previous attempts try to shrink the desktop to
portable size, the newer approach seems to expand the mobile phone platform
upwards to embrace more robust browsing. Given the ubiquity of cell phones,
this looks like a better bet than Tablets or portable book readers. Hybrid
cell/WiFi devices could well be the sweet spot that digi-mags have been
waiting for. Experiments like Texterity's in iPhone magazine design could be
shooting just ahead of the tech trajectory, but our guess is there is
important learning here for the day when design and technology come together.

[Copyright 2006 Access Intelligence, LLC. All rights reserved.]

-- End --

User Manuals Are at Peak Demand. The Reason? Not What You Think.

"User Manuals Are at Peak Demand. The Reason? Not What You Think. " Business Wire. (Dec 12, 2007): NA. General OneFile. Gale. Cambridge Public Library. 10 Mar. 2008
<http://find.galegroup.com/itx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T004&prodId=ITOF&docId=A172328630&source=gale&userGroupName=cam&version=1.0>.

OwnerIQ Survey Finds Product User Manual Plays Key Role in Consumer Product Education and Brand Experience

NEWTON, Mass. -- The product user manual is an increasingly critical tool for both consumers and brand managers, according to a survey conducted by OwnerIQ, a company dedicated to helping consumers get the most out of their products. With more and more people turning to the Web for information, the often-overlooked user manual is fast becoming the primary source of product education and the most important part of the consumer brand experience outside of the product itself.

Banishing the popular notion that a user manual is only used to troubleshoot product problems, more than 86% of consumer respondents cited the user manual as the first place they turn to learn about the products they own. More than 77% noted that one of the most frequent reasons for consulting a user manual is to learn about using product features. The survey also reveals that the more Internet savvy the consumer, the more likely they are to use product user manuals and to search for them online: 65% of the most Internet savvy respondents reported consulting user manuals more than five times per year.

"We knew the user manual was more important than conventional wisdom would suggest, but even we were surprised with the importance of the user manual in the total brand experience," said Jay Habegger, CEO of OwnerIQ. "Moreover, rather than reducing dependence on user manuals, the Internet is rendering the manual even more important."

Habegger continued, "Consumers expect on-demand access to user manuals and are even using them as a resource prior to purchase. More than 20% of the most sophisticated Internet users say that they review the user manual before purchasing a product and 26% of this same group indicated that they use the user manual to check compatibility with other products."

Each day, consumers conduct more than two million online searches for self-support information on products ranging from consumer electronics to kitchen appliances. Many of these searches end in frustration because the information can be difficult to find. In fact, 90% of survey respondents reported experiencing some level of difficulty in locating user manuals online. Furthermore, a full 89% of the consumers surveyed reported negative feelings about the product manufacturer when they had difficulty obtaining the user manual.

To help solve these challenges, OwnerIQ provides a network of Web sites that aggregate tens of thousands of user manuals from more than 2,200 manufacturers. With more than one million unique visitors to the OwnerIQ Network each month, the company solves the consumer challenge of locating product information online and supports a positive brand experience for consumer product manufacturers. For more information on the company, the OwnerIQ Network and survey results, please visit: http://owneriq.net.

The OwnerIQ survey of more than 2,700 users was conducted in September 2007. All of OwnerIQ's research is available at: http://owneriq.net/research.

About OwnerIQ

OwnerIQ operates a network of consumer self-support Web sites for common household product categories. The company is pioneering the concept of Ownership Targeting, providing brand advertisers with highly customized programs to precisely target consumers based on products they already own. Ownership Targeting takes the guesswork out of identifying likely purchasers and enables advertisers to influence consumers throughout a product's ownership lifecycle. Founded in August 2006, OwnerIQ is based in the greater Boston area and is led by a proven management team of online media professionals. For more information, please visit: http://owneriq.net.

Gale Document Number:A172328630

Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2007 Business Wire

© 2007 Gale, a part of The Thomson Corporation. Thomson and Star Logo are trademarks and are registered trademarks used herein under license

As Holiday Shopping Heats Up, OwnerIQ Launches Four New Self-support Web Sites for t

"As Holiday Shopping Heats Up, OwnerIQ Launches Four New Self-support Web Sites for the Most In-demand Consumer Electronics.(Website overview). ." Business Wire. (Nov 14, 2007): NA. General OneFile. Gale. Cambridge Public Library. 10 Mar. 2008
<http://find.galegroup.com/itx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T004&prodId=ITOF&docId=A171288348&source=gale&userGroupName=cam&version=1.0>.

Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2007 Business Wire

NEWTON, Mass. -- With consumer electronics as perennial hot gifts for the holiday season, OwnerIQ, a company dedicated to helping consumers get the most out of the products they purchase, today announced the addition of four new Web sites for popular consumer electronic (CE) product categories to its growing network of self-support Web sites. Available at TV.ManualsOnline.com, Audio.ManualsOnline.com, CarAudio.ManualsOnline.com and PortableMedia.ManualsOnline.com, each site organizes highly-sought, but often hard to quickly find, user manuals, how-to guides and other self-support information for common CE products.

Many consumer electronics are loaded with impressive features that also contribute to the complexity of the device. For consumer electronics that are designed to work with other CE components, complicated features can also introduce potential compatibility problems. With the Consumer Electronics Association forecasting that consumers will spend more than $22 billion this holiday season to purchase approximately nine CE products per consumer as gifts, OwnerIQ recommends consulting the owner's manual before you buy.

"All those impressive features in today's CE products can cause confusion and make it difficult to ensure compatibility with other products," said Jay Habegger, chief executive officer of OwnerIQ. "Consulting the owner's manual before purchase is the only way to be sure what you buy will work with other products in the home, car or office."

Each day, consumers conduct more than two million online searches for self-support information on products ranging from consumer electronics to kitchen appliances. Many of these searches end in frustration because the information can be difficult to find. The addition of four new sites dedicated to popular CE products to the OwnerIQ Network makes it easier than ever to find this important product information on the Internet:

* TV.ManualsOnline.com provides product information on thousands of big screen TVs, home theater systems, DVD players and more.

* If an MP3 player is on your wish list, check out PortableMedia.ManualsOnline.com for product information on all the top products and manufacturers, including Apple.

* Audio.ManualsOnline.com is the place to turn for self-support information on stereo systems and components, speakers and other home audio products.

* For car audio, CarAudio.ManualsOnline.com features user manuals from leading manufacturers such as Alpine, Clarion and JVC.

About OwnerIQ

OwnerIQ operates a network of consumer self-support Web sites for common household product categories. The company is pioneering the concept of Ownership Targeting, providing brand advertisers with highly customized programs to precisely target consumers based on products they already own. Ownership Targeting takes the guesswork out of identifying likely purchasers and enables advertisers to influence consumers throughout a product's ownership lifecycle. Founded in August 2006, OwnerIQ is based in the greater Boston area and is led by a proven management team of online media professionals. For more information, please visit: http://owneriq.net.

Gale Document Number:A171288348

© 2007 Gale, a part of The Thomson Corporation. Thomson and Star Logo are trademarks and are registered trademarks used herein under license

HubSpot Predicts New England Patriots Win Super Bowl XLII Based on Geeky Internet Ma

Subject: General OneFile:HubSpot Predicts New England Patriots Win Super Bowl XLII Based on Geeky Internet Ma

"HubSpot Predicts New England Patriots Win Super Bowl XLII Based on Geeky Internet Marketing Data and Not on Performance. " Internet Wire. (Jan 29, 2008): NA. General OneFile. Gale. Cambridge Public Library. 10 Mar. 2008
<http://find.galegroup.com/itx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T004&prodId=ITOF&docId=A173969203&source=gale&userGroupName=cam&version=1.0>.

Full Text:COPYRIGHT 2008 News provided by Comtex.

CAMBRIDGE, MA, Jan 29, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- News Facts

-- Using Internet marketing data to make a prediction, HubSpot predicts that the New England Patriots will beat the New York Giants at Super Bowl XLII. This predication has nothing to do with the Patriots record-breaking regular season or the Giants' remarkable run in the playoffs, because past performance rarely impacts future results.

-- HubSpot's executives are nearly all MIT alumni, which is why the Company is betting based on cold hard numbers -- Internet statistics and how many people link and discuss the Patriots online, rather than Tom Brady and Randy Moss' record-breaking results this season.

-- HubSpot's theory on who will win the Super Bowl is similar to how Las Vegas picks the spread -- simple popularity. In layman terms, HubSpot is predicting and betting on the Patriots winning the Super Bowl simply because of how popular they are all over the Internet. And online, being popular is all that matters.

-- Want the data to prove that people love to talk about the Patriots more than the Giants online? Well, HubSpot's marketing tool, Website Grader, performed an analysis on both the Patriots Website and the Giants Website and revealed that based on every major Internet marketing metric, the Patriots will win against the Giants.

-- The data pulled from HubSpot's Website Grader shows the number of people bookmarking the Patriots, linking to the Patriots and visiting the Patriots Website outnumbers those for the Giants' website. According to HubSpot:

-- The Patriots have 35 percent more del.icio.us bookmarks.           -- The Patriots have 125 percent more inbound links -- over              450,000 web pages link to New England's Website.           -- The Patriots also have a much higher traffic rank than the              Giants, indicating they are getting a lot more website              traffic.

-- Not only are the Patriots undefeated in the NFL, but they are also topping the Google charts.

-- For the search terms "Superbowl Champion," "Superbowl              Champions," "Super Bowl Champion" and "Super Bowl Champions"              www.patriots.com is on the first page of Google results and              www.giants.com is not even ranked.           -- The Patriots also have a higher Google Page Rank than the              Giants.

-- HubSpot does not have any relationship or affiliation with the NFL, any NFL team or the Super Bowl. NFL and Super Bowl are trademarks of the National Football League, team names are trademarks of their respective teams. HubSpot is just a bunch of Internet marketing geeks who think it's cool that Internet marketing data appears to have predictive value in professional football.

Links for more information:

Article Explaining How HubSpot Made This Super Bowl Prediction

HubSpot's Internet Marketing Blog

HubSpot' s Company News

Quotes, attributable to Mike Volpe, VP, Marketing, HubSpot

-- "The Patriots are beating the Giants on every metric from traffic, to bookmarks, to the number of inbound links. Clearly the Internet community thinks the Patriots are the better team, and we really think this predicts the outcome of the game. HubSpot is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but our Super Bowl prediction is not biased, I swear! We are a very data-driven marketing company and we do not come to conclusions lightly."

-- "These Internet marketing statistics really do have predictive power. I am sure there will be some criticism from folks thinking that the Internet has nothing to do with whether or not the Pats will win. They might be right, actually. But if Las Vegas can predict a winner based on what is essentially a popularity contest -- how many people are betting on each team -- then I think that our prediction is just as valid. If you look at the statistics for the NFL's worst team, the Miami Dolphins, who only won one game this year, they're way behind both the Giants and the Patriots on all the Internet marketing metrics. In fact, the Dolphins' Internet marketing stats are terrible, just like their record this year."

-- "Bill Belichick is known to be a coach obsessed with statistics and measurability. Clearly that attitude permeates the entire Patriots organization as they are methodically ruling every Internet marketing statistic the same way they have dominated the NFL this year."

About HubSpot

HubSpot is an inbound marketing system that helps your company get found online, generate more inbound prospects and convert a higher percentage of them into leads and customers. HubSpot helps companies get found by more prospects using search engine optimization and marketing, leveraging blogs and the blogosphere and engaging in online social media. By using landing pages, lead intelligence and marketing analytics, HubSpot customers convert more prospects into leads and customers. Based in Cambridge MA, HubSpot Internet marketing can be found at http://www.HubSpot.com and the Website Grader free marketing and SEO tool is available at http://www.WebsiteGrader.com.

Contact information: Mike Volpe (spokesperson) HubSpot (617) 225-4354 Email Contact www.hubspot.com   Maura Landry (agency) SHIFT Communications (617) 779-1829 Email Contact www.shiftcomm.com

SOURCE: HubSpot

http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/emailprcntct?id=B5E6892276FEA57E http://www.hubspot.com http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/emailprcntct?id=6458B02F4B754F56 http://www.shiftcomm.com

Copyright 2008 Market Wire, All rights reserved.

Gale Document Number:A173969203

© 2007 Gale, a part of The Thomson Corporation. Thomson and Star Logo are trademarks and are registered trademarks used herein under license

SEO study #6

Getting Started With Link Building

Prior to creating the SEO Book training program I conducted a survey of SEO Book members. One of the questions was, "What is the biggest thing stopping you from improving your website rankings and traffic?"

The most common answer to that question was "link building". If links are so important how do you build them?

One of the easiest was to start building links is to submit your site to leading general web directories and directories in your niche. Don't just think of directories as being places that accept websites. Some of the best directories represent business partnerships and exist on sites like manufacturers you sell for, local government sites, or your local chamber of commerce. For example, Google lists some of the most popular Google Checkout business partners http://www.google.com/checkout/m.html

This video covers directory submission.
http://www.seobook.com/archives/002034.shtml

Link quality is one important factor, but another important factor is link anchor text. In this interview
http://www.stonetemple.com/articles/interview-adam-lasnik-012408.shtml
Google's Adam Lasnik highlighted the importance of using descriptive anchor text:
"Useful descriptive Anchor text can be great, not only for the user who gets a better idea what he or she is going to be clicking through to, but helpful for Google to better understand what that page is likely about."

You can't always control how other people will link at you, but you can guide them. Most people refer to things by their official name. If your domain name is SEOBook.com, and you are aggressive at marketing your site, then many people who mention your site are going to link at your site with SEO Book as the anchor text.

Beyond your domain name you can also guide anchor text with the names you give articles, tools, and other content published on your site. If you want people to reference something on your site using a specific word in the anchor text then make sure that word is in the page title, filename, and in the product name.

Beyond directories, there are many blogs and other websites that discuss your topic. Tomorrow we discuss how to create linkworthy content.

ps: This article offers background information on link building
http://training.seobook.com/link-building

Source: SEOBook email, Aron Wall(Mar 10, 2008)

(Pls notice: mostly the post is mostly excerpts from the "source" for the purpose of self-study and archiving. Therefore, when IPR issue arises I am willing to abide by the law.)

SEO study #5

Google's Rise to Power: A Link is Worth 1,000 Word

Yesterday we covered on page optimization, and mentioned how some people are too aggressive with keyword density. Of course copy that is dense with keywords likely sounds dense, and will not convert site visitors into buyers. But some automated content generation programs create content that is better than some page copy that people write.

Some major corporations, like Thomson Financial, publicly admit that they generate news reports using robots to write the content.
http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/imomus/2006/08/71654

The cost of creating content for the sake of it has dropped to ~ $0. In a market dominated by outsourcing and automated content generation, a search engine has to look beyond what we say about ourselves if they want to stay relevant.

Part of what allowed Google to grow so influential so fast is that they use elegant link analysis in their relevancy algorithms. If another site links to you saying that your site is about "Chicago dentists" then that link is interpreted as a vote of trust for your site for "Chicago dentists" and closely related topics.

Not all votes are counted equally. The more quality websites that link at a given website, the more that website is trusted when it links out to other websites. PageRank is designed such that links from the homepage of a leading university is trusted more than a link from a low quality website that links to other low quality websites.

Search engines only trust us if others trust us too. Search engines follow people.

Source: SEOBook email (Mar 9, 2008)

(Pls notice: mostly the post is mostly excerpts from the "source" for the purpose of self-study and archiving. Therefore, when IPR issue arises I am willing to abide by the law.)

$100 mil iFund Launched

Big $$$ officially flows into iPhone app developers - well, the benefit will spill over to general mobile app developers :-)

exciting! who will be the cinderella.. (just came up with fun name.. iCinderella :-)

source: KPCB launches $100 million iFund for Apple iPhone application developers
(be careful of the evil pop-ups at macdailynews)

dig the jargon - lead generation

This is first time that i officially looked up for "lead generation" from Wikipedia.
Well, it has been ambiguous term for a while (esp. when it was 'literally' translated into Korean) eventhough i heard it years ago. There's no 1-to-1 translation of lead generation into Korean.

Lead generation (commonly abbreviated as lead-gen) is a marketing term that refers to the creation or generation of prospective consumer interest or inquiry into a business' products or services. Often lead generation is associated with marketing activity targeted at generating sales opportunities for a company's sales force. Therefore a lead is correctly described as information regarding or provided by a consumer that may be interested in making a purchase. Whereas, generation is one of a myriad of activities that may produce that information and perceived interest.

SEO study #4

Using PPC Ads to Test The Value of Keywords

Setting up an effective SEO campaign can be a long drawn out and expensive process. Worse yet, if you are focused on the wrong keywords, you might need to start over again after you find out that your site is not producing the results you want.

An easy way to avoid needing to start over is to test the value of keywords before you heavily commit to your SEO strategy. Buying pay per click ads from search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Micrsoft allow you to see what keywords have the ability to drive traffic to your site.

All the major PPC ad networks have built in conversion tracking tools which show you what keywords convert well. If tracking conversions is hard, you can place a link to a coupon on your landing page and view a click on that coupon page as a proxy for conversion and user intent. Some more sophisticated strategies involve setting up different 1(800) phone numbers based on the marketing chanel or keyword.

Bid on a variety of keywords tightly related to your business. Find out which ones perform well and set up your site structure based on the top performing keywords. This spreadsheet offers an example of how to structure a website
http://training.seobook.com/bonuses/startups.xls

You can find coupons for bonus credits and sign up to create advertiser accounts on all 3 major search engines on this page.
http://tools.seobook.com/ppc-tools/

PS: This article offers more information about pay per click advertising.
http://training.seobook.com/ppc-search-engine-marketing

source: SEOBook email (Mar 7, 2008)

(Pls notice: mostly the post is mostly excerpts from the "source" for the purpose of self-study and archiving. Therefore, when IPR issue arises I am willing to abide by the law.)

SEO study #3

On Page SEO

In November of 2003 Google did a major update to their search relevancy algorithms, which was known in the SEO community as the Florida update. That update marked the day that SEO became hard. Prior to that point in time, on page optimization tips from many SEOs would have sounded something like this "use your keywords heavily everywhere."

But that update changed how on page optimization works. Keyword density is an irrelevant measure of relevancy and rouge repitition is not an effective SEO strategy. Many pages and sites that use keywords too aggressively end up getting filtered out of the search results.

Now your on page SEO strategy should use semantically related phrases and mix up your keyword usage. If your page title is "Chicago Dentist & Dental Care : Business Name" then your on page heading tag should be something like "Your Friendly Dentists in Chicago".

This spreadsheet offers examples of how you might want to mix up your keyword usage
http://training.seobook.com/bonuses/startups.xls

A cool tool called Quintura helps you visualize related phrases.
http://www.quintura.com:/?request=seo
Type in some of your keywords and find out what keywords and keyword modifiers they think are related.

source: SEOBook email (Mar 8, 2008)

(Pls notice: mostly the post is mostly excerpts from the "source" for the purpose of self-study and archiving. Therefore, when IPR issue arises I am willing to abide by the law.)

top 5 websites (U.S,)

i suddently feel myself Bnet lover... :-P
maybe.. but i'm just a web-person. (grumbling- just hard to transfer from Korean to US web eventhough it's WEB!)

The Five Most-visited Websites(Bnet) shows a bit obvious result?

1. Google
2. Yahoo!
3. MySpace
4. YouTube
5. Facebook

The columnist also says: "Thanks to the data-crunching power of sites like compete.com and Alexa, we’re able to size up the real traffic count of various domains on the web. Keeping a radar on these stats is important — not only in recognizing current opportunities, but also future trends."

Hmmm.. good to note those(bold) channels... thanx!

SEO study #2

Site audit... sounds like headache.
But already all kinds of keywords within web marketing buzz is almost headache.
Now let's learn!
----------------------------------
Why a search(site) audit?

• It’s a barometer of your health and opportunities online. An SEO audit brings together all that data your site has been gathering and tells you where your strengths lie; it also takes the code and architecture of your site to show where opportunities exist.
• It helps you decide on whether or not to hire an in-house SEO strategist. Large jobs require longer-term investments. Quick fixes can be outsourced.
• A good audit compares your paid search and organic search performance. Each market is different — some pay better with organic strategies by raising your unpaid Google ranking. Other markets have more opportunity in the paid search realm. Although all strategies benefit from a dual approach that capitalizes on both, you’ll eventually need to decide on which one pays the best for your efforts.
• SEO audits size up your competition. Audits are one of the least utilized tools for firms with stiff competition. The beauty of a good SEO audit is the ability to scrape much of your competitors’ web data for comparisons and to isolate opportunities in order to lap them in rankings.

Source: Why a Search Audit is Essential (Bnet)
Ref.: perform a site audit (searchengineland.com)

SEO study #1

For example, if you are a dentist in Chicago, it is not worth the effort to try to rank for the word dentist. Why? 99% of the people searching for that phrase do not live near Chicago, and are irrelevant prospects. What you would want to rank for, if you were a Chicago dentist, would be things like

- Chicago dentist
- Chicago dentists
- dentist in Chicago

Even within a niche like dental work, there are more specific types of dentists people search for, like implant dentist and cosmetic dentist. If you offer these types of services you would want to rank for keywords like
- Chicago implant dentist
- cosmetic dentist in Chicago
- etc.

There is a wide array of keyword tools on the market.
Most of them have a free version which works well.

SEO Book keyword tool is fast and free, powered by Wordtracker, and allows you to export your keyword data.

http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/
http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/
Every keyword tool has some data errors or anomalies. Don't expect the tools to give you exact numbers, just rough ranges.

You can also look at emails from customers or customer questions as potential keywords. Anything people would likely search for to want to buy your services is a potential keyword.

After you get a list of keywords start grouping related keywords together.
- You should be able to target related phrases like Chicago dentist and dentist in Chicago using a single page.
- Chicago cosmetic dental work is a different concept, sold to a different audience. You should create a separate page targeting that that term and why prospects would want to buy that service.
- If you have Microsoft excel you can start aligning keywords and related modifiers with your URLs, likeso
http://training.seobook.com/bonuses/startups.xls

PS: This article offers more background advice on keyword research
http://training.seobook.com/keyword-research-suggestion-tips

Source: SEOBook email (6 Mar 2008)

(Pls notice: mostly the post is mostly excerpts from the "source" for the purpose of self-study and archiving. Therefore, when IPR issue arises I am willing to abide by the law.)

(dug) Search Marketing - SEM & SEO Resources

Search Marketing - SEM & SEO Resources
From MarketingSherpa

• Search Marketing Benchmark Guide 2008 - Executive Summary PDF includes sample charts, heatmap, and table of contents.
  
• Annual Study Presentation Top 5 Search Marketing Opportunities for 2007 Audio file, transcript plus PDF of slides.
  
• Article:3,944 Marketers Reveal Search Marketing Costs, Clicks, & Conversions Fall 2006
  
• PDF Excerpt from: Buyer's Guide to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Firms May 2006
  
• PDF Excerpt from Buyer's Guide to PPC Search Agencies May 2006

marketing wisdom using web2.0

learn from MarketingSherpa blog

well, anyone who has (any) experience in online marketing or even just a web posting could say this. But implementation is just too much work and evidencing the effectiveness (anticipated in that posting) is more or less like the needle's eye.
Need smart implementation

Let's dig in SEO

plan to explore more about SEO with:
O'Reilly book on SEO

Let's dig in Google Analytics

let's get some serious start on web data analysis with:

GOOGLE ANALYTICS PDF

explore more on Analytics and let's consider reading

(must-info) useful open-source SW

Getting bored with oldie MicroSoft or other proprietary SW? - yes, indeed.

Excited to find good substitutes which is pay-free and hazzle-free, esepcailly becuase I believe in the positive value of open source movement.

Open-source software rated: Ten alternatives you need (CNet)

Summary List

• microsoft office vs. openoffice
• Microsoft Windows Media Centre vs. MediaPortal
• Windows Media Player vs. VLC Media Player
• WinZip vs. 7-zip
• Adobe Photoshop vs. GIMP
• Google Reader, Bloglines vs. RSSOwl
• Windows Live Messenger, AIM, Yahoo! Messenger vs. Pidgin
• Nero Burning Rom vs. InfraRecorder
• Adobe Audition vs. Audacity --- (audio editing program)
• Internet Explorer vs. Mozilla FireFox

OurStage.com

My friend 'J' recommended me to visit ourstage.com. Looks fun!

I have not sought for new songs since college and ourstage might give me alterative music stream:-)

'J' told me, its media streaming is much faster and especially the voting system is more reliable compared to youtube.com. On this, the official comment from ourstage says:

OurStage is the only purely democratic music discovery site, where the fans decide who’s the best in emerging music, film and video through our unique voting platform. The OurStage mission is to help talented artists achieve critical exposure by solving the greatest challenge on the Internet today: sorting quality content from the sea of mediocrity online.
OurStage provides a neutral, trusted, game-free platform, in which the true judgment of the fans drives the best content to the top. Through its wealth of partner programs, including SXSW, Noise Pop, Bonnaroo, Virgin Festival, Bumbershoot, Paste, CMJ, PLUG Awards, Pops on the Edge Fest, Slamdance, Relix, Gen Art, Videomaker, IFFBoston, and many others, you actually can be discovered.
OurStage offers artists real opportunities to actually launch their careers.

I wished ourstage had been available when I was the vocalist of college band years back.
Hmm.... anyways, The whole web2.0 enables everyone to seek entertainment around your familiar corner.

Tricky net neutrality

read: FCC takes on ‘Net neutrality’ debate

Net neutrality debate has been hot-potato in south korea for years. (it's more complicated than US due to Korea's unique market i.e. government-carieer coalition)
Well, 'net neutrality' is very blurry line.
Three parties (broadband service carriers, users and regulators) should reach agreements on :

* privacy protection
* fair usage of broadband (yes, some evil network savvies create jams for the whole data stream)
* better transparency of carriers' operation

Network is not a unique area of this kind of debate. there has been always debate regarding to the information accessibility.

my Career- FIT

1) Right function

it's hard to tell because in nature i am a multi-tasker instead of a function-specific person. but i know what I don't fit well: accounting/ budgeting/ customer service/ healthcare/ pure investment or corporate relations/ trading/ security/ secretarial/

and pure engineer ("nerd")

• for more complete job function list: US Bureau of Labor Statistics website- occupational outlook hanbook
• career assessment at the author's website: www.careerandlifecoach.com ("Assessment")

2) ideal industry and interests
it's quite easy: the industry where I can have fun with new tech stuff - as far as i know, mobile and www :-)

• more industry options at Bureau of Labor Statistics website
• or NAICS at the National Institute of Health Small Business Office: click New to the NAICS?

3) things that matter (career needs)
so many things, but the least requirement

Derived from Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs -> career counterpart

• 1. physiological - basic $$/ work hours
• 2. safety - basic work environment
• 3. belonging and love- organizational culture
• 4. self-esteem - title, awards, appreciation
• 5. self-actualization - personal growth

4) Define fulfillment

my fulfillment statement - draft

5) Enhance my identity

6) Know my personality type
MBTI test

7) salary range



Summary of my CAREER-FITTM

" In the short term, I will focus on getting work experience around web/mobile industry. I believe my background in engineering and management would enable me to do any kind of job function- from marketing to technical work and from management to administration.
Ultimately, I want to work on utilizing high-tech to benefit general people's lives especially in less developed countries(LCD). Currently, even though WWW and other communication
technologies made it possible that a lot of people benefit from them, still majority of world population don't even have access to them. Putting in another way, my mission in career is to facilitate fair use of technology for average people."

source: Interview Magic (by Britoon Whitcomb)

let's start fresh 2008!

To-do list

• categorize the entries
• 2-5 issues a day
• plus, two-cents each (=$ 0.04 ~ 1.00 a day, a nerdy joke :-)

it will be fun!