Scan Violation

There is some controversy emerging about the Ferrari Formula One racing team’s use of a bar code on their driver jackets and cars.  It is being suggested the bar code is to remind race fans to purchase Marlboro cigarettes as they watch Team Ferrari drive less well than their competitors on circuits throughout the world.

In all fairness, it is illegal for tobacco companies to advertise at sporting events in accordance with EU legislation and whether this is “subliminal” or ridiculously overt (as I believe) it is in violation of the rules and should be removed.  Anyone that has traveled to Europe knows that there is no shortage of tobacco users and the Marlboro bar code is universally

Example of 3D Bar Code

recognized.

I am not a smoker so it did not click with me immediately that this was the Marlboro bar code.  I discovered the story because I do enjoy Formula One racing and initially thought is was an attempt at 3D Mobile Bar Coding that is becoming more and more popular in Asia and Europe.

This story is not likely to go away in the coming week as the European leg of F1 is set to kick off in Spain on May 9th.  It may take some of the pressure off the Fernando Alonso – the temperamental Ferrari driver – as he surely notices rival Jenson Button is already 11 points clear at the top of the standings.

Mobile SEO - It can go anywhere!

Remember back in the good old days – I’m talking 1998ish – when people started developing websites just because they felt like they had to do it to keep up with the competition?  There was minimal strategy in several cases.  An email address, some intro copy and contact info along with some stock imagery would suffice.

More recently, people have taken the same approach to Social Media.  Everyone has a Facebook page.  Visit most websites and you’ll see the standard “Join our Facebook page” or “Follow us on Twitter” language at the top of the homepage.  Again, in many instances these are simply there for the sake of being there.  The companies are not creating meaningful interactions that can be measured in any sense.

Now with the innovations that we see in Smart Phones, companies are developing “Apps” for consumers to download.  Many of these Apps are brilliant.  They can help you out with roadside assistance in the event your car breaks down, tell you where a local restaurant is or share movie start times.

Additionally, companies are developing Mobile Sites specific to these Smart Phones.  Yet again, more thought is being placed on creating a “unique user experience” rather than placing smart search strategy behind the development.

So, you want some assistance with that strategy?  Today I found the most comprehensive article related to Mobile SEO that I have ever read.  I strongly encourage you to read The New Mobile SEO:  What You Need to Know.  It was written by Cindy Krum, Founder of Rank Mobile and gives you wonderful details on how to optimize your mobile sites.

Advance warning – it is a long article and they didn’t exactly break it up with images or charts to make for a more pleasurably reading experience.  However, I’m sure I am one of many that are linking to it this afternoon because you cannot beat it for content.

Must. Embrace. Chaos.

I came across a wonderful post from Science for SEO called Agile Marketing:  embrace chaos.  Now, I should warn any Project Managers before they read the post ,it may cause smoke to come out of their ears.  There are a few truths you learn in Project Management (never guarantee anything) and this post nicely explains that you simply cannot plan a project from start to finish and expect it to go according to whatever you have on your intensely labored over Excel spreadsheet.

You are living in a dream land if you think can predict everything.  The idea of Agile Marketing is brilliant – exceptional results in a chaotic environment.  Anyone that has been involved in a web project – SEO, site build, etc – knows that it requires a great deal of patience to manage the account on a day-to-day basis.  There is no “process” that you follow.  Chaos and constant flux is the process.

I’ll admit to being OCD about various things in my life.  I rotate my dishes and coffee mugs at home.  My closet is structured so that I know which shirt or pair of pants was worn most recently so that no item appears too often.  You are laughing, rolling your eyes or exiting my site at this point.  Fine.  But I know damn well I cannot exert the same level of control over my digital projects.

That is the fun of working on SEO projects though.  And it should be the fun of working as a Project Manager in general.  You have to love not knowing.  I never understood how some PMs take such pride in stating how structured and organized their timelines are.  Be organized.  Great!  But you have to loosen up the collar at times and accept the shit may hit the fan.  And when it does you can either start sweating over your now irrelevant spreadsheets or you can call a quick team huddle and start working off a new set of deadline dates.

Being agile and ready to respond at a moments notice is what makes great account teams.  Getting stressed out and constantly “pushing back” is what will cause you to lose clients.

I think the best way to summarize what I am trying to say is by using a quote from the wonderful film A Serious Man:  “Please.  Accept mystery.“

Keyword Research! A lot like ski jumping. Or not?

Keyword Research – Write Original Copy

It has been a while since the last post here at Latus SEM.  The rumors that we attempted to high jack the Olympic ski jump competition in Vancouver with our renegade team were not true.  While it was a brilliant rumor, no one in our offices has ever gone skiing, gone jumping or for that matter ever wore funny goggles while skiing and jumping.  What we have done is some top notch keyword research.  And oddly enough our return to the blogging world brings with it a post on keyword research tools!

The task of keyword research is not easy and it is certainly not quick.  You can get lost for hours researching competitor sites and typing various keywords and key phrases into the engines to see what pops up.  And as non-scientific as that strategy may seem I think it is the best place to start.  Think about each page on your site and the goal that page has.  If there is no goal – no conversion or next step you want a visitor to take after viewing that page – then it has zero reason to exist.  Once you’ve determined the goal for a particular page think about the language you want to use.  Yes, it is important to make it search engine friendly and you’ll brainstorm ideas by viewing competitor sites.  The next step is to write compelling, unique content using those keywords and key phrases that will benefit visitors.

Write Content, Place Online, Study Data, Re-Write Content

Look at it this way – you want a new visitor to your site to either learn something completely new about your product / service or you want them to have a piece of info they already know presented to them in an original way (and become Returning Visitors).  This is a difficult goal to achieve.  Being totally original is not something that is flipped on and off like a light switch.  Chances are you’ll go through several drafts of copy before settling on the best option and placing it online.

Keep in mind that placing it online is not a save and forget action.  You need to study your analytics for how people are coming to the site and how they’re interacting with these pages.  If the keywords you thought word work are not doing so then spend the day re-writing.  If people are bouncing from a page you thought was awesome – re-think how awesome it may not be and figure out through a combination of data and user testing what can be done to improve.

I’m well aware how people have short attention spans so the Latus SEM Keyword Research Extravaganza will be broken up into a couple parts.  Because I know you want to give full, undivided attention to additional tools and suggestions for using keyword research and tools to improve your website.

Millions...Gone in 30 seconds.

Big, Expensive, Bloated, Gaudy Advertising

The New Orleans Saints victory last night in the Super Bowl was a tremendous occasion.  An American city that was 85% under water nearly 5 years ago and left to fend for itself has by no means recovered fully from the wrath of Hurricane Katrina.  But tourists are returning, businesses are re-opening and this football game gave millions of people that have endured hardship a reason to start Mardi Gras celebrations early and keep the party rollicking through the NFL off season.

The game was fun to watch, but the media blitzkrieg that descends on the host city and those very, very expensive 30-second commercials have made Super Bowl week – and the days to follow – seem a bit ridiculous.  It is after all a sporting event.  Yes, millions of people tune in and some simply to watch the commercials!  It is fascinating to watch the Twitter feeds and Facebook updates as everyone plays the role of Brilliant Advertising Executive and states which spots failed, succeeded and what they would have done to ensure a particular ad struck all the right chords with the viewers.

I think the impact on ROI that these ads have is debatable.  Will the GoDaddy.com ads – an embarrassment to the human race – cause a surge in domain purchases?  Will Doritos be filling the shopping carts of consumers for weeks to come because their commercials were so…inspiring?  I doubt it.  People will talk about all these ads for the next several days which might be enough for many of these companies to deem their buys a success.

Stay Small, Build Relationships

Given the economic climate, I can’t help but wonder if the entrepreneurs that are starting from the ground up after they’ve lost their jobs are watching all this hoopla and laughing their asses off.  There is something about staying small in today’s business world.  Something admirable about the CEO that can touch every aspect of their business daily.  The ambition lies not in achieving global recognition, but in creating a tangible conversation with their customers.  And they certainly don’t need to spend millions of dollars to do so.

In fact, I would encourage you – dear readers – to walk into some of your local businesses and observe which ones have “Follow Us on Twitter” or “Join our Facebook Page” signs posted in their windows or at the register.  How much do you think it cost to print those signs out?  How much do you think it cost to create a Facebook page?  Probably less than a half an hour of their time.

The more small business owners I speak with the more amazed I am at what their primary goal is:  They want to make a difference in their customers’ lives.  Sure they want to make a profit and keep their doors open.  But it has become bigger than that to these new CEOs.  To them business is being incredibly aware of the ramifications each decision they make has on their audience.  Nothing – and I mean absolutely nothing – is done without their knowing about it.  They are involved.  They connect with their employees and they get their hands dirty.

Lust for Life

I don’t mean to make a sweeping generalization that CEOs of major firms are detached suits that don’t know the going-ons of their business.  They got to such lofty heights because they are smart, talented and get the most out of their teams.  What I am suggesting is that start up companies are being run by equally smart and business savvy people that realize they don’t have to spend millions on 30-second advertisements.  These small business owners are some of the most enthusiastic and exciting people I’ve met and they are in awe of what social networking and search engines have presented them in terms of business growth.

Their businesses are connecting on an emotional level with their customers.  They breed loyalty.  They compel people to join communities.  It isn’t about getting a mediocre race car driver or former Golden Girl to endorse their product.  It is about being able to positively influence the day-to-day operations of their business because nothing is too small to delegate and no customer is insignificant.

Writing SEO-friendly URLs is part of your site strategy.

There is lovely post by the folks at SEOmoz today detailing the use of keywords in your URL and purchasing multiple domains.  I highly recommend you read it and study the graphics they have included.

The major take-a-way is the importance of using keyword rich URLs when building the site, but they offer three scenarios for purchasing multiple keyword rich domains and how to appropriately leverage those URLs to drive traffic to your primary site.

I think keyword strategy for all web development should start from the top which means the words in your URL should accurately convey the content on the page.  Don’t get cute with the URLs because you gain zero benefit.  You want a micro-site?  Go right ahead and build a micro-site but house it on your primary domain.  Don’t worry about having a different look and feel within your main website – visitors should be smart enough to decipher why it exists and if they cannot it is your job to explain.

Don’t lose the link juice the primary URL gives you.  Creating a micro-site that simply floats out on the web by itself will get you 35 hits a month (25 of them coming from within your company), lots of wasted meetings about why no one is visiting and a pissed off client.

I digress…  Read the SEOmoz article I linked above and be smart about the keywords you use in the URL.

It is all in how you wear it.

Knowing the Dark Arts

The best SEOs out there – and by the best I mean the ones that are well employed or making a killing in the freelance arena during our current economic situation – are masters of the Dark Arts.  Place an SEO Newbie in a room with experts and you’ll see a smirk come across their face when the discussion starts to involve terms like “White Hat”, “Black Hat” and “Gray Hat”.  Given that most of the SEOs I know can come off as nerdy, the newbie could well think they zoned out for a brief period of time and have suddenly been immersed in a Magic the Gathering conversation.

White Hat SEO represents all that is good in the industry.  It is about playing fair and doing things the right way to build traffic, create conversions and rankings for your clients.  It means diligent on-page work through unique content, proper URLs, Title Tags and navigation that is useful to humans as well as the engines.  White Hat SEO means creating links by utilizing social networking and writing blog posts that are so utterly brilliant your industry friends can’t help but throw you a link or two.

I only endorse White Hat SEO and I would only work with fellow SEOs that build traffic in this manner.

SEO is not unlike most industries in that there are people that do things the right way and there are people that go about their job in a less than right way.  Those would be the evil-doers – the Black Hats.  The cloakers and the deceivers.  Those that try to trick the search engines and dodge the penalties that will surely arise should they get their butts busted.

Real SEOs Go Both Ways

If I am interviewing an engineer for a project, one of the initial questions I ask is for them to share all the latest trends in Black Hat SEO.  You can imagine this takes people by surprise and they get the look on their face they’ve just been busted on To Catch a Predator.  What I am actually getting at is the best in the business are as well versed in the “illegal” tactics as they are in White Hat because that is how you stay ahead of the competition.

An overwhelming majority of SEO engineers practice White Hat. That doesn’t mean those utilizing Black Hat cannot seriously mess up your world and it is critical to know those tactics so that you can assert dominance on the SERPs.

The best of the best know what is going on with both sides.  They stay ahead of the competition by knowing what the cloakers are plotting and then go about their job in the correct way.  White Hat produces long-term, positive results that will grow a client’s business.  Black Hat is a short-term, desperation heave to try and gain traction in the engines.  They’ll be found out eventually and then it is the client’s site that suffers and has to regain favor.

Get it while its hot...er, FREE!

SEO engineers have a plethora of free tools at their fingertips that enhance the value they add to clients.  Aaron Wall eloquently points this out in his review of Open Site Explorer – it is getting tough to make a living as an SEO because of so many free options.  There are hundreds of Search Engine Marketing blogs that can be explored on a daily basis (only a handful would be considered “must-reads” IMHO) as well as SEM forums that you can join to get terrific tips.  In fact, reading through the comments on many articles or blog posts can be a treasure trove in itself.

The crew at SEOmoz have a wonderful balance of free content via their blog posts and some useful tools, but offer a paid membership for their more “high powered” SEO services.  Unless you are working for a company that foots the bill for memberships or your freelance career allows you the freedom to afford such things, I tend to advise SEOs to seek out other sources for information.

That being said, SEOmoz is offering a fantastic tool – Open Site Explorer – at no charge until 8AM Pacific on January 22nd.  I strongly recommend you give this a spin in the next 20 hours.  Some may find it so useful they hand over their hard earned cash to Rand.  Others might say “Meh, I can get this info for no cost.“  That may be up for debate given the scope of this tool. What I’d love to do is tie this conversation in with an overall “What are you willing to pay for something on the internet?”

NY Times HQ - Compensating for something?

What Cost Content?

There is a cost associated with clicking on your browser icon and having endless information a few keystrokes away.  Many feel that cost is way too high depending on their service provider.  But once you get over that it feels so great to get lost in hundreds of sites that provide you with information that can be considered valuable or simply time-killing entertainment.  And let’s be honest – for years we have taken for granted that most of these sites do not ask anything in terms of a monetary commitment from us.  Throughout college I benefited from having Napster’s endless music catalog at my extremely poor fingertips for years.  Now they charge but there are other options to get music without paying.

The New York Times is rolling out a model that will charge visitors for access to their articles.  I visit the NYT site every morning and usually at lunch.  I’m as into my liberal elite writing as the next person but I am not going to pay for news that I can get less-elite and free in hundreds of other places.  Admittedly, if the internet news realm decides to get together and charge everyone then I am screwed and need to pick who I want to read.

Where Do We Go?  Where Do We Go Now?

I get frightened when I imagine a world that is nothing but pop-up boxes each time I navigate to a site requesting I submit my credit card info to proceed.  It is inevitable that publishers and technology pioneers will start working together so that everyone makes a nice profit and the free zones on the internet start to get smaller.  The content we consider crucial to our day-to-day existence will come with a cost.  This will be annoying for sure but it will be fascinating to see what type of pricing wars are going to unfold.

What will you be willing to pay to get news online?  What will you be willing to pay to access online tools that make your job easier?  Will some kind of “Black Market” emerge that undercuts all the big boys and offers incredibly cheap or free content that is equally as good?

These are questions keep executives at places such as New York Times pacing around boardrooms.

Are you sure?

I have a very simple philosophy when it comes to working with a Content Management System (CMS).  The CMS should be a seamless part of your online goals.  That is it.  There should be minimal frustrations after you’ve made the purchase, installed the software (if needed) and been giving some form of training session or training manual.  The problem with most CMS companies is that they hide roadblocks from customers and only reveal after the fact certain things are “not compatible” within their CMS.

Let’s talk about what irritates me when it comes to a CMS and what you need to know when making the CMS purchase:

1.  Customize Everything:  You should have the ability customize every aspect of the page to your liking.  There should be no limitations.  The ideal CMS allows users to create their own unique URL.  This is critical for SEO and for marketing your site.  If the URL is randomly generated or fixed as “.com/page-1″ or “.com/page-2″ that is a problem.  You should be able to customize Title Tags, Meta Descriptions and navigational links.  This is how you are going to market a business, drive SEO traffic and create an easy-to-navigate site.  If the CMS is taking this control away from you then they are not doing their job and you need to look elsewhere.

2.  Blog-Ready:  The CMS company you decide on should have a site that is compatible for blog installation.  Whether this is WordPress or otherwise, if they tell you that you cannot install a blog per se, but can format your page to “look like a blog” then they are amateurs and are stealing your money.  Simple as that.  If you are approaching your online strategy with SEO at the forefront (and why would you not?) then a blog is going to be critical to building traffic and connecting with the consumer.  There is no reason to be constantly updating interior pages with new content.  That is the purpose of a blog.  It gives you the freedom to react to industry news, make company announcements and take on a personality in writing that accurately communicates your brand.

3.  Built for all Browsers:  This is a new situation I’ve encountered that is just lazy.  While you may be able to access your website from Internet Explorer, FireFox, Safari or Chrome the actual editor itself may not be accessible via all these browsers.  In fact, a couple CMS that I’ve recently worked with are not compatible in anything other than Internet Explorer.  I was outraged when I discovered this.  Particularly when I was told they were working on making this update in the future.  The future?!?!  A CMS company should be savvy enough to be ahead of the curve.  They should be developing editing systems that work across all browsers so that when a client is anywhere in the world they can reach the back-end of their site to make important updates or fix a bug.  This is a must ask question before making the CMS purchase.  If you get any resistance it means you ought to look elsewhere.

4.  Adding New Pages:  Perhaps you have a new product, service or information page that needs to go online right away.  Within your CMS this should be simple to do.  There should be no need to provide content and instruction to someone at the CMS company so that they can place this online and send you a link to review.  Nope.  You should have total control over adding new pages to the site.  Some CMS companies will restrict the number of pages you can add.  I understand this.  I wouldn’t expect clients to have unlimited pages without charging them.  However, denying a client the right to add a new page on their own or stating that once a site is built “that is that” and you’ll have to purchase an entirely different domain name for new pages is unacceptable.  It is critical that you verify whether you can add pages to the site on your own, place them within the navigation of your choosing and take down pages if they are no longer needed.  Should the site allow you to implement permanent 301 redirects on your own that is an added bonus.  Some companies ask that they do that upon request.  I’m OK with that.  But demand the freedom to create as the need to create arises!

5.  Exceptional Customer Service:  I write about exceptional customer service and managing relationships a lot.  I have no patience for poor customer service and when I work with clients I react to their requests instantly.  That is how you foster growth with the client and how you add more clients.  Now, if the CMS offers a 24-hour Help Line you’ve struck gold.  That is terrific.  If not, then you need to be certain there is a help line operating 5-7 days a week within standard business hours.  Chances are you’ll have to deal with a menu or be put on hold at some point.  We can all deal with that.  It is the readily accessible aspect that I would be most concerned about.  Next, if you submit a concern via a Contact Form or email you have every right to expect a response within 24 hours.  By this I do not mean an email response that says “We’ve received your request and will get back to you soon”.  Of course your request was received.  It was sent electronically!  Within 24 hours you should have your request either diagnosed and fixed or an explanation as to what the problem is, how it will be resolved and in what time frame.  Regardless of your level of computer savvy when working within a foreign system you may have questions or problems at some point.  Without help – and help arriving fast – you’re going to be stuck.  That is why great customer service is a big consideration when purchasing a CMS.

I’d ask that you consider all the 5 points above prior to handing your hard earned money over to a CMS company.  If they cannot meet the demands from above they are not a good fit for your business.  Trust me, you’ll run into so much frustration that it will not be worth your time.  Remember – what you’re paying is a reflection of the type of service that you’ll receive.  Going cheap may not be worth it.  Asking the tough questions up front will save you in the end.

Real-time search, Bud!

Hey Bud, What’s Your Problem?

The typical high school experience does not have one definition or summary.  It varies on a person-to-person basis, depends a great deal on the area you grew up and tends to fall somewhere in between The Best 4 Years Ever and 4 Years of Hell On Earth.  Some people were celebrated as Jock Heroes of the Hall for their athletic exploits.  Others were stuffed in lockers or mocked by the cool kids because they were deemed, well, not cool enough.  Most of us spent those 4 years doing the best we could to get decent grades and keep as low a profile as possible.  Regardless of your situation, I think one thing that can be agreed upon is that high school is a giant popularity contest.

To win the contest it was important to surround yourself with “friends” at lunch, during the passing period and on the weekends.  It didn’t matter if you liked them all that much (or if they liked you) because the point was that quantity over quality was how you competed in the popularity contest.

Where am I going with this?  Why am I reflecting on a long past era?  It is not because I’ve turned thirty this year and am getting nostalgic about younger, wilder and less responsible days.  It is because in a recent Technology Review article called How Google Ranks Tweets, Amit Singhal (A Google Fellow that lead the Real Time Search effort) stated that based on the number of followers one has on Twitter the greater the likelihood their Tweets will be given priority in real-time search results.

You Guys Are the Kings of the School

Here is the money quote:  “You earn reputation, and then you give reputation. If lots of people follow you, and then you follow

Are you part of the cool Twitter crowd?

someone–then even though this [new person] does not have lots of followers,” his tweet is deemed valuable because his followers are themselves followed widely, Singhal says. It is “definitely, definitely” more than a popularity contest, he adds.

While Singhal was keen to add that Google is not making this a popularity contest if followers are being equated with links on actual web pages – Authority Links being of the most value – then aren’t Twitter users that want to increase their profile going to start gravitating towards as many possible Authority Users as possible?

Immediate counter-argument here is that the chances are people are already following “High-Quality” Twitter users.   Especially if they are in an area of interest – work related or otherwise.  This is a very good point.  But I don’t think people that use a service like Twitter in a useful, non-spam manner want to follow thousands of other users.  They are highly selective.  In my opinion you cannot look at authority links and authority Twitter users in the same way.  This is an apple to oranges comparison and Google has a long way to go to make real-time search valuable.

They Wanted Me to Get Socialized

The early result of this announcement is that many people will try to grow their Twitter following by seeking out highly followed people and sending them a Direct Message asking for a Follow in return.  This is similar to the old days of link building where amateur SEOs were sending out mass emails to blogs and forums asking for links and blogroll additions.  It only reinforces that Social Media is very much the Wild West in 2010.

I think this will eventually evolve to be a useful search tool.  People that don’t care about SEO but love to see their Tweets at the top of Google will try to abuse the system (this would be most of the people that participate in the Trending Topics).  Link building in its truest form is not a popularity contest.  Link building is developing unique, highly valuable content that will get filtered throughout the internet.  That is how you build rankings and authority (something called an algorithm…).  Social Media remains who has the most followers, friends, etc.

Unfortunately, Google is jumping into the popularity contest and temporarily allowing search to be about how many friends you have at your lunch table.