Archive for February, 2008
SMX West Session Coverage – Key Takeaways
Besides speaking in a session entitled “Reputation Monitoring & Management Through Search” at this week’s SMX West conference, I also helped in the live blogging efforts for Search Engine Roundtable. I stuck to a pretty light schedule seeing that I have my lovely wife, daughter and new grandson with me on this trip. I was able to attend all three keynotes (although I didn’t cover them) and live-blogged four sessions in total.
Yahoo Making Noise at SMX – Yahoo! Buzz & Search Monkey
Yahoo is making some noise at the current SMX West conference in Santa Clara. They have officially launched Yahoo! Buzz, a Digg style social news site and at the same time are unveiling a project code-named “Search Monkey” which consists of a set of open-source tools that allow users and publishers to annotate and enhance search results associated with specific web sites.
Covering Conference Sessions at SMX West? Pass Along the Link Love
I will be part of a team of people that will be live-blogging sessions for Search Engine Roundtable at the upcoming SMX West conference in Santa Clara, California. While the coverage is always fantastic, I do have one pet peeve and that is the fact that “link love” is often not given. What I am referring to is linking to moderator and speaker company sites.
Weekly Rap-up of Search Engine Industry News – 2/18 – 2/22
A summary of search and social media related news items that occurred this week including Yahoo is set to launch a social news site called ‘Yahoo! Buzz’ which will directly compete with Digg, social news site Mixx will add new feature called ‘Related items’ that will allow users to cluster related stories, Search Engine Journal launches a jobs board, Microsoft increases storage space on their Windows Live Skydrive service, and finally, the European Union declares that search engines must comply with EU privacy rules.
Speaking at SMX West Next Week
I’ll be speaking at SMX West next week in a session entitled “Reputation Monitoring & Management Through Search” which explores ways companies and individuals can monitor and manage their online reputation as seen in the search results. I will demonstrate how to use social media profiles such as LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, etc. to help manage the first three pages of results when someone searches for a company or brand name. It is certainly not the only way to manage online reputation but one that is certainly available and one of the best things about social media profiles – they are free.
If Your Site is a Blog Virgin – You’re Missing Out
Business owners reluctant to implement a blog may have their reasons but in this social media age, it is really becoming crucial for web sites to become more than stale brochures and static billboards only offering one-way communication. Users want to interact and they want to see a personal side to the company. A blog allows for that and so much more.
Weekly Rap-up of Search Engine Industry News – 2/11 – 2/15
A summary of search and social media related news items that occurred this week including Microsoft responds to Yahoo’s rejection of their offer of acquisition, Search Engine Watch has launches jobs board, giving in to privacy concerns of its users, Facebook makes it easier for users to permanently delete their profiles, Google begins to test video ads on its search results pages, and finally amiss Microsoft’s attempt to takeover Yahoo, Yahoo re-launches their video portal which now includes new features and more exclusive content such as sports, movies, and music.
Google: I’m Going To Disneyland! 10 Signs Google Has Visited the Disneyland Resort
While Eli Manning could not make the trip to Disneyland in the traditional “I’m going to Disneyland” fashion proceeding Superbowl wins, Google did. The search engine giant invited its California-based employees to attend a corporate event at the Disneyland Resort last week.
Weekly Rap-up of Search Engine Industry News – 2/4 – 2/8
A summary of search and social media related news items that occurred this week including Google objects to a Microsoft/Yahoo merger and Microsoft fires back their opinion of that, MySpace opens up its platform to a select number of developers, social news site Mixx adds private mail and group message boards, Ask launches a social news aggregator called Bignews, and finally, Amazon quietly launches product Ads which allows Web merchants to buy cost-per-click ads which are then linked to specific product searches.
Directory Submissions – Should I Even Bother?
There was a time when submitting to directories such as GoGuides, JoeAnt, Skaffe, even Yahoo Directory provided value to webmasters who were either looking to get new sites indexed or increase their site’s link popularity or both. However, I am seeing a trend where these and other directories are not as helpful in these two areas as they once were. Add to that the rising costs of submission fees and it is easy to see why the webmaster should approach directory submissions very carefully.
Do’s and Don’ts of Social Media Marketing
I came across an excellent post yesterday by Allen Harkleroad, a small business owner I have met over at the social news site Mixx, where he outlines some of the lessons he has learned playing and marketing on social networking sites. It is common sense for most that there is a right way and a wrong way to go about interacting on social media/networking sites. Allen compiles the lessons he has learned in a most excellent read.
Weekly Rap-up of Search Engine Industry News – 1/28 – 2/1
A summary of search related news items that occurred this week including Twitter tracking Tweetmeme arrives – a new service that finds new Twitter content and tracks who else is talking about it, Microsoft becomes the exclusive provider of paid and contextual ads for The Wall Street Journal Digital Network, Yahoo will cut 1,000 jobs after Q4 earnings report brings mixed reviews, Click Forensics reports that click fraud has risen to 15% in 2007, and finally, Microsoft makes $44.6 billion bid to fully acquire Yahoo!.
