Twitter – We Need To Talk

Twitter – We Need To Talk

I love Twitter. I have become quite accustomed to having TwitterFox beeping out sounds of updated tweets (what us Twitter users call posts) as I click on its icon to see what they are. It has been great to keep up with what friends and colleagues are doing in their daily lives. Twitter has also been very useful in asking questions or learning about other people’s opinions. It has been a handy tool for online discussion. It has even made it quite easy to post links of interest or ask fellow Twitter users to vote up a social news submission on sites like Digg, Mixx and Sphinn.

SEO Has No Future? Think Again!

I am so weary of non-SEO types who have some measure of influence spouting off their opinion of what SEO is, what it isn’t, whether it is growing or declining and the like. It is no different then when celebrities use their clout and status to speak out of some subject like they are some kind of authority on the matter when in all actuality they are not.

When Submitting to Social News Sites is a Complete Waste of Time

Submitting stories, blog posts and articles to social news sites can be very time-consuming but if done properly, can also have huge payoffs. Why then do so many people shoot themselves in the foot by not following proper etiquette? Is there such a thing as “social bookmarking etiquette?” Certainly there is! Here are a few things to keep in mind if you want to get the most out of your social bookmarking activities.

SBM Unleashed: Trip Report and Shout Outs

SBM Unleashed: Trip Report and Shout Outs

I’m two days back from the first Small Business Marketing Unleashed conference and I have to say that this was probably one of the best conference I have ever been to. The conference attracted right around 50 paid attendees which made for a very intimate setting. Speakers and those of who were live blogging were able to spend some real quality time with attendees. The information that was presented in sessions and workshops was of the highest quality and the food served up set the bar high for any other conference to follow.

SBM Unleashed: Local Search Workshop With Matt McGee

The days of flipping through a big fat yellow book to find a local business are quickly coming to a close. After all, why settle for a simple phone number when an online search can also net you menus, pricing, hours and consumer reviews? In this workshop, Matt McGee, SEO Manager at Marchex will walk attendees through the most popular local search engines and will show you the best ways to leverage them to promote your business online.

SBM Unleashed: Site Architecture

You may have heard it said that having a search engine friendly site is key to success on the web. That’s fine and dandy, but what in the world is a search engine friendly site? Find out how to code your site to make a difference in how well you rank in the search engines. Learn what tags and attributes are essential to gaining those top rankings. Even if you know nothing about HTML, this session will arm you with the knowledge to help your programming team get your site in shape.

SBM Unleashed: A Common Sense Approach to Online Marketing

SBM Unleashed: A Common Sense Approach to Online Marketing

While it’s easy to get overwhelmed about going up against big businesses in marketing realms like search engine optimization, blogging, viral marketing, community building and analytics, a good dose of common sense can really level the playing field. This panel aims to set the stage for the rest of the show by helping you change your perspective on competing with the big boys.

SEOs Breathe Sigh of Relief As Google Decides To Sell Performics

When Google decided to acquire DoubleClick nearly a year ago, many in the search marketing industry were very concerned that Google now owned a SEO company – Performics. It would be a huge conflict of interest to have a organic search index and yet at the same time be making money providing a service that helps companies to improve their positioning in that index. When the acquisition was finally approved last month, Danny Sullivan wrote an open letter asking Google to do the right thing.

Stumpedia – Search For the People By The People

Stumpedia – Search For the People By The People

If you haven’t heard of human powered search engine, Stumpedia, you might want to give it a whirl. It is essentially a human-powered search engine with a social aspect to it. In other words, Stumpedia allows content producers to submit and profit from their work and then allows the search community to determine relevancy of search results. While it is similar to human powered search engines Mahalo and Wikia Search, it differentiates itself because it is powered by the very people that use it.

April Fools Jokes From the Search Industry

Every year on April 1st, we see some pretty clever April Fools jokes played by search engines. One of my all time favorites is when Google revealed a very secret part of their algorithm by disclosing what Pigeon Rank is and how it works. Here is a summary of some of the better jokes I came across today. Enjoy!