[Bear with me. This isn’t really about Google. I promise.]
So, last week I accused Michael Gray of being off his crazy pills when he accused Google of stealing content and hijacking traffic by showing a business’ hour and review information in the SERPs. Michael and I don’t always agree but I typically ‘get’ where he’s coming from. However, this time I didn’t. It seemed like he was making a big deal out of nothing because, as Patrick Sexton so eloquently tweeted, businesses want customers, not Web visitors. If Google wants to improve user experience by displaying business information in the SERPs, that seemed okay. They weren’t stealing it; they were just being useful by aggregating it.
But then something funny happened. And it was suddenly like I was chewing on the exact same crazy pills the doctor had prescribed Michael. It started with a Wordpress plugin. [read the full post…]
While many of us were watching Michael Arrington throw a 17-year-old under the bus this weekend, another story spread through the blogosphere worthy of some attention and discussion. The SageCircle Blog reported that Forrester management had put a ban on personally-branded research blogs, stating that anyone with a personally-branded blog ( think Web Strategy with Jeremiah Owyang during his time at Forrester, for example) must either (a) take down the blog or (b) redirect readers to a Forrester-branded role-based blog. Basically, if you are a Forrester employee and blogging, you just lost your face and voice in favor of a corporate-approved uniform. Sexy!
There’s been a lot of debate over whether this was a good decision, a bad decision or just a paranoid decision. (Not surprisingly) I’m leaning more toward the latter.
[read the full post…]
I'll tie this in later. I promise.
Hey, guys. It’s Saturday. That means its time to check in and maybe share some laughs. How was your week? Get it all done? If not, no worries. That’s why God created the weekend. And Monday. At least I figure that’s why She created Monday. I surely haven’t found any other good use for it yet.
It was another busy week, but luckily there were lots of good reading nuggets to help get us through it. Here are some of the interesting links I stumbled across. If you have something you think people should hear about it, drop it in the comments. And yeah, you can promote your own stuff. Self-promotion is the new black.
I received a phone call from a sweet older man a few weeks ago. He called because he was upset about Twitter and wanted to talk about it. I made myself a cup of hot chocolate, plopped on the couch and told him to let me have it. And he did. For almost an hour I got to listen as he vented that Twitter made it hard for him to follow conversations (I tried to offer assistance here but he was really mad), that he wanted more than 140 characters to express himself (I didn’t have an answer for this one), and how he thought social media was completely useless for small businesses. No one on the Web is talking about them, he said. Customers are talking about big brands; no one cares about the florist located on the corner of Main Street!
Ah, I love my job.
I chatted with him for a while and tried to drive home the point that people ARE talking about your business, regardless of how big or small. Customers are taking to the streets of Twitter, Yelp, Facebook, and beyond to let people know how much they love or dislike you. Those conversations are out there and it often doesn’t take much more than a search for yourself or a competitor to see how you can take advantage to grow leads, better customer service and build your business. He then asked me a question that made me shut up for a second. I took it as a sign that maybe I was getting through to him.
[read the full post…]
I’m not an SEO myself, but having been brought up around them the past few years, I can certainly understand their pain. Sometimes it’s hard to filter out the clients who are really serious about SEO and improving their Web site from the well-intentioned folks who just think SEO sounds good on paper. And if you are a prospective client, sometimes it’s hard to pinpoint when exactly you’re ready to bring someone on to help you with your site, especially if your SEO hasn’t done a very good job of setting client expectations. And then things can just get messy. And bitter.
Let’s prevent it from hitting that stage, shall we? If you’re a business thinking it may be time to get some professional SEO help, here are nine signs that you’re ready to get involved with the process. I’m sure my SEO friends will help add on in the comments. [Constructive venting feels good. Constructive.]
[read the full post…]
While I was at the airport last week, Dr. Pete sent me a link to his post on SEOmoz about SEO cliques and asked for my thoughts. The post talked about the various groups that exist in SEO, how not friendly the industry can be sometimes (The Internet is mean!) and attributed ‘being loud’ in social media to having no other skill (worth noting: That statement came later in the comments, not from Dr. Pete.). I don’t want to touch the whole “SEO is a clique” debate because it’s been done and it’s sad watching people strain themselves to climb atop those high horses. I don’t even want to fight the comments that accused Outspoken Media, Jill Whalen, and Rand Fishkin of not being able to cash the checks our brands write us. I get to cash that check every month and imagine Jill and Rand do, as well.
What I wanted to talk about was the importance of self promotion. Because that’s what this whole thing is really about. Some of us are loud and pro-active about spreading our content. And others view self promotion as dirty and, as a result, slow the growth of their business and get mad about it.
[read the full post…]
In December I witnessed the beginning of an ugly reputation management situation while sitting on the couch in my PJs. I was watching Tabatha’s Salon Takeover and for sixty minutes I got to capture the making of a small business brand disaster as Nikki Mallon of Brownes & Co. was portrayed on national TV as a heartless bitch. Whether those sixty minutes were scripted and edited or not, she made Rae look like an adorable puppy.
What follows is an online reputation management case study and some advice. Outspoken Media has no involvement with the brand, this is simply a look at SERP movement and Brownes & Co.’s reaction. If you are a small business owner, you will find actionable tips on what to do in the wake of a problem.
[read the full post…]
Hey. So how’d your week go? It’s been a recoup week for me, filled with some California sun, good Mexican food and hugs from old friends. You can’t really ask for much more than that. Well, that’s not true. You can also ask for some funny Web links to help you jump start your Saturday morning. You didn’t think I was going to forget about you just because I’m on vacation, did you? Of course not. Grab some coffee, some pretty coffee foam art, and let’s go!
- Foreign TV Promo: Just when you thought Glee couldn’t get any more awesome, this Japanese promo surfaces and takes everything to a whole new level. Oh yeah, it’s good.
- Separated at Birth: I feel like this comparison almost makes my obsession with Snooki from the Jersey Shore okay. And if it doesn’t, please don’t tell me. Denial is my homeboy. [read the full post…]
One thing I’ve realized while being on the road for the last two weeks has been the reliance I have had to put on my BlackBerry in order to get things done.
Searching for local restaurants, searching for directions, keeping up with the divisional playoffs for the NFL, communicating with friends, booking trying to book plane tickets… hell, even finding the nearest gas station (don’t worry Zane, it’s totally fine that your iPhone app took us to a diesel only station in the LA ghetto after dark that looked straight out of Boyz in the Hood on the first attempt).
Don’t get me wrong… I am constantly on my phone even when I’m not on the road, but in the last two weeks, I’ve had to absolutely rely on it and it made me realize that a lot of companies and websites need to get ready for the age of mobile.
[read the full post…]
