SEO & Online Marketing

Is Google ‘Search Plus Your World’ a Game Changer?

Michael Regan — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:00:36 +0000

We Think So

You may not familiar with, it was only introduced on Jan 10th, it is the addition, some say bias, of Google+ information into the search results. In less than a week, and so far, only in the US, it has turned search engine marketing on its ear. For those who weren’t prepared it could be a disaster, for the early adpters it could be a real boon.

What Is Search Plus Your World

With “Search Plus Your World”, Google has integrated your Google+ information into their search results. If this was only done for your personal search, it might not have been that important. However, they are, to some extent biasing, all search results with the information in Google+ profiles and pages.

This bias towards the Google+ profile can best be seen in the search for personal names. In these cases the Google+ profile may be pushed much higher in the rankings. Depending on the number of followers, the G+ profile may rise to the top of the listing.

Another major change is the inclusion of “People and Pages on Google+” at the top of the right hand column. These appear to be ‘experts’ on the topic being researched and, right now, show up in a very limited number of searches.

One example of how this can be used, or abused, is a search for IBM will this the IBM G+ page, and top ‘experts’ based, in part, on the number of people following them. However, by clicking the ‘more’ link, you can see a list of everyone with a G+ profile that has the term ‘IBM’ in their profile. This can also lead to some interesting, or some what confusing, results. A search for ‘Apple’ not only lists Steve Wozniak but also Aaron Strout who has “You like apples? I got her numb-ah… how’dya like them apples?” in his profile.

What To Do Next

The obvious first step is to claim your business name. G+ isn’t verifying the names yet. So, if you don’t claim your name. And, if you think that is unlikely, consider the case of ‘Bank of America’ who was the most prominent company to be ‘name-jacked’.

The next step is to start getting followers.

Put the G+ button on every page of your website.
Put the link to your G+ page on the Home page and all landing pages.
Add content to you G+ page

JW Player Tracking Code

Michael Regan — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 21:30:27 +0000

At the CV Posse last Thursday the subject of using JW Player with HTML5 came up. I have asked about adding tracking code for analytics to to the script.

Turns out it is fairly easy. This is pretty much copy and paste from the API:

Loading the player ...

The only part I added was the call to the events. In this case the ‘onPlay’ event calls the ‘_trackEvent’ in Google Analytics.

events: { onPlay: function(event) { _gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'Videos', 'Play', 'My Video Title']); } }

Note: You need to add the comma after the ‘width’ when adding items to the list.

There are a number of events to choose from. I will be adding the onReady and onComplete for tracking. The difference between onPlay and onComplete should give me the number of abandoned views.

Creating A Microsite

Michael Regan — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 01:25:05 +0000

It has been a long time since I posted, but this is important, so I thought a quick post was in order.

I created my first micro site today.

Micro sites are small sites that point back to your main site. I know some supposed SEO experts that say they are a good idea. The theory being the more links to your site the better. That is pure BUNK.

The search engines are getting very good at detecting when they are being manipulated. But even if search engines didn’t detect that these sites were all owned by the same person, their value is still questionable. They are either low value sites with little content that pass no ‘link juice’ or high value sites with great content that only pass some of their ‘link juice’. Why not put all those great content on the main site and get all the ‘link juice’.

So when do you use a Micro Site?

Here is my situation.

I just signed a client, Section 8 Snowsport. They are busily getting ready for a major ski and snowboarding trade show in London. ( Who knew the UK was home to skiing trade shows? ) With very little time to generate any buzz, I am trying an ‘end run.

I registered the name www.section8atmetrosnow.com and made a ‘quick and dirty’ page from content found on the main website. There is very little competition for the shows name ‘Metro Snow’, so hopefully I can get some traction in the search engines before the show is over.

These are my rules for using a micro site.

Short duration – just until the show closes
Keyword rich URL
Low production costs

Client or Customer?

Michael Regan — Tue, 17 May 2011 18:22:31 +0000

I have just started reading Jay Abraham’s book “Getting Everything You Can Out Of All You’ve Got”. Near the beginning of the book he makes the distinction between ‘client’ and ‘customer’. In the first chapter he quotes Webster’s Dictionary:

“Customer: A person who purchases a commodity or service
Client: A person who is under the protection of another”

Like many small businesses, we are looking at the bottom line and it finding it isn’t where it should be. And, like many small businesses, we are looking to see how we can improve our situation.

For many service businesses, the temptation is to lower prices by offering less service. Moving from having clients to having customers.

I wrote about this earlier in the current economic situation. While the downturn has dragged on longer than many people expected, my ideas on how to handle it haven’t changed. Service related businesses need clients – not customers

Having customers is not a bad thing. Many bushiness, such as MacDonald’s, have made vast profits by having customers. However, moving from clients to customers in a service industry is a one way street. Once you get a reputation for lower prices but poorer service, it is hard to go back.

Then you are in a race for the bottom. There will always be new businesses trying to provide the same service cheaper or faster.

A better strategy is to keep your prices the same, but increase services. Give your clients a reason not to switch to a lower cost service. Implement strategies to keep your existing customers. They may be as simple as a ‘Buy 10 get one free’ coffee card or as complicated as making one of your services free for existing or long term clients.

Don’t get into the ‘race for the bottom’.

Marketing Tip – Be Easy to Find

Michael Regan — Mon, 09 May 2011 18:57:04 +0000

I have been working on a directory and interactive map for local tourism related businesses. The directory is just a simple ‘no frills’ directory, the map has the name and location of the business.

For a variety of reasons I am creating the map manually. Which means I need to get the address for each business being listed. To my amazement, many businesses, particularly restaurants and pubs, don’t have there address on the Home page. Or, if they do it is below the fold, so I have to search for it.

Chasing Away Customers

I don’t particularly care if the address is there or not. If it is a business I REALLY want to list, I will find the address. If not, I just skip it. But, why are these businesses hiding their address from potential customers?

Marketing 101 – Be Easy to Find

How to purchase your product or service is what your website is all about. Its NOT the copy, NOT the great images, and definitely NOT the great web design. Your website is there to make it easier for your customers to find you and BUY YOUR PRODUCT.

Don’t make it hard on potential customers. If you want them to visit your place of business, make your address prominent and above the fold, on every page. If you want them to contact you, place all your contact information at the bottom of every page. When in doubt, the closer to the top of the page the better. And, having the information in more than one location doesn’t hurt.

Add A Map

There are a number of map services. We like Google, but there are others that are just as good. Place a map on your contact page, or on its own page, and link to it from every other page on your website. Add a input box so your potential client can get the driving directions to your business.

Making your business easy to find is the quickest way to increase sales.

Tracking Page Speed in Google Analytics

Michael Regan — Sat, 07 May 2011 18:38:22 +0000

Google has confirmed that page load speed is one of the 200+ variables that contribute to the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). While there are a number of sites that will tell you how fast your site loads to your location, it would be nice to see how long it takes your site to reach your customers. In addition, once your site gets past a few pages, tracking the load speed of each page become a REAL PAIN.

Google Analytics Site Speed metric has changed that.

Using Sync

If you have not upgraded to the Google Analytics Async code you may want to do so now. As the name suggests the code is asynchronous, which means your page will still load even if the Google code is now available. Plus the code is easier to use and offers many features now available in the older code.

Getting Started

Again, if you haven’t already done so, update your Google Analytics setting to us the new reporting system. It is much easier to use and has many new features.

Adding the code for tracking the page speed is as simple as adding one line of JavaScript to the async code.

_gaq.push(['_trackPageLoadTime']);

See Google Answers for more information.

Results After One Day

Results are available after one day. It is important to be aware, as Google points out, the page speed is not run on every page load. It is also important to remember that the dashboard, shown below, shows the average speed. You need to drill down to see how each page loads.

Pagespeed Test

Update

Information from other sources indicated the present sample rate is too low to be useful on sites for site with low traffic volumes.

I have only tested one site with a traffic volume of about 100 page views a day, so far, . There was an initial test on the top landing pages and a few interior pages, then nothing for the last two days.

Current ‘guesstimates’ of the sample rate is 2% of page views are sampled. If that is true, sites with a large number of pages, but low volume, may take some time to get completely crawled. And, as pointed out before, the ‘Avg Page Load Time’ is a fairly useless measurement. Drill down to get load times for specific pages

Facebook – Now You See It – Now You Don’t

Michael Regan — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 02:03:26 +0000

Facebook just released a migration tool that lets you migrate your profile to a ‘business page’. And, as with most things Facebook does – it has its own set of twists and turns. Which was fine – I managed to get everything changed on my account.

I planned on doing a few client accounts on Monday, once I had finished testing everything with my own account – but the tool has been removed.

Who Would Need This
Up to now – businesses that wanted a Facebook presence were forced to have someone create a Facebook profile, then create a ‘business’ or ‘fan’ page for there business. Facebook’s terms of service did not allow the creation of a Profile for a business. This was a problem for many businesses, my own included, that didn’t want that link between their personal information and the business account.

The work around was obvious – but if Facebook picked up on it you could loose all your accounts.

WARNING
This process was irreversible – there was a warning that ALL your ‘friends’ data would be lost. Which makes sense ‘fan’ pages can’t be friended – only ‘liked’.

Of course you know what is going to happen don’t you. Some, OK a LOT, of people didn’t take the warning seriously or, perhaps, weren’t sure what irreversible meant. The result – LOTS of complaints and Facebook dropped the procedure.

Fortunately, I got my site done in time. Hopefully, Facebook won’t force it back to my profile.

BTW – like everything in Facebook – the procedure was a real bear. If they do reinstate it, I hope they make it simpilar

Where In the World Are You

Michael Regan — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 21:14:40 +0000

I was adding some information to a client’s. The client runs a bed and breakfast in a rural setting and I was adding the locations of restaurants and pubs near their location to their Google map. An easy job, if somewhat boring.

Adding this information requires getting the latitude and longitude of each location. An application at itouchmap.com makes this a simple operation. One option is to put in the address and it will spit out the latitude and longitude.

Problem #1 – the two most popular local pubs didn’t have their address prominently displayed on their websites. In one case the address was there, but way down on the page. In the second case the address was not on the Home page – but on a inner page.

Problem #2 – In both cases the addresses was not found in Google maps. They were using a local variant of the street address ‘Island Hyway S.’. Google shows the same road as ‘Island Hyway W.’ (Which is strange since it is to the East of the ‘Inland Island Hyway’. )

To be fair to Google Maps – it will actually find the right address if you enter the closest town. However, it displays the address as ‘Island Hyway W.’.

Should you be a slave to Google Maps? (MapQuest couldn’t find the address at all.) I guess it depends on whether you want you want only local people to find you?

Getting The Top SERP Just Got Harder

Michael Regan — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 19:06:37 +0000

On Oct 27th Google announced a major change in local search results. The changes give more prominence to the Google Places results.

Like the old map search results, the Places results are placed near the top of the page. The map overlay has been enlarged and placed in the right column, previously reserved for Adwords (PPC). Surprisingly, the map overlays the PPC, so as you scroll down the page – the top PPC listings are hidden ‘behind’ the map.

The Places listings are much ‘richer’ than the normal results. If an image was included in the Places listing, it will be displayed along with the number of reviews, and address.

The Places position is to a large extent based on geographic location and your distance from that location. Which, if you are in the right location, can lead to some interesting results. For example a search a search for ‘accommodation Vancouver Island’ produces a map center around the geographic center of the island. This completely eliminates Victoria, the largest city on Vancouver Island.

Other blogs are reporting significant changes in the SERP based on the Places results. For example, the Barry Hotel, a small Bed and Breakfast on Sussex Place in London has top ten SERP in a search for “accommodation london england”. Higher than many 5 star London hotels.

For many terms the standard methods of on page SEO are no longer enough to secure a top SERP. The Places listing can take up to seven of the top ten positions. The exact relationship between Places position and SERP isn’t immediately obvious. While businesses like the Barry Hotel that rank well in Places, and have a good Page Rank may be getting a boost in their SERP, none of the top ten SERP positions for “rental cabins vancouver island” appear in the Places listing.

Getting Optimum Results
Of course, the best results for your business would to be in the top results for both the Places and SERP. The first thing to do is make sure your Places listing is up to date. Once that is done, start optimizing the web pages for Places. This is a much slower process than you are used to with SEO.

Five things to check are:

The business address is correct and on every page.
The business address is the same in all external references. eg Is it ‘Sreet’ in one place and ‘Avenue’ in another
Get listed in local online directories
Get reviews

For a more complete list of ideas on Google Places ranking see David Mihm’s article on Local Search Ranking Factors.

Kubuntu – Lucid Lynx (10.04.1)

Michael Regan — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 19:20:36 +0000

It was time to buy a new computer. My old no-name white box wasn’t able to keep up with all the demands of web development. I like to keep a number of programs open three browsers, a virtual box loaded with XP, email, ftp, and eclipse are the minimum. Also, there are Apache, ssh and mySQL servers running in the background. Not a particularly heavy load but it was starting to bog down my old system.

The new system is an Acer Aspire – i5 650, 6G RAM, and 1.5T off disk space. Like most new systems it came with Windows 7 preloaded, as in no install disks. I wasn’t going to use Windows 7, but I didn’t want to ‘blow it away’, so I decided to repartition the disk.

Windows 7 comes with a nice utility to ‘shrink’ the partition. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t let me ‘shrink’ the partition below approximately 700G bytes. No problem. Linux can read the Window’s NFS partition, so I can still use it.

I like Kubuntu over Ubuntu. Just a matter of taste – I have been using the KDE interface for more years than I can remember. There are times when I need a Gnome application, but, for the most part, they will display nicely in KDE.

Installing Kubuntu just keeps getting easier. I chose to let it install everything in one partition rather than customize the partitions. The down side is the ‘home’ doesn’t have its own partition. This can be disaster if you have root access and clumsy fingers. And, I have both.

Getting Root Access

Maintaining the servers can be a pain using sudo, so I like to have a terminal with root access. Unfortunately, Kubuntu has ‘root’ blocked ‘out of the box’. The solution is simple. In a terminal enter ‘sudo passwd root’. You will be prompted for your password to run the application the asked to enter the new root password.

Root access lets you install packages using the ‘apt-get install’ command. This can be very useful for getting the occasional package, where opening the package manager would be to much of a pain. Unfortunately, before this you can get access to all the applications out there you need to update the package list. ‘Out of the box’ the system doesn’t access all third party application sources. Open the Adept package in the Systems menu and goto Source > Edit Software Sources > Other Software and select the archive location.

With that done, I installed Synaptic, my favorite package manager and vim, my favorite command line editor.

Synaptic runs from my desktop without root permission. This means you can’t install applications. ( Pretty much useless ). Just click the wrench icon that appears when you mouse-over the Synaptic icon. In the Application tab change the Command to ‘gksudo synaptic’. ‘gksudo’ is a wrapper that will let you run a graphic application with root permission.

Transferring Files

I have a local network connecting the systems in the house and I wanted to use it to transfer the files to my new system. I installed gFTP, a graphical FTP client application. On my old system, I installed ProFTP as a stand alone system and got its IP address (ifconfig from the command line). Using gFTP I logged into the old system and started transferring the files.

If, like me, you are using ‘Kmail’ as your email client, copy the directory, .kde > share > kmail >mail to a temporary directory on the new system. Then use the Kmail import wizard to import all your email.