yourthinkbox

HTML5 SEO Round Up! schema.org and more!

malachi — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 04:02:12 +0000

I have been pretty backed up lately. I started a new gig helping a popular e-learning organization expand their SEO efforts. I want to start out by saying how blessed I am to have been given this opportunity. Through great friends, I have been able to accomplish a lot. so thanks..

I briefly wanted to start sharing some links and information that has been playing a larger role in my recent efforts. HTML5 is now on the forefront of all internet marketing chatter. It’s effective and well organized. More importantly, it is one of the few things that Google, Bing, and Yahoo all agree on. I want everyone to start out by checking out schema.org. These tags are going to pay a pivotal and important role in the future of websites and SEO. By incorporating the best practices available on this site, you will have an advantage moving forward. Furthermore, you will be able to provide authorship and in turn stewardship for your brand and goals.

I plan on talking about schema.org more in the near future. But for now I wanted to offer a few quick links for everyone to check out. Hope you enjoy!

html5 Boilerplate this is a great template or starting point for building a framework for an html5 website. They go out of their way to emphasize that they are not a framework. I would honestly agree. Take a few minutes to checkout this website. After that, take a few more minutes and watch some videos. There is an amazing team behind this and I think they deserve some attention! Then check out the next link…

Initializr its like the html5 boilerplate but better! well.. its actually the same thing, with more customization. I am loving and digging what they’re doing with this technology. Check out the bootstrap template and figure out how you can use this on your own technology.

Completely different but similar is Bones an html5 wordpress base theme. They took the boilerplate a step further and I am very impressed. I anticipate using this more when I have time to test it. I also dig pirates.

Last but not least… 23 free templates based in html5 for free.

Check it out. Enjoy. I will be back soon with more detailed information on seo for schema and html5.

Internet Marketing and Dieter Rams 10 principles of good design

malachi — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 23:36:28 +0000

Dieter Rams is a world renowned designer. His influence is unprecedented and has provided inspiration for the next generation of designers including Apple thought leader Jonathan Ive. Ive has stated that Apple is one of the few companies that follows Rams’ 10 Principles of Good Design. These principles have influenced almost every major apple consumer product including the iPod, iPad, and macbook lines. The 10 Principles of Good Design are product leaning, but can also be used for web design and marketing.

10 Principles of Good Design (to help your website and marketing campaigns)

Is innovative – web design innovation is vital for success. Make sure that you or your marketing team is incorporating the latest standards in web technology. By focusing on new updates including HTML5 and CSS3, your website will follow best practices and have competitive advantages over competition incorporating archaic technology. Also remember that google webmaster tools and algorithm updates continue to focus more and more on new technology, faster loading, social integration, etc. By staying on the forefront of web technology, you insure affinity from google and the other search engines.
Makes a product useful- This principle seems simple but can quickly become overlooked or lost in the process. During every step of the creative process in designing your campaign, remember to take time and focus on whether or not the changes and updates you’re making are continuing to make the website useful. Why are people here? Is it for product? Customer Service? Make sure that what you’re trying to focus on is in fact the focal point of the website.
Is aesthetic- Aesthetics plays a central role to any design project. Making sure your layout and theme are simple and refined is at the basis for any redesign project. In terms of your website design, marketing campaign, or landing page, it is important to rely on aesthetic principles to help convert visitors in conversions.
Makes a product understandable- Obviously in order for your product to be successful it must be understood. Implied understanding can be an vital part of your website success. By showing visitors how the product works and why they may need it, you can increase conversion rates on your web traffic.
Is unobtrusive- Unobtrusive web design can be a daunted task. Bells and whistles can be a distractor and hurt best practices and the principles of good design. I am going to go on a limb and say no flash on your website. If you absolutely require flash do it on a limited subtle basis. Usability and Functionality are far more important than kittens and moving objects.
Is honest- Honesty is the best policy. Under promise and over deliver. from ecommerce to client based websites, make sure you’re being completely honest in your design and marketing. If the public views your products as dishonest, you will not only lose a customer, but you’ll also lose referrals and can even damage your online reputation.
Is long-lasting- Long lasting and reliability go hand in hand. When designing your campaign, don’t jump on a band wagon. In Telecom the big buzz word is Cloud. Many companies, organizations, and products are incorporating cloud based keywords into products with 10-15 year lifecycles. If the trend changes substantially, the product or brand can become dated very quickly. Think of brands like Ralph Lauren, and BMW when you focus on long-lasting best practices and you will avoid becoming a fad.
Is thorough down to the last detail- Review, Review, Review. Without constant review, you will miss vital details that others may fine. Every time you refine, you must start the review process over. You want to offer a complete, reliable, and responsive experience. Without thorough design and thorough review you may miss key requirements for your business.
Is environmentally friendly- It is easier to create environmentally friendly products than design, but as best practices you can make sure to reduce your footprint as much as possible by using recycled products, going paperless, or even using “green” hosting services. By reducing our carbon footprint we can all help the environment and future generations.
Is as little design as possible- minimalist, simple, and elegant. When incorporating Rams’ principles on a product, the designs should be simple. When using the principles for websites and marketing, the result should be minimalist design that showcases the products. Your marketing or website be the frame to the product you’re trying to deliver. Don’t distract potential customers with over emphasis on marketing or design elements. let the product speak for itself.

By utilizing these principles throughout the entire process you will have a solid product with solid marketing. Obviously there is room for interpretation in Deiter Rams’ principles, but remember that having a blueprint from the outset will give you a greater chance for marketing success.

Rebranding – is it worth it?

malachi — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 16:54:43 +0000

rebranding any aspect of your company can be a tedious painful task. Before undertaking the project of a rebrand, make sure the exercise is worth the investment – short term and long term.

There are many reasons a company would start to consider a rebranding initiative including but not limited to -

The product or company name could be weak within the vertical
The scope of the company product offering may have changed
The target customer base may have shifted
Merger & Acquisition activity could change business practices
Copyright, Regulatory, or Legal issues

Some of these reasons are vital and necessary for rebranding activity to take place, but before pursuing the large project make sure the end result will be a stronger unified product, brand, message, etc.

Often times, the idea of rebranding a product or project can sound exciting, but excitement is not always a license to change aspects of the business that can affect all aspects of the business.

Almost all rebrands will have an influence on:

Legal
Accounting
Sales
Marketing
Customer Service
Product / Engineering
Management

Rebranding typically is through a customer facing approach. i.e. Customers will likely respond more favorably to our product or business if we have something new and fresh. Remember that for the customer to see the rebranded copy all of the above organizations will need to have some input, as they will have to inevitably make changes within their ogranizations because of the activities.

Why are we rebranding the product or company?
How long do we expect the project to take?
What aspects of collateral, website, contract, advertising need to be updated during this process?
Is the investment it worth it?

At the end of the day the process of rebranding may or may not be right for your company at a given time. The man hours, capital, and other investment to create a new brand, along with the investment lost on previous branding must be taken into account BEFORE your team starts spending time on the project. Make sure you do thorough investigation on why you are rebranding and what the outcome can be. If the culmination of your branding efforts result in a substandard new brand then the switch may be in vain. and remember… The most important aspect of rebranding is insuring everyone in the organization is onboard.

Entrepreneur Spotlight – Sean Parker, Shervin, Pishevar, Alexia Tsotsis

malachi — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:53:39 +0000

This is an amazing video on the state of Startups, VC, and Entrepreneurial Talen. It comes in at almost an hour but is definitely worth your time. Sean Parker discusses music, his past, gowalla, and facebook.

Sean Parker continuously discusses the talent you surround yourself with. He discusses Gowalla’s talent moving to facebook, surrounding himself with the wrong talent at napster and eventually leaerning how important surrounding yourself with good talent can be.

inspirational.

Manolo Diaz-Marta

malachi — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:58:27 +0000

I was born in Mexico City and moved to Dallas, TX at the age of 9. I attended Nathan Adams Elementary, Mary Immaculate School for Middle School and Jesuit College Preparatory Dallas for HighSchool. I then attended University of Texas at Dallas and have had my own business since the age of 15.

I started my first e-commerce business at 15 with $20 and turned it into a business that had over $3 Million in annual sales, then launched another e-commerce business with $5,000 in a completely different market with different customer base, and achieved multi-million dollar annual sales with growth at times of sales tripling year over year.

Gowalla + Facebook = Success

malachi — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:16:12 +0000

While the “ink isn’t dry” on the facebook acquisition of gowalla, the deal looks to be complete. Over the weekend I found out about this potential acquisition and was particularly excited to hear about it. I started using gowalla a few years back and enjoyed the look and feel much more to the quickly growing and now much larger alternative foursquare. Personally, the fad of mobile check in faded quickly. Although I liked the idea of collecting badges and “ownership” of locations, I quickly found the ease of facebook’s check in system much easier. I didnt have to rely on an API and the odds were pretty good that i’d be using facebook at some point during my visit anyway. Facebook wasn’t a chore to “check-in” but it felt like foursquare or gowalla were. Additionally, my affinity for Texas startups is also in play. I’m glad to see something good happen for the small but growing startup community in Texas. This is a big win and a big statement for our lonestar talent.

well, I take back my statement about this being a big win for Texas startups. Gowalla is being purchased for the talent, not the product. While I am happy for the individuals being folded into facebook it is very unfortunate that gowalla will be shut down in january 2012.

I can only hope that facebook incorporates some of the spunk and design that gowalla has infused in their core.

Hyper Local Advertising Thoughts

malachi — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:15:10 +0000

The great debate for local advertising has begun. Local Advertising is the final frontier for companies trying to expose their brands to customers. Popular “check-in” apps like Gowalla and Foursquare have become ubiquitous. Twitter, Facebook, Google, and other major social players are all integrating social check-ins into their respective API’s, but what does this mean for us? We’re now volunteering our personal information about our habits and preferences to major companies. These companies can use that data to create a revenue model on a global scale. If I am a 20-something in addison who frequents the flying saucer, it doesn’t matter that I haven’t written my glowing review on yelp. The fact that I have checked in on my phone every week for X weeks in a row shows brand loyalty, which is more important than a simple review.

Obviously, great reviews help businesses on a local level. they help offset the unavoidable negative reviews from trolls and rare occasions of poor service.. (these reviews are inherit parts of business. a negative experience has an exponentially higher likelyhood of being shared than a pleasurable experience) But tangible check ins at a business are still under-appreciated and will definitely garner greater influence as the hyper local landscape smooths out.

I believe that in the next 18 months a business model that integrates the best aspects of groupon / livingsocial, yelp, and (insert any check-in service) will start to gain momentum. If a business can offer real viable discounts and benefits to their loyal “follower’s” then the check-in model will grow and with that the revenue model for the companies building the API’s will be realized.

SEO is an iterative process – choose your clients accordingly

malachi — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:23:42 +0000

It is no secret that SEO is a tricky business. There are numerous intangibles when taking on projects that can include time commitment, technology commitment, and even client backlash and misunderstanding how changes can positively affect long-term SEO practices. Beginner SEO’s are quick to accept almost any and all projects that come their way. They are typically excited in their infancy and think they are ready to take on the world and build a name and brand through their successes. As SEO’s grow and learn the landscape of internet marketing, many learn the ropes and are much more selective in client selection.

Sometimes saying no to an SEO job is better than taking a job you feel will be unsuccessful

The most difficult aspect of being an SEO is knowing when to decline a potentially lucrative contract. For a lot of us, every dollar we earn helps the bottom line – but the time investment, headaches, and potentially tarnished reputation can have longer lasting impact on earning potential than saying no to a shot term project. This is especially true when working with clients who do not have a real understanding of how SEO works or what the endgame is on the project. With that, you must ask yourself, Have expectations for this project been properly set? More importantly, Can expectations even be set?

The main point im trying to make out of all of this is that SEO is an iterative process. It takes time, commitment, and a lot of A/B testing. If your clients constantly question the recommendations you make to improve SEO, the website will never be successful.

In order to be successful as an SEO, you must work with the correct client.

Google Changes First Half 2011

malachi — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 14:34:51 +0000

A lot has been happening this year regarding the major search engines and internet marketing. Google launched the Panda aka “Farmer” update that affected many websites attempting to increase their organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO). While these changes did not directly affect Broadvox (we actually saw organic PageRank boost), Panda did affect quite a few of our partners, VAR’s, and even some of our competitors. Sites influenced by Google’s update saw varying punishments ranging from temporary lower search engine results, temporary bans from the results pages, or in some harsher cases permanent bans of domains by Google. If you have seen substantial drops in web traffic or leads over the last 3 months, I highly recommend auditing your search traffic to insure you were not affected by the major changes Google has incorporated into their search algorithm. Additionally, Google offers free valuable resources to monitor search data including Google Analytics, and Google Webmaster tools. Both of these cloud applications provide daily granular traffic information that can be used for BI and marketing purposes.

While the Panda Update is a substantial shift in the way Google plans to process their future search engine results, it has recently taken the backseat to two major changes to their social strategy. At the end of March, Google announced the Google+1 Button. This new feature had immediate impact on both social and organic marketing because it allows users to directly affect how the search engine results are affected within their network of contacts. In a nutshell, if you have a Google account that is signed in, you will now see a +1 button after every search result displayed. If you click that button you have shown Google your affinity for that link. If a colleague does a search that would garner a result you have +1’ed, that result would get an automatic boost by Google to assist your colleague in finding the most valuable information for that search. While this new feature doesn’t bolster +1’ed items to the top spot within the results, it does provide some lift.

The next major announcement is the Google+ Project, not to be confused with the previously mentioned +1 Button. Google Plus is the first viable competitor to the dominant social network Facebook. While it is unlikely this new network will take any real market share in the short term, the increased privacy settings and revolutionary ability to group friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and family, will more than likely be imitated by other social networks in their next major updates. Plus is still very limited in its release and Google has specifically asked that businesses refrain from creating accounts for the time being, so we must take a wait and see approach on this until more information is available. It will be interesting to see how a business can influence search or paid results with a Plus page.

The final shifts that occurred were more tweaks than major rollouts to Google Adwords. While these changes aren’t fundamental, they are important because this is where ad dollars are being spent. The first Adwords change focuses on integration between Analytics and Adwords accounts. It is now seamless to see your Adwords data within your Analytics accounts. Through this process, you can now easily measure funnels and conversions from your paid search efforts along with your organic keywords. This data helps show how ad dollars are being spent and exactly what people are doing while on your website. You can now track precisely how much money you’ve spent to get someone to download a pdf or fill out a form on your website. Other changes include new Geo-targeting algorithms for more precise local campaigns.

Last but not least, Google launched Call Metrics in the 1^st quarter of 2011. This new feature allows Businesses to make phone numbers readily available to potential leads through ad campaigns. These numbers are included within Adwords campaigns and you can see how many calls have been generated, along with the length of the call. In doing so, you can measure with even more granularity how your ad dollars are being spent on the internet.

As you can see, the internet marketing world is an ever changing landscape with constant shifts and innovation.

SEocial – SEO meets Social Media

malachi — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 19:44:58 +0000

Redundant blog post starts now! Social Media and SEO have been on a collision course for the last two or three years. The Major search engines include social media results in real time on their SERPs. With the recent release of Google Plus and the +1 button showing up in almost all of google products, social will continue to play a larger role in SEO. The social and seo industries have merged into one cohesive marketing segment. There is no longer a way to differentiate between an SEO and Social expert and businesses need to keep this in mind when search for online marketing support.

How is your business utilizing social? are you just updating news, current events, and specials? Do you engage customers and answer questions? Are you providing keyword rich replies with links to quantitative content? By incorporating the same best practices for SEO into social you will see high conversions in terms of sales and followers.

Engage Your Customers
Provide Relevant Keyword Rich Content
Cross Promote – Don’t Just Self Promote
Assist Your Fellow Social-ites
Link, Link, Link
Update frequently (3-5 times a week minimum)

By following these bullets you will start to see real results with your social strategies and in doing so you will directly assist your SEO. Obviously this is very high level. You can be doing quite a bit more in terms of Video and other Social, but for a beginner these steps will definitely get you started on the right track.