From: google.com

I am not a member of the Author’s Guild.

Please don’t blame me for their ludicrous positions. They have spoken out against public libraries, against used book stores online and now, against the Kindle reading books aloud.

I used to have a record label, but I never joined the RIAA. You know, the guys that under Hilary Rosen made the multi-billion dollar mistake of trying to maintain the status quo by suing their users as a way of stopping file sharing. It’s hard to overestimate how damaging relying on this single action was to an entire industry.

I’ve eaten in restaurants, but I don’t support the New York State Restaurant Association, which has spoken out against banning smoking in restaurants (it will wipe us out!) and now are giving the New York City health department a hard time for wanting to post easy-to-understand ratings of restaurant cleanliness.

I drive a car, but I deplore the lobbying the car companies did to fight fuel efficiency rules--the very rules that would have transformed their industry and raised their profits.

Whenever a trade association raises the barricades and tries to lobby their way into maintaining the status quo, they are doing their members a disservice. Instead of spending time and insight and effort reinventing what they do and organizing for a better future, the members are lulled into a sense of security that somehow, somehow, the future will be just like today.

The key takeaway isn’t that the lobbying doesn’t work (though it usually doesn’t). The problem is that the lobbying takes your attention away from the changes you can actually control and implement. Simple example: why doesn’t the NYSRA have a staff of unofficial inspectors who help their members get an A when the real inspector comes around? Why didn’t the RIAA help the record industry figure out how to transform into an industry that would embrace and leverage file sharing?

You don’t have to like change to take advantage of it.

Read Original: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/sethsmainblog/~3/yWEqYQANQ0M/beware-of-trade-guilds-maintaining-the-status-quo.html

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From: sitepronews.com

There’s been a flurry of discussion on Twitter and various SEO blogs over the past 48 hours regarding what appears to be a new ranking algorithm for popular search queries on Google.
I could go spend an hour or two to go into great detail here, but Aaron Wall stayed up all night to write this [...]

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Google’s *Brand* New Ranking Algorithm

Read Original: http://www.sitepronews.com/2009/02/28/googles-brand-new-ranking-algorithm/

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From: sitepronews.com

There’s been a flurry of discussion on Twitter and various SEO blogs over the past 48 hours regarding what appears to be a new ranking algorithm for popular search queries on Google.
I could go spend an hour or two to go into great detail here, but Aaron Wall stayed up all night to write this [...]

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Google’s *Brand* New Ranking Algorithm

Read Original: http://www.sitepronews.com/2009/02/28/googles-brand-new-ranking-algorithm/

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From: google.com

A friend advertised on Craigslist for a housekeeper.

Three interesting resumes came to the top. She googled each person’s name.

The first search turned up a MySpace page. There was a picture of the applicant, drinking beer from a funnel. Under hobbies, the first entry was, “binge drinking.”

The second search turned up a personal blog (a good one, actually). The most recent entry said something like, “I am applying for some menial jobs that are below me, and I’m annoyed by it. I’ll certainly quit the minute I sell a few paintings.”

And the third? There were only six matches, and the sixth was from the local police department, indicating that the applicant had been arrested for shoplifting two years earlier.

Three for three.

Google never forgets.

Of course, you don’t have to be a drunk, a thief or a bitter failure for this to backfire. Everything you do now ends up in your permanent record. The best plan is to overload Google with a long tail of good stuff and to always act as if you’re on Candid Camera, because you are.

Read Original: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/sethsmainblog/~3/d4wbe_HxjeA/personal-branding-in-the-age-of-google.html

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From: sitepronews.com

A relatively new field in consumer research known as ‘neuromarketing’ adopts techniques that promise a window to unconscious processes, allowing companies to create more engaging, emotive and attractive products. But what methods are used, and do they provide added value to clients above traditional research methods?
The techniques Electroencephalography (EEG) is a [...]

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Neuromarketeers, the Window to the Unconscious Processes of The Consumer Mind

Read Original: http://www.sitepronews.com/2009/02/27/neuromarketeers-the-window-to-the-unconscious-processes-of-the-consumer-mind/

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From: sitepronews.com

Today I would like to share an invaluable SEO web design technique to refine the focus of your pages using images and alt attributes for create relevance for SEO.
SEO, Images and Alt Text
Sculpting the focus of your pages translates into coherence and relevance for search engines. For example, if you have repetitive elements on a [...]

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

SEO Web Design, Harnessing the Power of Alt Text and Images

Read Original: http://www.sitepronews.com/2009/02/27/seo-web-design-harnessing-the-power-of-alt-text-and-images/

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From: sitepronews.com

Once it became known that my subscriber database was approaching 800,000 (across numerous niches - some fairly obscure), I started getting dozens of joint venture proposals every day. These “JV proposals” are generally just requests to become an affiliate for their product, or to help with an impending product launch.
Most of the proposals I get [...]

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

How I Choose Which Products To Promote

Read Original: http://www.sitepronews.com/2009/02/27/how-i-choose-which-products-to-promote/

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From: searchenginewatch.com

Users of Google’s blogging product, Blogger, can now add Friend Connect to their blogs. The feature enables them to incorporate social networking to their blog. Now, that might seem a bit redundant. Isn’t a blog already social with comments?

Yes, but blogging isn’t a comprehensive social community. Granted, Friend Connect isn’t comprehensive, but it’s a simple way for those who don’t have the time or resources to build out a full-on social networking site.

Friend Connect is also a social media marketing tool. Users share their activity with others, so Blogger users might get new readers when it’s noted that Friend Connect users are reading them.

Related Reading:

Google Friend Connect Launches “Social Bar”

Google Friend Connect Adds Twitter

Read Original: http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~r/sewblog/~3/547565170/090227-102447

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From: searchenginewatch.com

After enduring controversy over a new Terms of Service, Facebook has released another new version - this time with a whole new vision for its implementation. The new TOS is open for feedback, in the spirit of being transparent.

There are two documents being released. One is “Facebook Principles,” which defines the rights of members. The second is a “Statement of Rights and Responsibilities,” which replaces the Terms of Service. Facebook also says their users will be notified of and get to vote on changes made to the documents.

When testing occurs on the social network, it will not be subject to notification or voting.

With today’s announcement, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg assured users that his social network doesn’t own data, the users do.

Related Reading:

The Fuss Over Facebook: Hype or Cause for Concern?

Aussies Show Facebook Can Become Dangerous Kangaroo Court

Facebook Reaches 150 Million Users Worldwide

Read Original: http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~r/sewblog/~3/547556078/090227-094649

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From: searchenginewatch.com

Google Translate has added 7 more languages. They are:

• Turkish
• Thai
• Hungarian
• Estonian
• Albanian
• Maltese
• Galician

This brings the total number of languages on Google Translate to 41. The available languages reach the ones spoken by 98% of internet users.

Last September, Google added 11 languages and last summer, Google “went live” with human translation as a service.

Related Reading:

Google Explains the Nuances of Language Translation

Google Translate Adds Widget, Notranslate Code Snippets

Read Original: http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~r/sewblog/~3/547537927/090227-080514

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From: searchenginewatch.com

Back in May 2005, Linda Rutherford sent me an email with the subject line: “Demise of the fourth estate.” Linda is now the Vice President of Communications and Strategic Outreach at Southwest Airlines, but she is a former a reporter for the Dallas Times Herald newspaper.

In her email, Linda wrote, “If you have a few moments, please take a look at this short video. It’s an interesting short movie from the Museum of Media History predicting the demise of the fourth estate.

“The scenario is entertaining, a bit frightening and not too far-fetched.

“It hints at the monumental changes afoot in how consumers will learn about news and form opinions about brands.

“Thought given your role you would enjoy this creative prediction of what’s to come.”

Linda was right. The 8-minute video by Robin Sloan and Matt Thompson is a bit frightening. And the scenario it depicted was not too far fetched: “In the year 2014, The New York Times has gone offline. The Fourth Estate’s fortunes have waned. What happened to the news?”

The same day that Linda sent her email, The New York Times Company announced a “targeted staff reduction program that will include approximately 190 employees at The New York Times and the New England Media Group, which includes The Boston Globe.”

While the staff reduction represented less than 2% of the New York Times Company’s total workforce back in 2005, the cuts didn’t end there.

In its report on The State of the News Media 2006, the Project for Excellence in Journalism, asked, “Will we recall this as the year when journalism in print began to die?”

In December 2007, I wrote an article for Search Engine Watch entitled, “Blogs are the new trade press.” I observed, “In many industries, the trade press has imploded.” In our industry, I reported that online publications and group blogs generated close to 88 percent of the coverage of SES Chicago and PubCon. (The remaining 11 percent was - you guessed it - press releases.)

A year later, I reported on the battery of online video crews interviewing speakers between sessions at SES Chicago 2008. I also interviewed Abby Johnson of WebProNews about this trend. Abby is a pioneer in the field and has been producing videos for the WebProNews Video Blog for years.

<iframe class="embeddedvideo" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sgauu3rIm70&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="295"></iframe>

Abby Johnson, WebProNews, discusses the top trends at SES Chicago

We’re now halfway between 2004, the year that Museum of Media History made its predection, and 2014, the date when it predicted the demise of the fourth estate.

So, I think it’s time to declare: The fourth estate is dead; long live the fourth estate!”

Yes, print journalism continues to implode. The Rocky Mountain News, Colorado’s oldest newspaper, is publishing its last edition today. The Chicago Tribune and LA Times have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Christian Science Monitor is going “all digital.” US News & World Report is now published every other week. PC Magazine is going “all digital.”

Even in my home town, The Boston Globe is cutting 50 jobs in its newsroom, fifth newsroom staff reduction since 2001. At its peak in 2000, the Globe newsroom had 552 full-time jobs. When the latest cuts are complete, there will be about 300 full-time newsroom and editorial employees, plus another 29 news employees at Boston.com.

At the same time that print media are imploding, blogs are exploding into a global phenomenon that has hit the mainstream. According to eMarketer, there were 22.6 million US bloggers in 2007 (12 percent of Internet users) and 94.1 million US blog readers (50 percent).

And comScore Video Metrix reports that Nearly 150 million U.S. Internet users watched an average of 96 videos per viewer in December 2008, or a record 14.3 billion online videos during the month. This means 78.5 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video in December. The duration of the average online video was 3.2 minutes. So, the average online video viewer watched 309 minutes of video, or more than 5 hours.

Now, this doesn’t mean that all of the predictions in the Museum of Media History video turned out to be right. For example, it predicted that Google would acquire TiVo. It didn’t. Google acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion instead.

Still, I predict that you’ll be able to see the new fourth estate for yourself at SES New York 2009. There will be lots of bloggers and a bunch of videographers. And, who knows, we might even see a print reporter or two—attending sessions like “Publishers & Agencies: New Business Models for Changing Times”, “Video Search Engine Optimization: 2009 and Beyond” and “News Search SEO.”

I’ll be at all three of these sessions, so I’ll let you know if my prediction comes true.

Read Original: http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~r/sewblog/~3/547531941/090227-075953

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From: searchenginewatch.com

TripAdvisor has launched a search engine where people can compare fares from various airlines and booking agencies. The site which is known for its reviews of travel destinations will also include a feature others have yet to add - the inclusion of bag fees, food and other items such as headphones.

“Nobody else has been able to give consumers clarity about what’s the true cost of travel,” Bryan Saltzburg, general manager of new initiatives for TripAdvisor told the Boston Globe.

Read Original: http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~r/sewblog/~3/547526046/090227-071856

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From: searchenginewatch.com

Google launched an Apps Status Dashboard this week, following the problems they had with Gmail, AdSense and other products.

Given many businesses now rely on these services, it was a smart move to give people an area they can go to check whether the outage or problems are local to them or something Google is experiencing on their end.

As they stated in their Enterprise blog:

“The Google Apps Status Dashboard represents an additional layer of transparency that we believe will be particularly useful for our business users, and it’s also relevant to users of our consumer products. The Status Dashboard is the best place to check for information on service availability for Google Apps anywhere in the world. In my role on the sales team, I regularly talk with customers to make sure that they’re getting the most out of Google Apps and I think that you will find this tool indispensable in managing your Google Apps deployment.”

TechCrunch mentioned the dashboard in terms of “Gfail” - funny how we all seem to be using the new Twitter-speak (the Fail Whale has become an icon).

While I am sure Google does not want to have an association with the up and down swing of Twitter - the fact that they launched this app was a smart way to take away the impact of their recent outages.

They also offered a 15 day credit to all enterprise level users of Gmail following the problems earlier this week. But given these users are paying $50 a year (per user) - the discount amounts to about $2 per person. If my dedicated server goes down for more than an hour I get a month credit as part of the contract.

Read Original: http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~r/sewblog/~3/547519323/090227-063144

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From: feedburner.com

Posted by great scott!

This week on Whiteboard Friday we’ll look at link quality.  The strength of your link profile isn’t all about volume anymore. You need to know where and how to attract strong links that will actually communicate a powerful message about your site to the engines.



Watch the video for a nice breakdown of how to judge what makes a quality link.








<iframe class="embeddedvideo" height="300" width="400" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3398424&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1"></iframe>

SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday - Dude, Your Links Kinda Suck from Scott Willoughby on Vimeo.

Do you like this post? Yes No

Read Original: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/seomoz/~3/547613765/whiteboard-friday-dude-your-links-kinda-suck

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From: google.com

When there were old-school parking meters in New York, quarters were precious.

One day, I’m walking down the street and a guy comes up to me and says, “Do you have a dollar for four quarters?” He held out his hand with four quarters in it.

Curious, I engaged with him. I took out a dollar bill and took the four quarters.

Then he turned to me and said, “can you spare a quarter?”

What a fascinating interaction.

First, he engaged me. A fair trade, one that perhaps even benefited me, not him.

Now, we have a relationship. Now, he knows I have a quarter (in my hand, even). So his next request is much more difficult to turn down. If he had just walked up to me and said, “can you spare a quarter,” he would have been invisible.

Too often, we close the sale before we even open it.

Interact first, sell second.

Read Original: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/sethsmainblog/~3/_4X3aUP1HsI/the-panhandlers-secret.html

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