Good post about Bing and mobile ads

http://advertise.bingads.microsoft.com/en-uk/blog/48235/mystified-about-mobile-heres-how-we-see-the-opportunity

Google is not the only search engine around :)

More to come soon.

Joe Rossini

How to influence branded searches!

How to Influence Branded Searches and Search Volumes to Earn Big Rewards - Whiteboard Friday

Posted by randfish
What have you been doing with branded searches? If the answer is "not much," it may be time to shift your focus a bit. In today's Whiteboard Friday, Rand explores the huge benefits of turning some of your unbranded searches into branded and offers some key tactical advice.

Click on the whiteboard image above to open a high resolution version in a new tab!

Video Transcription

Howdy, Moz fans, and welcome to another edition of Whiteboard Friday. This week we're going to chat a little bit about how to influence branded search and get a load of benefit out of that. Some of these things that I'm going to talk about today are more theoretical. Like we think they work. We've experimented. We've seen some other folks experiment. We're pretty sure. Then some of them are solid. We know that these things influence. Regardless, I think I can persuade you that trying to turn more of your unbranded search into branded search is a hugely positive thing. Generating more branded search in general is also hugely positive. Let me show you what I mean with some examples first.

Non-branded search

Non-branded search, these are essentially the search terms, the queries and phrases that we are all pursuing. We're trying to rank for them. This is searchers who have not yet expressed a brand preference. They're searching. Let's say we're talking to a chemist or a lab instructor at a school and they're trying to put together all their materials for their lab. So they're searching for things like test tubes and lab equipment and chemical safety goggles. They're trying to figure out the best prices and the best products, the ones that'll be the safest, the ones that'll be best for their class. Those are unbranded. They have expressed no brand preference. They haven't said, "Oh I want this kind and I know that."

Branded search

Branded searches are more like, "Oh I know I want a Fisher test tube, Fisher Scientific." Fisher test tubes is what I'm looking for, or lab equipment from Thermo. Thermo Scientific makes a bunch of lab equipment that you can buy prepackaged, kind of all together. Or chemical goggles, "I know I want the 3M variety." 3M has, like, these awesome chemical goggles. They're very safe, very good for this stuff.
These branded searches are preferable in many ways for the brands that own and control these companies than the non-branded searches. Here's why.

A. Increase ease of ranking and conversion

Obviously it is way, way easier to rank well for "3M chemical goggles" if you are 3M than ranking for just "chemical goggles" if you're 3M. You're competing against far fewer folks. A lot of people won't even use your brand name. Even the people who do, like maybe on Amazon.com, you'll still get some benefit from that because they're searching for your brand.
It also increases the propensity to convert, meaning that if someone performs that branded search, they're more likely to actually buy that product. They're generally speaking further down the funnel. They've sort of decided to at least investigate your brand, and now you have a chance to pitch them. They're familiar. They know your brand name at least. That's a real positive thing.

B. Affecting search suggest

The second thing that's nice is you can affect search suggest, meaning that if lots of people, for example, started searching for "3M chemical goggles" instead of "chemical safety goggles" or "chemical goggles," it would actually be the case that over time what you'd see Google do is in the dropdown box for "chemical safety goggles," 3M, the word, would start to be associated with it. You'd see that in search suggest. It might be at the very bottom.
For example, if you do a search for "whiteboard," today in Google, Whiteboard Friday is somewhere on that list, but it's usually way down towards the bottom. In some geographies it's probably not there at all. Over time if we get more and more people searching for Whiteboard Friday, it'll move up in search suggest. So that means people will be more likely to perform that query. At least they'll see it and say, "Oh that must be a brand," or "I must have some association with that, or maybe I'm supposed to," or "I want to investigate that, I'm curious about it."

C. Improve rankings for non-branded queries

This is one of those speculative things. We believe that right now search volume for branded terms does have an impact on ranking for the non-branded version of the query.
We saw Google file some patents around this, but we also saw some tests in this direction that looked promising, basically saying that if . . . Let's do Fisher for this one. Let's say people start searching for Fisher test tubes a lot more. Google might say, "You know, I think Fisher is very relevant to the search query 'test tubes.' Let's move Fisher up in the rankings for just the unbranded phrase 'test tubes,' because that volume is suggesting to us that this brand is more relevant to this query than maybe we initially presumed." That's huge as well. If you can drive up that search volume, now you can start to get benefit in the non-branded rankings.

D. Appear in "related searches" feature

You can appear in the related search feature. Related searches is usually somewhere between the middle of the page and the very bottom of the page, most of the time at the very bottom of the search page. That's a powerful way for those 10% to 20% of people that scroll all the way to the bottom before making a click selection or before deciding to change their query, those related searches are a powerful way to suggest, just like search suggest is, that they should, instead of searching for the non-branded term, search for your branded query. The related searches, by the way, is also we think influenced by content, which I'll talk about in a second.

E. Create an association between your brand and a keyphrase

Create an entity-style association. This is essentially the idea of co-occurring keywords. If Google is crawling the web and they see tons of documents, high-quality, trustworthy documents that contain the word "test tubes" that also contain the word "3M," oftentimes in close proximity to the word "test tubes," they'll over time start to associate the word "test tubes" with the word "3M." That can impact suggest. It can impact related. It can impact rankings. It has a bunch of positive potential impact. That can make you more relevant for all sorts of things around search that are just awesome.

F. Affect future searches and personalization

Then the last one, which is also cool and powerful, is that this can affect search personalization, meaning, for example, let's say someone does a search for "3M chemical goggles." They click on 3m.com. Maybe they buy them. Maybe they don't. Next time they do a search, for example let's say "chemical aprons," well it turns out that Google already knows that person has visited 3M in the past. They might see that behavior and, because they're logged into their account, they might show them 3M higher up in the rankings. They might show them 3M higher in the search suggest as they start typing. That personalization is another powerful way that you're getting benefit from branded search.
There are all these benefits. We want to make this happen. How do we do it?

What are the tactics that an SEO can actually use?

It turns out SEOs, we're going to have to work pretty cross-departmentally in our marketing teams to be able to make this happen because some of the best tactics require things that SEO doesn't always own and control entirely. Sometimes you do, sometimes not.

The first one, if we can create curiosity and drive search volume via brand advertising, that's an awesome way to go.

You've seen more and more of this. You have seen advertisements probably on television and YouTube ads. You've seen branded ads on display ads. You've probably heard things on the radio that say search for us, all that kind of stuff. All that classic media, everything from billboards to radio — I know I'm drawing televisions with rabbit ears still. There are probably no TVs in the US that still have rabbit ears. Magazines, print, whatever, billboards, all of that brand advertising can drive people to then be curious about the brand and to want to investigate them more. If you hear a lot about 3M goggles and the cool stuff they're doing, well, you might be tempted to perform a search.

You can embed searches as well.

Be careful with this one. This can get spammy and manipulative and could get you into trouble. You can do it. If you do it in authentic white hat ways, you'll probably be okay.
The idea is basically telling customers like, "Hey, if you want to research us, learn more about 3M's goggles, don't just take our word for it. Search Google. Go find what people are saying, what reviews are saying about our product." You see I think it was LG or Samsung ran a big one of these where they were suggesting people do a Google search, because it turns out their phone had been very, very highly rated by all the top folks who'd done a review of them. You can do that in email. You could do it over social networks. You could do it in content. You're essentially driving people directly to the Google search result page. That could be an embedded link, or it simply could be a suggestion to search and check people out.

You can also use public relations and content marketing, especially guest contributions and content marketing.

You can use events and sponsorship, all of that stuff to essentially drive latent interest and curiosity, kind of like we did with brand advertising but in a little more organic fashion. If The New York Times writes a piece about you, if you speak at a conference . . . This is me wildly gesticulating at a conference. It looks like I'm very dangerously, precariously perched to fall into the crowd there. Guest contributions on a website, maybe something like a Fortune.com, which takes some guest posts, driving people to want to learn more about the brand or the product that you've mentioned.

Then finally, you can create those keyword associations that we talked about, the entity-style associations, through word proximity and co-occurrence in web documents.

I put just web documents here, but really it's important, trustworthy web documents from sources that Google likes and trusts and indexes. That means looking at: Where are all the places potentially on the web that lab equipment is talked about or would be talked about maybe in the future? How do I influence those authors, those creators, those publications to potentially consider including my brand, Thermo Scientific, in their documents? Or how do I create content for places like these that include my brand and include the unbranded term "lab equipment?"
Bunch of tactics, bunch of great opportunities here. I'd love to hear from you folks about what you've done around influencing branded search and how you've seen it affect your SEO campaigns overall.

This article by MOZ

As yu can see searches are important for many in different ways. I want tyo also add that by using posts to Google+ about various topics I have gained first place rankings and that was neat.  As far as a non branded search I typed in mud jacking Topeka and one of my customers Keating Mud Jacking got a first place ranking.  So bottom line is I can bring in some instances and in some ways a first place ranking or first page ranking.   It takes time and different strategies and that is why you should choose me to help you!

More to come soon

Joe Rossini

How to Stand Out from the Crowd through Proper Branding

How to Stand Out from the Crowd through Proper Branding

Competition in business is getting tighter by the day. Smart branding solutions are the only way to stay relevant in a market that has proved versatile with time. The only way to get noticed in a crowd is by jumping up and down or shouting louder than everyone else. Making a scene will also do the trick. These three gimmicks are some of the best ways to get your company on the grid through branding. Branding is simply giving your company an image that will make it well distinct and noticeable above the rest. So, how do you make a scene, or get loud enough for those around you to notice?

Most people think that branding is all about design. Image has everything to do with every aspect of the business. The design work will, of course, need to be top notch at the end of the day. Here are a few strategies that will turn heads.

Daring design work

The fact that most companies have invested in good graphics and design installations means that you will need to think out of the box. You will need to invest in design work that challenges the mind. Design work that simply attracts the eye is forgettable; one that involves the mind gives a lasting impression. You will need to rethink your design work by daring to be different. Avoid straightforward advertisements that will make you a walking cliché. This includes graphics, video, and web design.

One of the best ways to improve your brand is by improving your staff. Your staff will always need to be worked on no matter how well trained they are. One of the most obvious steps will be working on the dress code and customer relations. A big chunk of your company’s brand will go into how a simple phone call is answered. The staff uniform can be off-putting if not well thought of. A change will always show growth and commitment. Sticking to one uniform over the years will present a form of redundancy. The right kind of customer care will definitely get your company noticed. This comes with motivated and trained staff.

Work on your website

Websites are fast becoming the face of most businesses. A good website will attract more clients as compared to a neglected one. Taking time to create a responsive website is crucial. Ensure that you have support for queries’. Your website needs to be linked to all social platforms and well supported. A good brand needs quality support. Ensure that your website has good content. Do not waste time on keyword stuffing. People are looking for information. Brand through providing relevant information that your clients can use.

Go crazy

It is important that you do not tie your company down to conventional modes of advertising. Go ahead and do what you have never done before. This includes throwing awareness campaigns and investing in them. Working in tandem with events will have your name on some of the best platforms in the business. The use of props is a good way to make noise. Do T-shirts, get skaters to cruise around in them as they display your name. Throw a concert or show sponsored on a good budget to increase company awareness and ensure that people enjoy themselves. Branding is all about getting noticed.

Do interviews

Getting your company on media is a great move. Book for an interview about your company on business-related programs for advertisement. Interviews provide you with an opportunity to sell the brand you feel you need to create.

Keep them guessing

Make sure you have a rolling branding game plan. Ensure that you unveil something new every now and then. This can be used to drum up curiosity. Create an appetite for upcoming products as well as services. Create a buzz and rumors around the upcoming products. This will enhance curiosity and a good following in your present and future clients.

Give back

Your clients are your best friends. Ensure that they have something that they have not necessarily bought from you. There are many ways to thank your customers through branding be it a free gift hamper with your brands in it, a calendar, pens, pencils, gift bags or even vouchers. Plan a budget that will involve giving something back to the clients. They will never forget the gesture. It is more important to maintain and solidify your present clients as opposed to going for fresh ones and losing what you have in the process.

Can you get noticed using Google+

The answer is yessssssssssssssss. Some time ago before I upgraded my own web site my listings under the search term Rossini dropped off the planet and that was for several reasons.  But today I searched and two of my listings I did on Google+ a Google product had me on the first page!  Ok I do tell my clients post on Google+ because it is a Google product.  This is just FYI it has at least in my case worked.

Joe

Part #2

The world of mobile continues to explode. Major players like Google, Facebook, and Apple are investing massively in efforts to establish themselves as the dominant player in the new markets that are emerging as a result. These companies are betting in a big way on continuing changes in mobile usage and in user expectations for mobile devices, and that means you should be, too. It means you need to have a mobile-first mentality.
The investments by these companies are happening at many different levels. For example, Google has already made mobile friendliness a ranking factor, and intends to increase the strength of that signal in May 2016.

This came from Axandra info and it is really really getting to be a hot topic. If you do not have a mobile friendly site then guess what?  Google will find you and potentially downgrade you.  I went from not being on there at all among 30 million pages to the third page and I will over time get it to the first page again:)

Post 3...scarry

According to this data, PCs, tablets, and smartphones will only be about 25% of the installed Internet-enabled devices by 2020. Just a few years ago, these represented two-thirds of the installed Internet devices. In the biz world, this is what we call a "disruptive change."
Many of the new device types will probably have a fairly passive role in our lives (such as smart refrigerators, smart thermostats, and other Internet of Things devices). By this, I mean that I don't expect them to become devices that we interact with heavily.
However, many classes of these devices will be ones that we'll interact with substantially, such as smart TVs, Internet media devices, and wearables.

OK have I convinced you a bit? If you have not upgraded call me and we will give you a quote!!!


Back soon

Joe Rossini

Space the final frontier

I am putting this on here cause it is neat and because soon we will be up there and using the web and the net to comunicate not just worldwide but who knows how far:)

Next to the launch itself, and the successful landing of the Falcon 9 first stage at sea (see “Closing the case for reusable launchers”, The Space Review, April 11, 2016), the most popular aspect on the recent Dragon cargo mission to the International Space Station was its largest. The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), stored inside the unpressurized trunk section of the Dragon, was the latest effort by Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace to demonstrate the company’s core technology of expandable habitat modules.

“Inflatables make you think of things like balloons that don’t have a structure in and of themselves,” explained NASA’s Crusan on why they prefer the term “expandable”.

Late Friday night, the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm reached inside the Dragon’s trunk and extracted the BEAM. The arm moved the module into position, attaching it to a port on the Tranquility module early Saturday morning. While now in place at the station, the module itself won’t be inflated—er, expanded—until late May.
And NASA has gone to great pains to emphasize that “expand” is preferred over “inflate.” “Inflatables make you think of things like balloons that don’t have a structure in and of themselves,” explained Jason Crusan, director of NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems division, at a pre-launch press conference April 7 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. An expandable structure, by contrast, has its own structure holding it together, like a tent. “The rigidity of the device means that, if something were to happen, it still maintains its physical structure.”
Whatever you call it, BEAM is designed to be a testbed for future, more ambitious, expandable modules. It will, at least initially, remain sealed off from the rest of the station, with astronauts only infrequently entering the module to check on instruments monitoring its environment.
At that pre-launch press conference, though, the president of Bigelow Aerospace suggested BEAM could later be used for commercial applications as well. “We have, actually, four different groups today that want to fly experiments and different payloads to BEAM, and deploy those within BEAM,” Robert Bigelow said. Two of the groups represent countries and the other two corporations, although he did not specifically name any of them. “We’re hoping that, maybe in half a year or something, we can get permission from NASA to accommodate these people in some way.”
BEAM, then, may be not just a technical precursor to larger expandable modules, but a commercial one as well. On Monday, just three days after the launch of BEAM, Bigelow Aerospace and United Launch Alliance announced a partnership where the two companies will work together, an effort that could eventually lead to the launch of larger Bigelow modules on ULA’s Atlas 5.
Bigelow, at the pre-launch press conference, dropped hints that Bigelow would work with ULA. He noted that the only vehicle available now to launch Bigelow’s B330 habitat—a module with 330 cubic meters of volume once expanded—is the Atlas V 552. (That vehicle, strictly speaking, doesn’t exist yet: the dual-engine Centaur upper stage, indicated by the “2” in its designation, has yet to fly on an Atlas but is under development.) “We have to fit into two things: a vehicle that can lift 43,000 pounds [19,500 kilograms], and a vehicle that has a fairing length” long enough to accommodate the B330 in its compressed form, he said.

An illustration of the B330 module (top right) accommodated within an Atlas V 552. (credit: ULA/Bigelow Aerospace)

Thus, it wasn’t particularly surprising when Bigelow Aerospace and ULA announced plans to launch a B330 by 2020 on an Atlas V 552. However, at that announcement, which took place at the 32nd Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Bigelow did offer a surprise: that first B330 could go to the ISS.
“We’re trying to acquire permission from NASA to be able to locate a B330 on station,” Bigelow said. “If we’re able to do that, and have that space be there, we’re also asking permission to be able to commercialize time and volume” on the module once installed.

“Our hope is that NASA would be the primary customer for that structure, and that we would be given permission to commercialize. Essentially, we would be timesharing,” said Bigelow.

What the B330 would be used for on the station isn’t clear, but Bigelow suggested it could, as one example, test different life support systems on the station for NASA’s use on future spacecraft. “Although we have a lot of concepts that are really cool, really exciting, and can do NASA a hell of a favor, it’s premature to talk in specifics about these kinds of things,” he said.
“If it can be achieved on station,” Bigelow said of installing the B330 there, “NASA maximizes the utility of its staff that is already on station. It may also be a facility that partners are going to get excited about. We think this will add life beyond 2024 to the ISS, and there are a lot of folks who do not want to see the ISS go into the drink.”
And, as Bigelow has proposed for BEAM, a B330 on the station could be used for commercial, as well as NASA, applications. “Our hope is that NASA would be the primary customer for that structure, and that we would be given permission to commercialize. Essentially, we would be timesharing. So, what we’re going is we’re offering discrete quantities of time—a matter of one or two weeks, to 45 days—to various kinds of clientele,” he said.
All that requires extensive discussions with NASA, and the station’s other international partners, about both technical and business issues regarding a B330 on the station. “We’ve had several discussions” with the space agency, Bigelow said after the press conference. “It’s a process.”
“They have to consider the partners, the station partners,” Bigelow said of NASA. “We experienced this with BEAM. We had to recognize that that location is about the most sensitive location in space that there is. Even with BEAM we had to be concerned with perturbations to the entire structure on its expansion.”
Getting B330 onto station involves a “gauntlet of challenges,” he acknowledged, that the company would not have to go through if the module was a free flyer. So, why go through the hassle of installing the module on the ISS when it would be easier, from both a technical and business development standpoint, to go it alone?

Bigelow Aerospace president Robert Bigelow discussing his plans to include a B330 module on the ISS during an April 11 press conference at the 32nd Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. (credit: J. Foust)

“That is really attractive, believe me,” Bigelow said of the free-flyer option. “However, that is not in the best interest of NASA.” NASA could make use of the extra space at a fraction of the cost of developing its own module, and without having to add additional astronauts or other resources of its own. The module, Bigelow suggested, could attract additional commercial crew and cargo traffic to the station that could help NASA as well as commercial users of the module.
While not explicitly stated, working with NASA on adding a B330 to the ISS would involve some kind of contract or funded agreement. That could, presumably, help finance the development of the B330.
Bigelow hasn’t abandoned the idea of free-flyer stations. The company plans to have two B330 modules ready for launch in 2020, and expects to produce more in the years to come. The number of B330 modules the company builds and launches will depend in large part on the company’s ability to expand its workforce to accommodate projected demand, he said.
“I think we could expect possibly to populate several different destinations in addition to the ISS” by the mid-2020s, Bigelow said.
All of this, though, is still in its early development phases. The partnership announced last week does not involve a launch contract or other formal agreement between ULA and Bigelow Aerospace, for example. “This is a work in progress,” Bigelow said. “We do have an agreement on something that would be typical when you are doing the really early, preliminary work in terms of characterization of a payload.”

“This is a fundamentally new mission in space. We haven’t had one of those in probably 20 or 30 years, arguably,” said Bruno.

“We’re collaborating together with resources of technology and talent, and exploring the future as Bob explained,” said Tory Bruno, the president and CEO of ULA, at the press conference, when asked if any money was changing hands between the two companies. “We don’t talk about dollars and investment. You’ll see as time goes by what this fully encompasses.”
Bruno expressed his excitement, though, about the partnership in general and the potential of Bigelow Aerospace to establish new markets in space. “This is a fundamentally new mission in space. We haven’t had one of those in probably 20 or 30 years, arguably,” he said. “So this is creating new things to do in space, making the space economy larger. That in of itself is an exciting goal.”
It won’t be easy, though, as Bigelow made clear near the end of the press conference. “I think there are a lot of challenges here, and when you’re trying to do something really novel, that isn’t simple, the odds are huge it’s going to be a struggle,” he said. “This is not going to be any kind of a simple situation.”
“But,” he added, “there are a number of commonalities here in terms of benefits that the logic really says this is something that ought to be done.”

---

Jeff Foust (jeff@thespacereview.com) is the editor and publisher of The Space Review, and a senior staff writer with SpaceNews. He also operates the Spacetoday.net web site. Views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author alone.

What do you want in a web provider

What do you want in a web provider?

• Some say experience is important
• Some say location to their business is nice
• Some say price..price..price
• Some say they want someone that listens to them
• SEO is important to some
• How about social media experience

Well why dont you tell me and e mail me at jrossini@rossini.com I think all of the above are important!

Your SEO firm is your partner but do you treat them that way?

YOUR SEO FIRM IS YOUR PARTNER

There's an art to choosing the best SEO firm for your business but once you do, it's important to make the most of it. What you really need, though, is a firm that treats you like a partner and not just a client! However, it does work both ways. If you treat them as "hired help" and not like a true partner, you will miss out on an amazing opportunity to fully use the resources at their firm.  We've had clients who, for whatever reason, didn't fully understand that we're looking to form a partnership with you because over the long term, it makes it much easier for us to execute a winning SEO strategy. There are many aspects to the process and with a true partnership, you respect each other and bounce ideas off each other while acknowledging that you both bring different forms of expertise to the table.

 

 

 

Remember we are in business with you!! If we do not help yu then you do not feel you need to have us. I have helped many companies make lots of money but only a few have become real partners and realized what a service I do for them.  all we can do is do our job and know that it is the best we can do.

Joe Rossini

Today is the day to.................................

Today you should think about updating your web site.

Today you should think about getting an app for your business because it can increase your business.

Today you should think about adding a video to your web site.

Today you should start to write your own blog.

Today you should add new pictures to your web site.

Today you should add social media to your web site.

Today you should write a newsletter.

Today you should submit yourself to the search engines.

Today is a good day!

Web site speed is it important?

I found this on the net and think you should find it interesting.

There is always this push by SEOs to get the highest possible page speed score to get the most benefit from the ranking boost related to speed.  But webmasters might be looking at it the wrong way in how Google applies it – or not.
The question was how big of a ranking factor page speed is, and part of John Mueller’s answer was that it seems to have a bigger impact on sites that aren’t fast, rather than sites getting teeny tiny boosts for every milisecond of speed a site owner can manage to increase a site by.
Here is what he said:

So I guess there are two aspects here when you look at server speed.  On the one hand there’s the kind of perceived speed in the browser, in the time it takes to render a page, and that is something that is definitely a ranking factor, it’s probably not the biggest ranking factor. And usually we try to differentiate between sites that are really slow, and sites that are kind of normal.  So just optimizing on a millisecond basis is not going to affect anything in the search results.
But obviously, the faster you make the site, the more people are going to stay on your site, the more they are going to do on your site, the more they tend to recommend it to other people, so indirectly it is a factor.
The other part of server speed is more in regards to crawling, so how quickly we can crawl pages from your website, and that’s not directly a ranking factor, but it does affect how quickly we can pick up new and changed content on your site.
So for example, if you are a news site and we can’t crawl the website quick enough, we might miss out on some of the news articles you put out, that could be something where you’d lose visibility compared to competitors who we can crawl a little bit faster. So that’s kind of something to keep in mind there.
On the other hand, if this is a static site that is going to remain the same for maybe a couple of years, it’s more informational site where the content will remain the same, but even if we can’t crawl it that quickly, that’s not going to affect anything in search because we aren’t going to miss any of the things you put out there.

So it seems like there might be a point where “optimizing on a millisecond basis is not going to affect anything in the search results,” despite many webmasters pushing for every extra point in the page speed tool.
But as Mueller points out, those millisecond increases can benefit in other ways, just not necessarily in ranking per se.

More to come soon.

Joe

What makes good content?

10X Content

a curated list created by Rand Fishkin of Moz

What is “10X” Content?

I first used the term in the Whiteboard Friday video, Why Good Unique Content Needs to Die. It refers to content that is 10 times better than the best result that can currently be found in the search results for a given keyword phrase or topic.

Since then, it’s been used in forums and on social media as a barometer of content that marketers have found to be uniquely remarkable and stand out in their field for the quality and experience it provides.

Criteria for 10X Content:

• Provides a uniquely positive user experience through the user interface, visuals, layout, fonts, patterns, etc.
• Delivers content that is some substantive combination of high-quality, trustworthy, useful, interesting, and remarkable
• Is considerably different in scope and detail from other works on similar topics
• Loads quickly and is usable on any device or browser
• Creates an emotional response of awe, surprise, joy, anticipation, and/or admiration
• Has achieved an impressive quantity of amplification (through shares on social networks and/or links)
• Solves a problem or answers a question by providing comprehensive, accurate, exceptional information or resources.

Not all of these are required, but some selection of them should be present in each of the pieces that fall under this label.

A neat article and more to come.

Joe Rossini

It seems to me.....

It seems to me that more and more people are going from not having a web site to having somthing.

 It seem Gooogles new Adwords change makes the good old organic free search less visable thus not as important.

It seems to me that no matter how fast a company wants to get their website, they cant seem to find the time to get you the information.

Did you know that you can get an on line PR release that can get you noticed.

Guess what, keywords are still alive and well but many people do not know how to use them correctly.

Pictures of what you do can be powerful so think about using Yutube.

Did you know you can make your own free website but guess what it is not so easy!

Ok more to come soon.

Joe

What is Brand identity

All the components related to a product, service, company, or person is “brand identity.” Some of these items are the name, logo, tone, tagline, typeface, and shape that create an appeal. Brand identity is a separate category from brand image.

Brand identity is the message the consumer receives from the product, person, or thing. The brand identity will connect product recognition. For instance, a recent street survey was done by asking people on the street to tell them the first product that comes to their mind when they hear the word, Bose? Unanimously, it was the headphones. Clearly Bose established the brand identity for their headphones.

Brand identity should be a consistent message received by its audience. If a portion of the identity is a particular shade, consistency of the color is imperative in maintaining the product identity. The identity must match the image projected to the public.

In short branding can be many things. Do a Google search on Branding and you will be bombardad by a bunch of web pages. Bottom line is when you start a busness or an idea and you want to be known you should brand yourself in some way. I suggest you start with a very nice website then go from there. Tell your story then move on to other ways to market and brand yourself.

More to come

Joe Rossini

Some good search engine facts

Question: Why do I need to submit my site to a search engine more than once?

Search engines each have their own criteria for which websites they accept and which they don’t, depending on what they think will be in the best interest of their customers. A website that gets rejected today, may be accepted tomorrow if some aspect of the website has changed.

Question: If my site gets rejected, how do I get it listed?

Optimization. You need to optimize your website to target specific keywords that you think best represents your website. You need to ensure that you have enough relevant content, and that you maximize your headings and meta-tags.

Question: Why are backlinks so important?

Backlinks are important because the bigger search engines use this (along with other proprietary factors) to determine how relevant your website is. With the key thinking being "Why would someone post a link to someone else's website unless they felt it was relevant?"

Question: What are meta-tags?

Meta-tags are the keywords, description and title you think best represents your website. Your overall website should have a broader theme than each one of your pages. For example, if you owned a Vintage Book Website, the title of your homepage would be VINTAGE BOOKS. Inside your website, you might have a webpage titled VINTAGE BOOKS FROM THE EARLY 1800′S. To go along with your title, you have description and keyword metatags. The description metatag is a short description briefly describing that particular webpage. When you think about descriptions, think about the heading of search results. That is how a description should look. All your metatags are contained within the head of the HTML page.

These are just some basic questions that you should have and know when you are either creating or having an SEO person help you. The playing field is changing almost daily and I believe that a strategy of not totally relying on Google is a good one. Use multiple means to get to your audience. Bottom line is there are more ways to get noticed and it does not have to be just Google so be everywhere if you can and we can help you do that!

More to come soon

Joe Rossini