The Future of Internet Video is Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality has blossomed in the video world. For those who aren’t familiar with the term, Augmented Reality (AR) is a live, direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment where the elements are merged with (or augmented by) virtual computer-generated imagery – creating a “mixed reality” (Wikipedia). Basically, it’s a way of combining reality with the virtual world.
Click Here for the Secret to Email Marketing
We spend a lot of time fussing over our emails. Maybe if we change this sentence or that picture it will increase results. It’s all important to us since each email we send is a reflection of our hard work… Days of examining statistics and hours of HTML coding for most people to look at our email for six seconds and then permanently delete it.
When to Use the Google Content Network
The Google Content Network is the largest advertising network in the world. The fact is, when you get that big, both good and bad things happen. First, there is tremendous opportunity for getting more traffic to your website. Second, there is tremendous opportunity to get a lot of irrelevant traffic to your website.
The Current Emergence of Mobile Web Marketing
Buzzzzz… Buzzzzz… Yep, that’s your phone ringing. Only now, it’s not just your phone; it’s your mini-computer complete with your email, Facebook, contacts, camera, games, apps and more. In 2010, at least 25% of the mobile phones purchased in this country will be “High End Devices” (HEDs).
Is Your Website Costing You Money?
Is your traffic going up… but no one is converting? Are your bounce rates increasing? You thought you had the perfect design after it cost you thousands of dollars, only to get nothing in return. Now you begin to wonder if it was all worth it.
I’d like to share a funny story about a how a client of mine has gotten some recent reputation-monitoring help from strange places.
Background
This client is in the consumer electronics industry, but the name of its business happens to share a name with:
1. a medical iPhone app
2. a .net website belonging to a farm
The Rankings
As logic would dictate, these ranking pages that helped them have zero connection to my client’s business or industry, but the fact that they were ranking #14 and 15 in Google today in a search for the company’s name is a blessing in disguise. The reason is because these pages do not reflect negatively on the client’s business. They may not appear to be positive by themselves, but the idea that they are potentially preventing other negative website results out there from showing up in top results for my client’s name is reassuring. Even if the farm website contains an extensive diary with graphic photos of a deer hunt. Believe me, I’d love to show these photos or link to them, but I don’t want give up my client’s identity or get in trouble with a competent gun owner, so I’m just going to show the site’s “navigation.”
Help from unexpected places.
Lesson: Take Reputation-Monitoring Action
If you find a similar situation for your business, depending on how high the doppelganger site(s) rank and the severity/prominence of the negative result(s), you should consider linking. One humorous way to go about it would be to add a disclaimer saying:
These places could be confused with us, but are definitely NOT us.
In this way, you could link to an unrelated namesake while not confusing your own visitors. Perhaps giving these sites some links could be the factor that pushes up their rankings in searches for your name. Linking out might be worth a try, especially if these sites are already showing up on first- or second-page search results for your business name. Again, the question is, “How bad and prominent is/are the negative listing(s)?” If no other current option exists for changing these search results, then your time would be well spent. You would have nothing to lose and much to gain.
So, remember, you can’t always change the bad things people say about your business, but you can sometimes get a little help from random places.
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Search Engine Optimization. These days it’s a buzzword thrown around as casually as the average teenager’s “what’s up,†and although SEO has become practically synonymous with the term optimization, the latter actually encompasses a great deal more.
Optimize, as defined by dictionary.com, is:
- To make as effective, perfect, or useful as possible
This definition typifies what SEO is all about – designing, editing and refining websites in an effort to improve their volume and quality of traffic, and therefore help them get better results in the major search engines. In other words, to perfect them to the point that they are as effective and user-friendly as possible. However, the scope of optimization, and the level of impact it can have on search results does not stop with SEO.
Optimization actually influences a much broader range of Internet functions, and an article from the TopRank Online Marketing Blog entitled “3 Reasons PR & Communication Pros Need to Know SEO†does an excellent job of explaining the many opportunities that exist in the optimization realm. For anyone involved in the industry, it is clear that SEO has a significant impact on the way information is found, indexed and ranked on major search engines. However, the next 3 optimization tactics should command your attention as well:
- Digital Asset Optimization. This is the process by which search engines are able to pick up all of your content – even those pesky non-text based files. Because search engines now offer media-specific searching for users, this type of optimization is incredibly valuable for websites that have many forms of alternative content. File names, meta tags, descriptions, animation lead-ins, text for images and other similar tactics are necessary for utilizing this beneficial form of optimization.
- Social Media Optimization. This form of optimization was coined by Rohit Bhargava and has since been expanded upon by others in the industry. It is gaining momentum steadily as the presence and impact of social media continue to increase. Basically, its goal is to implement changes on a site to make it more visible in social media searches, more easily linked to, and more frequently included on industry-relevant blogs, forums and more. Although some are kept private, many social interactions on the Internet can be indexed and included in search results, and social media offers great opportunity for your information to be shared amongst a community of users.
- Micromedia Optimization. This is a newer term that can go hand in hand with social media optimization. It encompasses real-time content optimization, so it focuses on optimizing status updates and other similar real-time content that can be shared across social networks. Social Media and real-time status updates are growing in popularity, and they provide an excellent medium for optimization and link-bait opportunities.
Standard SEO is still as important as ever, but from now on when you think of optimization, don’t forget about these other important opportunities. Missing out on digital asset, social media and micromedia optimization may be limiting your website’s indexing capabilities and search result rankings. Make sure you are looking at the big picture – the opportunities are extensive, and you don’t want to miss out.
Fathom SEO understands that your website needs to be optimized to the fullest, and we have the knowledge, tools and skilled staff that can help you do so. Contact us today to see how we can help you obtain better visibility, increased inquiries, and a clear advantage over your competitors.
Photo provided by DJMcCrady on Flickr
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Fathom SEO will be hosting NEOUPA’s (Northeast Ohio Usability Professionals’ Association) March 2010 event, and present about Usability and Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
NEOUPA Event Information:
Topic: Usability & Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Where: Fathom SEO, 8200 Sweet Valley Dr., Suite 100, Valley View, OH 44125
Time: 6:00-6:45pm – Networking & Socializing, 6:45-7:00pm – NEOUPA Announcement & Speaker Intros, 7:00-8:30pm – Presentation with Q & A
Cost: Free Event for NEOUPA members, $10 for non-members
Presenter Bios:
Kurt Krejny is the Director of SEM Best Practices at Fathom SEO. Kurt has over 8 years of experience in online marketing with a focus in web design and search engine optimization. Kurt’s background in visual communications for both print and electronic media has allowed him to assist organizations in solving complex online marketing problems. Using a diverse skill set including traditional marketing, graphic design, usability, website development, and video, Kurt has been focused on getting things done to show results. With an eye for the future, Kurt is continuously testing and implementing new strategies to keep Fathom’s clients ahead of their online competition.
Tom Cottrill is a Technical SEM Specialist and Programming Lead at Fathom SEO. He has over 12 years of programming and Internet marketing experience. Tom has worked as a designer, programmer, and writer at Fathom, and he currently works closely with many clients helping them overcome the technical hurdles they face during the process of their SEO campaigns. His expertise includes many varieties of dynamic Web programming, as well as database programming.
Matt Thompson is a Technical SEM Specialist at Fathom SEO. His online experience began in 2004 as an Internet Entrepreneur designing, developing, and marketing content-rich websites to teach other web designers. His background covering graphic design, multiple programming languages, content management systems, and usability have helped enhance numerous clients’ website presence. Matt plays an integral role in improving client website conversions through web design and development, and analyzing and overcoming technical barriers that may hinder SEO strategies.
Cliff Karklin is a Senior Account Executive and Online Video Marketing Expert at Fathom SEO. Cliff has 7 years of experience in online marketing with a focus in web design, SEO, and Internet video production. Cliff’s background in interactive media has led to his spearheading of Fathom SEO’s online video marketing research, as well as developing the processes used at Fathom SEO to expand the online video visibility of clients in widely diverse industries.
No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome. »So you innocently tell your “friends” where you’re going on an ordinary Saturday afternoon … only you do it on social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook or Google Buzz. Online location-sharing networks are rapidly becoming more and more popular, potentially to the peril of your worldly possessions.
The potential for thieves to use updates on sites and apps like Twitter, Brightkite and Foursquare to break into and vandalize property continues to make news. The sites can be used to find lists of who’s where … and more importantly, who’s not at home.
The website PleaseRobMe.com is attempting to call attention to the dangers in telling everyone on the Internet where you are at any given time. PleaseRobMe.com filters through location sites to give you a live stream of people’s “check-ins.” To perform the search, you key in your search criteria and look under the “Recent Empty Homes” section for results.
You can get these same results on a Twitter search, so you may ask, what’s the point of this site? The creators of PleaseRobMe.com say it’s to show those who are in a rush to earn their badge on Foursquare that it may not be worth it.
A quick search for my city told me that one guy was at the local rec center doing laps for the first time since he was 14; another was traveling to Boston through the weekend; and another was at Target with the kids. I don’t know any of these people, but I know where they are.
So before your next tweet about how you’re on your way out for the evening or you check in on Foursquare to earn your “mayor” badge at the city’s hottest new club, you may want to think twice.
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