The 2012 prediction is going to give rise to one hell of a Christmas time during that year, but not for the reason so many people with death wishes believe-or hope for.  Indeed, if there is any Christmas that is going to be disappointing for these individuals, it will be that of 2012.

But this is not a post that will be directly dealing with the fictitious nature of the 2012 prophecy (you can find plenty of factual refreshments at NASA’s website, particularly the scientist David Morrison who ’specializes’ in dealing with this, well, nonsense).  It will deal with another kind of ‘dark side’ of SEO (and search engine use in general) that bears a striking resemblance to the adage “Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after” by Jonathan Swift.

The End Of The World 2012, A Search Engine’s Perspective

I did a search for “2012 facts” on both Google and Bing, and what I found was, to put it professionally and without going into a rant about our nation’s lack of general scientific literacy and/or curiosity, quite disheartening:

Sorry if it seems like the screen captures are somewhat excessive, but I think getting a nice chunk is necessary to my point:  the results that show up for “2012 facts” are not facts in any way, as a quick gleaning of the results will show (assuming you’re actually open to discussion on this matter and not so eager for everything to end on an arbitrarily selected date).  May I point out the link from “UFODigest” as a clear sign of these sources’ missing credibility?  Considering nearly all alleged UFO experts are easily tricked by flares and a balloon, you can expect that that community would be equally duped by the ‘authoritative’ statements involving the Mayan calendar, missing planets, dark rifts, solar storms, the Milky Way, Nostradamus, meteors, asteroids, earthquakes, tidal waves, and radiation-all of which play a part in one, some, or all of the versions of the 2012 doomsday prediction. 

Now consider a person who happens to be the ideal average Internet user in the sense that s/he has only a 10% chance of going past the first results page, and s/he searches for “2012 Facts” with the intent of getting some quick, hopefully accurate takes on the matter (c’mon now…who doesn’t do this with a variety of topics nowadays?  I know I sure do).  S/he is going to get, and I will not pull my punches here, a load of crap because the 2012 prophecy’s falsehoods are far more optimized, and searched for, than what is really going to happen in 2012:  nothing-or, at least, nothing involving dark rifts and crazy astrology that will kill us all (I suspect viruses and nuclear weapons, among other things, are more than capable of doing the job, and December 21^st 2012 is not a needed ingredient for them to work and they’re always ready!).  The 2012 prediction seems like it has been elevated to the status of plausible due to search engines’ algorithms. 

Searching for “2012 Debunked”, on the other hand, is a bit more uplifting, but I will let you search for it and find out for yourself should you be on the fence (it’s not much of a fence to be on…believe me).  Still, this requires that someone already have a skeptical mindset at the outset with regard to the 2012 prophecy, which is a bit unlikely considering all the extra buzz this garbage is getting because of the film and its .org website (which I refuse to link to, as you can see).  I know, I know-it’s just a movie and people ought to know the difference between movies and reality.  But considering how popular belief in the world’s destruction in the year 2012 is, I do not think this simple yet important distinction is going to be made as readily as it usually is.  It wouldn’t surprise me if the film started being cited as evidence in not too long, for we all know that computer generated images do not lie, ever. 

My 2012 Prediction

The 2012 fiasco goes to show everyone that as useful and essential as search engines are, they are still search engines and will work the way search engines will work.  They are not substitutes for critical thought; they are its complementary tools.  When trying to get to the bottom of an incredibly popular (viral?) movement that involves the end of time, government cover-ups and conspiracies, and films whose story writers probably took a hike the moment the special effects people showed up, you need to do what you can on your own to figure things out, such as search for real experts on whatever the focus of the issue is (and probably start using different search terms as well that include ‘debunked’, ‘unveiled’, etc).  What turns up for the “2012 Facts” query is on the first page because it is optimized, not because it is true.  Optimization does not equal truth, especially when we’re talking about Doomsday.

Oh, right-I still have my 2012 prediction to give.  On December 21^st, 2012, I predict that there will be millions of unfulfilled death wishes, typical holiday hysteria, a discrediting of the deadliness of the Mayan calendar (I never knew we liked them all of a sudden; should we bring back their gods also??), some sun and wind and weather and nighttime, and a galaxy that, all and all, will continue doing its thing as it has done for billions of years.

Happy 2012!

I have been following the buzz about the possibility and then probability of Google unveiling its new social search function with interest, so it made sense that I was going to sign up for it and take a peek.  My curiosity was mightily piqued, but I also felt a measure of satisfaction.  I knew that eventually those Google Profiles that I so carefully have been building for all our clients would come into handy. It only made sense to me, even a year or more ago, that if Google offered you a chance to build something, like a profile, and you could add links to other places that “you” existed online, then Goggle would eventually do something with that information.

I decided to sign in as my own true self as my litmus test for any new service, site or function, was to see how it reacted to the online adoption community.  After over ten years of being entrenched in this community, I know who the key players are. I know who is an early adopter, no pun intended, of technology and internet trends. I know, that as a community on the whole, we really have effortlessly moved on as social media grew into what it is today. So I signed in as FauxClaud, joined the Google Social Search Experiment,  and put in a search that I have seen enough to know how it was different; I searched for “adoptee rights”.

I Saw No Sign of Social Search Results

I looked, but it looked exactly and completely the same.  I went back to the Google explanation page and read it again, but still could not see what they meant. Google clearly says:

“Sign in to Google and do a search. If there’s relevant web content written by people in your social circle, it will automatically show up at the bottom of your search results under a section called “Results from people in your social circle.”

So, I kept on going to the bottom and kept on seeing nothing. I even called Eta over to read the same lines and see what I did not so I was positive that I was not on crack. (I don’t smoke crack, but I like that expression.)

She didn’t see it either, so I was about three seconds away from declaring Google Social Search as officially stupid, when I noticed that the left sidebar **looked a bit different to me. Aha, here was not quite what they described, but indeed, it was social search results.

There Indeed; Social Results

It was the latest internet droppings from some of the people that I knew from the adoption community. Not nearly all of them, but quickly it becomes obvious, that it is my adoption peps who have also carefully created Google Profiles. Unfortunately, out of the very structured online group of thousands; only a handful have bothered creating the Google Profile that had no definitive value until this week and not everyone, myself included, had ensured that all profiles and services were connected. While it is nice that Google allows one to choose to connect whatever one wishes and it does find other profiles that are most likely controlled by you, I can also appreciate other services that do a mass pulling of social information like Friend feed and MyBlogLog where they have those service charts. It’s hard to remember what profiled have been created throughout the years on the web. At least the charts that require filling in provide some sort of guide to basic popular services. On a personal note, it annoys me to no end that both sites still list Mag.nolia.com as if it still bloomed. Update already.

Back to Social Search Results

There was one page. Nine separate people who were involved in the adoption community and somehow connected to me.

Ungrateful Little Bastard was the first listing. It made sense. Whenever I have a new trick to share or a tip; I tell ULB because I know she will do it; she knows the power the internet welds. Google reports that I am connected to her via Digg, but I am connected to ULB on every major service. She is, what they call, a community trust agent. She’s a spoke in a wheel of connections.

Next is listed Bastardette ( What can I say? I hang out with allot of adopted personas online and they have self identified and embraced with the term “Bastard”.) She was one of the very first adoption bloggers, so again, it makes sense, again a spoke of a wheel in Adoptionland. But then I look fartherdown the list…still, really? Only nine?

Then I look and see what the connections are all from. After Digg, all of my “Social Circle” is connected to me via Twitter. That might very well be true, but we have more crossed wired than just Twitter.  So I take a look at the results, and they are all either BlogSpot blogs ( No Surprise there) and then it looks to be Tweets, but it’s not even Tweets, nope. It’s just a few misc URL pages. 

I’m Not Quite Understanding the Social Search Results.

After my bastard friends, the other 7 have only minor sets of results. Only one or two links which is very surprising especially regarding the last listing, Firemom, as she is in almost more places than I am! Only the first two have some serious Google paging of results, but when you actually LOOK at the results, they are all individual blog posts on.. ..you guessed it…BlogSpot blogs.

I want to back track to everyone’s Google profile so I can test an see if that it is the link? Or maybe the reasoning why the results are only from certain from certain places, like maybe the BlogSpot connections are the only ones that Google picked up? But, I can’t seem to find the darn Google Profiles for anyone! I can’t image that I am the only one with a public Google profile. It just doesn’t seem to make sense.

I then look at Google’s explanation of how it is suppose to work. They call it their Social Graph.  That whole explanation goes seem to be related to the actual social search result experiment, but now I am most interested. It almost still does not quite make sense because if Google was actually using the social graph, it would have figured out many many more people in the adoption community that I am connected with. So I try the social graph API demo. I do the standards for the “main” online areas:

facebook.blogger. twitter.friendfeedmyspace..linkedin.youtube.com flickr. and then, I ask to see my connections:

The Social Connections are Just Plain Weird

First off, again, the first connection is via Digg. Now, I am mad at Digg right now because they went and deleted me for no apparent reason. I only discovered that last week, but I have been a Digg member for years. So technically, no one is connected to me via Digg, because Digg killed me. I don’t exist there.

Then I have some connections from MySpace which again is odd, because really, who even goes to MySapce anymore? No, I am not in a band, so I don’t. Then, not surprising, I have a long list of connections from Twitter, but as I look at the actually list, it’s all people that I do know that I follow and that is NOT what Google says it is all about it:

“For example, in the image below, Brad just joined Twitter but has no friends on it. Using the Social Graph API, Twitter could provide Brad a way to find out that his friend Jane is also on Twitter. Here’s how: Brad has linked to his homepage (b3) from his Twitter profile (b1) and also from his homepage (b3) to his LiveJournal blog, Bradfitz (b2). On LiveJournal, Brad is friends with Jane274 (j2), but Brad doesn’t know that Jane274 (j2) also has a Twitter profile (j1). Since the Social Graph API has indexed that Brad and Jane already have declared a public friendship on LiveJournal, it can let Brad know that he might want to add Jane (j1) on Twitter as well. “

Maybe I am just not Geek enough to understand it all, but Google did not show me anything that is new here. I already HAVE all these connections, thank you.

I go one step father, to the “Parameter Playground”. Mind you I don’t have any idea what that means, but it asks me to put in my common URLs again and I do and then there are a bunch of check marks and I check them.

It’s all about the Claimed Nodes

Ok, I will admit it that the whole API thing intimidates me and at this point, I am not sure what I see, but its a heck of allot of code that is generated. I suppose that someone who might actually be a developer or programmer might know to take the string of code and apply it someplace, but I am clueless as to what I am to do with what Google calls the “raw JSON output from the API” .

What I do see is that many many of my profiles, even ones that I have not listed and given to Google are in the code string. Hmmm.  They found me on Divine Caroline and Author’s Den, but I wonder if they did so though other places that I link them to? I go back and only enter my Twitter URL to see what happens then to the raw JSON. Now, because on Twitter only my blog is linked, Google only picks up my blogs, profiles and Twitter info.  Interesting, but still I have no idea what one would use the code for, I am still not given suggestions of other people whom I might be connected to by some Google controlled Six degrees of separation.

Bottom Line, Still a Google Experiment

Maybe my lack of Geek is really showing, but still I am more aware than the average user about t how these things work and it still made little sense to me. If someone with my connections in a community as internet savvy as Adoption can only generate these Google Social connections, then my conclusion is that there is still much to be developed.

I have to say that Facebook does a much better job of finding me things and people that would interest me.

** Upon the reconstruction of  this experiment for the purpose of writing this post, the area to ask for “more results” had moved to the top of the search results.

Perhaps you’re new in town.  Maybe you’re looking to promote your business.  Or maybe you’ve just got some interest that you imagine others may share with you.  In all these cases, local area networking is your solution to finding people that share similar interests as you!

There are many ways to find local networking groups.  Starting your own online local network is slightly more challenging. Here I’ll talk about my experience with local networking as I searched for people who enjoyed local Hudson Valley hiking, like me - and my awesome discovery, namely the Hudson Valley Hikers on Meetup.com.

5 Sites to Start Local Area Networking

Whether you’re looking to find friends, business partners or the love of your life, online local networking may offer you the key to achieving your purpose.  Here are some social media sites to get you started in finding local networking groups.

1.     Facebook

Creating a Facebook Fan Page is a great way to network.  Setting up your own fan page for your local network, business or organization is pretty easy.  Since a fan page cannot request friends, you may consider using your personal page to find friends using the People Search option in Facebook.   Where SEO is concerned, one key difference is that Fan Pages are indexed by the search engines, whereas Groups are not.  Also, Fan Pages can host applications so they can show more content.

Another option is to join or set up a Facebook Group.  Groups are great if you’re planning on sending out bulk invites.  They also offer more control, since new members may be approved before admission.  In general, groups are beneficial for a more personal interaction around a cause. Fan Pages are better for branding your business or band…beautiful!

2.      Flickr

Flickr Groups are perfect for local area networking.  Once you join a group, you can upload local photos and interact with other local residents and discuss events, news and of course photos.  Seeing as photos draw our attention, it is a great way to form a connection with people in your area.  Just go to Flickr groups and search for your city.  The best groups usually have higher numbers, but more importantly they are active.

3.     LinkedIn

This social network is more of a place to make potential business contacts, not to directly sell your product.  You can also create LinkedIn events to promote conferences or trade shows.  LinkedIn is also a good tool if you’re looking for a job.  It provides the opportunity to join a local networking group where you can connect with people who share your interest in products, technology, events and opportunities.

4.      Twitter

Try searching twitter using this format to find local tweeters “near: 12401 within: 15mi”.  You can also try NearbyTweets.com.  There are more search tools including Twellow and LocalTweeps, but they require that you sign up in their directories.

A great idea to organize a meet up through twitter is called, quite befittingly, Tweetup.  To find a Tweetup in your area, search like this: tweetup near: “Kingston” within:15mi.

5.     Meetup.com

The mission of Meetup is “to revitalize local community and help people around the world self-organize”.  It is their belief that each of us can change our own worlds and the world around by organizing ourselves into groups, which give us the power to make a difference.  And the best part is that Meetup.com gives us a tool that makes it super easy to do just this.  All that’s required is your passion to meet great people like you!

The Hudson Valley Hikers on Meetup.com - Success Story

One day I was looking for people to go hiking with and there was no one to be found.  So I turned to my laptop to search for a local networking group and typed in “Hudson Valley Hiking Group”.  There were several results including Hiking Groups for Singles and Friends, information about Hudson Valley trails and about the 4^th result down, I came across Hudson Valley Hikers on Meetup.com.

The purpose of the Hudson Valley Hikers on Meetup.com is “to bring people together who like being outside, hiking, backpacking, camping, kayaking, cycling etc”.  I thought to myself, hey I like these things too!  So I joined.  Every once in a while I receive an email with upcoming hikes to the Catskills, the Adirondacks and even Vermont.  I could tell the organizer was passionate about being outdoors.  He was also very knowledgeable and organized.  Each email included a thorough explanation of the planned hiking trail including meetup points for those interested in carpooling.  Meetup.com also has an RSVP feature, which makes it easier to plan.  About a month went by and I hadn’t gone to any of the planned hikes.  But then I received an email that there would be a planned meetup at the Peekskill Brewery. Needless to say…I was in!

Happy Hour with the Hudson Valley Hikers

I went to the Peekskill Brewery on a Wednesday night and saw a group of people at one end of the bar that looked like the outdoors-type so I walked over and asked if they were the Hudson Valley Hikers?   The organizer greeted me with a warm welcome and introduced me to the other members.  I ordered a beer and started talking about hiking, living in the Hudson Valley and conversation flowed seeing as we all shared the same passion for living an active lifestyle and being outdoors.  So the moral of the story is if you’re looking to find a local networking group, there are some great tools out there to help you.  And if the group you’re looking for doesn’t exist, try starting your own and you’ll be amazed at the great people that you meet.

The Wise Donkey

SEO and ethics might seem like too lofty a subject matter, and/or sound like I’m trying to be more profound than I actually am.  The latter is definitely true, although I do not think there is anything wrong with considering what SEO might mean for a business’s reputation, for that is sort of the whole point to begin with, essentially.

For instance, what if the SERP of your brand is littered with, well, unfriendly opinions about you; and you, of course, want to do whatever you can to diminish those opinions; that is, hide them in some way or get them removed completely.  I would like to think that these options respectively correspond to a low path and a high path in dealing with negative feedback.  Fortunately, it is possible to have the two converge into a practical, ethical middle.

SEO For Obscurity:  The Low Path, Maybe (Low Doesn’t Mean Bad, By The Way)

So your SEO efforts have you nice and optimized for your set of keywords, right?  You come up proudly on the first page of search engines whose bots adore your website’s layout as well as the quality of its backlinks.  To deal with the unfortunate tales of dissatisfaction that take up space in your rightful place on the SERP, let’s say you decide to step up your SEO efforts big time and push those freaking whiners (I’m looking at it from your perspective, which is an angry one for this example, ok?) into the darkness from whence they came.  “Their plight be damned!” you say to yourself and, maybe, your employees, “Just get their accursed footprints off our sacred first page-most people don’t search past it anyway!”

Fair enough, but not really.  If you manage to work hard enough and also push harder than your

unhappy customers (at least for a time), this strategy will likely buy you a few precious moments ‘in the light’.  Still, your main problem is not fully dealt with:  people are pissed, they are very likely talking about how much they are pissed to others who feel the same, are probably continuing to do so as we speak; and they will not go away because people kind of like to search for what is going on in the streams of social media, which means your name might be seen with all kinds of uncool associations.  It’s a bit like high school:  things can really suck if you’re unpopular.

 It’s good to try and purge your precious SERP of all unfriendly links through increased SEO, but it just will not do in the long run; those links can and probably will resurface if problems remain unheard.

 You cannot avoid your destiny; you must face your customers.

Social Media Engagement:  The High Path, I Think

SEO is necessary but not entirely sufficient for the improvement/maintenance of a business’s reputation, particularly one that is receiving significant doses of obloquy from angry people.  Getting a human voice for your organization is imperative in this day and age-a day and age in which many of the standard marketing ploys face stiff resistance from a population that has long since been hardened to them.  No matter how painstaking it may be, deal with the criticism head on and do your best to make things right through an outreach in social media.  You will be surprised at how much nicer people are when they know someone is actually hearing them.  The darkness from whence they came has not left them devoid of reason or sympathy, and you must understand this if you’re going to understand them, and thus take care of their difficulties.

SEO and Social Media:  The Right Path, I’m Pretty Sure

And while you’re engaged in the social world, of course be ruthless yet ethical with your SEO (no need for the problems to remain if they’re being handled, right?).  This is the middle path, albeit not the one spoken of by Buddhists and people of like mind.  Please the search engines to no end with excellent keywords, links, and site design, but be sure to do just as much for the people who uphold your élan vital in the first place through an endeavor in social media.

And may the force be with you! (Aren’t you inspired now?)

]]> http://www.dragonsearchmarketing.com/blog/seo-and-reputation-management/feed/ http://www.dragonsearchmarketing.com/blog/the-future-of-the-seo-industry/ http://www.dragonsearchmarketing.com/blog/the-future-of-the-seo-industry/#comments Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:50:35 +0000 Andrew http://www.dragonsearchmarketing.com/blog/the-future-of-the-seo-industry/ With So Many Variables, Who Can Say What The Future Of Internet Marketing Holds

Me. I can. No, seriously, let me say first that I am not qualified to answer this question.

But I will…because it’s the Internet - where being right has never been so easy.

It all started when I found a three-legged frog circling in the yard. I looked at Gonzo (a name assigned after he took up residence in a tank in the kitchen) and I wondered what type of future this crippled little critter would have. Turns out, his future is mostly meal worms, heat lamps and National Public Radio (his tank is near the radio).

So how is the future of search engine optimization like a three-legged frog named Gonzo? It’s not…at all. I just wanted to share that story.

Matt Cutts Told Me Danny Sullivan Was Mad, And The Future Of SEO Became Much Clearer

My interest in the future of Internet marketing and SEO in particular was truly sparked by a Tweet from Matt Cutts.  

The future of the SEO industry is so bright, I can't even read this.

So, I ambled on over to Danny Sullivan’s personal blog, Daggle, to find a post about how link spammers totally rocked his wife’s website. Sullivan is mad at pretty much everyone - link spammers, digital vandals, Internet cretins and, of course, the federal government.  And then, in a serious rant-faux pas (French for “smooth move, jackass”), he implores link spammers to ask themselves one gut-check of a question - “Is that the type of thing you’d be proud to tell your own mother about?” And to that, I say, “Really, dude? The mom offense? C’mon.”

The larger question, though, is down which path is the future of the SEO industry headed? Are we an industry that will have to forever combat spammers that tarnish the public image of SEO? Will search engine algorithms continue to evolve to clearly identify link spammers and differentiate between those who actively spam and those who are innocent bystanders (like Danny Sullivan’s wife)? At the risk of sounding dramatic or inciting panic - WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!! AAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! No, really, we are all going to die someday, but I think SEO is going to be OK for the time being.

The Future Of Internet Marketing Is In The Hands Of The Engines

Working in organic SEO is kind of like living under a slightly insane, benevolent dictator - a single ruling entity (Google) lays down the law; doesn’t tell anyone exactly what the law is; and we all busy ourselves trying to be good SEO citizens.

Rub Google the wrong way and you might find yourself relegated to the back benches where people find you in search results only when they accidentally slip into a search-coma and learn what “Results 26,000 - 26,010 of 148,000,000″ really means.

So, simply put, Google holds almost every single card in the deck when it comes to the future of search engine optimization. But, so far, that hasn’t been a bad thing. The fundamental goal for Google (and the other major engines) is to make a user’s search experience a quick, accurate process that yields usable results. Trying to placate such a wide-ranging demographic requires the best user experience almost every time. And battling with a frustrated SEO community would not be in their best interest.

In fact, those of us in the SEO industry are in a unique position - search engines provide their service to the people of the Internet directly while we gather to the side, furiously building links and optimizing sites to show the engines that our clients are awesome. We’re like weirdly obsessed digital cheerleaders.

Why the Future of SEO Looks Bright

Because search engines have to perform or get left behind, they are under intense pressure to stay on top. Google has done very well in this respect, having recently weathered the launch of Bing. There are a few things that Google does that keeps them super relevant and the best at what they do.

• Real-time product changes - Google determines how well your site matches up with what words people use to search. Through search engine optimization, we create content that announces to the engines what a page is about and we build links to let Google and others know that, yes, we have a crew and, yes, it runs deep. So, naturally, people will find ways to try to outwit the engines (through exploiting loopholes or just straight spamming). Through algorithmic alterations in how they value websites and pages, Google constantly keeps the target moving. More accurately, the target stays still, but the bull’s eye is in a different place almost daily.
•  Accessibility - Google keeps their ever-shifting search algorithm protected. But they sure help the SEO industry out in figuring out which direction to head. If you think about it, it’s like a massive game of bizarro hide-and-seek where we’re all “it” and Google is the only one hiding. Google has a gaggle (YES! I’ve always wanted to legitimately use that phrase) of employees that actively engage with the masses through social networks like Twitter and Facebook. I guess the best way to look at is to consider the alternative - a miserly search engine that guards a rusty ol’ algorithm; scares the damn neighborhood kids out of the damn yard; and only gives access to the highest bidder…or something.
• Keeping us honest - I think the most notable thing about Google is how it designs it’s algorithm to (for the most part) reward good work and penalize those who abuse the system. How Google continues to separate good from bad will define the future of the SEO industry. It takes almost no effort to stuff a site full of keywords and Google knows that. As a result, pages over-saturated with keywords will draw negative attention from Google’s spiders. Pages constructed and written smartly with properly placed keywords used in appropriate frequency will take more skill and time to prepare, but Google will reward you. Same thing with linkbuilding (generally speaking) - a site with a slim link profile of high-quality sites will perform better than a link profile pregnant with crappy links from suspect sites. Basically, Google has figured out a way to actually reward hard work - a simple concept you would be hard-pressed to find these days.

Despite a Few Hurdles Along the Way, SEO Looks to be in Good Shape for a Healthy Future

OK, I was going to wait until the very end to blast you with this beautiful piece of rock history. Imagine this post as a montage of awesome and this song as the soundtrack:

I know it’s hard to be as cool as that video/song. But, despite the fact that I don’t wear those kind of sunglasses, the future of the SEO industry and Internet marketing is pretty bright. We all work busily to optimize everything we can get our hands on and King Google (although King Bing sounds way better) keeps us all in happy order. And the Internets lived happily ever after.

Like all too many people, the afternoon and early evening hours of October 15^th, I was rather worried and obsessed about the status of the Balloon Boy situation.

“Hey, there is a 6 year old kid floating in a homemade balloon over Colorado!”

The earliest utterances of a co-worker in the office (who picked it up on Facebook from a friend posting it) became an afternoon of fitting in work between refreshing my Twitter search feed and resulted in channel hopping when I was home and close to the news channels.

As a mother of two troublesome children only slightly older than Balloon Boy, I could relate all too well to the panic and worry that this own parents could have (would have / should have) been experiencing. I bristled when people criticized their parenting on Twitter because really; the two kids were only playing in their own yard and that the yard had a filled homemade space balloon was only slightly odd. I tried to ignore the calls of a publicity stunt for either Disneys “Up” Movie or the Wife Swap show; after all, if real, then the child could have really been in harm’s way and this story could have had a fatal and tragic ending.

And while the Michael Jackson Joke was funny, I would NOT laugh until I knew Balloon Boy wasn’t dead after falling out of the balloon. I was genuinely happy that he was only asleep in a box in his attic and, like many, assumed that the poor kid knew he was in trouble for letting Daddy’s weird balloon go and was afraid of the mess he produced.

Looking like the Great Balloon Boy Hoax of 2009

And now, like so many again; I am feeling angry and resentful over the true emotional concern I felt for that little 6 year old boy. I can say that I sure don’t blame Balloon Boy himself even if it IS a hoax as. In fact, I would not have blamed him if it all was true and he was in the space balloon floating over Colorado. Again, I wouldn’t have even blamed the parents if it was true and it ended badly. I’m not pleased that it IS looking like a hoax after Falcon admitted on a CNN interview that “it was for a show”

Why? Who thought it was a good idea to pretend that the child was lost in a balloon over Colorado? For what ultimate viral gain was this story produced? Wife Swap Views? Personal notoriety? Space Balloon Orders? Alien Attention?

If it was a viral hoax then what was the intended goal?

The Backlash of Being Virally Duped Might Get Ugly Indeed

The Balloon Boy Hoax, still, essentially worked more than perfectly in a natural viral capacity:

• Denver’s 9News Web site increased from an average one million per day to 4.6 million.
• Twitter became Balloon Boy Central with lots of prayers and wished, plus the tasteless jokes and true hoax speculations and many folks say “WTF is #balloonboy”
• Responsible for hundreds of thousand of YouTube views and more are still coming!
• There are, of course, Balloon Boy T-shirts.
• We all know about the original Wife Swap episode and the 100^th episode revisit and I would bet that they will re-run it very soon and the overall views will be much higher than normal even if people only watch to hate on them. I do wish I had looked at the Wife Swap site yesterday morning before it all started to see if the Henne Family was positioned front and center as they are now. Maybe they were because they were deemed “as one of America’s four favorite families”. Now, alas, I think they might be among the most mocked and scorned.
• The various news channels did follow our obsessive lead and give us non-stop news and conjectures about the Balloon boy whereabouts.
• My guess is that BalloonBoy.com , a true balloon company in Belgium, is really quite happy too. Surprisingly enough, quite a few “BalloonBoy” domain names are still open and can be bought. I guess after this Hoax thing, the demand is less today than yesterday.

All over the world, the story spread and whether people either cared, mocked, prayed or laughed; we made it clear that Balloon Boy was important to us on a Thursday afternoon.

Why Did We All Care About Balloon Boy and Make it Go Viral?

Over at the SMX East Conference last week in NYC, we discussed viral marketing and the one thing that all the experts agreed on is that you can’t “make” something go viral. It’s like a natural phenomenon. You can plan a campaign, you can see the target markets, but after that; it’s up to the content and the fickled amusement of the internet world. In fact, one of the many pages of notes that I have from the conference is a list of what appeals to the YouTube markets and what kinds of video garner the millions of views. According to industry experts and probably easily agreed to by anyone who bothers watching enough You Tube, to get the massive hits a video should have:

• Amazing and unbelievable stunts
• People getting big injuries
• Really creepy cats
• Someone kicking or hurling a baby
• A freak accident
• An explosion
• Kids behaving badly, usually under the influence of Drugs or alcohol
• Dancing: either really badly or amazingly well

Following that criteria, the Balloon Boy story has met enough true viral criteria; amazing stunt, freak accident, and kids behaving badly and strongly hinted at the possibility of other viral attractions; big injuries and maybe an explosion? We were all hooked. We cared about Falcon Henne. That’s a good thing. If it was truly what it seemed to be and that little boy was trapped in a balloon, then all the well wishes and prayers for his well being would have been good.

It just doesn’t make sense that an impossibly planned and horribly tasteless hoax such as Balloon Boy with no obvious intended goal really happened the way it seemed too. I’m still not sure. I wasn’t sure yesterday and I am still not sure now.

I do think that anyway the story pans out, the Henne Family will be judged, mocked, criticized and affected for quite some time..whether they deserve it or not.

It’s 10 PM…Do you know the Goal of Your Website?

Ok so maybe this is not the way the commercial went, however this is an important question to be asking ourselves. Your website’s goals are unique to your site.  Sometimes there are several goals that you’d like to achieve with your site.  So what’s the hardest part about goal setting?  I’d say it has to do with the dreaded p-word…prioritizing!

Step-by-Step Process To Develop a Goal for Your Website

Whether you are creating a website now or are working with one already in existence, you create your website to assist you in some way.  Perhaps you’d like to develop your brand online.  Or maybe you have a great product.  It’s also possible that you’d like to use your website to generate leads.  Or you might have created your website with the intention of improving ROI.

A well-created goal takes into account several factors.  Here’s a simple process for developing a goal for your website.

1. Determine Your Audience: Before you begin getting the word out, you must know who you’d like to get the word out to.  So the first step in creating a goal for your website promotion is deciding who will be visiting your site.
2. Create a List of Goals: Start by creating a list of all the potential goals for your site.  And for now, don’t worry about how these goals measure up. Just take note of anything and everything that comes to mind for your site’s potential goals.  Try to keep in mind a higher purpose since this will serve as a strong foundation for your site.
3. Pick Your Top 3: Consider the point at which your website is right now and where you anticipate it being in several months.  What are the priorities that can or must be achieved within the foreseeable future?
4. Add Specifics to these Goals: Try to be as specific as you can by including what you plan to accomplish and how you plan to accomplish it.  For instance, instead of saying, “I want to tell people about my product” consider this: “I want to increase traffic to my website so I can help people plan their vacations.  I’ll achieve this by creating itineraries on my website, reaching out to travel websites and encouraging visitors to interact on my website so they can help in planning fun trouble-free vacations!”  Being specific with the goal of your website also helps with developing an efficient course of action to reach your goal.
5. Create a Time Frame: Assuming that your site’s goal is attainable, creating a time frame helps to measure your success.  If necessary, split the goal into several measurable goals.

Another point to keep in mind is your personal values.  If you value being responsible with finances, this will help in creating a well-defined goal for your budget travel website.  Or perhaps you value efficiency and this would help in creating an attainable goal that involves creating viral content on your site.

Answer a Need with Your Site’s Goal

Also keep in mind who your audience is and how you can help them.  Think of a problem that your site helps to solve.  If you’re super creative, then maybe you’ll see a need that your audience has yet to define, but when they do…you’re right there! The point is that creating a well-defined goal for your website is the key to measuring success.  Why should your website be just another speck of sand when it can be an iridescent sea shell?  Now you’re ready to hit the beach, find the perfect conch shell and start setting a goal for your website!

Send Him A Tweet!

First and foremost, the Big Brother being referred to here has nothing to do with the reality show (which, unfortunately, comes up on Google before Orwell’s masterpiece).  Now Twitter may be considered to be full of noise/nonsense (I implied something similar regarding the net as a whole in my last post), and has certainly had its share of extremely humorous satire.

Twitter is indeed packed with conversations that you as an individual likely would never care about; but if you search a bit and do adequate filtering, you will discover otherwise.  There is a profound advantage to all these conversations going on:  when something big happens, a lot of people hear about it and respond accordingly.  This is a very, very good thing about Twitter; and a very, very bad thing for those who do not like when people talk freely among themselves (that means you Big Brother).

Twitter Extends Our Eyes and Ears

Again, one does not have to be interested in or hear every conversation to understand the benefits Twitter brings to the world arena.

But you’re wondering:  “What do you mean ‘something big’?”  That is vague, but I assure you it means more than celebrity gossip.  One lucid example is in a prior post from Claudia regarding her experiences with Best Buy.  A lot of people heard her complaints—and the complaints of many others—and Best Buy, if it plans to keep itself afloat, must address the burgeoning issues quickly.  The messages exchanged are concise and easily spread, and when they are negative toward an organization, that organization better learn to behave itself or face the consequences of an extremely dissatisfied public—something which is never good for business.  Twitter is a great medium for many ideas and conversations:  it lets them spread far more quickly than previously thought possible.  This is why Twitter can be said to be an extension of its members’ senses, for occurrences elsewhere are able to be detected by networked individuals nearly instantly, which gives the people involved an edge over traditional news outlets that, nowadays, seem to be losing their place on the totem pole of information relay.

That Freakin Twitter Bird Can Protect People?

Well, yes, the Twitter Bird certainly can.  Take Claudia’s Best Buy experience, but reshape it into a scenario much more dire (no offense Claudia), such as witnessing or being a victim of abuse from either domestic or foreign authorities.  A lot of people will want to hear about such happenings, and, very likely, some will have enough pull to do act directly on the matter.  Hopefully, the situation is not so bad that a quick tweet is utterly impossible to carry out; however, if the tweet is executed, it will reach many more people than a phone call would (I suppose I’m indirectly advocating mobile devices here too…).  The Twitter medium will keep the urgent message nice and loud for a long time afterwards as well, a key factor in its getting acted upon.

So, in essence, when government authorities (or businesses) misbehave, the reactions on Twitter have great potential to bring about a swift redressing of the problems, or at least to make the problems widely known in a nearly instantaneous fashion.  Perhaps Twitter is bringing into the world a platform on which the following adage can fully stand:  “An attack on one is an attack on all.” 

Don’t Limit Your Twitter Experience To Hooking Up With ‘Influential’ People

Have fun on Twitter—that is what it, and nearly all social media, is about.  The protection mentioned above is a natural outcome of people linking up and does not really need to be consciously sought.  Just think in terms of how many people you know, how many people they know, how many people they know know, and so on and you will have a fine intuitive understanding as to how far crucial news can travel in social media.  There are certain disadvantages to the fast acting ability of this rapidly developing digital nervous system (nonsense often travels faster than truth, for example; though hopefully the difference is not as great between them as it is between light and sound), but it is good to know that, now more than ever, we are able to kick back and say to Big Brother:

We’re watching you too, closely.

Let’s start with the name – LinkedIn. Presumptuous, no? LinkedIn to what? Is it me, or is LinkedIn just a place to pop your resume and awkwardly exploit tenuous  business contacts (at best) in the desperate hopes of landing that sale/job/recommendation? LinkedIn is the snooty, party-pooping, somber social network where OMGs are about as welcome as staples in a cover letter.

Alright, it’s not that bad. But, seriously, what is LinkedIn? And, more importantly, how does LinkedIn work?

Before we get to that, I just want to give a shout to the FTC – Yo, federal gov’t, good lookin’ out on keeping tabs on the seedy underbelly of review blogs. Let us all work to end the free-wheeling ways of an Internet left to the people (I wish they made a font called “sarcastic”). Just so we’re clear – I have in no way received any type of compensation for this review of LinkedIn. In fact, they might want to consider paying me to stop writing.

Just Stop Babbling and Tell Me, “What Is Linkedin?”

Like Facebook, Linkedin is a personal profile-based service where most of your social movement and action happens on that personal level, rather than with your company profile page. In other words, you can’t do much with a company profile page. It responds largely to the actions of its members (employees of the company).

Where Does Linkedin Get It’s Info?

The information on a LinkedIn.com business page is the product of whatever short bit of info the creator of the page enters, combined with peripheral info that LinkedIn.com mines from data that exists on employee’s LinkedInprofiles (company size, median employee age, male/female ratio, etc.). Basically, it’s a very slim profile of the company with links to individual employees – past and present.

Of Course, LinkedIn Offers a Paid Option, Which Leads to the Question, “How Does LinkedIn Work?

The answer is…it doesn’t. Or not yet, anyway.

LinkedIn.com does offer custom company profiles for a price. I would have known that price, but the LinkedIn rep called me right as I knocked my phone off the desk and I was on hands and knees collecting the parts. I told him I was in a meeting and to call back tomorrow. He never did.

So, the price doesn’t really matter at this point because these custom profiles suck. I don’t usually use such vulgarities, but I can’t contain it anymore (sarcastic font, where are you?) This crappiness spawns from the “custom” nature of the profile – basically, it’s an extra tab called “Careers” that acts almost exclusively as a recruitment tool. Here’s what it looks like:

Knock-knock. Who's there? LinkedIn. What the hell is LinkedIn? Way to ruin the joke, man...nevermind.

You could, of course, just create a custom profile and use it to put whatever content you want up there, but I’m not sure if the return would be worth it.

If people expect to see recruitment content on there and, instead, you throw something else up there, it could work against your brand. This lady seems to think that these custom profiles are just fantastically bees knees-ish. She might want to run her review past the FTC, though. It smells funny. (Ed. note – perhaps this bloggers blindingly bright review of LinkedIn custom biz profiles should be qualified with the fact that she has currently either gone crazy or joined the military.)

The best way to figure out what LinkedIn is good for is to hang tight and hope they parse through the bluster and BS

I think that the best you can do is continue to join and participate in LinkedIn groups; keep your profile updated; and keep on top of impending LinkedIn.com changes. Again, like other social networks, how your employees participate on LinkedIn.com determines how visible your brand is. In other words, the more they update their stats; post new updates; and keep things fresh, the more their connections will see them and exposure is gained all around.

I do think that LinkedIn.com will continue to offer more useful features as more people sign-up and wonder WTF they are supposed to do with a LinkedIn.com profile. I would recommend subscribing to LinkedIn’s blog and keep yourself and your company updated on any awesome stuff they do.

In the meantime, while I feverishly work to definitively answer the questions, “What is LinkedIn?” and “How does LinkedIn work?,” check out this link for ways to get the most out of your existing LinkedIn profile.

Landing Page Optimization Podcast

A new PPC podcast on optimizing landing pages has been released.  This highly informative podcast touches topics such as PPC ads, Landing Page Graphics, Landing Page Navigation and Landing Page Trust building.  If you’re looking for great ways to increase conversion rates, I definitely recommend you check this podcast out.  Trust me; it will be worth your time.

Google Expands Hot Trends Feature

This week Google announced its expansion of its hot trends feature.  This feature will be listing more than 100 of the most popular search queries searched within the past hour.  Not only will you be able to see the most popular queries, but you will also be able to view a preview beneath the query telling you about the search’s history and its popularity within the past hour.  Click here to view the Google trends page.

2^nd Annual SearchCamp Conference….in Philly This Year!

If you happen to be in the Philadelphia area this weekend and are interested in attending an insightful conference on PPC, this year’s SearchCamp event is the place for you to be.  This year SearchCamp will be holding its conference in Philadelphia, PA at Temple University’s Tuttleman Learning Center on October 3^rd and 4^th.  With over 30 sessions available and an opportunity to have your website reviewed, you won’t want to miss this fun filled event.  Click here for more info on this hot new conference!

5 PPC Tips on Generating Revenue This Holiday Season

So Amber over at ppchero.com has posted some interesting tips on generating more PPC revenue during the upcoming holiday season.  She suggests that us PPC heads run keyword reports, start running promotions early, create a holiday gift finder landing page, re-activate paused campaigns and be ready for ‘Cyber Monday.’  Yes, Cyber Monday.  If you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t heard of Cyber Monday, it’s the Monday after Black Friday.  Everyone who couldn’t find sales at actual stores are searching online for deals on this day, so you want to make sure your keyword bids are bumped up.  For more info on these helpful tips, click here.

Google’s New View-Through Conversion Reporting Feature

Today you can now measure the value of your display ad campaigns by using the view-through conversion reporting feature in the Google Content Network.  This feature quantifies the number of conversions that occurred within 30 days of your display ad appearing with no clicks generated.  This will also enable you to compare the performance of your Google Content Network campaign to the performance of your other campaigns.  Not only will you more easily be able to compare campaigns but it will also help you determine the best places for ad placements and the top ways to place these ads.  We have no doubt that this new feature will make your spent advertising dollars be more effective and profitable.  Click here for more info.

Until next week…Keep on Searching!

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