Keywords don’t sell. Answers DO.8 May 2010
Playing Rock-Paper-Scissors is very much like Internet Marketing.
Winning depends on a a lot of factors, and it’s hard. Really hard!
A lot of people I talk to are looking for a quick fix. Everyone is into SEO now. SEO is definitely one of the rock-paper-scissor elements. To hear the talk, you would think that Keywords are the ANSWER.
Well, they aren’t. What!??
They are NOT. Studies show that more than 75% people will find you site using a search engine. When they are doing their search, they are NOT looking for keywords! They are looking for real, well thought out and researched ANSWERS!
Therefore, beating your website into submission to load it with keywords might get you traffic, sure. Then, as soon as the visitors arrive and do not find the answer they needed, that ‘traffic’ will leave. So what have you gained? Traffic? Good for you! The REAL measure of success is NOT traffic, it’s conversions. Are you there just to get people to come and do nothing but leave? Or, are you there to get them to come, stay, and ACT.
You answered your own question. Use keywords for what they are meant to do. That is to tell the crawlers and spiders of the search engines a bit about your content. It’s the CONTENT that is KING! Make it great – 250 words or less at a time, use headers and sub headers to make the information easy to discern and make sure to write, edit and re-write until it’s an ANSWER! If you do that realy well, you will have a website worth the visit.
P.S. When you do your research on keywords, do not bother using what YOU would search for. Ask your friends – that is part of the research. Knowing what OTHERS would type into the search box is what will make your keywords successful.
Facebook poised to “take over” the Internet?22 April 2010
Big Brother? Terminator??
Business Insider had a great article today on Facebook’s new Open Graph Initiative. According to Facebook’s Founder, Mark Zuckerberg stated that “the power of the open graph is that it helps to create a smarter, personalized web that gets better with every action taken.”
To it’s opponents that means that Facebook now has the ability to “connect the dots” where developers lay the groundwork for it to do so. Thus, if you are on one of the “early adopter” sites like Orkut or FriendConnect, what you do there will be ‘added’ to your Facebook activity. The more and more sites that sign on for this graph initiative, the more you are tracked for what Facebook calls “actionable intelligence”. That is a marketing term for “hey we know what you are doing, when and where, and now we can deliver ads and information that reflect your interests even better!”
This is behavioral targeting at it’s finest, IF it works according to Facebook’s plan. This article claims that Facebook may have just found a way to surpass Google. I would put the brakes on that thought. Think a little harder and you will recall that Google is poised to bring FTTH (fiber to the home) in the U.S.. In the U.S., I would say that Google definitely holds the trump card. Facebook may be able to get ‘actionable intelligence” from it’s users from all over the Internet via this new initiative; but Google can “own them” at their home. Touche!
Second, as Facebook begins this effort, they have International Privacy Laws to contend with that will have a direct effect on any global ability. Just because you have it in your EULA or Terms of Service doesn’t mean that it will be upheld around the world as approved. It also doesn’t mean that countries like China will permit you to do this, or won’t want the information for their own use. Trust me, there is more to come on this subject! Just ask Google.
The closing thought in this article was the most funny one: ”Bonus conspiracy theory: former Facebook Chief Privacy Officer (and genuine, great guy) Chris Kelly is running for California Attorney General.
California’s Governor is Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Ahnold was The Terminator.
Circle. Complete.”