How to Create Great Content: Start by Creating Content for Yourself Saturday, Jun 22 2013 

Web design skills prowebmn 3:01 am

Most people new to marketing (and even many of those not so new) think about marketing as “how do I get visitors to my website?” And, in many cases that approach, while somewhat shortsighted, works well. But, for many marketers, making a slight adjustment in how they approach their marketing can make a significant difference in the quality of their content and ultimately, its efficacy in building an audience. A minor adjustment in how you aim the arrow can result in a huge difference downrange.

web

web

Change the Way You Frame the Content Creation Process

A recent study covered in the Journal of Science found that, although scientists knew human’s DNA differed very little from one person to the next, we’re actually even more alike than previously thought. The research found that all humans are actually 99.9 percent genetically identical.

If my extensive calculations are correct, that means only a miniscule .1 percent percentage separates you and I. And that means that, for the most part, (at a high level), the kind of content I would find informative is the kind of content you would find informative. (This isn’t to say that content doesn’t resonate in different ways with audiences. But thinking about it at a high level, good content resonates from one human to the next).

If true, this means the starting point “how do I get visitors to my website?” most marketers use is exactly the wrong question. This is because what often results from this kind of thinking is the kind of content we think has the potential to “go viral” which results in a torrent of ho-hum infographics, or, worse, we get wrapped up in creating content for an algorithm, or worse yet, locked into tactical approaches such as aggressive link building to compensate for lackluster content. (more…)

 

Google Buys Navigation App Waze for $1 Billion Thursday, Jun 20 2013 

Web design skills prowebmn 2:12 pm

Google has reached an agreement to buy navigation app maker Waze in a

deal believed to be valued upwards of $1 billion, beating rivals Facebook and Apple, which were also rumored to be mulling a bid for the startup.

google

google

The much-rumored deal was confirmed by Waze chief executive Noam Bardin on a company blog.

“We are excited about the prospect of working with the Google Maps team to enhance our search capabilities and to join them in their ongoing efforts to build the best map of the world,” he wrote.

Waze, which currently boasts nearly 50 million users, offers map and traffic data services using satellite signals sent from smartphones. The firm was reported to be in discussions with Facebook last month, as the social network giant looked for ways to strengthen its Home offering.

But according to Israeli website Globes, that deal foundered on Facebook’s insistence that the developers moved to the U.S.

Brian McClendon, VP of Geographic Services at Google said, “The Waze product development team will remain in Israel and operate separately for now. We’re excited about the prospect of enhancing Google Maps with some of the traffic update features provided by Waze and enhancing Waze with Google’s search capabilities.”

Maps have become a key battleground in the smartphone wars, not least because of the self-inflicted damage Apple unleashed with its calamitous release of its own geo-location app for iOS 6.

Waze has attracted suitors partly in recognition of how accurate its traffic updates are in areas where it has gained critical mass. The app uses a crowdsourcing approaching to traffic monitoring, providing real-time updates on routes.

If the deal goes ahead, it would be among the largest acquisitions Google has made. It paid an eye-popping $12.5 billion for handset maker Motorola Mobility in 2011, but has largely focussed on smaller deals. At the $1.3 billion price tag being widely reported, the deal is not far off what Google splashed out for YouTube in 2006.

 

Egobait: How to Get Links & Exposure in a Variety of Verticals Wednesday, Jun 19 2013 

Web design skills prowebmn 4:49 pm

Egobait exists for one main purpose: to increase visibility (which will hopefully generate links). Designed to appeal to the ego of an influencer, it’s a concept that has some negative connotations, due to the whole “ego” bit.design2011

While it’s true that some people need to have their ego stroked or threatened in order to acknowledge you, there are still people out there who do things for altruistic purposes. Sure, we want the links and the tweets, but sometimes we also just like to contribute to something.

(And naturally I appealed to the egos of my fellow link builders for help with this post.)

I’ll share my outreach email with you below. I have a standing list of industry people who I admire, and whenever I want to do something like this, I put together a list of ones who I think are good choices and, if the list is too big, I’ll just randomly choose a few. As you can tell, I’m already trying to appeal to the ego of anyone who wasn’t contacted.

I’m writing a post about egobait for link building for Search Engine Watch and am trying to get some ideas for how to do this for specific verticals. I have a very, very bad habit of using SEO examples when I write so I’m going to avoid those as they aren’t usually relevant to a lot of other industries of course, so if you are interested in contributing I would be insanely appreciative, but if you’re too busy/are just uninterested/think I suck then that’s fine too although I’ll frown heavily and probably eat one too many muffins.

Here’s my list of questions…if you are interested and have the time, you’re welcome to answer one question or answer them all. I’ll compile all of this for a post that should be live on SEW on June 11th, so if you could get this back to me by June 1st I’d greatly appreciate it. (more…)

 

Google Under Fire Again for Providing Easy Access to Prescription Drugs Tuesday, Jun 18 2013 

Web design skills prowebmn 3:10 am

Google is allowing illegal prescription drug activity online and profiting from it, according to a report by USA Today.

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood claimed Google was up to its old tricks by allowing websites to be found that sell illegal prescription drugs.16

“On every check we have made, Google’s search engine gave us easy access to illegal goods, including websites which offer,” Hood said.

USA Today also reported the group Digital Citizens Alliance found Google was allowing ads on YouTube videos that feature illegal content, such as buying drugs without a prescription.

While the ad itself might not be for illegal drugs, USA TODAY speculates the profit still remains. For example, videos on how to buy painkillers without a prescription show ads for managing chronic back pain.

Google: No Pain, No Gain?

You may remember the 2011 debacle when Google paid $500 million to avoid criminal prosecution by the Department of Justice for profiting from ads by Canadian pharmacies illegally selling prescription and non-prescription drugs. (more…)

 

Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo Deny Involvement in NSA PRISM Spy Program Saturday, Jun 15 2013 

Web design skills , , , prowebmn 3:15 am

The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has been named in a massive surveillance operation which includes monitoring activity on multiple U.S. carriers and service providers.16

Dubbed PRISM, the operation involves collecting data traveling through the U.S. as part of a larger campaign to gather intelligence of international communications. The project has been reported on by The Guardian and The Washington Post citing leaked government documents.

The PRISM archive collects and stores data from multiple companies, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple, AOL, and Skype, according to reports. The collected information is then made available to U.S. agencies for use in domestic and international investigations.

In the leaked documents, the agency notes that the archive is especially useful for overseas investigations as users will commonly rely on free or low-cost services which run through U.S. companies.

According to the report, the PRISM program goes back a number of years to programs set up by the Bush administration to collect intelligence. The Washington Post alleges that members of Congress have known about the archive for years but were prevented from disclosing the information.

Since the news broke, several of the companies have issues widely reported statements denying involvement.

Google:

Google cares deeply about the security of our users’ data. We disclose user data to government in accordance with the law, and we review all such requests carefully. From time to time, people allege that we have created a government ‘back door’ into our systems, but Google does not have a back door for the government to access private user data.

Facebook:

We do not provide any government organization with direct access to Facebook servers. When Facebook is asked for data or information about specific individuals, we carefully scrutinize any such request for compliance with all applicable laws, and provide information only to the extent required by law.

Microsoft:

We provide customer data only when we receive a legally binding order or subpoena to do so, and never on a voluntary basis. In addition we only ever comply with orders for requests about specific accounts or identifiers. If the government has a broader voluntary national security program to gather customer data we don’t participate in it.

Yahoo:

Yahoo takes users’ privacy very seriously. We do not provide the government with direct access to our servers, systems, or network.

Apple:

We have never heard of PRISM. We do not provide any government agency with direct access to our servers.

Several of the companies named in the report have already been providing regular public reports on their government dealings. Google has long maintained a series of reports on government requests for data on users. The company reports that it declines most of those requests. (more…)

 

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