Although I follow along on the Google Webmasters blog (and other Google blogs for that matter)… having these videos are such a nice addition. Like most of us, sometimes we don’t feel like reading. We spend our daily lives catching up on emails, Facebook status messages, news, etc… who has time to read blogs? I’ve found videos are a quick way for me  stay up to date on what’s happening in the world of Google.  What’s awesome is Google is now also publishing notes from conferences which really helps stay informed  without even attending.

Even if you aren’t a web developer/designer, I encourage you to watch at least  a part of the video. However, if you don’t have time to watch the video, here’s an outline with links.

Users

• Chrome (browser), Wave (real time communication), Android (projects for the android platform)
• Music One Box – search for artist / song title / lyric and buy it
• Google Squared – displays information in a spreadsheet format
• Google Social Search – Google Social Search is a method to find public content on various social networking profiles about people within your circle.
• Show Options (Google Tool Belt) – This feature I think is one of the best for users. With Show Options, you can isolate your search into specific areas. Very powerful tool for bloggers.

Web Developers

• Code.google.com/speed –  Tools to test your site speed… a topic I will be diving into extensively over the next few weeks.
• Webpagetest.org -Not a Google product, but  worth a visit.
• Code.google.com/closure – Javascript optimizer, library, and templating system
• Google Webtool kit - Open Source applications used by Google

Webmasters

• Rel=canonical -  Worried about duplicate content? Here’s a great way to display your “preferred” version.
• Ignored URL – In your Google Webmasters under Site Configuration–> Settings, you can specify specific URLS ( up to 15 parameters) for Googlebot to ignore. This can come in handy when reducing duplicate content.
• Fetch as Googlebot – When you want to see exactly what Google is viewing, try the fetch as Googlebot function.
• Better malware warnings – Google now has an area in Webmasters to notify you of any malware type activity.
• Message forwarding – Whoo hoo! Although I try to check webmaster tools weekly, getting email notifications will be a helpful reminder.
• Keyword details – In Google Webmasters under Your Site On The Web–> Keywords, Webmasters now reports the significance of various keywords on your site. I was really happy to see this type of data as it will help determine the impact of keyword content rewrites when we work on onsite-SEO activities.

Google Communication

• Webmasters blog -  added more posts!
• SEO Beginners Guide – Contrary to popular believe, Google does support SEO when done in an ethical, white hat manner. To clarify any confusion in the past, they publish a SEO beginners guide for the public. I encourage any person with a website at least familiarize yourself with SEO .  As you will read, SEO is not difficult, just time consuming!
• Don’t use keyword meta tags – In the past meta keyword tags were stuffed with various words that were  sometimes unrelated. To prohibit the abuse of meta keyword tag usage, Google announced as of September 2009  they no longer view this as a factor.
• Webmaster in different languages
• Webmaster Videos – added more videos!

Caffeine

• Rewrite of indexing structure – In my recent article, Google Caffeine: Changes for 2010, Caffeine is the “new” search algorithm.  From what I’ve seen so far on our/clients sites, I have seen fluctuation in search results (some good, some concerning). Only time will tell in terms of how this will impact the overall strategy of SEO.

According to Mashable.com,  Google Caffeine may impact the following:

Speed: How fast can the new search engine load results?

Accuracy: Which set of results is more accurate to the search term?

Temporal Relevancy: Is one version of search better at capturing breaking news?

Index Size: Is it really more comprehensive than the last version of Google?

Although I don’t believe you will  see much notable difference from an end user perspective, when it comes to SEO – we may see some changes in the coming months. Areas I specifically will be paying attention to involve site speed with WordPress blogs.  I’ll be conducting some testing and monitoring carefully http://theclashblog.com, as most of our SEO testing is done internally especially during any algorithm change.  Code.Google.com has some fun little tools, which covers areas such as site speed. Keep you posted on what I discover…

With all of this in mind – I still believe the value of quality written, fresh content will still be as important than ever. I fundamentally believe the core of SEO is about improving the user experience. I’m not a big proponent of  “tricking” the search engines as it may generate an initial spike in ranking or traffic….  it doesn’t hold value for companies when it comes to branding, loyalty, and overall marketing strategy.

What do I mean by improving user experience?  Giving your readers what they want… the best, well written content possible (not just for SEO or self promotion), with relative keywords,  appropriate image usage, engaging videos,  interactive social media that participates with the readers  and solid coding.  So, I welcome this change as hopefully Google.com will be able to weed out other black hat SEO techniques that really provide little value.

Although the sound was a bit troubling at times (which really was my only complaint) , we gained some valuable insight we wanted to share with you

Value of content – I really liked Lorelle VanFossen’s mindset when it comes to blogging with a purpose and bringing back the human element into blog posts. So often I’ve seen blog posts written just as a promotion vs focusing on your readers.  I’ve often wondered if people understood the true purpose of blogging – that yes, it can help you promote your ideas, products, services… but if your blog only contains PR … is that really going to hold the attention of your reader? It was so nice to hear another professional blogger state that blogging should be personal, thoughtful and focused towards your readers… not just what you want to promote.

Quick easy ways to blog -  Lorrella also discussed how WordPress has the capability of “scheduled” posting. A light bulb came on and realized how effective this can really be. Often times as bloggers, we run out of ideas or we don’t feel like writing. Then inspiration hits us and we feel like writing 2-3 blogs. With scheduled posting, this makes it easy as you can write several articles at a time, but leave them for future posts. This way you still get a chronological stream of content for your readers, but you write when the mood hits you.

Social Media Overkill - Merlin Mann kept me rolling with his quirky sense of humor about the internet.  In his presentation Something Something Social Media: The Overdue Minority Report …  he discusses how social media can be used in some not so good ways.  According to him social media is about describing our relationships with others in public, specifically on the internet.  Where social media can be cool in many ways, the downside is it can be overwhelming and even disrespectful at times.

I totally agree. Often I’ve seen companies and individuals create tons of profiles on various social medial profiles. Although this may sound ideal, I don’t see the point.  I  believed social media is only as effect as the effort you apply. What is the point of a profile with no personal activities? Would you ignore your customers if they walked into your restaurant? So why do you ignore them if they post on your profile?  Kind of like blogging – if the only post on your Facebook profile your specials and discounts without engaging your time with your friends…then it’s not social media. It’s self promotion.  People will see right through it. They know they are just being promoted.  I think it’s insulting for the visitor.

So you have to ask yourself the question…how much time do you have to spend to engage yourself? Between Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, LinkedIn… managing social media can take alot of effort. It’s enough to make you go mental.  In my personal opinion, before you dive into the world of social media… ask yourself  are you committed? Are you willing to reply to comments and actually LISTEN to your customers?   Are you willing to share with the world your personal message about your organization that’s outside of what is on sale for the day? Do you know your voice? You need to define yourself first, apply yourself,  be honest, respectful to others  and keep it going.

Global IP:  During our break we chatted with Jim Christian, lead SEO expert at Godaddy.com. Curious on how to obtain rankings in the US market for one of our clients, he mentioned how from what he understood Google is looking at the global IP. Some things you need to factor in is the location of the server. In addition,   there is a setting in Google Webmasters tools where you can select your Geo targeting. Although he did mention he was not sure about the reliability of this – it was another option.

1. Go to Google Webmasters Tools

2. Under Site Configuration—> Settings, find the Geo Target area.

3. To learn more about Geo Targeting visit Google Webmaster’s Geo Targeting information page.

Changes in Google: During our conversation with Jim, he did mention he’s heard Google will make some alterations in their servers which may impact rankings around Nov/Dec/ Jan……more to come about this topic…

These were tid bits of what we gained from this conference. Useful and absolutely worth the $30.00  You can watch hi-lights at WordCamp 2009 hilights sponsored by Godaddy.com

My first step was knowing what topic I could write about daily, an entity that would keep me stimulated and encourage me to network. You also have to ask if you have a level of expertise on a subject matter and the foundation of good original content. If you are tying your blog into your business (which you should) it should be relatively easy to write about your line of work. If you are lucky enough to be doing something you love it’s easier than that, it will be a passion you are happy to share.

Creating a blog that can generate both good traffic and relevant visitors comes down to three things: Planning, planning and planning. You have to formulate a strategy before you start – and we can help with that incidentally.

Let’s say for example your business sells bicycles. Who is your market? What do they probably want to read? What keywords might lead them to your blog? How can you network to initiate interest? How can you tie your blog (and your expertise) into the fact that you sell bicycles?

You then have to ask yourself about your site layout and design. What’s easy to navigate? What categories should you use? How important are images and video? How can you interface the blog with your website? How strong is your branding?

With a strategy decided upon and a design in mind you then have to ask yourself how often will you blog? 3 posts a week with original content is more valuable than seven unoriginal ideas per week. A ‘how-to’ or informational post is more valuable than a simple opinion. An exclusive and interesting post is the most valuable of all.

Next I’ll explain how to start the blog running and gaining traffic once these key planning issues are addressed.

At Green Seed Web Design we are able offer superb web development and coaching – we’ll be happy to help.

Tim at greenseedwebdesign.com

Putting together 300-600 cohesive words on a regular basis is obviously as important to blogging as wind is to to a kite. However 2 years ago I had the wind but no string for the kite and it was night time.

I tried, I really did, but back then I felt I was writing to the goldfish we have, opening a word document and typing would have felt as worthwhile. Sure I got the occasional traffic and even now some of those posts are still online getting a few visits here and there. I wasn’t quite sure where I was going and my efforts dried up.

Four months ago the idea of blogging again raised it’s head as I felt I had a topic to write about that has been a part of my life now for 30 years. I also was now changing career paths and fully understanding the true value of a blog was becoming more apparent every day. Four months ago I made some excuses and put it on the ‘to-do’ pile, a habit I have to break. Spring turned to Summer and the more I learned about blogging the more my idea was making me itch.

Part 2 tomorrow, I’ll explain how a start up blog has gone from zero to 1,000 page views per day in just 24 days. It wasn’t a ponzi scheme – it was subject expertise, networking and creativity. It also helped so much that the blog looks amazing.

For Green Seed Web Design to be able offer superb web development and coaching it was crucial that I had been my own guinea pig. Twitch Twitch, til tomorrow.

Tim at greenseedwebdesign.com

There are of course a mountain of ways to tackle the issue of blog traffic, I’ve found that WPscoop might be on it’s way to rivalling Digg for getting your blog appreciated and ‘out there’. The concept of the site is similar to Digg, the twist being that the site is very much aimed toward bloggers on the WordPress platform.

You can submit your content to WPscoop and exisiting member will be able to vote (scoop) or comment on your articles. When a certain threshold of scoops has been reached your blog entry will be placed on the Upcoming page on WPscoop and gain further exposure.  The diversity of options for someone searching the site is as broad as you might expect with views ranging from 24 hrs / 7 days / 30 days and so on.

With the WP firefox plugin an article can be submitted to scoop with a simple right click. Videos are also able to be submitted.

The membership profiles are also a nice feature allowing you both promote your own blog but in turn reciprocate with 3rd party reviews you have submitted. For blogging to grow takes both commitment and a marketing strategy. Scoop should be a part of your approach.

Tim at greenseedwebdesign.com

According to surveys one of the biggest reasons a person departs a website is due to ‘weak content/copy’. Lack of well written quality content can result in a bounce rate (people leaving your site with no exploration) being higher than the norm. After working on SEO and design it seems rather a pity to lose a potential client due to the written content within the site.

Dependent on the amount of content/type of site you need we would suggest you either hire a content writer (we can assist). There are certain ways to present information within a website that create the best results.

At the very least ensure at least 3 different people (the author being one) examine the content literally sentence by sentence.

Common mistakes include:

• Poor grammar and spelling errors
• Repetition
• Incomplete thoughts
• A presumed existing understanding of the subject matter by the reader
• Lack of a natural flow and focal point to verbiage
• Rambling explanations and inconclusive detail as to what you can provide
• Too much detail on the home page
• Insufficient detail on inner pages
• Contradictions within the same website

The list goes on but the outcome will be the same. Cutting corners on content can mean a site far from optimal.

Tim at greenseedwebdesign

I never knew blogging could be such fun, so creative but also demanding. I feel this would be a great time to ask yourself some crucial questions about if you should blog. With this checklist I feel you’ll have your answer.

The five reasons you should blog:

1. Build a network – I’ve already seen that not only am I connecting with new people who have a common interest but I’m also finding more creative methods of finding those people. I also love that it’s global, my blog has been live for 4 days and I’ve had visits from 25+ countries
2. Communicate – It’s a very open way to share your thoughts with a great number of people. A good blog has to include some insight into your daily routine, it might seep out or spill out but the blogs I enjoy are the one where you find the author interesting, funny and clear. Adding personality is critical.
3. Do you journal? – A blog is simply that, you can really mentor yourself via a blog. Are you aware of where you are and where you are heading. It’s a very visible way of tracking how you feel and what it is important to you.
4. Marketing – Blogging is a superb way to introduce you – be it your skills, your experience or your methods and it can drive new business to you without question
5. Enjoy a challenge? – You simply have to be creative. Simply taking ideas and regurgitating them won’t make for a good blog nor will it develop allegiance. Obviously the web is an endless ocean of ideas and it’s how you take an idea and make it your own that will make your blog a success.

The five reasons you might want to just go walk the dog instead:

1. You want to be alone? – Blogging is a solo skill, no teamwork here, not much banter or collaboration either.
2. Repetition – A lot of time on the computer researching, thinking, planning. If you have computer fatigue turn around now!
3. Time – It takes a lot of time to create a worthy blog. More than I ever imagined. Finding the balance will be critical for me
4. Do you finish things? – If I had a bottle of wine for every blog I’ve seen that had 3 posts week one, 2 week two and one a month later and then crumble and die…I’d have many bottles of wine. A blog won’t explode overnight but it will wither amazingly rapidly if you don’t work on it daily
5. Ideas – You have to have them, if you don’t why bother? (see below)

I knew I had to be ready to start a blog. I developed a strategy and an agenda. I researched the potential and decided what framework the blog should take. I think you need a plan similar to this:

Next 1-10 days – Pre-plan 90% of what you’d like to blog about

11-30 days – Plan at least 50% of where you go next

30 days plus – Ensure you have an organized plan of where you are taking the blog

If you think you’re ready to blog we highly recommend WordPress for developers. From our experience it provides great flexibility and customization options.  The range of WordPress designs can allow you to carry your theme/brand into your blog. If you need assistance developing a wordpress blog to compliment your business please contact us.

Tim at greenseedwebdesign

This is where it gets messy. I’ve followed a few business twitters recently and am finding posts that might be interesting to a friend but a complete turn off to a prospective client.  For example, you are an experienced landscaper, and yet your tweets are as such:

• I cannot believe how nice the weather is again
• Had to skip Target the lines were too long
• Soccer practice at 8am for the kids…aaarrggghhh
• Stuck waiting for my new tires 45 mins now
• Such a hangover again today…
• Gas is $2.82 today…$2.60 a week ago I’m sure

All of these are true I’m sure, but where oh where does that help me (a client) decide that you (the landscaper) are marketing what you do (landscaping) to me? In a business sense Twitter needs to be your real time banner advertisement. Explain what you are working on, ideas you are having, reasons to follow your business, pricing specials, website updates etc.

Simply put – create a personal Twitter account for the ‘fun’ stuff and use your business one to best effect and market what you do. Add a feed to your website or facebook page and draw all these elements together.

We’re always glad to help you devise a social media campaign, don’t spin your wheels and jump in the deep end without determining a strategy.

Tim at greenseedwebdesign.com

Thisrank.com is a very easy to use and fast site that lets you at least have a feel for the strength of your site based on keywords. I analyzed 4 or 5 combinations and the results were all back within 5 seconds for three search engines. They offer a free subscription for a program that lets you track your ranking daily, weekly or however often you choose. The site is based around Google but considering 60% of all daily searches originate there it’s the best place to start.

The results look good, I checked back on 3 searches and the rankings were exact on all 3.  Please note, it won’t report data if you are not in the top 1000 sites found. If that’s the case…call us now !

Give it a spin and I hope your results are good, if not at least you aren’t in the dark.

Tim at greenseedwebdesign.com