Tag Archives: digital marketing

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RIP Google Authorship, we barely knew ye . . .

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“ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes” - David Bowie

Goodbye to Google Authorship.

Yesterday Google announced that it was unplugging its ‘Google Authorship’ tool after a three year effort to match authors with content and apply to search.

Authorship was a great idea with a lot of potential, but lack of adaptation and impact coupled with the rise of (and constraints of) mobile search led to its demise.

More specifically:

  1. Not enough authors were using it,
  2. Not enough webmasters were adopting it,
  3. The images took up too much space in search results served to mobile, and
  4. Google found that Authorship did not have a noticeable impact on click traffic.

Officially announced yesterday by John Mueller (see Google+ post from Google Webmaster Tools), Google will no longer show authorship results in Google Search, and is discontinuing tracking data for any content using rel=author markup.

The news has even sparked speculation and stretching that Google+ could be next on the chopping block, but don’t count on that further development. Google has a long history of rolling out new experimental products and rigorously testing them for usefulness, adoption, relevance, impact and overall value.  If those products fell flat or failed to measure up, then Google has admiringly pulled the plug on them and moved forward. That approach to products and services is one of the main reasons Google has risen to the top – and also why they should continue their dominance.

Chances are that Google already has there eye on a better way to achieve the goals that Authorship failed to reach – and are testing it in a super-secret lab in the mountains.

Rock on Ziggy Stardust . .  Changes on Youtube.

 

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Thank you Kansas City! Celebrating 10 years of being in business at MyJoeCard.Com

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Thanksgiving is nearly upon us and we are celebrating our 10th year of being in business and invite you to join us!

Marketing Kansas City - 10 year celebration

To join MyJoeCard at our 10 year celebration, call 913-271-2955 and mention this email.

In 2004, we launched www.myjoecard.com and began building a ‘Go Green’ and ‘Shop Local’ network of Kansas City area businesses. In the last decade we have grown to 100’s of business members and many tens of thousands of cardholders.

To celebrate, we are offering our best on marketing for Kansas City businesses!

We love Kansas City and we are grateful to grow and become a part of the community of greater Kansas City through partnering with local charities, non-profit organizations and also participating in many regional events with area businesses and attractions.

The Silicon Prairie has come a long way in the last 10 years. The KC online community has grown and blossomed tremendously. Where once we were just beginning to leave dial-up connections behind – we now are the envy of the World as Google Fiber has made us the starting point for their fiber-optic network delivering Gigabit Internet speeds!

Google Fiber Kansas City

We have a lot to be thankful for and we have decided to bundle together a package of our best and put it together at a better rate than we ever have before.

This package provides your business listing at myjoecard.com (one year), email advertising twice/month (linked with your logo) and 1,000 cards with YOUR logo on them.

We would love to have your business aboard and we look forward to being your #1 Marketing ROI.

Interested?

Drop a line to joe@myjoecard.com and mention that you want the 10 year anniversary advertising package.

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Defining the Future – Kansas City’s Opportunity

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Dear People and Companies of the World,

Young and old, big and small – the future is ready, are you? It spreads in the daring minds of pioneers. Architects of the future are now increasingly valued in the World – more than at any time in recent memory. Those minds are being encouraged and fed greater resources.

Resources to build, room to dream, frontiers to conquer, sails to set and horizons to eye.

It is happening.

Today, explorers and adventurers have the ‘royal ear’ and the New World is here once again. It is our same old World seen through transformative eyes . . .

New Kansas City, New Austin soon.

What will we call that place on the slopes? New Provo sounds nice!

Google is sending out the fearless, the bold, and are planting flags of the future in the Heart of America. A new product launching called Google Fiber – and running glass – fiber optic cable, to connect the World in ways in which we should have already been connected. As daring and bold as it is, what we are seeing is merely the groundwork for what is to come – people connecting, sharing, building new things – better things for a better tomorrow.

Ford, Chevy, Sony, Microsoft, Apple and Small Businesses – there are new ‘roads’ being built for your products and services. Get off your laurels – the time to act is now – and ever now.

Kansas City Areas Eligible for Google Fiber (as of 05/08/2013).

The only foes in this bright and exciting New World are those keepers of the old order – fat, complacent cats dining on old hoarded cheese. The Fiberbahn is being built, line-by-line, street-by-street, pole-by-pole, city-by-city, and mind-by-mind. When someone jumps in to build a better World, a better way – open your mind and wallet and get on board. Buy-in and build.

Enjoy being part of building and creating the new and improved – FOR REAL.

Don’t think 20% better, or twice as good . . . .

Think 100 Times – Faster, More Powerful. The old ISP and cable feudal lords know that the ‘gig is up’. Sad that someone entirely outside the industry had to come in and build a platform for the future – but there is much excitement, because a fiber-optic network is finally underway. The clamor for Google Fiber is resounding throughout our land – ask any city leader about the calls and emails that they get, saying “Can we get it? When can we get it??!”.

Indeed. Thank you, Google for having the vision and guts to begin building what will hopefully grow into a nationwide fiber-optic network. And thank you for choosing Kansas City as your first market.

The light is shining, the future is here – and it is double-parked . . . Let’s Go! Envision how our bright future will look and help build it.

There are no monsters in the uncharted waters. The Earth is not flat. The waters of the oceans don’t spill off the edge of the map into oblivion.

There are new vistas to behold, new ground to break – and it is all around you as far as you can see – wherever you are.

I see the pioneers of today building the World that they want to live in. Bob Bigelow is building a fleet for travel into space with plans for a lunar settlement and he is making progress. Ree Drummond, ‘The Pioneer Woman’ (and dear friend) has built a fairytale into a televised, and best-selling reality in Pawhuska, Oklahoma! I can’t wait to dine at her new restaurant that is in the works (from what a little bird told me).

I LOVE Ree, she calls me 'Josefus'!
I LOVE Ree, she calls me ‘Josefus’!

Google is laying a fiber optic network which will transform the way we live in ways that we are just now starting to imagine – and providing tools and opportunity – necessary means for us, our children and the leaders of tomorrow in America – to employ.

Build the future, think of ONE HUNDRED TIMES . . . Bigger, Better, Stronger, Faster.

Be part of a New Renaissance of all communications, commerce, products, services and their exponential impact of their application.

Leave complacency behind – on the couch, in the cubicle. Re-think goals, dare to dream ‘What if?’ and put on your running shoes and join in.

I’ll see you on the frontier.

– Joe

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“Move Over Rover” – Google Fiber Is Coming To Olathe, Kansas!

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Google Fiber has announced that Olathe, KS is on the slate to receive Google Fiber’s 1,000Mbs Internet Service. We Love it!

Google Fiber Olathe MyJoeCard

We are very excited that Google Fiber will be coming to Olathe, KS! Seriously, 100 Times faster than normal broadband Internet service is hard to fathom – we can easily imagine 2x faster or even 10x faster . . . . At the absolutely excellent rates Google Fiber is being offered at – there is NO REASON why someone shouldn’t be jumping-up-and-down excited to choose one of the packages they are offering.

Now you can get the new Google Fiber MyJoeCards. They are available at some of the newer CardCenters (like All Tech Electric & Contracting or Villa Medici Apartments).

As well you can order 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50 or 100 and we will mail them directly to you. Let us know if you are having a special event for your neighborhood as well.

To order online click here.

We are very excited that Google Fiber will be coming to Olathe, KS! Seriously, 100 Times faster than normal broadband Internet service is hard to fathom – we can easily imagine 2x faster or even 10x faster . . . . At the absolutely excellent rates Google Fiber is being offered at – there is NO REASON why someone shouldn’t be jumping-up-and-down excited to choose one of the packages they are offering.

Check out Google Fiber online here: google.com/fiber

See Google Fiber at MyJoeCard by clicking here.

If you are very interested in Google Fiber, you should inquire about being an ‘Ambassador’ or ‘Advocate’ for your area or neighborhood. Visit this page: https://fiber.google.com/tell/ to access flyers to pass out for your neighborhood and more info on helping champion a very exciting and worthy cause.

Google Fiber's First Neighborhood Launch Party 20120929_172040
Google Fiber’s First Neighborhood Launch Party in Kansas City on September 29th, 2012. With Fur and Joe.

I can’t think of many things more exciting than having the World’s most amazing Internet Service across all areas of greater Kansas City . . . and then the rest of the United States.

Beautiful stuff. Historic events.

Have a great weekend!

Joe

 

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World's Top Search Engines

The importance of proper SEO grows daily

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World's Top Search EnginesYellow pages? I am sure some people still use the yellow pages to find what they need. I just don’t know any of them. Like it or not, the relevance of yellow page directories has come and gone.

So where does a business spend their marketing dollar to get the best ROI?

Increasing their visibility for WHAT they do in search rankings at the World’s leading search engines.

This doesn’t mean trying to employ some strategy to trick Google, Yahoo! or Bing into putting their listing at the top. That will not work. Even worse, if it did work – it will only be for a matter of hours or a couple of days before the algorithm update – which will relegate the cheating strategy site to search oblivion.

Just two days ago I met a potential client who was imagining a strategy of using a lot of little sites in an effort to dominate Google’s rankings! I couldn’t believe that someone had suggested this to them! I wasted no time telling them to ABSOLUTELY AVOID any such strategy.

They were aghast at the news.

Which brings me to the topic of educating business owners about organic search engine optimization. A good portion of delivering quality SEO is educating the client on the right approach – and mindset of the approach – as well as working to ‘undo’ or delete whatever bad SEO strategies that have affected their rankings negatively.

It is amazing how many people don’t understand that they will be penalized for deceptive, shady strategies and/or duplicate content/duplicate listings.

Another common hurdle is trying to educate the business owner who wants to be ranked number one for their town, plus all other surrounding towns and areas in organic rankings. This simply does not work.

Here’s why:

  • The best search engines provide the best quality of search results.
  • Quality of search results depends on three things:
    1. accuracy,
    2. relevance,
    3. value.

So here’s the deal – here’s how to get and keep the best possible organic search rankings for your business:

  1. Accurately represent your business on the web,
  2. Provide value for site visitors.

Yes it is a good idea to be social and use social media to connect with people. Making your business accessible through the latest social media platforms says a few things about your business, namely that A) you are a vibrant and relevant business, and B) you are open to connecting with consumers on the Internet.

Having a well-defined presence at Google+, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. also helps establish the accuracy and relevance of your company’s brand.

Rankings = Marketshare in 2012

What are some good guidelines to use when discerning the good strategies from the bad?

  1. Always strive for accuracy . . be WHO YOU ARE, and WHERE YOU ARE.
  2. Adopt the point of view of a search engine and then reflect on that before getting excited about some ‘special strategy’ that someone told you about.

RE: #2 above . . .

Yes, you need to look at things from Google’s point of view. Consider that Google is working every day to sift through a gargantuan amount of information from innumerable sites that is growing every day. In order to be THE BEST search engine in the World, Google has to sort through this mass and deliver the most accurate, relevant results that have the most value for their search engine users. So how does Google do this? Many ways, including:

  1. Continually updating the value of a complex, top-secret algorithm that ranks all web sites/pages/content to determine and deliver the highest-quality search results.
  2. Continually tweak methods for identifying ‘webspam’ and removing the offending webspam publishers from the indexes of their datacenters.
  3. Continually update the datacenters with fresh, relevant content that is being delivered ’round the clock’ by billions of spider bots that crawl and index the information available on the World’s servers.

In addition to those efforts, new efforts are being made by the Big Three (Google, Yahoo! and Bing) to improve the formatting of the web by integrating semantics through use of microdata and mutually agreed-upon protocols as in http://www.schema.org (see my blog post on The Semantic Web), which will dramatically increase the overall accuracy of information on the internet.

Quality SEO is not rocket science – but more common sense. With Google, you are either part of the problem or part of the solution.

My advice?

Be part of the solution.

The job of a quality organic search engine optimization consultant is to:

  1. Quantify your company as it applies to search,
  2. Define the parameters of your company and how they should be represented online,
  3. Research whatever current presence your company already has online (which you may or may not be aware of) – and remove any negative elements,
  4. Assess the needs of your company’s Internet presence – including social media outlets, and necessary site elements,
  5. Develop a plan to showcase your company in the most accurate light and most accessible fashion,
  6. Implement this initial plan for your company’s Internet presence, and
  7. Work with you on a plan to remain vibrant and relevant to the online community (which may include social media, adwords campaigns, email marketing and blogging).

Q. Can you do these things for yourself?

A. Yes. In fact, an effective and winning strategy will most likely require your participation.

Q. Should you hire a professional SEO consultant to make sure that your company is optimally presented on the Internet?

A. ONLY if market-share is important to the success of your company, and the success of your company is important to you.

In 2012 – and the future – how important is the Internet to the success of your company and to garnering a respectable amount of market-share?

  • Consider that 2012 is the year when overall ad spend for digital marketing (Internet) eclipses the amount spent on television advertising and print advertising.
  • Consider that hiring a reputable SEO professional that can show you recent examples of their SEO results, and comes highly recommended is as important as choosing the right doctor, dentist or surgeon.

The doctor is in! We look forward to helping your company have success online. Please call 913-271-2955 or contact joe@joewooldridge.com for a free consultation and quote.

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Web Analytics: On-Site Analytics In A Nutshell

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Web Analytics - On-SiteIt starts with data. Internet data. Get it, measure it, analyze it . . . and report it.

Why?

Well, to be better, My Dear Watson. More specifically, make your website and product/company better.

Part of that improvement lies in helping to measure traditional advertising campaigns and to hone your digital marketing campaigns for optimum effectiveness.

*business research and market research*

By properly implementing Web Analytics you will have access to valuable info:

  • # of visitors
  • # of page views
  • # length of visit
  • # traffic flow
  • # most popular links
  • # geo location of visitors

Off-Site versus On-Site Web Analytics.

Off-Site Analytics measures potential audience (I.e. your site’s opportunity, visibility and ‘buzz’) on the Internet overall (and Off-Site Analytics is not today’s main topical focus).

Effective Use of On-Site Analytics

On-Site Analytics track and measure the site visitor’s journey from the moment they reach your website. With On-Site Analytics, you can see what works – and how well (measure ‘drivers’ and ‘conversions’);

  1. Define what is important to your organization.
  2. Set goals.
  3. Develop a digital marketing strategy to achieve goals. *Note: unless your organization has an endless supply of money, you will want to measure the Return On Investment (ROI) from investing in the following digital marketing channels (I will address Digital Marketing ROI in another post):
  4. Implement On-Site Web Analytics:
    • Decide what you want to measure and how you want to measure it.
    • Configure Google Analytics (or other) to track all relevant assets (pages, files, pdfs, podcasts, videos, links, contact forms, etc.).
  5. Start a digital marketing campaign(s) (I.e. Email blast, Adwords Ads, Banner Ads, Pop-Up Ads).
  6. See what assets or landing pages are driving the sale – or phone call/email that leads to the sale.
  7. Compare this info with key performance indicators (jargon for performance measurement).
  8. Take the information gathered from your efforts, interpret it, adjust your organization’s digital marketing strategy accordingly.

How can your organization best apply On-Site Analytics? /UGLY BABY ALERT!/

Be prepared to learn that you have an ‘ugly baby’ for a website (and possibly an ‘ugly baby’ for a digital marketing campaign as well!). That’s okay. The whole idea here is to reach your organization’s goals. The improvement of certain aspects of your website and your digital marketing campaign will move your organization further along the path to reaching its defined goals.

Now that you have gathered Internet data on your digital marketing efforts:

  1. Verify the accuracy of the data. (I.e. Compare your website’s data as shown through Google Analytics, to direct analysis of the raw server logs). What is it they say? Trust, but verify.
  2. Ensure the validity of the reporting (ideally two reports; the first being a snapshot of data relevant to focus; the second being an overall site metrics. The combination of these two allows context and perspective).
  3. Interpret the data.
  4. LEARN from the data. (What worked? What did NOT work?)
  5. Identify issues, roadblocks, challenges.
  6. Adapt (improve strategy).
  7. IMPROVISE/INNOVATE (improve, change, create or eliminate) your:
    1. tactics,
    2. functionality,
    3. products,
    4. services.
  8. OVERCOME CHALLENGES. If you don’t fail, you can’t learn. Remember that every digital marketing campaign fails to a certain degree. Embrace the experience, dissect the elements that are lacking, and pay attention to what your audience is telling you.
  9. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Evolution of Web Analytics.

The definition of Web Analytics and On-Site Analytics continues to evolve, and the methods and tools used for Web Analytics continually evolve. To ensure optimum accuracy and effectiveness, your organization needs a resource (person) to be continually integrating new techniques, tools and functionality of existing tools.

Dynamic Evolution: Digital marketing continues to evolve, as does traditional advertising, the mobile web, competing platforms, emerging technology, how people connect/share and overall consumer habits. Effectively utilizing Web Analytics to measure your organization’s performance will require insight, peripheral vision within your org’s industry, anticipation of future tech, recognition of emerging trends, impact assessment and adaptability. Change is the only constant.

Joe Wooldridge is a Digital Marketing Generalist, currently working on MyJoeCard.Com in Kansas City.

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Web 3.0 – Preparing for and building the Semantic Web

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Web 3.0 – Preparing for and building the Semantic Web

Ready to help manifest the future of web? Get ready for Web 3.0 – The Semantic Web

In web 3.0 you will need to build your site and web applications to deliver content in a semantic, organized format. We’re seeing this progress as Google, Bing and Yahoo! have embraced the microdata formats from schema.org.

This is the future of being found on the internet for what you do. It is time to build your site for web 3.0 (the semantic web). Start now by using schema.org’s microdata wherever and whenever possible.

Kate Ray provides this great video re: web 3.0 w/ transcript, interview bios, etc. Need info on building a site or incorporating semantic web elements into your organic SEO strategies? Contact Joe Wooldridge at joe@joewooldridge.com and stay tuned to www.joewooldridge.com.

Web 3.0 Interviews with:

  1. Tim Berners-Lee
  2. Clay Shirky
  3. Chris Dixon
  4. David Weinberger
  5. Nova Spivack
  6. Jason Shellen
  7. Lee Feigenbaum
  8. John Hebeler
  9. Alon Halevy
  10. David Karger
  11. Abraham Bernstein

Joe Wooldridge is a digital marketing generalist, currently working on www.myjoecard.com.

via Web 3.0 on Vimeo.

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