Tom Wagenhauser of Indy IT Professionals talks about the state of IT, his personal favorite social media platforms and much more.
Part 1 of this series focused on figuring out the right keywords to optimize your site. The next step is to make sure your site content is attractive to search engines.
The basic formula is simple: Unique content plus unique URLs equals getting found by search engines. And when the search engines find you, so do the readers.
Let’s start with content. Search engines are looking for content that is distinct, so each page of your site should be different. If you’re just repeating the same keywords over and over again without making the information valuable or worthwhile, search engines will notice and your site won’t be indexed. Quality content without duplication is the key to search engine optimization.
The other part of the equation is good URLs. If you have three URLs that all go to the same location – also known as canonical URLs – the search engines know you’re either trying to beat the system or you don’t have good content. You want unique URLs that tell the search engines what can be found on the page. To get the most bang for your buck, find a way to incorporate keywords in the URL. By doing so, you create keyword themes, which is also called siloing. To sum up:
And that, in a nutshell, is what the average person needs to know. You can dig a lot deeper – the next step would be tags and on-page SEO – but that veers into coding territory. Obviously, there’s a tremendous amount of science and strategy involved in getting SEO right – multimillion dollar companies exist for just that reason. But for the average person looking to build site readership without learning code, the formula above is what matters.
The Super Bowl is less than a month away. As much anticipation as there is for the game, for many viewers the best part is the commercials. Rumors are starting to leak about some of the big ads expected to run during the game. The following companies and segments are already generating some buzz:
1.) Doritos – The snack chip is scheduled to have two spots during the game. One will be the annual winner of the Crash the Super Bowl contest for amateur filmmakers. The other will feature comedy, hip-hop trio The Lonely Island. Expectations are high for both ads.
2.) Sketchers – The shoe maker got a great response from last year’s ad featuring Kim Kardashian – most notably, a significant bump in Facebook fans. This year’s spot, despite not having yet been viewed, has garnered negative publicity for taking place at a dog racing facility. Company representatives have tried to spin the focus on the subject of the ad: a cute bulldog and a cameo by Dallas Maverick’s owner Mark Cuban. Time will tell how the clip plays out.
3.) Movies – The major studios have a history of keeping a lid on which big budget films will get the high profile ad slots. Two of the most anticipated summer blockbusters – The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man – are rumored to be absent from the list. Expected, however, are clips for The Avengers, Men In Black 3, and GI Joe: Retaliation. Already confirmed is an ad for Act of Valor, a summer action movie starring real Navy SEALs.
4.) M&Ms – The popular candy hasn’t been featured in a Super Bowl ad in 14 years, so expectations are high for a re-emergence of the brand as a Super Bowl ad tent pole.
5.) Pepsi – The soda maker is scheduled to have two spots focused on X-Factor winner Melanie Amaro. The popular diva singer route has been successful for the company in the past – see Beyonce and Christina Aguilera – so the strategy is sound.
What ads are you looking forward to come Super Bowl Sunday? What spots are going to land with a Groupon-like thud? Get ready to watch.
All indications are that Facebook is planning an Initial Public Offering (IPO) this spring.
For one of the largest media companies on the planet, going public will only further solidify its hold on consumers. Now reports are surfacing that the company plans to launch a mobile ads platform in anticipation of the IPO. If rolled out successfully, Facebook could recalibrate the mobile marketing landscape.
Here’s why: Facebook already collects tremendous amounts of information from its users, including everyone they know and what they like to do. For advertisers, this is a goldmine. With that level of information, they can create ads that specifically target customers. And as the mobile platforms become even more ubiquitous, the opportunities to engage with consumers grow substantially.
Whether Facebook is able to capitalize on the opportunity is still to be determined. The company’s recent explorations into new services – Places and Deals, specifically – have been failures. But the revenue potential for getting the mobile ads service right is very enticing. The audience is already in place; the key is implementation.
Google and Apple currently own the largest shares of the mobile ad market (about 25 percent and 15 percent, respectively). Those numbers, though impressive, are not intimidating. If launched correctly, Facebook could quickly siphon a large segment of the market. And that’s the catch – doing it right. Though the lure to have the service ready for the IPO is alluring, the company may be better off taking its time to guarantee they hit the bull’s-eye on the first try. For the amount of potential revenue at stake, and ongoing credibility, time is money.
Would you welcome targeted Facebook ads on your mobile platform? Why or why not?