I’ve been studying physics. For me to understand any of the science and newer theories, such as “string theory”, I try to picture it in my head. Have you tried to imagine what a blown apart atom looks like or the so-called “11 dimensions” that string theory strives to prove? Why do I even care?

Have you noticed how one dimensional social networking is? Or how the sense of Time feels awkward when you crank up Twitter and see comments from “0 seconds” ago, “4 hours ago” or the huge gaps of nothingness that occurs in Space when Twitter goes down and all is silent? You just know that in another dimension somewhere, somebody is trying to type into Twirl, only to get the message saying the message quota is on overload. We can’t see the people banging their desks, but we know they’re there.

We also can’t see the performance engineers sweating over Twitter server load balancing issues. We do get to see a picture of a whale, for reasons I never understood, when Twitter is down. Our senses are out of earshot to all the users screaming that Twitter isn’t there for them to talk about their dinner, the cat sleeping on their head or the next blog post they just uploaded. That dimension exists. We know it does. We can feel it and even participate in the ruckus for a universal, communal “HOLY CRAP” moment.

Ethics

I just said a word I spent years telling my kids they weren’t permitted to say, but they do anyway. This small action is now open to the public and I am subjected to the court of online ethical behavior.

Was it ethical for me to say “crap” in my blog? Why is she talking about physics in an SEO and Usability blog? Will my business suffer because I went off-topic? How many people will race to their computers to write a post calling me names or questioning my sanity?

I’ve done it. I may see a blog post or comment and think, “Whoa! Who spiked their peach tea?” Is it ethical for me to pass judgment on them? Is it within my rights as a citizen of the Internet to complain about someone I take issue with, for whatever issue I believe they violated?

In the whole life scheme of things, is it more valuable for me to manipulate public opinion or ponder the beauty of flower petals?

At Cre8asiteforums, we’re talking about ethics and reputation management for business and people in a thread called Online Ethics - What Say You? There’s lots of ground to cover when it comes to ethics and I don’t for a minute think I’m educated on all of it, nor am I free from dents and lack of wisdom. I asked some questions and the answers and feedback go everywhere.

There are ethics issues like justice, freedom, values, consent and trust. For me personally, trust is huge. It’s why I don’t “friend” everyone who comes along my path in some online social sites. For some reason it’s assumed that I “should” be everyone’s friend because I’m someone else’s friend or run forums or own a business. I disagree. And if I’m manipulated to be a “friend”, I respond by forming my body into an ice cube. Earn my trust. Don’t pretend you know me.

Ethics includes animal rights, the environment, human rights, legal issues, business standards, marketing, religion and Internet ethics, the latter which is still in the discovery stage. The key thing about these ethics is they change and evolve. To early Native Americans, it was unethical to believe that the land belonged to people and could be sold or traded for. To them, there was enough land for everyone. And yet their integrity came into question because they didn’t believe in the same God as the white man, who apparently told HIS people that land was not free.

Who was right?

In theory, ethics represent “good”. It’s good to be kind. It’s bad to call people names. It’s good to investigate and document experiences. It’s bad to engage in revenge tactics and try to influence opinions without facts to back it up.

In the forums thread, I talked about our rule about not attacking people or businesses by name. It’s been the number one rule. While we know Community members practice this behavior on their sites, we don’t permit it on ours. Why? Because everyone is responsible for their own experience and interaction. Everyone’s situation is different. While it’s true many hosting companies are total rip-off’s, they don’t mess up every single account. Some customers get along fine with no problems to report. In the case, however, of RegisterFly, who created a riot with their customer service violations, the sheer majority and scope of the bad experiences supplied enough proof that something was terribly wrong there.

Personally, I have no impulse to cause anyone financial, emotional and physical harm. I try to not speak unkindly online of my industry peers. Some deserve to be slapped around. My choice is to ignore them or in some cases, support their good actions and not support their bad decisions.

Do you have a personal code of ethics? Is your business committed to integrity, quality and customer relations? How do you communicate this online? Can you control what others say about you or your company? No, you can’t. When I found my own business appear with a negative statement about me by someone who never used my services and has never met me, I was stunned. I wondered if I had legal recourse.

When did it become legal to purposely and systematically wreak reputation havoc on a company you never did business with?

Recently I learned of a linking practice based on purposeful deception. The idea is to leave logical, helpful, polite comments in blogs and earn the blog owner’s trust. Some bloggers will learn to trust the commenter and let them post comments at will, with no moderation. Suddenly and without warning, the commenter begins to spam by linking to “bad” sites and writing comments that are completely uncharacteristic and uncalled for. This behavior is becoming an actual business practice. When does this sloppy treatment stop?

One of my favorite discoveries with my forays into physics, science and spirituality is the theory that at the very basic of core of our Beingness, we’re all made of the exact same Thing. A teeny tiny microscopic part of us is part of the One Thing that made it all possible in the first place. We share this thing. We can’t see it, can’t measure it, can’t hold it in our hands and can’t manipulate it to be different than It is.

Not only that, the computer you’re using to read this has that same invisible Thing in it. “We are all Relatives”, Native Americans believe. They include the two-legged (us), four-legged, rocks, plants, sky, and The Ancestors, who are technically dead but possibly in another dimension, so we just can’t go to the movies with them.

So if you spread hate and think ill thoughts or force anyone to do something they don’t wish to do, you’re hating and forcing yourself as well.

The reputation you try to manage may someday be your own.

I guess it’s human nature to invent, invest, network, work together and build layer upon layer of The Thing We’re Doing. And, it’s our legacy as people to chip away at the foundation and pillage the treasures until there’s barely a hint of what was the original thought.

The State of the UX Community

We are splintering into sub-groups who debate the meaning of design or usability endlessly instead of working together to build a shared understanding of the extensive body of knowledge the profession has amassed over the past several decades and come up with a way to clearly explain our value to outsiders.”

The State of the SEO Industry

Yet over the past 1 ½ years I’ve seen a change in the SEO industry. The very cornerstone of this industry is being ripped to shreds. Is it because the industry has grown so much over the last few years? Can we return to the glory days of SEO?

Maybe I should have called this post, “Growing Pains”.

At the recent Search Engine Strategies Conference in San Jose, Joe Whyte interviewed me and Bill Slawski for the Search Marketing Standard magazine. The interview is out now and it illustrates Bill’s brilliance.

Joe did a taped interview, which is harder to do, I think. I’ve done one that way and it requires going back and finding the parts of the conversation where you stayed on track. You need to edit out the off topic sections and giggles. The giggles are nearly always my trademark, I’m afraid.

We were outside on the sunny patio, just off the floor where sessions were being held. It was a favorite casual spot for meeting friends, getting some quick sunshine, or calling someone with some privacy. Joe sat with Bill and I and asked questions on search engine marketing and usability.

The transcribed interview is ready for reading at SES Interviews: Kim Krause Berg and Bill Slawski on Supplemental Index and Usability

I remember the moment when Bill said,

Flash has a tendency to be used in a way that ignores the medium it’s being used upon. The Web isn’t TV. If Flash is being used as one long animation, then they are trying to use the website as a television station. It’s much more than that. It can be used in many more ways. To ignore the fact that you have machines coming to your site to index your pages (or to do other things) is to ignore the medium.

When he said, “The web is not TV”, he said it with such passion and determination that I did a double take. Those five words really nail our responsibility to our web site visitors and the clients who hire us to build and market their web site properties.

It’s our job to know our medium better than they do and help them use all the different technologies available to them in ways that justify their usage.

As for me, I didn’t say anything smart like Bill did. I did, however, tap into the theme I wrote about today in Cre8asite’s Blog, Usability and SEO - Red Light, Green Light, when I told Joe,

My job is to make sure that all the work that an SEO does or a PPC person does pays off as soon as somebody clicks onto the page. If nothing happens when they click, then all that money is down the drain – which is why we need to work together.

And then I giggled, I’m sure.

Related item written by Miriam Ellis of Solas Web Design, called “Good SEO/Bad SEO, Good Designer/ Bad Designer - A Generalization Problem

Exciting plans include new SEC Certification Pathways, advanced level courses, new website and global accreditation.

I remember the hot summer days where my favorite excuse to sit out by my swimming pool and “work” was gathering my notes and research to write a self-study website usability course for a new online school called The Search Engine College. I was part of an esteemed list of tutors invited by Australian-based, Kalena and Jerry Jordan, founders of the school.

Not only did we need to develop our courses, we also needed to learn how to instruct online via software from Moodle. This software application connects tutors, courses and students by providing a virtual environment in which everything is a click away, from no matter where you happen to be in the world.

Two years ago, website usability and user centered web design were not part of mainstream search engine marketing discussions. I knew only a few top-level SEO industry experts who were interested in the relationship between marketing to search engines and the follow through to humans who find optimized websites that rank well. Kalena was not simply interested. She wanted it taught to her SEO students. We thought we’d start with a basics course and see how it did. This year it is more popular as companies insist on usability standards for their websites (and after the Target lawsuit, there is more of a push for accessibility standards).

The Search Engine College promotes holistic marketing, and it shows in the Jordan’s implementation of new plans for their school. As I became aware of some of the changes in store for the coming months, I thought it was time to get the story. If you haven’t explored what the Search Engine College has to offer, now is a good time to squeeze a course or two into your education budget or plan on a fresh start for next year.

The dialog below is based on an email interview with both Kalena and Jerry Jordan. Answers are presented in a unified voice for easier reading.

Please continue reading Search Engine College Students Favor Search Engine Marketing Self-Study Courses, where the interview is presented in full detail.

As fast as technological advances have taken us to a new age of promotion and entertainment, there’s much to be learned from a mysterious, intelligent bowling ball chained around the marketing industry’s ankles. Rather than presenting a heavy burden, this bowling ball is green, enthusiastic and growing larger every day, thanks to companies like digital-telepathy, a digital marketing agency.

Based in San Diego, California, digital-telepathy’s (aka “dt”) approach to internet marketing “goes beyond branding and traditional marketing, by connecting with customers through their values and emotions.”

What comes to my mind, when I hear this, is the new commercial from Dove called The Campaign for Real Beauty. It’s about time marketing went beyond stereotypes. Dove’s campaign targets our perception of beauty. digital-telepathy, through its green approach to working with clients, is a refreshing option for businesses who want to be socially responsible and planet friendly in their marketing and business planning.

A discussion with dt’s Marketing Director, BJ Cook, about their “green think tank” sparked my interest in interviewing him and the company’s founder and president, Chuck Longanecker.

Launched in 2000, dt is evolving and adapting to client needs and current marketing trends. This growing company offers an exceptional example of a corporate blog, called digital-telepathy Internet Marketing Strategy & News. Their devotion to education and passion for the environment are notable in their playful Green Love Tour. They get down to business with a clean and simple corporate site, digital-telepathy, Inc.

I’m proud to introduce you to Chuck and BJ, as well as Arnold Yoon, Operations Manager at dt. Grab a comfortable chair and a cup of green tea, while I inquire about this “green” way of doing business.

Kim: What is “green marketing”?

(Continue reading…)