IA, SEO & UX: $500 Won’t Fix This Mess
True story. I was asked to quote on an SEO job for a web site completely built in Flash with AJAX and JavaScript for an extra added thrill. They had $500 to spend. Most of you would decline and so did I, but not before we got into a bit of a discussion when the agency insisted I was wrong about engines and Flash. For their company name, their site comes up in the number one spot. This, they say, is proof they rank well. They claim to be number one on their search term and claimed to be...
Read MoreLearning From Conference User Feedback
I spend most of my days in my office with 2 cats and 2 dogs as my office-mates, dual monitors and a laptop. For me, “talking” to people is all done virtually. When I tap into what’s happening in the industries I work in, the feedback is limited and based on my “friends” and “followers” living in the land of the Internet. This is one reason why I enjoy industry conferences. They get me out of the house and office. They’re far more exciting...
Read MoreSearch Marketing and Social Media Camp This Weekend for $21
This weekend a special event takes place in Philadelphia for those who want to learn more about search engine marketing, web site usability and social media. It’s called Search Camp and Social Media Camp. For a small attendance fee of $21 (no catch. That’s all it is!), you get a weekend at Temple University with a small group of like-minded folks and experienced speakers. There are 5 time slots, beginning at 10am, with 4 choices of sessions to pick from. The last one ends at...
Read MoreMy Talk For SMX East
I am scheduled to speak at SMX East in New York City, October 5, in the Analytics & Conversion, “Increasing Conversions Through Better Usability” afternoon session. There are several questions I’m commonly asked by web site owners, friends or prospective clients. One of them is, “Can you prove that usability improvements increase conversions?” Yes. In nearly every case that comes to me for help, they don’t have a site plan. Most of the money and time...
Read MoreThe Have’s and Have-Not’s Fight in the SEO Industry
Recently I received an email by a company pitching their new product. I get these nearly every day. Sometimes they arrive specifically to me and address me by name. The one that came the other day was quite different. The email came addressed to 51 people in the SEO industry, each one of them assigned a number. The email began, “Dear SEO Consultants”. I recognized most of the names on the list by their email addresses. The content regarded an RFP on how they could advertise their...
Read MoreSearch Engine Marketers Strut Their Stuff in Annual SEM Scholarship Contest
For the fourth year in a row, I am on the judging panel for the famous 4th Annual Search Engine Marketing Scholarship Contest, sponsored by Andy Beal’s Marketing Pilgrim. The grand prize is worth over $10,000! It includes free conference passes, books, software and services, including usability services provided by myself. This highly esteemed contest serves to offer the opportunity for those in the search marketing industry to gain valued recognition by showcasing their skills, as per...
Read MoreIt’s Not Wise to Fool Search Engine Marketers
In 1995, when American Online (AOL) was my ticket to the whole world, I wanted to believe nobody was lying to me. In the groups I had joined to meet others with the same interests, I read every word and assumed every web site I visited was genuine. I was so dumb. Before long, every possible gizmo and gadget could make you rich, or so it was screamed from every web site owner who swore up and down they were overnight millionaires. As an SEO, I went merrily along optimizing these sites for their...
Read MoreWhat is Most Important to Your Personal Brand? Fans or Financial Stability?
When OutSpokenMedia blogger, Lisa Barone wrote, Personal Brands in SEO: Stop Obeying False Idols, I enjoyed her thoughtful questions and her gentle personal rant. However, with 89 comments (at the time of this post) of feedback, she hit a nerve. Interestingly, she was inspired by yet another post, The Self-Branding Of Search Marketers by Todd Mintz. Todd writes, Search marketing branding is almost exclusively personal branding. Corporate / agency branding means very little in our...
Read MoreChicago SES – A Christmas Lover’s Conference
As I stood at the 8th Street Lobby at the Chicago Hilton Wednesday morning awaiting the shuttle to O’Hare airport, I was able to take in the beautiful hotel for a few more minutes. Every floor was decorated for the holiday season, with immaculate Christmas trees and a giant Gingerbread house that smelled of gingerbread as you walked by. It was 8 o’clock in the morning. Hotel employees just getting into work hustled in through the lobby entrance, several of them women who broke into a run...
Read MoreHow Search Engines and the Internet Change Human Behavior
My debut article for the usability column at Search Engine Land, called “Just Behave”, is out today. I’d like to present to you, The Secret Influence of Search Behavior. By making more information available online, our habits are changing. We’re teaching one another new tricks and evolving together. We’re sharing more stories by way of social networking. We’re learning new ways for doing the same old things. We’re willing to be talked into most anything, especially...
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