Nowadays, I’m not exactly getting thousands of comments, yet I’m grateful for the ones I get.  At least the ones from real people.  And Akismet continues to do a pretty good job.  But once in a while something slips through that just makes me laugh.   As much as I can see why Graywolf turned comments off, and most recently Sugarrae also announced she’s no longer going to allow blog comments, to me, comments are still a life-blood aspect of my ability to connect and communicate with my visitors.  Especially since I only get a fraction of the activity either of them get.

For those of you who do allow comments and who might not know better, I’d like to share with you a few examples of comments that are just pure spam – because the quality of your comment thread is as important as the quality of your articles themselves…

The Hit and Run Blog Comment

Sometimes people just want to comment on your blog but don’t have much they want to say.  That’s all good and fine if it’s someone you actually know or have had contact with in the past.  Not everybody writes entire books in blog commenting the way I do.  Yet all too often, comments come in that might appear to fit this category, yet upon closer examination, turn out to just be spam.

Examples:

• Nice Blog!
• Thanks!
• Good writing!

So unless you know the person who posted that comment, I urge you to send such nonsense right to the trash.

Blog Comment Evaluation Tip

If you are new to blogging and aren’t that connected yet, one sure way to tell whether a comment is from a real person who isn’t just looking to get a link to their site, look at the author information.  Is the person’s name real, or is it something like:

• Cigarettes Smokeless
• Cheap Viagra
• Mesothelioma Info

If a person’s “name” is just it’s own cheap keyword phrase, you can be pretty much assured it’s spam.  But be warned – once in a while, a real person might not know better.  They might have heard that they should use keywords in their blog comments, yet still have a comment that really does fit a particular article’s subject matter.  In those situations, it will need to be an on-the-spot call on your part.

Also, some people like to use their Twitter Nickname when leaving comments.  Again – if the comment itself really does fit your article’s focus, you may want to jump over to twitter and see if it’s a real person.

The Blessings From Hell Blog Comment

Sometimes you’ll get comments that are pure complimentary of your outstanding ability to have saved their lives with your award winning blogging.  More often than not, these are also purely spam.  But they sure do stroke the ego, so it may be tempting to allow these through.

Example:

This webpage has absolutely transformed my perspective on this topic. Theres no way I wouldve thought about this by doing this if I hadnt appear throughout your web site. All I was carrying out was cruising the net and I observed your web site and all of a sudden my views have altered. Good on you, man!

Yes – that is a comment I got just this week.  So I’ve either helped completely transformed this person’s view on the topic at hand, or it’s just spam in the guise of a compliment.  The next step then is to look at their name.  This one looked real, but a quick look at the site they provided turned out to be a spam site promoting smokeless cigarettes.  Just like an earlier comment this week from a guy by the name of “Smokeless Cigarettes”   #FAIL

The Foreigner Ploy Blog Comment

Okay so I’m an American.  I speak and write using American English.  Yet the web is a global world.  Some of my online friends and colleagues are from other countries.  Their English is not always “correct” as far as American English goes.  And I have no problem with that.  Yet honestly, I need to say that if a comment comes in where the English is so butchered as to make my head spin, that’s going to be a big red flag, especially if the comment isn’t even discussing the topic of the article.

Example:

Nice to become visiting your blog again, it’s got been months for me. Nicely this article that i’ve been waited for so lengthy. I have to have this post to complete my assignment in the college, and it has similar subject together with your content. Thank you, fantastic share.

Isn’t that great?  What if this was a real “English as a second language” college student, who came across my blog, and found it useful enough to want to thank me in the comments?

Well guess what?  It’s from another smokeless cigarettes spammer. 

The Utterly Stupid Blog Comment

Then there’s the truly mind-bogglingly bogus comments that come in.  You know – where when you read it, you either want to laugh, or just punch someone in the face…

The business brokerages network will provide you with access to some large pool of individuals who’ve the details about companies for sale and buyers or investors searching for any company venture. By making good use in the information you’ve, you might be cutting a provide and make a handsome profit out from the transactions.

OMG hahaha  yeah – that was posted to one of my TopSEO’s articles.  The one where I question whether TopSEO’s is a shakedown operation or not.   The comment “author” was listed as “Bradford Camenisch”. So even though that seems like a real name, the comment is just nonsense as far as it not relating to my article.  And the site Bradford linked to was all about some business brokerage group.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line in all this is that much of this is trapped by Akismet.  Yet it’s important to review any comments Akismet flags as spam because once in a while it will trap a legitimate comment.  So you need to be on your toes!  Don’t be afraid to delete comments you think are even borderline phony.  The quality of your blog is more important than possibly offending the rare person who posts a borderline comment.

Blog Comment Points to Remember

• Comments should be on -topic.
• Comments should be from real humans
• People who use something other than their name need extra scrutiny
• Comments should add to the conversation, with few exceptions

Alan Bleiweiss has been an Internet professional since 1995, managing client projects valued at upwards of $2,000,000.00. Just a few of his most notable clients through the years have included PCH.com, WeightWatchers.com, and Starkist.com. Follow him on Twitter @AlanBleiweiss , read his Search Marketing blog at Search Marketing Wisdom, and be sure to read his column at SearchEngineJournal.com the 2nd and 4th Tuesday each month. The New Bloggers Phony Blog Comment Overview is a post from: Search Marketing Wisdom All content copyright Alan Bleiweiss unless otherwise attributed by me in the article.

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NOTE – If you found this article anywhere BUT on the Search Marketing Wisdom blog, you found it on a SCRAPER SITE, stolen by scum.

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Scraped Content Showing Up At The Google Crack-House – A Good Thing Or a Bad Thing?

My initial gut reaction when seeing scraped content is it’s annoying at best, a true PITA at worst.  Scraped content pollutes the Interwebs, confuses the message, and unchecked, can harm reputation of individuals, companies, and web sites.  So is there anything GOOD to be said about scraped content, or for that matter, the Crack-House that gathers all the crack-heads who generate sites purely with scraped content?

Let’s take a look and find out…

When I initially read today’s alert, I didn’t know the first entry was an actual scraper site, though the name “SEO Cloak” is pretty much a giveaway.

In Our Industry, Names Can Be Deceiving

In our industry, you never know when the name of a blog is going to lead to crap, or to a really high quality destination.  The site name SEO Bullshit comes to mind here.  The first time I saw the name, I figured it was an SEO H8er site, where some jerk-wad rambles on about how SEO is dead, a scam, a real pile of crap.  But once I actually WENT there, I realized it’s just the opposite.

From there, I figured the first entry was maybe somebody who’s blog I haven’t read previously. Maybe they  jumped onto the recap bandwagon, just like one Virginia Nussey, one of the SEO hotties over at Bruce Clay writes as part of their Fun Stuff articles.  Or like David Harry’s 7 Days of Search and Social.

Not actually having had a chance yet to actually read Virginia’s latest post, I thought – cool – whoever this is,  they apparently (yeah, right) thought highly enough of my latest SEO Tech article over at SearchEngineJournal.com to include me in this week’s Friday Recap, so let’s see what they said and find out who it is…

And my initial suspicion was confirmed…  Because I’m that much of a genius.  I mean, how many people would go to a site and observe that their ABOUT info was anything but genuine, especially with content like this:

Anyhow, I quickly scrolled down to the entry about my article.

If you’re looking for some pointers for performing site audits, SEO Alan Bleiweiss has published the first part of a series that offers just that. From putting a price tag on failure to the generation of an action plan, this is hands-on SEO at its finest.

Since this was blatantly a scraper site, I just copied the opening of that sentence, and did a Google search so I could find out who REALLY thought highly enough of my article to include it in their blog. And of course, the top entry was none other than Virginia Nussey’s AUTHENTIC Friday Recap.

Tickled Pink

Even though I’ve been in the industry for a long time, I’ve only been writing on industry topics for about two and a half years now, and a mention like this is still quite rare for me.  In fact, it’s only maybe the third or perhaps fourth time this has happened.  So when I saw it there,  I was actually quite humbled.   And I immediately went up to Twitter to thank Virginia.

At the time, I thought maybe I should let her know how I learned about my article getting into the Friday Recap. But I hesitated, because I think we all know now how much scraping goes on, especially when it comes to blogs as well established as the Bruce Clay blog.  And their content probably gets scraped as much as SEJ, SEL, SEP and all the rest.

So in this case, I’m actually THANKFUL to the care-givers over at the Google Crack-House for doing such a TERRIBLE job at finding ORIGINAL sources of content to notify me about.  Because that scraper entry did, ultimately, lead me back to Virginia’s article.  Though had they shown that original content (see below on that issue) I wouldn’t have had to use my investigative nature to figure it all out…

But Wait – There’s More!

LOL – that tag line is SOOOO  As-Seen-On-TV – isn’t it?

Even More Good Things Come From The Crack-House

Anyhow, now I was curious – and actually WILLING to click on the 2nd entry in today’s alert.  That one too, led me to a rogue site.  Or it’s just a really LOUSY legitimate site.  But in any case, THAT entry actually led with a REAL link, over to a GENUINE news brief over at MediaPost, alerting their readers  with the headline “No, Google Is Not Getting Into SEO Biz“.  Which summarized the facts I touched on in my own news brief about that subject over at SEJ, and mentioned my name.  Which is REALLY awesome.

The mention, I mean.  In MediaPost.  Because my name isn’t really that awesome.  It’s a made-up name from a douchebag at Ellis Island.  But even though I considered changing my name a few years back to Alan Mitchell (my middle name), I caved into being too lazy to go through THAT hassle.  So everyone’s just going to have to struggle with pronouncing it wrong over and over.  Unless you’re actually CONSIDERATE about such things, like Tim Staines.  Who took the time to actually ask me, on Twitter, no less, how to pronounce it.

Anyhow – so like, wow – twice in one week.  Lightening Struck Twice.  Holy Cannoli!  Good lightening, even!

Sadly, My Ego Doesn’t Stand A Chance

A few years back, I made a pact.  With The Universe (uh – for those of you who just said – “the ‘universe’? – what is this guy, some new-age nut?”, relax.  Just swap out “universe” and drop in the word “God”.  Or “Buddha” or “Tara” or “Jehovah” or… “Doorknob” okay?)   This pact went something like this -

The pain is too great.  I can’t keep going like this anymore.  I’m at the end of my rope.  Please – help me.  I’ll do whatever it takes.  Anything.  ANYTHING! Just help me heal…

Okay so was that TMI for you?  Or did you not know I’m a recovering addict?  Because if you didn’t know by now, HELLOOOO!

(And now you know why I have the right to call the people at Google addicts.   Because even though I’m in recovery, you can’t bullshit a bullshitter, even if the bullshitter you’re trying to bullshit happens to be in recovery.)

Oh – yeah – so I made this pact with the doorknob.  – Because I was sick and tired of being sick and tired of the emotional and spiritual pain, I got really willing to heal.  And that led me to finding a path that happens to include the doorknob continually doing things to humble me.  Just to keep my ego in check.

And today, that happened when I read that 3rd Alert.  – Just look at that – “SEO – net seo”  HAHAHAHA.

Douchebag headline huh?  And oh – how quaint.  It’s from the “Marketing Guru”.   HAHAHAHA.

Douchebag author huh?  Which of course, when clicking on the link, takes you to a true douchebag site, where the two line entries they have for every single headline they add, randomly take you to either a legitimate site or another scraper site.  Which means whoever edits THIS one is really stupid, or they’re really a stupid scraper themselves.

And the entry mentioning my name, well, the headline for that entry actually leads to a TOTAL SPAM SITE.  Even though it really stole the opening of my SEJ news brief – the one that was legitimately mentioned over at MediaPost.  So apparently my name isn’t worthy of a link to a real site in their view.

And that was just a reminder to me that I shouldn’t expect to see my name coming up in Google Alerts too often from real sites.  At least not yet…

But It also means that somehow, I’ve found real value in getting alerts from the Google crack-house.  Even though much of it’s just vomit being spewed by more crack-addicts.

Crack-Houses Hold Mysteries Better Left As They Are

What’s just as bizarre about all this, by the time I completed this article, a full two hours after that first alert email came in, another Google Alert had arrived.

This one was a mixed bag of a different kind altogether.  The first two entries were actually the REAL mentions coming from their original sources.

Yet sadly, the rest of the contents of this alert were another mix current and OUTDATED tweets, and one that turned out to be quite alarming…

I can’t comprehend if it’s the fault of a crack-addict at Google that came up with the logic on how to pull tweets that are so randomly outdated.  I mean, it’s not like I only tweet once every several days.  (What, you didn’t know I tweet over 100 times a day?)   Whatever the pretend-logic is though, it’s just stupid.

But the one that got my dander up the most today?  That entry above from “Kathryn Katz”.   Because when I clicked on the link for that, it took me to a site that was IMMEDIATELY redirected to the McAffee Site Advisor Alert site – something that I’ve NEVER experienced before.  Oh – sure, I’ve got the McAfee Site Advisor plug-in for Firefox, and occassionally, the bar turns red with a warning-pop-up about potential rogue downloads.  But look at this:

Wow!  So now Google Alerts is providing links to what could possibly be phishing sites.

Thanks Google.

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Alan Bleiweiss has been an Internet professional since 1995, managing client projects valued at upwards of $2,000,000.00. Just a few of his most notable clients through the years have included PCH.com, WeightWatchers.com, and Starkist.com. Follow him on Twitter @AlanBleiweiss , read his Search Marketing blog at Search Marketing Wisdom, and be sure to read his column at SearchEngineJournal.com the 2nd and 4th Tuesday each month.

Google ALerts- Finding Value In A Crack  House is a post from: Search Marketing Wisdom
All content copyright Alan Bleiweiss unless otherwise attributed by me in the article.  If you found this article anywhere BUT Search Marketing Wisdom, you found it on a SCRAPER SITE, stolen by scum.

Alan Bleiweiss has been an Internet professional since 1995, managing client projects valued at upwards of $2,000,000.00. Just a few of his most notable clients through the years have included PCH.com, WeightWatchers.com, and Starkist.com. Follow him on Twitter @AlanBleiweiss , read his Search Marketing blog at Search Marketing Wisdom, and be sure to read his column at SearchEngineJournal.com the 2nd and 4th Tuesday each month. Google Alerts – Finding Value And Danger In A Crack-house is a post from: Search Marketing Wisdom All content copyright Alan Bleiweiss unless otherwise attributed by me in the article.

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This past fall I worked on my own Twitter background and had done what I thought to be a pretty good job of it.  Then tonight, I came across a statement by Darren Slatten where he mentioned the importance of considering people who have screen resolutions of 1024 pixels wide.  Both because it’s still a significant portion of web users, and as Darren pointed out, it’s the standard for the new asshat useless piece of crap the iPad.

And since the vast majority of people in this world are sheep to slaughter when it comes to marketing hype regardless of actual quality, we can be quite sure that enough people will actually buy the iPad and when they do, that many more people are going to be viewing things through 1024 pixel colored glasses.

I took that to heart, and decided I’d look at my own Twitter background, at which point I observed how my then existing design was essentially useless under such circumstances.

Rather than expending countless hours experimenting again, I took the time to read Darren’s recent article “How to design a custom Twitter background“.

It’s a superb article – offering great insight, tips and guidance on getting it right, and not just when it comes to the left-most content.

Thanks to his insights, I was able to make quick work of the process to rework my Twitter background, except in my own situation, I found that I had just 102 pixels of width to work with on the left column, though Darren says not to go over 120 pixels.

I don’t know why, exactly I had that limitation.  It could be that I discovered something Darren had missed, or my monitor is fucked.  Which is quite possible.  Or it could be the browser – I tested in Firefox but not IE or Safari or Chrome.

In any case, I highly recommend checking out his article and just making sure you test your work – in case you need to make minor modifications based on your own results…

Alan Bleiweiss has been an Internet professional since 1995, managing client projects valued at upwards of $2,000,000.00. Just a few of his most notable clients through the years have included PCH.com, WeightWatchers.com, and Starkist.com. Follow him on Twitter @AlanBleiweiss , read his Search Marketing blog at Search Marketing Wisdom, and be sure to read his column at SearchEngineJournal.com the 2nd and 4th Tuesday each month. Great Twitter Background How-To is a post from: Search Marketing Wisdom All content copyright Alan Bleiweiss unless otherwise attributed by me in the article.

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Yes, me – the guy who blasts Google Labs as being run by a bunch of crack addicts.  Me, the guy who referred to Brad Fallon as nothing but an AssHat bullshitter in his deceptive SEO tactics.   Me, the guy who routinely curses like a drunken sailor on twitter, even though I know clients and prospective clients will probably see it.

I’ve never had such doubts before.  But this time, I must have had a brief moment of consciousness.  Or a serious lack of oxygen.

In any case, I proceeded to fall into a vortex of self-doubt – so deep that after a couple hours of internal debate (yeah, I argue with myself all the time – it’s a product of several decades of too much pot and alcohol, and though I’ve been clean for over five years, those brain cells will never be replaced), I was about ready to implode.

Several days have passed now since that near-death psychological conflagration.  And now it’s at the point where I think I’ve missed the time-relevance factor, and have moved on.  I mean, there’s always someone else saying or doing something that’s total AssHat quality.  New material to ride or riddle with epithets and accusations.  So I’m not worried that I won’t have something else to blog about moving forward.
What I have come to realize though, is that as much as I enjoyed the posting of those teasers, whetting people’s appetites, I also set myself up for the very conflict I ended up getting lost in.

It’s one thing to write an article where mine are the only eyes that see the article.  That lets me self-edit, re-write, and re-construct an article all I want before publishing.  But once I send out one, two, or five teasers, I’ve really embedded the core tone and focus of my article into readers minds.  Which locks me into staying as close to the original article as possible. And that’s where the big conflict came from.  As I reviewed the final article, half of me wanted to re-write it from the ground up, half of me felt that if I had done so, everyone who had seen the teasers (about 100 people) would have been confused and lost.  As it is, I’ve already caused at least some of those people to probably put a big question-mark on my trustworthiness as a blogger now.

In any case, what I think I need to do is back away from putting out teasers.  At least wait until the article’s completely done and I’ve sat with it for a couple days before posting any teasers.

Until then, to anyone who was all pumped to read that article, I beg your forgiveness.  Well, maybe I don’t beg.  I mean, if you all abandon me, you’ll all eventually be replaced by others who come along long after this article and those teasers are just a footnote in the chaotic time-line of my life.  And none of you has ever helped me monetize this miserable excuse for a blog anyhow.  So it’s not like I’m beholden to you, right?  So instead of asking your forgiveness, I’ll just say “pardon me” and chalk this whole episode up to being a big, loud, gross blogging fart.

Oh – and while I’m on this little diatribe, I need to say that Jamie Varon and Shatterboxx Media rock.  And I hope to win the Shatterboxx blog design.  Not for me or this blog, mind you.  But so I can then gift that prize of a new blog design to a friend who’s just starting out in blogging.  She deserves the help because she hasn’t alienated any of her readers yet.  Anyhow, this last paragraph was purely gratuitous because I want to win the @shatterboxx contest, which you can find details on here: http://bit.ly/9jaRmO

Alan Bleiweiss has been an Internet professional since 1995, managing client projects valued at upwards of $2,000,000.00. Just a few of his most notable clients through the years have included PCH.com, WeightWatchers.com, and Starkist.com. Follow him on Twitter @AlanBleiweiss , read his Search Marketing blog at Search Marketing Wisdom, and be sure to read his column at SearchEngineJournal.com the 2nd and 4th Tuesday each month. The Danger of Posting Article Teasers is a post from: Search Marketing Wisdom All content copyright Alan Bleiweiss unless otherwise attributed by me in the article.

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The core concept is that Google is now beta testing the serving up of contact forms right within an AdWords ad, thus preventing the person doing the search from having to click through to a web site.

This is a terrible step in Google’s ever increasing goal to keep searchers on the Google site.

First, the concept that you can’t know which questions you’ve submitted will show up in the ad – Google will determine which show up based on quality score variables. So you can’t even control the data collection requirement.

Second, you don’t get direct access to the client – you have to go through Google – who can track the engagement data. And ultimately still controls the prospect. By having a prospect remain at Google and never get to your site, you have no capacity to control the flow of information at all if they choose to use Google’s form.

Third, by allowing Google to gather the answers and contact info, this is only a win for Google in their aim to have an infinite amount of personal data on people looking for services and solutions online.

Finally, This is a complete crap-shoot for the AdWords account owner.

With a form on your own site, there’s an infinite number of additional action items you can present that prospect. This is a core concept of extending the marketing message, and tailoring the ability to further engage the prospect.  It’s also a matter of having the ability to gather prospect data and being able to make use of that data in several ways after the initial contact. All of which you lose with this new “solution”.

In addition to all the other problems this creates, by allowing Google to gather that data, marketers and site owners lose a critical piece of first-contact information and need to go through Google to even get a phone number to call.  That is insanity.

And Google stipulates you have to contact the prospect within 24 hours.  Are they kidding?  Sure, I expect immediate response to online inquiries.  But to force this nonsense is beyond controlling and completely kills any potential sales opportunity if circumstances out of your control prevent that response time.

And finally, if someone does a search, clicks on the link, and gets the instant contact form, there’s nothing to stop, or at the very least, slow them down from immediately clicking on a competitor’s ad.  And therein lies what may be the biggest flaw in Google’s crack-smoking mentality, from a business owner’s perspective.

No, Jami, I’d say this is not pretty cool at all.  Unless you’re Google.

UPDATE 1/8/10 – Got a response comment from Jami, who brings up a counter-point.  And from there, I realized even MORE problems with this whole thing.  So go ahead and be sure to read the comments, then offer your take on it…

Alan Bleiweiss has been an Internet professional since 1995, managing client projects valued at upwards of $2,000,000.00. Just a few of his most notable clients through the years have included PCH.com, WeightWatchers.com, and Starkist.com. Follow him on Twitter @AlanBleiweiss , read his Search Marketing blog at Search Marketing Wisdom, and be sure to read his column at SearchEngineJournal.com the 2nd and 4th Tuesday each month. Google AdWords Contact Forms – A Bad Idea is a post from: Search Marketing Wisdom All content copyright Alan Bleiweiss unless otherwise attributed by me in the article.

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BACK TO REALITY

Of course, I don’t expect to remain in such amazing company.  Of course, after a few days, probably, I’ll drop back out.  but that’s okay.  I don’t write articles of this magnitude every day.  And I don’t have guest bloggers writing articles on the days and weeks that I don’t blog here.  And I am sure there are many great SEO blogs not even tracked, that would supplant my place in a heartbeat…

It’s enough however, that at least for this brief time, I’m able to get on that list.  And since the article went live, I’ve gained about 75 new followers on Twitter from within our industry.  And a handful who aren’t even in our industry, but who found my blog article because of the effects of ReTweeting.

HASHTAG HEAVEN

This is where it blows me away.  At one point, someone in my extended network re-tweeted the link to the article, and added the hashtag #HUMOR to the end of it.  Next thing I know, people who follow that hashtag pick it up, and retweet it.  And by the time it was all said and done, I had over 2300 people from around the world, many of whom I don’t know, and some who are not even in our SEO community, had visited the site.

TOP 10 VIEWED

Which makes it one of the top 10 articles viewed on my blog – in just two and a half days.  Where the closest another article has come to that, it was my first Deceptive SEO tactics article, which took a month to get this many visits.

So to truly express my gratitude for all of THIS, I’ve gone ahead and added a link to every single person I’ve mentioned in the article, to their respective Twitter profile.  In the hopes that some future reader might find this, and click some of those links, and thus start following you, the people I so appreciate, and who have done so much to enrich my life.

TRIBUTE ADDITIONS

I’ve also taken the time to update the article with just a few of the people I left out of the original tribute, because I need to recognize them here, and totally hit the FAIL on including them the first time.  I know it’s not the same as having included them originally, but it’s something nonetheless.

So check it out – my Tribute To My Twitter Friends…

Alan Bleiweiss has been an Internet professional since 1995, managing client projects valued at upwards of $2,000,000.00. Just a few of his most notable clients through the years have included PCH.com, WeightWatchers.com, and Starkist.com. Follow him on Twitter @AlanBleiweiss , read his Search Marketing blog at Search Marketing Wisdom, and be sure to read his column at SearchEngineJournal.com the 2nd and 4th Tuesday each month. The Power Of Twitter Friends – Links All Around is a post from: Search Marketing Wisdom All content copyright Alan Bleiweiss unless otherwise attributed by me in the article.

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Deepening Connections Beyond Blog Comments

Without a doubt, Twitter is the single most useful, and efficient way I’ve come to find that helps me to connect with the SEO industry.  Sure, I’ve been leaving comments on other people’s blogs for quite a while now.  Until I made connections on Twitter, my comments were, for the most part, lost in a sea of otherwise anonymous comments.

Once I started actually engaging people through Twitter, I began to show people more of who I am as a human being.  And that’s allowed us to communicate directly and as an adjunct to blog comments.  It extends the conversation, sometimes deepening the connection even.

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Expanding Knowledge

Now that I’ve come to learn the value of actually tying myself into the search community, I’ve got a direct line on many more blogs and resources than I could have on my own.  And when others go to industry related events, I get access to some of the knowledge and insights they gain by following them on Twitter.

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An even larger audience

Something that’s come as a result of my involvement in Twitter is that Ann Smarty began to take notice of me – she ended up reading a number of my blog articles (which I, of course, tweet links to), and this past summer, invited me to become a guest blogger at Search Engine Journal.  That was a huge leap for me.  To go from a handful of regular readers to an audience in the tens of thousands was amazing.  My first article was so well received that it went hot on Sphinn in a matter of hours thanks to the power of Twitter.

Since then, I’ve written a handful of other articles for SEJ, and without Twitter, I wouldn’t be able to reach the volume of people I do for spreading the word about them.

Because of that success, last month I was asked (and I accepted) to become one of SEJ’s regular columnists. Starting in January, My column will be appearing twice a month, and I’ll possibly throw a few more in between, if I can find the time.

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New Client Opportunities

I’ve actually been able to get new business from people who follow me on Twitter.  I don’t know if it’s because they overlook my rants, or those actually help my cause.  Either way, to know that just by being me and using Twitter to engage, it’s helped to grow my business in a direct way.   And not one of my tweets has ever been a direct sales pitch.

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Living Vicariously Through Others

Twitter has given me the ability to live vicariously through Vanessa Jamie Varon as she travels the world seeking romance.  It’s not that I don’t have Jamie’s courage.  She’s actually recently been living a life that I previously lived.  (Ask me about my European adventures some day).   So it’s great to have been one of those who actually encouraged her before she was 100% sure she was going for it.

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140 Character Laugh-a-thon

Whenever I want a good laugh, no matter what else I’m doing in my day, all I have to do is keep an eye on my Twitter stream long enough, and eventually someone will come out with a Tweet that totally causes me to spew whatever non-alcoholic drink I’m drinking at the time.

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New Friendships

I’ve built up a great sports connection with people like Matt Siltala, Arnie K, Matt Leonard and Tony Verre.  And I have to admit that talking smack is ideally suited for Twitter.

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Support At Times of Pain

Given how much support I received the past month through mentions and DM’s, as I went through the upheaval of my dear friend Don’s hospitalization, subsequent coma-like experience and ultimate death, I can tell you also that the people I’ve connected with on Twitter have provided me with an invaluable ADDITION to my “IRL” friendships.

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Commonalities

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Relationship Opportunities

Well, that’s not exactly a great example of how to use Twitter to form HEALTHY relationships, I suppose.  But still, given how many people are on Twitter, there’s an endless list of candidates.  All you have to do is keep your eyes open and you’ll see them.

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Not Always Good

Sometimes, I can go too far, given how many Tweets I send.  What’s great about Twitter is that even people who find me worthy enough to not just outright block me, can, when needed, do so without too much difficulty.

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In Conclusion

In conclusion, I just want to say thank you to all the people I’ve met on Twitter and who put up with my endless stream of rants.  And if you really want to blame someone, blaim Toni Carr – it was through her prompting that I signed up.

Alan Bleiweiss has been an Internet professional since 1995, managing client projects valued at upwards of $2,000,000.00. Just a few of his most notable clients through the years have included PCH.com, WeightWatchers.com, and Starkist.com. Follow him on Twitter @AlanBleiweiss , read his Search Marketing blog at Search Marketing Wisdom, and be sure to read his column at SearchEngineJournal.com the 2nd and 4th Tuesday each month. Ten Thousand Tweets – Worth The Effort? is a post from: Search Marketing Wisdom All content copyright Alan Bleiweiss unless otherwise attributed by me in the article.

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Tim Rutten, in his latest opinion piece at the LA Times, jumped on the bandwagon with the rest of the panic-stricken print media today calling for the Obama administration to turn a blind eye to the antitrust ambitions of that group of old-guard old-boys.  Since this is now a trend building great momentum, I felt compelled to chime in.  Not because I’m a journalist with a voice in the matter – in fact, I am not a journalist.  I am, instead, just another American citizen who happens to have been a visionary from the early days, when it comes to the Internet.  I am also a staunch supporter of all that is great in America, and oppose bully tactics on all fronts…

NOTE -Since there didn’t seem to be a way to do so directly at their site in any type of comment area, I’ve contacted Mr Rutten by email inviting his reply.  It would be nice to have a dialogue on the subject….

Mr. Rutten essentially regurgitates what several in his industry have been spewing lately. (How odd- a “journalist” who just repeats what all his buddies write)  That since print media is now obviously on a road to ruin, they should have the right to conspire, so that they may reap the financial reward that comes from monopolistic behavior, much like the oil cartels in how they manipulate the price of a barrel of oil.

At one point, he states:

“Readers — and democracy itself, which depends on a vigorously free and independent press — will be the ultimate losers.”

Well, Mr. Rutten’s article is an entertaining read.  That’s for sure. He and his colleagues have been using terminology and words that evoke fear, panic and a sense that America itself will die if they don’t get their way.  Kind of like the Republican Party did during the last election cycle.  And Dick Cheney is doing now. (though in my opinion, he’s doing that because he doesn’t want to go to jail, which is another story altogether…) (and no, I’m not a bleeding heart liberal.  I would have loved to have been able to vote for decorated war hero Colin Powell for president, because I feel he’s got the healthiest mix of views of just about anyone these days…)

Here’s where I have a problem with Mr Rutten’s whole premise.  (one mind you, that no major print media journalist has the guts to cover in depth because that would threaten their paychecks even if it would be true investigative journalism…)

First, the Internet has been around for a long time now.  Some of us recognized what it is and where it’s headed long ago.  I myself, on the very first day I was introduced to the world wide web in January of 1995, instantly understood the potential, and in that living room of a friend in Felton California that winter afternoon, knew that the Internet was the future, and in fact, my future.

Because I acted on that intuition, I’ve been an Internet professional ever since.  It’s been an amazing and wild ride.  Ups and downs have come in all sorts of ways.  And I know of what I speak when I mention things like “adapt and change with the times if you want to survive and hopefully thrive”.  It was because of that mentality that I was able to ride out the dot-com bust.  And it’s why I’ve continued to adapt and change how and what I do as an Internet professional all along.

Has it been an easy ride?  You tell me.

At my first financial peak, 1999, I brought in $139,000.  After the bust, in 2001, I brought in $12,000.  While that was extremely humbling,  it just drove me harder to find new ways to monetize my passion for the Internet.

Over these 14 plus years, I’ve had to learn HTML – versions 1, 2, 3, 4, and 4.1.  I’ve had to learn the essentials of Javascript, XML, ActionScript, Flash, Photoshop, FTP,  XHTML, CSS, ColdFusion, PHP, IIS, SEO, and SEM.  Over the years, I’ve had to become intimately knowledgeable on Email marketing, Spam prevention, Social Networking, affiliate networking, and of course, blogging.

Nobody forced me to learn any of that.  It’s been by my choice, gladly, because I have understood the concept “adapt or die”.

And the Internet has been my passion since the beginning.  I have no formal programming training, I didn’t graduate with any technology degree (in fact I have no college degree – I’ve been working out in the world since I was 17.  My parents couldn’t afford to send me to college, and my high school guidance counselor spent a grand total of 10 minutes with me my entire high school span, so I had nobody helping guide me back then).

Yet I’ve worked hard.  Very hard.  For many years.  Late into the night.

Because I embrace the Internet so completely, so thoroughly, I learned early on that if you truly want to succeed on the Internet, all you need to do is reach out to those who have come before you and succeeded in whatever path you are wanting to be on.  And they’ll gladly, freely share with you tips, suggestions, insights on what has and what has not worked for them.   They don’t conspire with you.  They teach you how to fish for yourself.

And most of what I have learned has come to me because I’ve found it freely, thank you very much, available online.  There to read, download, and learn from.

See, that’s the beauty and power of the web.  It’s the single most potent vehicle in the history of humankind as far as being able to empower humans who might not otherwise have been able to afford to pay for that empowerment.  People who want to learn just about anything, including how to adapt and change.

Oh yes – there are plenty of things we need to pay for online.  Essentially it’s got to do with superior quality, and more comprehensive content.  Heck, even Mr. Rutten admits that some entities like the Wall Street Journal have found ways to monetize very high quality deep content.  And to boot, he also refers to the fact that news media apparently raked in $447 million in online revenue last year.

What?  They made money online?  Hundreds of millions of dollars?

Yep.  Except that’s not nearly enough to help pay for the thousands of people who currently work in the print news industry.  They expect that they’ll need to make billions online if they are to survive the inevitable shift. And as of late, they’re working to get Google to pay for at least a big chunk of that.

Well that’s the rub Mr. Rutten.  Your industry failed to fully embrace the Internet more than a decade ago.  For the most part, your industry’s leaders have apparently been too myopic, or too arrogant or too lazy perhaps, to find a way to adapt even though the writing’s been on the wall for so many years.  And you still to this day, refuse to even consider that a dramatically smaller staffed group of niche market news outlets might in fact be both a much more focused and stellar bunch of journalists, let alone a dramatically much more highly profitable bunch.

No, heaven forbid tens of thousands should lose their income.  People who would, in that scenario, be obsolete.  Not needed.  Superfluous.  Actually, they wouldn’t – all anyone who loses their career in such a manner needs to do is learn to adapt and find new opportunities for themselves.  Is it painful?  Yes.  Does it take a huge toll on an individual or family?  Of course it does.  (See my experience from the year 2000 above). Yet due to the current financial crisis, people who, through no direct fault of their own, are having to do that right now – all across America, in all sectors.  But unlike them, your industry has gotten in this pickle through direct failure to take actionable steps based on sound business principles.

The bottom line here is this – deep-pocketed old-boy networks (wall-street, Detroit, and now print-media everywhere) find it easier to use fear-mongering and lawyers in suits when dealing with a potentially catastrophic event of their own making rather than the hard work and dedication it takes to adapt.  And since Congress (both parties thank you very much) consist of like minded people (read that – paid off under the table during their tenure in congress and as lobbyists afterward), we have a serious problem here people.

While I have no problem with individual news entities sharing their success stories with their peers, I have a serious problem when the entirety of the biggest players decides to get together so they can force that entire industry to stop giving news away in any form of any significance.  And I also think that how they do all they can to marginalize professional journalists who blog as independents is yet another major bully tactic to try and keep themselves relevant without adapting or embracing.

I encourage everyone who reads this to contact your members of Congress and express your outrage.  I did so yesterday – sent a  lengthy email out.  And I’d greatly appreciate you leaving a comment here – either letting me know how wrong I am or if you even agree a little… Because unlike the LA Time’s opinion column online, I believe it’s only proper to allow comments on an opinion piece article…  Call me crazy like that…

Alan Bleiweiss has been an Internet professional since 1995, managing client projects valued at upwards of $2,000,000.00. Just a few of his most notable clients through the years have included PCH.com, WeightWatchers.com, and Starkist.com. Follow him on Twitter @AlanBleiweiss , read his Search Marketing blog at Search Marketing Wisdom, and be sure to read his column at SearchEngineJournal.com the 2nd and 4th Tuesday each month. Why Newspapers Need To Fail is a post from: Search Marketing Wisdom All content copyright Alan Bleiweiss unless otherwise attributed by me in the article.

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BEST TOP TWITTER TIP #1.  FINDING PEOPLE TO FOLLOW ON TWITTER
You can go to Twitter when you’re signed in, and do a search for topics you might be interested in, and find people who are on twitter that discuss them.

For example, you could type in  prosperity   or   antioxidants   or   gratitude   or   photography

From there, you’ll get a very long list of recent tweets (a tweet is when you post something to Twitter)  from anyone who mentioned that word in it.  Clicking on their photo brings up their profile and all their recent tweets.  If you like what they post, you can choose to follow them.

(You can always choose to “unfollow” them later on if you want)

RATIO OF FOLLOWERS TO FOLLOWING

Some people only follow five people but have 50,000 followers themselves.  People like Oprah, Larry King, Ashton Kutcher…  At first I followed some people like that, because as an Internet Marketing professional I wanted to see how they were using Twitter.  What I found was that very few people in that category are worth following (at least by me anyhow) because they really are just using Twitter to get even more fans or publicity.  And that, to me, is just not something I care to pollute my life with.

At the same time though, if you really have something of value to contribute on Twitter, I don’t care how many people you are following or are following you.  I’ll follow you anyhow.

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BEST TOP TWITTER TIP #2.  BETTER MANAGEMENT

Managing your user experience is paramount to efficiency, enjoyment and quality of life in the Twitterverse.  Here’s just a couple tips on how to get a grasp of what could otherwise become a very overwhelming experience on Twitter.

TWITTER USER INTERFACE IMPROVED WITH TWEETDECK

I use TweetDeck – it’s a stand-alone program that is much better at being able to follow what people say, respond and participate than just using the Twitter web site.  With Tweetdeck, you don’t have to refresh your twitter page to get updates of when people you are following post their own tweets.  You can also set up new columns – to move your favorite tweeple (twitter people) over to.  That helps me a lot now that I am following over 500 people.  There are other solutions out there, TweetDeck just happens to be the one I prefer.

TWITTER FOLLOWER MANAGEMENT WITH TWEEPLER
Trying to evaluate whether someone that is following you is worthy of following (yes I evaluate each follower to see if I want to follow them!)  I have found Tweepler to be invaluable!  It’s not perfect, yet it’s light-years ahead of using the Twitter site method.  You can see everyone who is following you, every one from that list that you are following, and everyone from that list that you are not yet following.

You can quickly see their three most recent tweets, and their profile description.  If they have a link to their web site in their profile, you can click on it to get a better grasp of who they are.

Then at the click of a button, you can add them to who you are following, or you can move them to the side.  You can always come back to review the list and change things if you want.
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BEST TOP TWITTER TIP #3.  SHORTEN YOUR TWEETS
First, it’s not polite to only tweet one way.  Or to only tweet links to your business web site or blog. Participate in the community aspects of Twitter – comment on other people’s tweets, add your own voice.  Some people tweet every single thing in their life while others only tweet about one topic.  That’s your call.   Yet when you tweet, sometimes it is a challenge to get all you want to communicate in 140 characters.  Here’s a couple tricks to fix that.

SHORTEN WORDS
Change the word “for” to  4   “you” becomes U  “and” becomes &  and so forth…

SHORTEN URLS
If you want to shorten a web site address, you can use a 3rd party tool like bit.ly or any one of several others available.   Personally I switched to bit.ly a while back after using SNURL because I found that after signing up, when I use the service to shorten a URL, it will keep track of how many people clicked on that shortened URL.  Not only how many people that saw my copy of it, but anyone else who has also found that shortened URL – either because someone forwarded mine to other people, or because the destination had already been processed by the bit.ly service previously.

Seeing these statistics help me determine which of my tweets with links in them are most effective or listened to.

An example of how this works would be where http://www.search-marketing-answers.com/blog/2009/05/16/competitive-insight-girl-scouts-and-hells-angels/

becomes http://bit.ly/tg27a

WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS
If you feel a tweet just can’t be completely shortened, go ahead and use two tweets.  Just be aware that too much of this can annoy people.  Then again, some people will unfollow you if you post more than five tweets a day.  Personally, I tweet anywhere from no tweets in three days up to 50 or more tweets if it’s a really amazing day.
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BEST TOP TWITTER TIP #4.  REPLYING
If you want to reply to someone on Twitter  you use the @ symbol  so  @alanbleiweiss how are you?   will send the message “how are you” to me. Only reply to me if you think you have something of value to say.  Please don’t reply to every tweet I post in the hopes that I will follow you.  Yet if you have something to say that is in opposition to my views, please DO reply to me and you just may find that you become one of my favorite tweeple!

Note though – that if I tweet you three or four times and you don’t respond, I may choose to un-follow you.  No offense – I just think that it’s polite to acknowledge others most of the time.  Still though, I understand that sometimes it’s not all about me and I won’t automatically unfollow either though.

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BEST TOP TWITTER TIP #5.  RETWEETING
If you really like something that someone tweets, you can choose the “ReTweet” option (either manually copy and paste it to resend it out, or in TweetDeck, using the RT button next to their photo.  If you do it manually, it’s polite to put RT  username    in front of the tweet to let people know that you’re just forwarding something from someone else.   Doing so without giving credit is rude for sure.

If you go to RT someone it will automatically add your username in front of the tweet.  So sometimes, that makes the tweet too long (140 character max allowed).  When that happens, I sometimes shorten their tweet and change RT to (via)  so people know it’s been edited.
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BEST TOP TWITTER TIP #6.  PRIVATE TWEETS
If you are following someone and IF they are following you also,  you can directly communicate with them privately.   You put a D  in front of their username but with a space  so   D alanbleiweiss  will send me a direct tweet if I am following you also.  (If you have TweetDeck Direct tweets show up in their own column and so do  replies)

CAVEAT Direct Tweeting is NOT a perfect system – once in a blue moon Twitter will accidentally send a direct Tweet out in the open.  And if you are typing fast and end up not having a blank space after the D and before a username, that tweet will go out into the open twitterverse!

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BEST TOP TWITTER TIP #7.  FINDING MORE PEOPLE ON TWITTER
Once you are following others, if a tweet they post includes @username of someone else on Twitter, that’s one way to discover other people who you might want to follow.

Also, as you surf the web, more and more people have icons or text  links to follow them on Twitter.  Clicking on that link or icon will take you to their Twitter page where you can choose to follow them or not.

You can also find even more people to follow by using services like Twellow (The Twitter Yellow Pages), or WeFollow.  And be sure to list yourself there as well, so other people can find you!

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BEST TOP TWITTER TIP #8.  #keyword
When you see a tweet with the pound sign (called the “hashtag“) in front of it, that’s a way that people can discuss common topics or events over an extended period of time, then someone else can do a search  for #whatever  and all the tweets that exist for that topic or word will be displayed.

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BEST TOP TWITTER TIP #9.  #FollowFriday
This has become one of the more enjoyable hashtags – where if you like someone’s tweets enough, on Friday you can say #followfriday @alanbleiweiss

The problem with this was that many people got out of hand and would #followfriday six tweets in a row with eight usernames in each tweet.  Twitter recently made a change to their system so that if you are not following people that I include in my tweets, you wouldn’t see that tweet from me at all.  (And thus killed the #followfriday purpose).  There was huge uproar among the twitterverse and so they changed that back but it may only be temporary.

RECOMMENDATION
Many of us prefer to use #followfriday in a more elegant way so if I like you enough I will do something like:

#followfriday @yourusername  because they really have great insights on health and wellness

(essentially it’s a mini-testimonial for you)
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BEST TOP TWITTER TIP #10.  MORE TWITTER TIPS
Well, this IS a list of my top ten Twitter Tips, so I had to find a way to limit it to only ten tips on making Twitter a much more enjoyable and efficient place to communicate.  And that left me with the dilemma that if I could, I’d make it Alan’s top 100 Twitter tips.  But then it wouldn’t be a Top Ten list then would it?

So in keeping within my own article’s title, I now offer you a couple additional resources for further Twitter eduation:

BETTER FOLLOWING
http://www.twitip.com/how-to-be-a-better-follower/

MOBILE TWEETING
http://www.simplehelp.net/2008/04/16/20-ways-to-use-twitter-on-your-cell-phone-or-mobile-internet-device/

http://twitterhelp.blogspot.com/2008/05/twitter-via-mobile-web-mtwittercom.html

TWITTER HELP
http://help.twitter.com/portal

TWITTER SPAM REPORT

@spam Follow Twitter’s official spam profile and report Twitter spam via direct message (shortly after you follow them, they’ll follow you back.  Once that happens, you can D spam  to report spammers

Alan Bleiweiss has been an Internet professional since 1995, managing client projects valued at upwards of $2,000,000.00. Just a few of his most notable clients through the years have included PCH.com, WeightWatchers.com, and Starkist.com. Follow him on Twitter @AlanBleiweiss , read his Search Marketing blog at Search Marketing Wisdom, and be sure to read his column at SearchEngineJournal.com the 2nd and 4th Tuesday each month. The Best Top Ten Twitter Tips is a post from: Search Marketing Wisdom All content copyright Alan Bleiweiss unless otherwise attributed by me in the article.

Subscribe to this blog by RSS or Email

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If you hadn’t noticed, Google was down to upwards of 14% of it’s users at one point this week.

Yes – down - as in “very slow” for some, even “not working at all” for others.  Only for an hour mind you, yet down nonetheless.  They even blogged about it.  Given what we know about Google’s market share, that’s a LOT of people who lost their ability to search the only really good search engine on Earth.

And that prompted me to think once again (yes, I have a very bizarre way of connecting dots) about web analytics – the tracking and analyzing of site visitor information that is so important to my small and mid-size business clients…

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THE END IS NOT UPON US

Personally, I learned about the down-time thanks to an article by Jordan McCollum, who confirmed that the End Times weren’t actually upon us (yet).  See, I wasn’t directly affected.  Either because I was surfing elsewhere at the time, or I actually was at Google (probably looking to see where my mesothelioma law firm clients were in the SERPs for one of their key word phrases – yes I really do have a client in that arena) and in that moment, wasn’t one of the fourteen percent.  Heaven forbid.  I would have been extremely upset.

Well, not really – I get paid whether Google is down for an hour or not.  I am, after all, the owner of my own company.  And I ALWAYS pay myself for my time, regardless of circumstances outside my control. 

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MARKET SHARE OR SMOKE & MIRRORS?

Depending on who you believe, Google owns anywhere from  65%,  to more than 70% of all search on the web.  Andrew Lipsman over at comScore tried to explain the variations in these statistics earlier this year.  Of course, his spin attempted to put comScore in a good light as compared to the others.  Because it’s in his financial best interest to convince you that comScore is reliable, trustworthy and necessary.  Except the truth is they use old school statistic methods that come out of the Television marketing world.  Archaic.  Barely not really plausible even in the 20th century.

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I LAUGH IN THE FACE OF “FACTUAL” STATISTICS

Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m a statistics agnostic.  I used to be a crime statistician, and if it suits me, I can show you in five minutes how to turn soup into nuts, water into wine, and five visits into five thousand.  On digital paper at least.  So when it comes to statistics, I inherently know that you can’t take them at their face value.

Now, I don’t go around just mocking stats and web analytics companies.  I always put them in context, and fact check.  And use other information to help form business decisions.

However I firmly believe that when it comes to Competitive Insight, statistics are inherently a bear trap waiting for the unsuspecting camper to meander right into.  Especially when it comes to Internet analytics.

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GIRL SCOUTS AND HELLS ANGELS

For example – if a web site is in a truly niche market – let’s say they cater to Girl Scouts, hard core bikers, Gen Y, or hundreds or thousands of other niches, then it is most likely that solutions from comScore, Nielsen, HitWise, Alexa, Compete, and all the rest, are going to be completely misleading at best, and patently false at worst.

Why?  Because none of the players have any real grasp of those  user bases, or, in the case of “comparisons to your competition”, access to the real traffic statistics on those web sites.

Sure, Alexa may have slipped their toolbar onto the computers of a small number of unsuspecting Girl Scouts.

But a “few” is far from any kind of large enough share to be a valid basis for extrapolation.  And its’ more likely that the only reason those Girl Scouts have computers that got that Alexa ToolBar on them is because their older brother was probably surfing for illegal music downloads at some point. Or porn.  And the statistics from that household are then tainted, to say the least.

The point though, is that if the market focus of a web site is Girl Scouts, Panel based stat companies can’t possibly have enough Girl Scouts on their panel to give you real data to work with.

Calling All Volunteers

Exactly how many hard core, shiv carrying, barroom brawling bikers do you think voluntarily allow their computer to be loaded with a 3rd party user activity tracking solution from comScore or Nielsen?  Okay, so YOU may not cater to that crowd, but again, it’s illustrative of the diversity of markets served through the web.  And a perfect example for this article.

Hells Angels Disclaimer: If you know of any Hells Angels who are participants on the ComScore or Nielsen Net Ratings panels, please let me know and I will peacefully and most respectfully revise this article.  Or I’ll just call one of my friends from the Diablos and let them work it out with the Angels. 

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Commercial Break

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SMALLER SITES AND COMPETITIVE DECISIONS

In my example above, with say, Girl Scouts, there are probably hundreds, if not thousands of web sites – perfectly legitimate, professionally designed web sites, that cater to people in the Girl Scout demographic.  How well do sites like HitWise or Alexa provide insights into market reach for sites like those?  Not well at all.  Terribly in fact.  Beyond pitiful. And it’s even worse for specialty sites with that market focus.

Just to test and either validate or debunk my own theory, I ran a check on three web sites that fit this arena.

GirlScoutShop.org

This site, run by Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts, sells uniforms, books, insignia, camping supplies and more.  They’re a legitimate web site selling authentic Girl Scout products.  A small site, for sure, yet if I want to market to Girl Scouts, and I want competitive insight into other web sites that cater to them and come up in the top five at google, they go on my list.

YouthLeadership.com

This site is not focused specifically on Girl Scouts as their market.  In fact, according to their web site, they are “An online information center for youth leadership education and development.”  Their market is Teachers, Parents, Kids and Teens.  A site that would make a perfectly fine destination for any up and coming Girl Scout looking to have a positive impact on the world.  Better still, with such a large scope, the site must have lots of visitor traffic data.

LearnAndServe.gov

According to their web site, Learn and Serve America supports and encourages service-learning throughout the United States, and enables over one million students to make meaningful contributions to their community while building their academic and civic skills.  Again, this is quite an appropriate web site suited for Girl Scouts.  And since it’s a U.S. Government site, surely there’s plenty of traffic.

Now, I picked these three not because any one of them might be just like your web site from a products or services perspective, but to illustrate a point.

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ALEXA IS WORTHLESS

While all three are appropriate for the Girl Scout market, checking on them statistically at Alexa is worthless.  Alexa shows NO statistics on any one of these sites.  As though they don’t even exist.  Or aren’t “worthy” of tracking. Because if they’re not in what Alexa deems the top 100,000 web sites (at least the top 100,000 that Alexa has statistics on), then you don’t get any info at all.

HOW FAR DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE DO WE HAVE TO GO?

Well heck.  In order to be Alexa’s top 100,000 sites you need to be pretty special.  How Special?  Let’s take a look.

One of our clients, Carlos Santana (maybe you’ve heard of him?) has a web site called Santana.com - a site that Alexa says is ranked number 219,860.  And that 0.00049% of all web users have visited the site in the past month.  And another client’s site, RedRocker.com (have you heard of Sammy Hagar?), doesn’t register on the charts at Alexa either.  (Sammy only got a paltry 0.00019% of the web’s users last month according to Alexa). SO even if you’re name is Carlos Santana or Sammy Hagar, you can’t even get comparative data of any significance from Alexa.  What a waste of time.

BUT LIKE I SAID

Like I said though – the basis for their statistics is massively flawed so even when someone comes to me and says “We’re ranked #1 at Alexa in our market”,  I say “SO WHAT.”  What I care about is – do you come up higher than your competitors in Google organics?  What is your conversion rate for your PPC ads?  What’s your Return on Investment in your total Internet initiative? And anyone who wants to advertise on your site or invest in your company should be asking the same questions.  If they’re not, they’re participating in what I like to call the Statistics bubble.  (Think Mortgage Bubble, Internet 1999 bubble)

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COMPETE.COM IS BETTER?

Compete claims that their data is the only real and valid data because they have arrangements with the major service providers.  They’re supposedly given direct access to Internet Service Provider traffic information.

So okay – let’s find out.

I ran all three sites through the Compete.com system.  Amazingly, what I found were apparently  numbers.  YouthLeadership.com supposedly had 549 unique visitors in April, LearnAndServe.gov had over 15,000, and GirlScoutShop.org was reported to have had 12,973.  Well the problem with these numbers is that I’ve done a number of tests over the past couple years with sites like this.  While I don’t have access to the actual server logs or analytics reports for any of these examples, I do have such access for over five hundred web sites – clients I have served.

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But wait.

How trustworthy are the Compete.com numbers?

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WAX APPLES VS EDIBLE APPLES

Well for RedRocker.com, Compete reports that in April, they had 38,387 total visitors and 18,413 of those were unique.  Well, according to Google Analytics, they had 68,946 total visits, and of those, 37,194 were unique.  And from my previous article, while we know Google Analytics is flawed, if anything, they UNDER-report visits.

So the next time someone tells you to check out Compete.com, tell them I said to take a bite out of that wax apple and let me know how it tastes.

And Suggest they install Google Analytics.  For Free.

For all it’s flaws, you get much more reliable information on your own site than any panel based extrapolation.  And if you think you can learn about your competition from any of those companies or Compete.com, fuggedaboutit.  (HEY – I lived in Brooklyn before moving to California)

And if one of those “panel based” statistic providers tries to sell you their products, or worse, someone insists on making a business decision based on statistics from one of those “We really don’t have access to real statistics, but we have access to the big ISP servers so TRUST US” companies (like Compete.com), please don’t believe them.  PLEASE.

Seriously.

I beg you.

And for the record, Hells Angel Photo copyright 2008 Alan Bleiweiss. (Do you really want to know the story behind that?)

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What do you think? Am I off my rocker? Or do you have similar experiences?

Alan Bleiweiss has been an Internet professional since 1995, managing client projects valued at upwards of $2,000,000.00. Just a few of his most notable clients through the years have included PCH.com, WeightWatchers.com, and Starkist.com. Follow him on Twitter @AlanBleiweiss , read his Search Marketing blog at Search Marketing Wisdom, and be sure to read his column at SearchEngineJournal.com the 2nd and 4th Tuesday each month. Competitive Insight, Girl Scouts and Hells Angels is a post from: Search Marketing Wisdom All content copyright Alan Bleiweiss unless otherwise attributed by me in the article.

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