Changing face of web media

In the course of submitting my client's podcasts made from his articles, I found some changes in the podcast/blog world going on.

I've heard some rumblings the last few months about video - ads, YouTube, etc. Going to my quite lengthy list of podcast directories slammed it home for me. A few of them, I'll guess the number is between 5-10%, have gone to all video submissions.

The sad thing about those directories is that the videos are not of informational value. You can only watch the asian guy do his creepy dance so many times, and you won't learn anything from it at all.
To my tastes, vid is for a visual demonstration of something we want to, you know, LEARN. It's why I like podcasts so much. I don't think end-users have the equipment for video yet either. Besides viewing on line of course. Shoot my MP3 player is only about a year old!

Better SEO than CA

This week has been an SEO kind of week. I've looked at and read more articles, forums and blogs on SEO than I think I ever have, and I read a lot of stuff on the subject.

Everything I've researched this week, though, has only reinforced my stance on SEO. Which is, write articles, post to your blog, podcast and make sure your web designer/developer submits them to every corner of the 'net.

Got a new customer that had previously been working with a CA designer. After speaking to me and getting info on how I could help him promote his site, he asked the CAdude about podcasting and was told "Well, that's coming down the pipe. We could research that."

Wow, am I ever ahead of the curve. Hip, maybe?

In any event, we Coloradoans sure do love beating out ANYTHING from CA!

Landing Pages Work...

If you optimize them for SEM (search engine marketing).

For the artist at the Sagebrush Gallery, I purchased an additional domain name, rudlmergelmanart.com and pointed it to a subdirectory named rudlmergelmanart.

I'm pleased to find out today that the site ranks in the number 6 position on Google for the search term "rudl mergelman". Perfect! Now when someone hears of Rudl's work, they can google it and get to the page about him, which of course has links to all the other pages on his site.

The site was launched "officially" by submitting an XML sitemap to Google on March 7, 2007. That's less than 2 weeks for a #6 position in the SERP (search engine results page).

SEO and CSS for Hip Designers

Back again at the Canon Coffee Cafe. The baristas are very sweet and they let me work here as long as I want. It's not the same as sitting at home working in my underwear, but hey, I DO need to get out more.

Since I fried my modem on Monday, I've had time to write a little and got another newsletter/article/podcast done on SEO and CSS.

I found an article by James Kendal at webdesign.org about the subject and he says: "Hip designers and developers use CSS extensively to create beautiful, fully standards compliant sites."

It's true I do create beautiful web sites and it's true that they are fully standards compliant, but "Hip"? Moi? Wow.

And all this time I thought I was a pasty-faced computer geek.

Oh, yeah the article/podcast. Wanna read/listen? Here's the article. Here's the podcast. Enjoy and as always, your feedback is welcome.

That's it from the Canon Coffee Cafe. My modem is due in later today and I'll be back in my office working in my underwear - with any luck!

Offline this week

Monday afternoon I was having internet connection problems, so I unplugged my DSL modem, plugged it back in and it started smoking! And I don't mean a fast connection, I mean literally smoking.

My provider, Qwest, can't get me a new modem until Friday - wait, Friday? Yep. Not the best service IMHO. I did everything I knew including begging the CS person I got on the phone and calling an independant Qwest rep I know - they didn't even return my call.

So, I've been spending a couple hours a day (as long as the battery lasts on my laptop) at Canon Coffee Cafe, which is also an Internet cafe, trying to get some stuff done and my email checked.

It's not really been as bad as I thought is was going to be Monday night. I'm getting to enjoy the great food here and get out of the house. Just don't expect too much productivity this week!

DST and Your Computer

While the controversy rages on about Daylight Savings Time (I'm a fan, BTW), I'll stop and help those whose computers didn't update Sunday. You know who you are: if you don't have Automatic Updates turned on, for instance.

You can either download and install the Microsoft patch for your PC, or just double click the time in the bottom right-hand corner of your computer screen and set the hours yourself. If you go that route, also go to the Time Zone tab and set it properly [ mine is (GMT-7:00) Mountain Time (US & Canada) here in Colorado] and check the box labeled "Automatically adjust clock for daylight saving changes". Then on the Internet Time tab, check the box labeled "Automatically synchronize with an Internet time server". Server name is time.windows.com on my machine. Then click "Update Now"

Then click Apply at the bottom, then click Ok. You're done.

SEO and META Tags

They're soooo 1999!

Jill Whalen of High Rankings® is an internationally recognized search engine optimization consultant and has this to say about META tags:

"Changing or adding Meta tags on your site is neither a quick fix nor a slow fix. It won't fix anything and it won't have any effect on your search engine ranking."

It's true in 2007 that Google doesn't rely on Meta tags to boost your search engine rankings, but other search engines will use them as a starting point in categorizing, but not ranking, your site. That doesn't mean you should ignore Meta tags altogether when thinking about SEO, though. The keywords and phrases you use in your Meta description tag don't affect your page's ranking in the search engines but this tag can still come in handy in your overall SEO campaigns.

This is the top search result on Google for the term "CD WebMaker":

The text in red comes from the description Meta tag on my home page. The description given with a search engine result is what humans read that lets them know what the web page is about and attempts to convince them to visit the web site.

If you haven't put a Meta description tag into your web page, the search engines will supply their own description.

To determine what description is coded into your web site, or your competition's web site, see my video How to View Source Code.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)...

Keep Up or Shut Up!
That's what I really wanted to title this post, but, well, I'm doing SEO on this blog too.

Here's the occasion for this slight flame:
I spoke to a prospective client at length about SEO and a redesign of their website (FrontPage, YUK!). They are using Javascript navigation, table-based layout, fonts that can't be read by anybody but them, the list goes on.

After signing this 'client', their server guy, ok, I'm gonna name names here - Matt at Pioneer PC - feeds them a line about how PHP and MySQL are incompatible with their inhouse Linux server which also hosts their web site. Duh, PHP and MySQL were MADE for Linux! Since I'm not a server person, and do my best not to speak on issues I have no expertise in, I checked for sure.

Then, he has the gall to look up a couple articles on the internet and send them to the client. He tells me in a phone con that the site is SEO'd because the Meta tags have their keywords. Meta tags - geez that's about 1999 info there.

In the end, I lost the job, client is happy with the current site, I guess because the server guy says it's good. Hey, golly, what about the people who will actually use the site?

Having gotten that off my chest, I'm embarking on a quest to inform people about SEO in 2007. While I keep up with the industry and research the subject every single day, I guess my humble opinion is just not enough.

I'm putting out the call for SEO experts and their articles, so that when I talk about SEO, I'll have backup to prove my view. If you do REAL SEO, send me your articles for publication, I'll give credit where credit is due, and we'll help reinforce each other's position.