Now that smart phones are common, displays are getting larger, and mobile browsers are able to handle more complex displays, are mobile bare bones text version even needed … for many sites the answer remains yes. First let’s look at the two extremes, if you have a rich media site such as Disney.com in most cases mobile browsers aren’t going to have the technical ability to display that complex or that much information. If that’s the case then you absolutely need a mobile version. This is a strategy that Disney has embraced as you can see from the web based and mobile screen shots below.

At the other end of the spectrum are sites which are have no rich media, or complex displays, sites such as craigslist.org which are primarily text based. For sites like this there’s no need to offer a separate mobile version, as the sites render nearly identical on on both platforms

However as is usually the case most sites, aren’t at either extremes, they lie somewhere in the middle, and the answer as to whether they should offer a separate mobile version is, it depends. Many business owners will make this decision based on whether they do business on;line or offline. However if you are a doctor, dentist, or hairdresser your customers may still look for you on their mobile phone, to get an address or phone number in case they need directions, to cancel, an appointment, let you know they are running late, or schedule a new appointment.

Once you’ve established if you need a mobile website the challenge becomes how you do it, many websites offer a mobile version under a subdomain such as m.example.com, however a more sophisticated implementation uses user agents, and serves out the content conditionally. This approach is not without risks, if you serve content conditionally based on user agent you don’t want to cross the line into black hat territory and cloaking. You want to offer the same content to users as you do to search engine spiders. This is a topic Matt Cutts recently discussed in a Webmaster Central Video:

The one bit of good news is more and more CMS systems are starting to offer mobile modules and plugins, for example wordpress users can take advantage of this plugin, Joomla offers several choices, as does Drupal .

If you’re serious about the success of your online business, you should find out as much as you can about your industry and the top business within that industry. This is called Competitive Research and is anything from examining search results for competitor’s pages and backlinks, to researching possible keywords that you’ll use in your web copy. Luckily there are many free tools and resources available that can help you collect the information you need.

Here are just a few.

Identifying the Competition

You can’t know what you’re up against until you properly identify your direct competition. Depending on your industry, this may be as easy as plugging your best search term into Google (assuming you’ve at least done some basic keyword research).

Search Engines – They not only provide valuable information about your competition, but search engines such as Google, Yahoo & Bing also help you determine who your competitors are. In many cases, your direct competitors are the sites that appear in the top 10 listing for the terms you’re aiming to rank for.

Directories – Authority directories, such as BOTW and DMOZ, can also help you identify your competitors. These directories are often human-edited and therefore careful attention is paid to which sites are chosen for inclusion. Simply locate the most suitable category for your site and then take note of the sites that are already listed there.

Get Technical – If you’re really interested in knowing precisely whom your competitor is, you can also use tools such as DNSStuff and DomainTools. For example, you might find out the actual name of your competitor by viewing the domain registrar information, which is particularly handy if you plan to contact them directly. Having their name is also useful for finding their social media or forum profiles (which can give you a clue into their marketing efforts and knowledge level).

Evaluating the Competition

After you’ve identified your competition, you’ll need to rate them according to how strong they are so you can determine the steps you’ll need to take in order to compete with them. Use some of the following tools will help give you an idea of why your rival is doing so well and what kinds of payoffs they’re reaping as a result.

Competitive Data – Have you ever wondered how much traffic a certain site was receiving? Although it’s not possible to find out exactly, you can use tools such as Alexa and Compete to find general info about traffic, such as visitor estimates, which keywords may be bringing traffic to your competitors’ site and even which other sites might be sending traffic to your competitor.

Ranking and Page Strength – How did your adversaries get such good rankings? The Firefox addon; SEOQuake, can help you answer this questions and more by showing you the age of a domain, how many links it has (from which types of sites) and even which popular directories it may be listed in. With Trifecta you can evaluate things such as an individual page or an entire domain’s strength or the reach of a brand (i.e. it’s ability to draw traffic). The only downfall of this tool is that, as a non-paying member, you can only generate 1 report per day.

Note: SEOQuake comes with a sort of a warning not to overuse it and why. Make sure to read it.

Detailed Backlink Analysis – Since backlinks are a main part of online competition, I recommend that you pay special attention to just how many backlinks your top competitors have. Conducting a detailed analysis will not only give you insight into how many links you’ll need to compete, but it also allows you to locate link opportunities for your own site. Use the Yahoo Site Explorer and the “linkdomain” command (i.e. linkdomain:competitorsite.com) and take note of not only the amount of their links, but also the type of sites their links are coming from. Don’t forget to use tools such as LinkVendor to check the number of social bookmarks and their backlink anchor text too.

Monitoring the Competition

Now that you know who your main competition is and you have an idea of what they’re doing right, you can do things such as monitor mentions of their brand or domain name, keep up to date on any press releases they’re doing or media attention they’re getting or even find out certain information about how much they might be spending on ads. Simply set up some Google Alerts (for their domain or brand name) and with regular use of tools such as SpyFu and WhosTalkin you’ll be able to keep up to date on practically any mentions regarding your competitor.

Although I’m definitely not suggesting that you outright stalk your competitors, I am suggesting that you identify who they are though, and strive to improve upon whatever they do, marketing wise. Doing so can give you the edge you need to compete, and maybe even beat, the competition.

Before we look any deeper at this subject we need to make sure we’re all talking about the same thing. Your page title is the part of the HTML code between the tags and in most browsers, is displayed in either the browser chrome area, or on the individual tab. Your H1 tag is usually displayed on the page as the name/title of the article or post.

From an SEO perspective there isn’t a penalty if your Title and H1 element are the same, however you are missing out on the opportunity to use them to target variations or alternate keywords. Let me illustrate with an example:

Title: How to Choose a Printer for Your Vista Computer
H1: How to Choose a Printer for Your Vista Computer

compared to

Title: Printers: Shopping for a Printer for Your Vista Computer / Laptop
H1: How to Choose a Printer for Your Vista Computer

Notice how by using a variation we were able to incorporate new keywords such as “shopping” and “laptop”. Additionally we were able to get the single and plural version of “printer” and “printers” into the title. Let’s try another example:

Title: Cheap Hotels in Las Vegas
H1: Cheap Hotels in Las Vegas

compared to

Title: Discount Hotels – Las Vegas Cheap Hotel Rooms
H1: Cheap Hotels in Las Vegas

Again in this case we were able to add the hotel/hotels singular and plural variations, as well as “hotel rooms” and “discount hotels”

Of course there is the temptation to go overboard with this technique and add in too many words, such as:

Title: Discount Hotels Online – Cheap Las Vegas Strip Hotel Rooms, Book Online

From a user perspective there are too many words, it looks keyword stuffed, and it isn’t very click enticing. Secondly you break the proximity and position effects. If you can get the words in the exact order of a query that’s the ideal situation, if that’s not possible you to get them next to each other with as few other words and no stop words in between (this is called positioning). In the first example the “discount hotels” and “cheap hotel” were on both sides of the words “Las Vegas” (this is known as proximity). Lastly is the length, Google will start to truncate (chop off) at 66 characters so you want to try and stay at 65 or under whenever possible.

So what are the takeaways from this post:

• Try to use different page titles and H1 tags to introduce singular and plural keywords
• Try to use different page titles and H1 tags to introduce alternate and related keywords
• Place alternate keywords around central concepts to take advantage of proximity
• Keep your page titles under 66 characters to avoid being truncated

Of course, link building isn’t a walk in the park. In fact, it can often be a pain in the you-know-what. That’s why I’ve come up with a list of 10 easy ways you can jumpstart your link building campaign.

1. Guest post on other blogs—No matter what industry you’re in, there’s bound to be at least a few solid guest blogging opportunities out there for you. Find blogs in your niche, and simply ask the author if they’d be interested in allowing you to submit a guest post. Ideally, you should have an idea already in mind for your guest post so you can pitch it to the author. If the author accepts your request, you’ll get a link back to your blog once you submit your guest post. Take advantage of this opportunity by using keyword-rich anchor text on the back link.

2. Submit to blog carnivals—A blog carnival is basically an online magazine that gathers the best blog posts in a particular niche and publishes them. Submit your content to a blog carnival in your niche, and if it’s picked up, you’ll get a link back to your blog.

3. Offer testimonials for products you love—Many companies include testimonials on the sidebar of their website or in a specific “Testimonials” section. If there is a product or service you truly believe in, submit a testimonial to the company. Include your name and a link back to your website.

4. Get listed in niche directories—Virtually every industry imaginable has online directories that connect consumers to the businesses they’re looking for. For example, if you’re a web designer, the internet is full of web designer directories that allow you to list your info and a link back to your website.

5. Don’t ignore article marketing—Sure, it’s one of the oldest internet marketing tricks in the book, but article marketing is still highly effective for building links and increasing your online presence. Check out Jennifer’s recent post on advanced article marketing strategies.

6. Run a contest—Hosting a contest with a prize people care about (this is the important part) is an easy way to get a flurry of inbound links. Make sure to promote your contest on your blog, Twitter/other social networking profiles, your email list, press release websites, and anywhere else you can think of. If all goes well, other bloggers and publications will link to your contest site.

7. Link out to others—It might seem counterintuitive at first, but let me explain. Every time you link out to content on another blog, the blogger is alerted of the incoming link. As a result, this makes them aware of your blog. More times than not, they’ll come check out your post to see what you’re saying about them. This establishes a relationship with the blogger and increases the chances of them linking back to you in the future.

8. Create a useful tool—Useful tools and widgets are great tools for building links and going viral. As a copywriter, one of my favorite tools is the We-We Calculator. It allows you to check your copy to determine if it’s customer focused or self-centered. Creating a similarly useful tool for your niche will boost your back links in a hurry.

9. Comment on other blogs—While not the most effective method of link building, blog commenting is still a useful practice. Aside from the back links (assuming the blog offers do-follow), commenting on blogs helps you network with other bloggers and their readers. Just make sure your comments actually contribute to the conversation.

10. Find mentions of your name without links—Search Google for mentions of your company’s name or your website. You might find that someone has referenced you without including a link to your website. If this is the case, shoot them an email asking to include a back link.

Which link building tips would you add to this list?

• You have to engage in social media.
• You have to listen to your customers.
• Always protect your brand.

But sometimes before you can even act, your customers are out there beating you to the punch. They’re engaging and protecting your brand for you. And as this whole social media thing has developed, we’ve been able to see both the positives and negatives that occur when a company leaves their brand to chance. Is it possible that all you have to do to be successful in social media is to sit back and let your customers do your work for you?

Let’s take a look at some of the Pros and Cons involved with leaving your social media efforts up your customers.

The Pros

1. Your customers are better at social media than you are.

Don’t get all defensive, it’s true. Your customers are social media pros because they’re ringers. Social media was designed with them in mind. It’s about empowering them, letting them get loud and giving them a platform (and soapbox) to stand on. When they create your account for you, it can explode.

Dusty Sorg and Michael Jedrzejewski love Coca-Cola. They love it so much that they created the official Coke Facebook Fan page where more than 3.6 MILLION fans come to comment and engage every day. That’s right. 3.6 million fans and Coke had absolutely nothing to do with it. Dusty and Michael wanted a place to talk about their favorite carbonated beverage so they got their hands dirty and created one themselves. And though Coke didn’t create it, they have embraced it. And the result has been one of the most well known social media love stories on the Web.

2. It’s more authentic.

When you create a site dedicated to your greatness, it’s “marketing”, it’s self-serving and it’s a little dirty. When a fan does it for you, its gospel, it’s real, and it’s authentic. Your customers have an easier time relating to it. They want to get involved and become part of the “cool kids” helping to sing your praises across the Internet. And really, is there anything cooler on the Internet than Chuck Norris? Of course not. America isn’t a democracy, it’s a Chucktatorship.

The Chuck Norris Facts Web site was created in 2005 and contains satirical facts about actor, martial artist and legend Chuck Norris. It’s entirely run, maintained, and promoted by fans. The result? It’s become a cult phenomenon, transforming Mr. Norris into one of the biggest celebrities on the Web. It’s earned mentions on all the nighttime talk shows, has been spoofed in songs and was even turned into a Facebook application. It has empowered the Chuck Norris brand so much that Chuck Norris himself has begun contributing to the site, picking his favorites and sharing in the fun. Had Chuck Norris tried to create a site dedicated to faux facts about himself it would have been mocked. But because his fans did it and he supported it, It’s beloved.

3. It makes you look oh-so-cool when you empower them:

Pulling a Chuck Norris and supporting the people who support you makes you relatable. It makes you appear humble and friendly and like your fans. People like people who like them back. When you support your fans, it makes them want to keep supporting you.

Stephen Colbert. You know him. You love him. And he had nothing to do with the Twitter account that was created in his name (there’s actually a few these days). But he has vocally supported it. He’s empowered the person behind it to keep at it, to keep building the Colbert brand and to continue making people laugh in his name. And with over 350,000 followers, one could say it’s taken off and become pretty successful. Stephen does have a real account at @stephenathome but, frankly, it’s not nearly as entertaining.  And it’s not as powerful as the account created by one his fans. That’s the one people relate to.

The Cons.

1. Even the well-intentioned can do harm.

No good deed goes unpunished and often just because someone meant to give you a hand, doesn’t mean they won’t accidentally torch the place. Do you really want to give a stranger that much power with your brand?

Exxon Mobile had a problem last summer when Janet created the ExxonMobileCorp Twitter account and began fielding questions, talking about how money was being spent and dishing about the Exxon Valdez. Seemed neat enough, until we all learned that “Janet” didn’t actually work for Exxon. She just registered the account and pretended she did. Fail.

Seth Godin had a similar issue when the @SethGodin Twitter account (which once had 5,000+ fans) started getting called out for angering fans.  There were complaints that Seth didn’t value his followers because he refused to follow them back or engage with them. Of course, “Seth Godin” wasn’t actually the real Seth. It was just a fan trying to pay homage. What he did, however, was cause a mess that the real Seth had to clean up.

2. Sometimes “fans” like to exploit you.

Of course, not everyone is well-intentioned. When you fail to get active on social media, you give those with an ax to grind a chance to brandjack your name to embarrass you, vilify you, or most often, simply exploit you.

As you read this, someone is holding the Walt Disney World Twitter account hostage. The resource site Startup Nation had a college student attempt to extort them for $15,000. And these situations are only becoming more prominent and damaging. Brands who were late to get involved are now spending thousands seeking ways to protect their brands and prevent cases of brandjacking and “twitterjacking”. And the bigger the brand, the higher the bounty on your username. By not getting involved in social media, unless you take steps to prevent it, you often leave your brand open to attack.

3. You fracture your community.

People yearn to talk about the brands they love. And if you don’t create a centralized place for them to do that, you leave room for dozens of splinter accounts to sprout up in your name. It may seem like an okay idea, but all it really does is dilute the efforts of your fans. It spreads out conversations. It makes it harder for people to engage. And it severely weakens the accounts they create.

Take Miller Lite. If you’re a fan, do you join @millerliteiowa, @genbev or one of the many other accounts? Likely, you join none. They’re not legitimate looking and the followers are too spread out to be effective. If you want to support the Library of Congress, fans are divided across three Fan pages and more than a handful Facebook groups. Which is legit? Which can people trust? If you don’t tell them, they don’t know and they’re less likely to engage on a regular basis. You fracture the community before you even have one.

It’s possible that your fans will do your social media work while you sit back and do nothing, but it’s just as likely that being passive will come back to haunt you.  Instead, find ways to work with your audience and to empower them to get loud on your behalf. Work together to combine their passion and realness with your goals for your company.  If that doesn’t work. Call Chuck Norris.

Chuck Norris is suing MySpace for taking the name of what he calls everything around him. True fact.