Well, branding is not the only thing on my mind. I think a lot about optimization, how SEO is not only about techniques to improve traffic from search engines but also about the people who read the content – the study of usability and conversion. (But that’s for another discussion…)

I think a lot about the importance of listening and engaging people (online & offline). Conversation and how people are treated is a big deal, to me. I think about the ways Social Media and SEO fit hand-in-glove, if planned right. (Such is a subject for another discussion…)

What about right now?

“Branding” is on my mind!

Facebook recently changed their status prompt to:

“What’s on your mind?”

I wonder how my friends would perceive my thoughts if I put “branding” or “personal branding” or “rebranding” in my status update.

(Note to self: Update Facebook status once this post is published.)

So, I’m using Facebook’s status prompt question to share what’s been on my mind for a while…

I’m Re-Branding!

What about Pixel Position?

PixelPosition.com doesn’t represent who I am or what I’m currently doing. It doesn’t answer the question, “What’s on my mind?” The mission has changed, and I have not been marketing SEO & Social Media services. It doesn’t make sense to continue using Pixel Position as my primary brand.

Marketing tenet:

“If something is confusing, in any way, then you – the marketer – are at fault.”

All businesses and consultants have the responsibility to remove any and every aspect of confusion from their online presences. It’s time for me to remove confusion. Why?

When I started consulting again, I did so with a team of alliances, customized for each project. Pixel Position doesn’t operate as an agency as in the past. Goals have changed. Recently, I’ve been training clients to learn SEO, to equip them how to manage their online marketing. Some have graduated and now only need a little coaching and guidance. I’ve been working on some side projects and goals.

How will projects be handled?

• I will continue to serve a few select clients.
• Pixel Position, as an entity, is not taking on new projects.
• I refer new inquiries to highly-qualified SEO / PPC consultants and Web Developers.

What’s on my plate?

Studying

I’ve been studying, studying, studying! I feel like I’m in a Master’s program with three classes, a mastermind group and now business coaching. (My friends may have noticed that I’m not socializing as much on Twitter and Facebook.) I’m studying…

• Affiliate Marketing
• Publishing Models
• Conversion, Usability and Testing
• SEO & Social Marketing – Ongoing

(I’ll share more later about the awesome courses – in another discussion…)

Domains

Domains are also on my mind a lot. I have to stop buying domains and start buying shoes!! (I easily own more domains than I have shoes and clothes combined!)

I’m building out some of these domains, selling and giving up a few. I’ll keep PixelPosition.com, obviously, but it won’t be my primary branded domain.

New Project / Team

I’ll be dedicating a considerable amount of my time and creative energies to a new project as well. I’m thrilled to soon be working alongside some very talented online professionals as they launch some consumer-oriented sites. (I’ll tell you more about the venture in another discussion…)

As I think about what I’ve been thinking, the following comes to mind:

Sow a thought. Reap an action.

Our actions do often follow our thoughts. For now, my “sowing” and “reaping” are can be summarized as follows:

Thought: Branding

Action: Build out new websites where the discussions will be continued

Stay tuned for more. Thanks for listening to my thoughts!

I am not, however, updating Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn with answers to the question, “What are you doing right now?“

A better title for this post could be…

Why I am on Social Media

My Social Media participation began in 2007 to the need to stay current with rapid changes in Internet Marketing vocabulary and how Social Media ties into SEO. People in this industry were many of the first to gravitate to Social Media. So I started the long learning curve.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn was a given. It’s a professional networking site. Connections made through LinkedIn have opened possibilities and resulted in work relationships numerous times already. LinkedIn is pretty incredible from a business approach.

Facebook

Facebook was a learning ground. To date, I’ve only uploaded a couple photos and realize I’m missing out on much this platform has to offer for networking socially. I started connecting with people in the search marketing industry, joining groups and conferences, etc. Now, people from high school, cycling and other aspects of life are on Facebook. (I’m also connected with people I don’t personally know and no longer accept such invites.)

Twitter

Twitter became a text messaging and networking steroid for connecting with industry peeps and staying staying current with latest news. It’s often my RSS and email replacement. Twitter gets credit for building relationships and serving as my “go to” resource for news, resources and help for technical questions.

My “friends” connections grow daily along with my quest and thirst for information about search and social media marketing. The majority of people I follow are business contacts or are people “in the industry.”

Twitter is also a customer service portal for posting questions to businesses. It’s the one social network I couldn’t do without. But I’m now using it in moderation.

Another possible title for this post could be…

My Opinion on Social Media Status Updates

Some people using Social Media only update their status with the answer to, “What are you doing?” The result is a high signal to noise ratio - IMHO.

Define “noise”

Noise is not adding value, talking solely about your basic activities, often all day long.  Me, myself, and I – over and over.

The personal aspect of each person’s life is key for building relationships. Experts suggest a 10% “personal sharing” on social networks is enough to build relationship.

@GuyKawasaki looks at his participation on Twitter as:

“a weapon for subject matter experts.”

He’s a combo of PBS (public service) and QVC (sales) with a little personal thrown in. (There is debate about his use of Twitter in that he doesn’t engage in conversation with others, but that’s another subject.)

Examples of “noisy” answers to the question, “What are you doing now?” include:

• “…is going to the grocery store.”
• “…is washing the dog.”
• “…is at work.”
• “…is bored.”

I found this post Facebook’s Signal to Noise Factor when looking to see if others felt the same way. The author wrote:

Personally, I still like Facebook and find it useful—but I’m considering turning off some features that clutter my inbox.  For me, 2008 is all about increasing signal and reducing noise.

AGREE! For me, 2009 is all about…

• Increasing and selecting my signals and reducing the noise.
• Focusing on developing new websites and SEO, which means building great content and getting incoming links.

How do you update your status?

Facebook asks, “What are you doing right now?’

I mentioned on Facebook that I don’t see myself updating my status with an answer to that question very often, and one friend replied:

“And its not like you have to use that box for a status update anyway.”

Exactly! Amen! So be it!

Twitter asks, “What are you doing?

Few of my connections on Twitter answer the question, “What are you doing?”  It’s an instant messaging service for many of us.

LinkedIn’s status update provides some suggested “fill in” options:

I’ve gained respect for many connections by learning of their accomplishments and goals from their status updates on LinkedIn!

I was amazed, however, to see someone update their LinkedIn status with their “evolution of inebriation” including steps 1, 2 and 3!! They told us how they got drunk over the weekend!

No joke!

Another possible title for this post could be…

Status Updates = Your Online Reputation

Think about how you answer the question, “What are you doing now?”

• Are you just talking about yourself?
• Are you just marketing your hype?
• Are you sharing resources and adding value?
• Are you engaging with your connections?
• Do you really care what shows up in the search results?

Every LinkedIn profile shows up in search results. My LinkedIn profile data shows:

In the last 3 days, you have appeared in search results 11 times.

Each person’s reason for participating in social networks is unique and different.

How you fill in your status update becomes your online reputation. It can be the difference of gaining or loosing a job and/or friends.

Eric Lander, a respected SEO, recently reduced his LinkedIn network. He notes ethical concerns and considers each connection a vote. A vote? Think about that!

Warren Buffet said

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.”

How you answer the question, “What are you doing” can make or break your reputation.

Now you know what I’m doing and about my unofficial boycott!

• Are hyphens better for separating keywords in your URI (Uniform Resource Indicator)?
• If so, why not separate words with an underscore?

NOTE: Many use the term URL (Universal Resource Locator), which has been deprecated. Old habits die hard. URI is the term for the portion of a Web page’s name after the domain.

Who wins as “Best Keyword Separator” is a contest SEOs and Webmasters want to know in order to optimize websites for search engines and for users. Understanding search algorithms is an ongoing game, for sure. Knowing what’s best for people (your audience) should be thrown into the ring to determine the winner.

The issue of hyphens or underscores in file names has been discussed and debated for years.

Does the hyphen, aka a “dash,” make any difference to the search engines?

More importantly…

Does a hyphen or an underscore make a difference to readers?

Vanessa Fox Answers Hyphens or Underscores Question

Vanessa Fox answered the following question by Leslie Youngstrom (@LeslieY on Twitter) for WebMasterRadio.fm Office Hours show on March 5, 2009:

@vanessafox Would love to hear a definitive answer on whether to use hyphens or underscores in filenames for best SEO. Research available?

The following is a truncated summary (not verbatim transcript) of Vanessa Fox’s gracious and sage answer:

If all else being equal, does Google not give extra weight for ranking for hyphens vs. urls.

What is in url does influence extra weight into the site. What is in your URL does influence the anchor text for linking. Also, a lot of people will click on links expecting to see content based on the keywords in the URL.

If someone is linking to you, when keywords are separated by hyphens, they are seen as distinct.

Underscores may be seen in a similar way. Google has said they are looking into it – that they will start looking at underscores the same as hyphens. But I doesn’t know for sure if they have implemented this.

The reason, originally, that underscores weren’t the same as hyphens is that Google was built by programmers. They thought of underscores as joining words.

Having keywords and hyphens in URLs is important from a user experience perspective. You want the highest click-through rates. If you have keywords in your URLs, you give people an indication of what they are going to see as they click through. Hyphens do a good job of separating words. Underscores are often not seen, and users wonder if it’s a space or an underscore, because links get underlined. Readers may not get the URL right. So from a usability perspective, use hyphens.

It’s the same amount of extra work to take two or three or four of the main keywords and put them in the URL. It doesn’t take extra work to put in the hyphens.

Studies have found people are more likely to click on a short URL. Go ahead and use hyphens.

Visit Vanessa Fox’s site for Office Hours podcasts. Once latest podcasts are posted, you’ll be able to listen to her answer.

Did you catch how Leslie phrased her question – “definitive answer” and “research available?”

Vanessa’s answer gave good reasoning for best practices. She provided insight about usability and what’s best for users.  We all wish Google, Yahoo! and Live Search would answer DEFINITIVELY! Part of the answer may be subjective, however. I decided to see if there are any definite results or research.

Are Hyphens more Usable?

Vanessa pointed out that the majority of websites underline links in their body copy. Users are confused when they see a page name that has underscores, which show up right next to and just above the underline.

People wonder if the underline is a space.

If underscores confuse, why put them there?

POINT: Remove any aspect of confusion in your page names.

Page Name Study

I recall usability studies that show users click through to pages with keywords separated by hyphens more than underscores. It’s also been shown that people are more likely to share and link to sites with hyphens in their domain name. I didn’t find the exact studies on these points. Interestingly, an eyetracking study by Microsoft (PDF) showed the following:

People spend 24% of their gaze time looking at the URLs in the search results.

That means people are spending time looking at your page name! So, we know it matters.

Seniors – Hyphens Study

Jakob Nielsen wrote an article about usability for senior citizens in which he explains that seniors have trouble with search engines and Web forms:

We saw users thwarted because they typed hyphens in their search queries, and punished because they used hyphens or parentheses in a telephone or credit card number.

Ah… Of course! We naturally type the hyphen as a separator. We (old and young alike) don’t naturally type the underscore.

SEO Value of Hyphens

Concensus of “repeat opinion” is that hyphens have an SEO value. Why? We know hyphens are seen as word separators. We don’t know, for sure, how Google, Yahoo! and Live Search interpret underscores.

Google’s does give their recommendation for URL structure in their Help pages.

Consider using punctuation in your URLs. The URL http://www.example.com/green-dress.html is much more useful to us than http://www.example.com/greendress.html. We recommend that you use hyphens (-) instead of underscores (_) in your URLs.

Vanessa Fox wrote about best practices for image filenames on Jane and Robot. She discusses the issue in the following paragraph:

Make image filenames descriptive

If your filename includes multiple words, use hyphens to separate them (search engines tend to see a hyphen as a separator and an underscore as a joiner (so lavendar_plant would be seen as one word and lavender-plant would be seen as two).

The following is from April 2006 from Matt Cutts’ blog, Google’s chief engineer:

And speaking of putting a dash in URLs, hyphens are often better than underscores…

Hyphen-Underscore confusion elevated after July 2007 when Google announced it was reading hyphens the same as underscores. However, Matt Cutts told us a month later that it was not yet in effect.

It’s now 2009, and the discussion and confusion continue.

Recent Research about Hyphens & Underscores

The latest post with research and ongoing discussion I found was on WebProWorld from January 19, 2009 – Whish is Better for SEO – an UNDERSCORE or HYPHEN?

Read and draw your own conclusions. The WebProWorld article doesn’t show conclusive research, however.

One opinion is worth repeating:

I have seen a lot of sources conduct basic tests to try to determine which method is better (such as the test at URLs (Update)) but most of these tests are from 2007 or before. Personally, though, I tend to be conservative and if a particular method has a historical track record of being well supported, I tend to stay with it until something comes along which is demonstrable as being an improvement.

I kept thinking about Leslie’s desire for research.

Testing How Google, Yahoo! & Live Search “Think”

Search engine result pages (SERPs) help us see how search engines think. We can’t do a Vulcan Mind Meld with the search engines on how they take in information. But we can see how they spit it out. I tried to tap into Google, Yahoo! and Live Search to see how they think about hyphens and underscores.

The following shows SERPs for various forms of “insurance rates” in the Big 3 search engines:

SERPs were different for the following:

• insurance rates – no space between keywords
• insurance-rates – hyphen between keywords
• insurance_rates – underscore between keywords
• “insurance rates” – no space, in quotation marks to return exact phrase
• “insurance-rates” – hyphen, in quotation marks to see if hyphen also returned exact phrase
• “insurance_rates” – underscore, in quotation marks to see if underscore returned exact phrase
  
• insurance+rates – plus sign between keywords to eliminate unrelated results

Conclusion?

Google says they are interpreting the underscore as a word separator. If they have already implemented it, their SERPs don’t show this change. Other search engines may have as well. But if the SERPs show how they think, this research shows search engines don’t think of hyphens and underscores in the same way.

1. Search results for exact phrases (keywords within quotation marks) display almost the exact same results as keywords separated by hyphens.
2. Search results for keywords separated by underscores are not displayed in the same way.

We know that users are equality important, or at least they should be. People understand dashes as natural word separators. Let your readers’ desires help guide your decision about using hyphens vs. underscores. Do whatever you can to improve the user experience with your site.

Take a look around. What do you see in most URIs?

Who Won?
I vote for hyphens as “Best Keyword Separator.”

Should you change your URI structure?

1. Don’t change your page names to hyphens if you already have underscores, unless you are doing a site redesign and are already planning on doing a lot of 301 redirects. We don’t know for sure if you will see a “lift” in the search engines. Search engines will then need to recrawl and reindex the changed URLs.
2. Do consider hyphens as keyword separators for new websites and future pages .

Please share your research, opinions and conclusions. The contest about hyphens vs. underscores will surely continue.

How to get Live Twitter Race Coverage

Get live race coverage on Twitter Search at http://search.twitter.com/search?q=atoc.

You don’t have to sign up for a Twitter to enjoy live commentary and race coverage about the Tour of California. Learn what the fans are seeing and thinking, what some of the racers and team directors are sharing.

Cycling fans are turning to Twitter to read these 140-character micro-blogging updates, aka “tweets.”

@rustyventure is thanking the Twitterverse for their coverage, as shown above. He concludes:

“best race news was #atoc.”

Is Twitter better than other Sports sites?

Have the other sports sites failed?

AmgenTourofCalifornia.com

Amgen’s Tour of California website has a live tracker with video and race coverage.  That’s pretty engaging, right? Yes.

A race fan has to really WANT coverage offered on Amgen’s site. Visit. You are greeted with the following barrier to entry:

“Click here for live race coverage with the TourTracker, powered by Adobe Flash”

“Click here to continue to the Amgen Tour of California website”

Amgen’s website has been the “go to” spot for Tour coverage the past 2 years. Has been? Well, it still is. Is it THE go to spot? Not anymore!

Twitter provides more in-depth play-by-play.

Amgen’s use of Twitter is worse than entry into their website. After following @AmgenTourofCali, I immediately unfollowed. On 02.16.09, I noticed their latest tweet was on 12.19.09 with the announcement of the TOC teams. The term for this is “Epic FAIL!”

Those of us who “do” Social Media as a living see this more often than not. People and organizations learn of the magnetism and reach of Twitter. They sign up, tweet, then drop out due to lack of understanding. They don’t get involved in the conversation.

Amgen’s Tour of California Twitter stream could have been a valuable asset. Amgen should be leveraging Twitter to:

1. Engage cycling race fans;
2. Announce winners;
3. Share race changes due to weather, including road closures;
4. Increase website traffic and search engine ranking – a Twitter by-product.

Versus.com

Versus.com (VS) has extensive pro cycling race coverage on their Cyclism Channel.

Pro Cycling fans once relied solely on Versus TV for race coverage, unless one put up a satellite dish tuned to Italian and/or Spanish TV. VS race coverage is usually limited. A six-hour race is edited down to 30 minutes or 2 hours. Only a few races, such as the Tour de France and now the Tour of California, are broadcast live with recaps rebroadcast throughout the day.Very cool!

Versus.com says the Amgen Tour of California:

“will bring the drama and excitement of a professional bicycle stage race to the California coast. The world’s top professional teams will compete over an [sic] nine-day, 800-mile race on a route that includes the California redwoods, wine country and the Pacific Coast.

Cycling Drama and Excitement?

You bet! Thank you, VS, for bringing such extensive TV coverage of the Tour of California! This year, we are especially thankful for Lance Armstrong’s return to cycling. Race coverage and public interest is heightened because of this 7-time Tour de France winner’s return from retirement and his cancer-survival and awareness efforts.

How could VS expand upon this excitement? Engage pro cycling race fans!

Versus on Twitter?

@versustv, Versus.com’s profile on Twitter, fails. @versustv tweeted the following on 02.15.09:

TOUR OF CALIFORNIA LIVE COVERAGE —- TODAY @ 12:30 —- ONLY ON VERSUS!!!!

• ALL CAPS?
• No links to their website telling more about coverage.
• No indication if time was EST or PST.
• No further race updates!

The next update to their Twitter profile was on 02.16.09 at 10:30am, PST, 1 hour AFTER live race coverage started on Versus TV:

Watching the AMGEN Tour of California on VERSUS….are you?

That’s it for VS Twitter updates for the day…

Race Commentator Phil Ligget mentioned Twitter today during the live broadcast on VS. He gets it. After Lance Armstrong’s crash with a motorbike. Phil said:

“Johan Bruyneel will be doing his Twitter.”

Why Twitter?

Why are people turning to Twitter ahead of TV coverage?

@AntHeald mentioned he has never followed the Tour of California before, but now he is because of Twitter.

Twitter is changing coverage of professional cycling. Twitter is converting and engaging race fans more than traditional television and website coverage.

#ATOC on Twitter

The Twitter stream for #atoc on February 16 showed discussion about the tour was the hottest and most-used hashtag on Twitter for the day. At 2:26pm, @klassman posted:

#atoc climbed to number three in Twitter trends for the day. Awesome second half of the stage drove the conversation.

No sports website or newspaper has the reach of Twitter. ATOC on Twitter is Social Media in its penultimate form – full race fan engagement!

Twitter is as up-to-date as the “crackle of race radio!”

The following shows updates about the Stage 2 crash that involved Lance and a motorbike as well as 15 of the riders. I heard about the crash. I immediately turned to Twitter Search:

Twitter Cycling Surprise

Twitter discussion about the race took me by surprise. I’ve been on Twitter for over a year, and it primarily serves as my networking hub with other search marketers and social media addicts. I’ve connected with fellow cycling aficionados on Twitter more during the past few months. Twitterverse conversation about the Amgen Tour of California marked a turning point in my understanding of how Twitter has permeated professional cycling.

We joined a cadre of cycling fans to watch the Prologue in Sacramento and Stage 1 in Winters, CA. While driving to Winters, the first sprint point of the race, I checked my Twitter stream and learned from @JohanBruyneel that four Team Astana bikes had been stolen, including Lance’s time trial bike. I followed the conversation and @LanceArmstrong‘s posting of a picture of his bike. I tweeted and shared with my followers:

Convo on Twitpic re Lance’s stolen bike http://twitpic.com/1i8t1 – support, odd input & spam

I also saw that one of my friends and co-founder of Velo Bella, @SabineDukes, was in Davis and that her fiancée, Mike Hernandez, was announcing the Junior Race. We almost took a detour through Davis to see them but continued to Winters. I later started watching her tweets for some great updates and pictures.

The Race Without Twitter

My cell phone coverage in Winters was non-existent. I couldn’t log on to Twitter. Oh no… After watching the Twitter stream earlier, I wanted to know when the racers would arrive. I couldn’t login. Here is the play-by-play of the race without Twitter:

• I joined friends on the sprint line an hour early to get a good spot.
• Rain poured down.
• Anticipation mounted.
• We knew the racers would have to make a 90-degree turn on paved bricks at the center of town right before the sprint.
• Course marshalls updated us on the arrival of the racers.
• They were moving faster than anticipated.
• There was a break away.
• Would there be a sprint?
• Where was in the lead?
• I poised my camera at the spring point.
• Helicopters soared overhead while cowbells rang.
• Mancebo crossed the sprint line a minute ahead of 2 other guys. The field was 5 minutes behind.
• I got the shot.
• I couldn’t share it on Twitter or send it to TwitPic.

Live race fans don’t have the advantage of television coverage and commentary. We rely on what we hear “word of mouth.” Now, if I don’t have Twitter at the race, I’ll feel cut off.

Mancebo went on to win the >100-mile Stage 1 after breaking away 5 miles into the race. His performance was an epic SUCCESS. Fans cheered and “high fived” for him on Twitter.

Twitter Live Commentary

Twitter is the “go to” spot for live commentary of the Tour of California! It’s citizen journalism and engagement at its highest level of interactivity, ever!

I don’t imagine Johan Bruyneel will tweet Team Astana’s race strategies or that Jonathan Vaughters will tweet Team Slipstream’s next move. They are, however, sharing their thoughts about the race and giving us a little insight into who they are, how they think and how proud they are of their teams.

The rest of the Tour of California will be discussed and reported on Twitter.  Personally, I’ll be in southern California for the final 4 days of the race. I’ll be among thousands who will be hooked to Twitter Search for #atoc.

Lesson to Cycling News Sites

There is a lesson to cycling news sites.

Get on board now, or get left behind.

Cycling fans may not know or care about “Social Media.” But we do hunger for latest news. We understand and yearn for conversation, to discuss the race and the riders, to show our support, and to hear from you.

Don’t get caught up in your bigness and the great amount of money invested in your websites. Put a little time and energy into engaging with your audience through Twitter. Other than time spent, it’s free.

This is not just another chart. It contains rules and tips for how to play a winning game of SEO and Internet Marketing in 2009.

ProspectMX rolled out one of the best one-page overviews of the keys to understanding the latest game changer – Universal Search.

Google’s Universal Search model is rocking the SEO world as search engine optimizers adjust to the rules of the new game.

Tired of hearing the word, “game changer?”

If you’re into SEO, get used to it. The game changes, constantly. 2009 marks big changes to how Google algorithms (their internal rules) determine which Web pages and sites are popular and relevant.

ProspectMX’s chart is a cartoonish Clif Notes version of a Universal Search Optimization rulebook.

“It’s not just about content anymore.”

Learn how to play the Internet Marketing game by adding additional players to your SEO content team. Semantic keyword-rich text that is relevant to searchers and readers now requires a “team” that includes multiple forms of media and Web content:

• Video
• News & Press Releases
• Images
• Local Reviews
• Product Data Feeds
• Accessible Content

Download the PDF version of chart for tips on implementing a successful search engine optimization strategy. You must remember this key universal rule:

“All types of web content will begin to appear on page one – not just web pages.”

Universal Search Chart Print Settings

Print the Universal Search Optimization Chart as a checklist for your SEO efforts. It’s worth one sheet of paper to print a hard copy. Note, however, that the downloadable PDF settings may not print entirely on one sheet of paper by default.

Go green as much as possible, and take a moment to change the default settings, if necessary.

1. Look at your Preview pane in your print settings control panel.
2. If you a page width larger than 8.5×11, uncheck the “Choose Paper Source by PDF page size. (Shown below.)

The Preview pane should display the proper dimenstions to print the chart on one piece of paper:

Whallah!

Thank you, ProspectMX, for a creative and fun game book.

Your Universal Search Optimization Chart should spark creativity to make Conversational SEO even more fun! Your tips show us how important it is to engage and rank using many forms of content.

You hit a home run!

Happy Birthday, Facebook!

You turned 5 years old February 4, 2009, and your influence on the world grows exponentially as your age grows linearly. You have received a lot of “Happy Birthday, Facebook” greetings, yet I couldn’t let the week pass without sending my own birthday wish to you.

Facebook Happy Birthday Application

Facebook, you have had a tremendous impact on many people.  I didn’t really understand your magnetism at first. When you opened your doors to more than college students, masses flocked to network onto your social platform. Over 150 million people around the world share their lives on Facebook to date.

You offer a safe place for people to connect. New friendships are formed and strengthened and old friends and high school buddies are reconnected, thanks to you! You have many applications, even providing ways for people to wish each other “Happy” Birthday on Facebook.

Businesses, non-profit organizations, various causes and political campaigns are able to share their products, services and efforts with Facebook users. Millions of dollars in social media advertising are invested into your tightly-controlled ad system. Facebook “Causes” has made a difference to help people and campaigns that would have been impossible without this social utility.

My comprehension of the “power of Facebook” for search marketing has grown in the past year. You are an important factor for search engine optimization and social media marketing. I was surprised to see you with a booth at Affiliate Summit in Vegas in January, and that “Advertising on Facebook” was the topic of a HOT session. You may argue it was standing-room-only because Shoemoney was on the panel, but you were the royal guest of honor.

Thank you, Facebook, for providing a social network for us to engage in conversation in ways unavailable before your birthday 5 years ago.

You should be proud that you have fulfilled and continue to expand your mission:

“Facebook was founded in 2004 to give people the tools to engage and understand the world around them.”

I’m going to spend more time with you building relationships in the coming years and look forward to many more birthdays! It will be exciting to see how you mature.

Happy Birthday, Facebook!

Do you practice Safe Password Management?

A course in “Safe Password Management” should be taught in all schools! Here are some tips that should be course material.

Yahoo! Security Center wins hands-down for the best metaphor about the importance of a secure password:

“A password is like a toothbrush:
Choose a good one and don’t share it.”

Everyone who is online needs to understand the dangers and risks of being lazy, sloppy, and reckless for using passwords that are not secure.

TIP: Just say “NO” to the following:

• NO pet names
• NO favorite birds
• NO high school sweethearts
• NO birthday or anniversary
• NO “your name” plus one number
• NO “your company name + two numbers
• NOTHING under seven or eight characters in length
• NO to the name of ANYTHING that can be found in the dictionary

Check out the Yahoo! Security Center once again for tips about what TO DO when choosing a strong, secure password.

TIP: Don’t make it guessable by a person or detectable by programs that use a dictionary attack. These programs simply try every word in the dictionary as a possible password.

Do you remember all your passwords?

You now understand what NOT to do and HOW to choose a strong password.

TIP: Do NOT use the same password for all your accounts!

You cannot use the same “toothbrush” for everything!

You need to be creative, safe and secure…over and over.

How are you going remember ALL passwords to ALL of your accounts?

Don’t let this stop you from getting involved in Social Media!

You access multiple accounts on a daily basis and often log in and out and back in again…

I’m going to show you how to practice Safe Password Management to access all your social networks, email, online calendar, and more.

Password Management Tool

Every day I sit down to my computer, I rely on a password management tool that manages logins to multiple accounts. I use it as a bookmark manager. Logging into email, my project management accounts, blog admin, Twitter, LinkedIn, FaceBook, Google Analytics or PayPal is a breeze.

• Managing multiple Social Media profiles is easy.
• I only have ONE (1) password to remember!
• It’s totally SECURE!

What is it?

RoboForm – Password Manager

RoboForm is my password manager – a toolbar in Firefox & Internet Explorer.

RoboForm securely handles my login to almost ALL my sites.

HOW I USE ROBOFORM: It…

1. Takes me directly to the login page;
2. Fills in my user name;
3. Securely enters my password;
4. Submits the info for me to enter the site.

I no longer keep a list of passwords in a password-protected Excel file.

SAFE & SECURE:

Passwords are encrypted in RoboForm, so keyloggers cannot “peak and swipe” your passwords.

Auto Login

I use it as a bookmark manager. It’s like having a login wizard! I don’t even remember how to navigate to some of my sites anymore. RoboForm does it for me!

The following screenshot from RoboForm’s site shows an example a Logins list. A pulldown displays saved destinations.

TIP: Click. You’re logged in!

TIP: Organize logins into folders – not shown above.

Safe Notes

RoboForm has a secure notepad feature in which you can type anything. It’s a great place to keep notes about an account, customer numbers, security questions or any type of information you don’t want someone to find.

TIP: Create a RoboForm Safe Note when setting up websites for hosting or a new blog. Copy the IP address and all associated information for each website and blog into a Safe Note.

Below is another screenshot example from RoboForm’s site.

TIP: Transfer passwords via Safe Notes. RoboForm has a built-in email function that will send only a Safe Note file.

Auto Fill

TIP: Automatically fill contact forms and shopping cart checkout pages (not shown). RoboForm also has a form filler feature by which it will automatically enter your information. You don’t even have to remember your address!

Browsers & Platforms?

RoboForm works on PCs in Firefox & Internet Explorer. To date, it doesn’t work in Google Chrome or on a Mac.

There are more very cool features for you to check out if you are a PC user.

* * * * * * *
It’s rare to find a tool I cannot live without. We’re intimate. It knows all my secret passwords, and I trust it not to let anyone find out. We’re practicing Safe Password Management.

TIP: Only remember one password ever again – the master password to access RoboForm!

Download RoboForm. Try it for Free

Go ahead, download RoboForm, and never forget your passwords again. Try it for FREE!

Affiliate Disclaimer: If you purchase, which I imagine you will, I’ll get a small morsel of gratitude for sending your business their way.

Purchase a license for multiple computers and transfer your RoboForm password files between computers.

Feel free to share how you manage your passwords.

A search marketer’s daily lexicon includes words about tactics and actions for sharing and virally spreading messages, building brands and helping rank websites on the front pages of search engines. Geek speak represents daily life online, our Internet marketing jargon and lingo used while participating in online communities.

Geek Speak for Tactics

Geek Speak relating to methods, or tactics,  for marketing and positioning a company’s products and services include some of the following:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay Per Click (PPC), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Blogging, User Generated Content (UGC), Social Media Marketing (SMM), Social Media Optimization (SMO), Email Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Social Networking, Reputation Management

Does online marketing have more acronyms than government work?

Translate and learn some of this lingo at MarketingTerms.com, an Internet marketing terms reference.

Geek Speak for Actions

Internet marketers, as well as customers and non-marketing types who surf the Web and/or buy products online, are all part of the process. Our actions become part of the marketing message. You may not know the word or term for what you are doing when you’re online, but when you are speaking about a product or service, your language becomes part of that company’s brand.

Geek speak for daily actions through which we share include:

Tweet, Stumble, Thumb, Sphinn, Digg, Post, Tag

• Tweet - a message less than or equal to 140 characters posted on Twitter
• Thumb - the act of giving a thumbs up or thumbs down to cast your vote on a website post, article, photo on StumbleUpon. People who look through StumbleUpon then Stumble upon sites for which others have voted.
• Sphinn - voting approval or disapproval (desphinning) submissions made on Sphinn, the site where many in search marketing hang out to share stories
• Digg - another “vote” of approval to say you like an article
• Post - creating an article for a blog, a blog post
• Tag - adding a keyword to posts or inserting words into a tweet or bookmarking a site with tags (Delicious)

These terms relate to participation on social networks, also known as “socnets.”

Socnets

Socnets are networks where people socialize and hang out. They represent the interconnection of people through a network. There are hundreds of socnets. Primary social networks for online marketers are Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Sphinn, Digg, LinkedIn, and a few more.

Socnets connect you with other people and their interests. You can see your friends and who your friends know and what they are doing, bookmarking, sharing, thinking, purchasing.

Social networking has grown into one THE biggest and most essential aspects of Internet marketing.

Microsoft announced that 70% of it’s ad spend in 2009 is going to be on Facebook?

Why?

This is where people are hanging out!

Socnets are growing faster than the rate of change in Google’s search algorithms. And that’s pretty darn fast! People like to hang out with other people, which is one of the key reasons for their phenomenal growth. Some people just like to watch other people – another reason.

Watch the CommonCraft video that explains Social Networking in Plain English.

Social networking and the way people share and vote for articles and blog posts about products and services has molded our daily words and actions.

Learn the Lingo!

Even if it all sounds like geek speak, once you join networks, you learn the culture and how to communicate with those who live there.

Learn the lingo of Internet marketers!

What new words do you need to start speaking? You, too, can learn geek speak! Who knows. Maybe the next brand that gets talked about is yours!

Are you interested in making money online? Pan for gold nuggets by sifting through the #ASWO9 hashtag. You’ll find tips, tricks, tools and insights into the lives of affiliate marketers.

Hashtag 101

A hashtag is a way of marking up a tag  with the pound sign, aka a “hash” – #. People who send messages via Twitter can use a common term (keyword or acronym) to ensure all messages related to the topic of the hashtag can be grouped together for reference.

Hashtag explained:

Hashtags are a community-driven convention for adding additional context and metadata to your tweets. They’re like tags on Flickr, only added inline to your post. You create a hashtag simply by prefixing a word with a hash symbol: #hashtag.

Hashtags were developed as a means to create “groupings” on Twitter.

#ASWO9 = Affiliate Summit West 2009

Attendees of Affiliate Summit West posted their notes, emotions, current happenings, and emotions by appending #ASW09 in their <=140-character tweets. These tweets into Twitter were sent through laptops and mobile phones. The #ASW09 hashtag grouped all these updates together for viewing in Twitter search for #ASW09.

This screen shot was taken on Jan 15, 2 days after the conference. (Yes, the conversation continues after Affiliate Summit West ended.)

• Twitter search was displayed on many projector screens throughout and during conference sessions. To say “the crowd was engaged” is an understatement!
• Speakers received questions while moderators watched Twitter for #ASW09 during Q&A.
• I panned for gold throughout the conference by checking my mobile phone and watching the stream of #ASW09 nuggets. (I was unable to take copious notes, because my laptop battery wouldn’t charge. The hashtag was my lifesaver.)

I posted a tweet to let others know about one excellent note-taker:

Read @VegasBill tweets for good ASW09 notes.

(I later met Bill and learned he is quite well known in Las Vegas and is a real estate agent and entrepreneur who keeps his followers informed about local Vegas news!)

The #ASW09 hashtag was also the method of letting others know about “after parties” and networking events.

Thanks to #ASW09, I knew where @rickgalan, one of my friends on Twitter and fellow winner of Copyblogger’s Gold Passes to Affiliate Summit, was during the conference. We met up a few times, thanks to this shiny Twitter hashtag.

Twitter Marketing

Affiliate Marketers know the power of Twitter as a marketing medium. It’s obviously a strong, if not addictive, aspect of many marketers’ business models. Moderators in a few sessions asked how many people in the room were on Twitter, and the show of hands was almost unanimous!

Many who attended Affiliate Summit West without a Twitter account left understanding the power of Twitter. They setup their accounts immediately or discussed they needed to “get on board” this Social Media phenom.

Peter Shankman (@skydiver) of HelpAReporter.com mentioned there are two types of Twitters:

• Yogurt tweeters - those who post they just purchased a yogurt
• Information tweeters - those who share information

Sifting through the #ASW09 hashtags will prove this true. You’ll find insightful notes about Affiliate Marketing and also learn that some ate or drank too much while others left with extra money in their pocket from the Black Jack tables.

Pan for #ASWO9 Gold

Panning for gold is a process of separating the nuggets from the dirt, the worthless material. You can pan for gold and find nuggets that can help you make money online by sifting through the ASW09 hashtag.

Here’s where you can pan for your own Affiliate Summit gold:

• Search through links Twittered during Affiliate Summit.
• Check out profiles of usernames of active Twitterers.
• Spend hours reading through Twitter Search for #ASW09.
• View a few of my photos from Affiliate Summit West.

Did you attended Affiliate Summit West? Please share your golden ASWO9 nuggets.

NOW is the time to make a list, and check it twice! Keep on your SEO Santa hat. If you wait until the Fall of 2009 to put your Christmas content online, you’re too late. It takes a few months to rank a page well for chosen keywords. Christmas keywords are very competitive, so it takes even longer.

E-commerce store owners have to think much farther ahead in the calendar than brick-and-mortar retailers. Walk-in retail stores are currently planning for Spring. Online stores MUST…

Begin planning for Christmas immediately after Christmas!

The online Christmas shopping season officially begins in November. Will your website be found by day-after-Thanksgiving shoppers? They will be typing their desires into search engines and receiving millions of Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). A search for “christmas gifts” returns 29.3 million results!

Obviously, “christmas gifts” is a highly-competitive term, and you’ll want to plan for and optimize for a term that is not in such high demand. However, this illustrates the key importance of planning 2009 Christmas SEO NOW!

Below are a few suggestions to fast forward your 2009 Christmas SEO:

Research Christmas Keywords NOW!

Research keywords for which you want to rank next Christmas. Selecting the right keyword phrases is a top priority. You want phrases for which people are searching. Now is the ideal time to start researching Christmas-related keywords.

Current Keyword Research = How Christmas Shoppers Think

Do-it-yourselfers can use Wordtracker’s Free Keyword Suggestion Tool. The following shows results for “christmas gifts” on December 30, 2008:

Wordtracker displays 100 related keywords and the estimated daily search volume for each phrase. Shown above are the top 13.

Why Research NOW?

Wordtracker’s “sampling” represents searches for the last 160 days (just over 5 months). Data from right before Christmas represents how people are searching for holiday gift giving.

For example, people are NOT searching for “top 10 Christmas gifts” directly after Christmas. Wordtracker’s database of averages will drop each passing day for Christmas-related keyword phrases.

Assume you wait to do your keyword research in July 2009. You will NOT see accurate data and averages for how people were searching for “christmas gifts” during the 2008 shopping season. Do your research NOW to plan your SEO for Christmas 2009.

Redirect Christmas 2008 Product Pages

Do not simply delete your latest Christmas product pages. If you delete your old pages, users will get a 404 error – “Page Not Found.”  You might as well tell shoppers not come to your store!

Use 301 Permanent Redirects.

Redirect your pages with a 301 permanent redirect to other pages in your site. This boosts rankings of the target page. Consider the following to determine where to send visitors who may have found or who have bookmarked your 2008 holiday product page(s):

• Redirect to pages with similar product offerings.
  Transfer link juice by redirecting holiday product pages to other internal pages. Don’t just redirect to the home page, which usually has a lot of ranking anyway.  Consider… if you have a Christmas Gift Bundle with a combination of products you don’t offer outside of Christmas, redirect to the most popular product in the bundle. Boost the rankings for that product page.
• Redirect to your 2009 Christmas pages.
  Put on your creative-thinking Santa hat while remembering that your 2008 page will have higher ranking than your 2009 page. Build link juice by redirecting to pages for next Christmas season.

Reference this guide to 301 redirects.

REMINDER: Update your sitemaps (for your website and XML sitemap).

Prepare 2009 Christmas Website Copy

Get your 2009 Christmas pages online to allow plenty of time for Google to index them. Select 2-3 keyword phrases per page, and write your website copy.

Put your chosen Christmas keywords in your:

• Titles, keeping title tags unique for each page.
• Meta Descriptions, knowing this is the copy that displays in the search engine snippet.
• Header Tags (H1, H2, H3)
• Body Content / Copy
• URLs (if you have search-friendly URLs which you can rewrite)
• Internal Anchor Text when linking to the Christmas copy from other pages.
• External Anchor Text when linking to the Christmas product pages from other websites.

Once again, remember your XML Sitemap!

Let your 2009 Christmas copy gain ranking!

SEO now to ensure product pages will be ranked for 2009 Christmas gift-giving lists!

Christmas SEO List

Of course, you’ll add to your Christmas SEO list as the year progresses:

• Get backlinks from related companies, suppliers and other quality websites.
• Participate in Social Media to be part of the Christmas gift-giving conversation.
• Comment on blogs where your target audience hangs out.
• Send specials to your email and RSS subscribers.
• Use matching keywords in PPC campaigns.
• Measure conversion, test, and experiment with all of the above!

You still have on your SEO Santa hat, right? Use a little bit of your jolly creativity (and current 2008 ranking) to consider one more holiday offer…

Offer Post-Christmas & New Year’s Specials

Turn your 2008 Christmas product pages into post-Christmas & New Year’s sales machines.

There’s no need to change the product body copy. Simply cut the price and add a graphic with a $ or % discount, a 2-for-1 offer, or free shipping to kick off 2009!

Jump into 2009 by turning your Holiday Gift Bundles into New Year’s Specials!

You’ll want to set a deadline for these specials. Then you can redirect the pages as suggested above.