The purpose of the bills were to target and shut down so-called “rogue sites” that are set up outside the United States in countries where copyright laws are more lax. These sites then distribute pirated copies of copyrighted intellectual property including music, movies and television shows. These pirated copies have cost media companies billions of dollars in lost revenue.

While copyright holders can’t specifically fight websites in another country because the sites don’t fall within the jurisdiction of U.S. courts, these laws would force U.S. companies to stop funding, advertising and linking to them. In essence, they cut off access and financial support to the sites.

On some level, that’s the way it should be: if you created the next great pop song or directed the next blockbuster motion picture, you’d want your intellectual property — and your profits — protected, too.

The issue for opponents to these bills isn’t so much protecting intellectual property or copyright holder income, but rather the issue of censorship.

That’s because these laws go a bit further. One key component is DNS Blocking, which opponents are quick to point out is the same method China’s government uses to block sites it doesn’t want its citizens to see. Some fear that any “broad” language in the bill could open the door to abuse of power by the Justice Department, resulting in legitimate sites the government just happens not to like to be blocked.

Then there’s the problem of increased responsibility: websites like YouTube and Vimeo and social networking sites like Facebook and Google+ could be held accountable for copyrighted material that its users post. This, opponents say, will force them to self-censor to avoid legal problems, and this could restrict content dramatically.

Some critics even argue that a riskier legal climate could affect the number of new startups that launch, costing the country tech jobs.

And that riskier legal climate could reach all the way to the user, who could face a felony charge for uploading a copyrighted song: a popular tweet this week claims, “Under SOPA, you could get 5 years for uploading a Michael Jackson song, one year more than the doctor who killed him.”

It’s unfortunate that we’ve reached a level of cynicism in this country that we become certain that the worst-case scenario will automatically be the norm from day one. But we have, and so armageddon-style marketing messages about what could — stress that “could” — happen are enough to scare the daylights out of many a web surfer.

Did the blackouts work? The New York Times reports that “at least 10 senators and nearly twice that many House members announced their opposition” to the bills.

Congress is slated to vote on the bills on January 24th, so we’ll have to wait and see whether our lawmakers take the concern to heart. In the meantime, we can only wonder how much authority the government really needs and how much of a slippery slope we’re willing to risk to protect copyright.

Sit down and pull up a chair. This blog post is the first installment of an ongoing series on SEO and how to obtain the much-valued top search engine positions.

As part of an online marketing strategy, a primary objective for business owners and competitive social media marketers is to get top search engine results (SERPs).  More recently however, the focus has shifted to PageRank as well.  So what is PageRank anyway and how does it relate to the much-talked-about holy grail known as SERPs?

What is PageRank?

PageRank, according to Wikipedia:

“is a link analysis algorithm, named after Larry Page^[1] and used by the Google Internet search engine, that assigns a numerical weighting to each element of a hyperlinked set of documents, such as the World Wide Web, with the purpose of “measuring” its relative importance within the set.”

Page’s partner in the project, Sergey Brin, had the idea that information on the web could be ordered in a hierarchy by “link popularity”. In layman’s terms, a page is ranked higher as there are more links to it (which is what off-page SEO is). The Google system ranks web pages on a site on a scale from 1-10.

Main factors that affect PageRank:

• Number of backlinks (external links pointing the page)
• How long the page has existed
• Number of internal links (links on the same page that scroll the page up or down to the desired location)
• Well organized site structure
• Quick page load time
• The quality of the website
• SERPs

So that’s all well and good you say, but what’s the skinny on SERPs and how does it relate to PageRank?

What are SERPs? – Search Engine Results Positions

This term SERPs refers to where you are in Google’s search results for a given keyword or keyphrase (which is what on-page SEO is) . For example, you’ve written a webpage about “pomade”.  When someone types “pomade” into the Google search box, it would be ideal for your page to be displayed in the top 10 search results for that keyword.

Main factors that affect SERPs:

• Optimized Key Words/Phrases (Tip: Use keywords and internal links at the beginning of content)
• Title tags
• Page URL (redisigning a site can temporarily affect your position)
• Meta Description (Page Description/Summary)
• Anchor text
• Tags
• Page Length
• PageRank

The Bottom Line?

So we’ve learned that both PageRank and SERPs affect each other interchangeably. High PageRank is based mostly on backlinks (off-page SEO) while SERPs are mostly affected by keywords (on-page SEO). So which one is more important and what are the best ways to optimize your page and get backlinks? Stay tuned for the next article from Scott Baldino Design and we will delve into the wonderful world of PageRank and backlinks. We will introduce a new term as well…Social Bookmarking!

Read More!

For a good related article on SERPs read Hubpages.com article at:
http://susana-s.hubpages.com/hub/increase-page-rank-google-search-pagerank

In today’s market, social media is changing the face of customer service. With the global reach of the world wide web, a bad customer experience can overshadow years of hard work.  One negative post on a review site or being blasted out on Facebook & Twitter can substantially impact the possibility of attracting a new customer.  I read and write reviews about my experiences with businesses periodically and it is generated ultimately by emotion.   Either I had an incredible experience or an awful one.  It feels good to be able to voice your opinion about customer service you’ve received and to let my friends know about it as well.  Savvy business owners understand this dynamic and are responding to these posts.


Personally, I will never forget how slighted I felt when no one responded to a review I posted online about an experience that I had at a local doctors office.  I wanted to be heard and a simple ‘we’re so sorry for your experience’ would have retained me and my family as patients.  I felt that by posting no response my business did not matter to them.   I am the average American who wants to be heard and I use the social media to do so. In order to be successful in today’s market, businesses should be watching their social media accounts very closely.

As business owners, it is imperative to engage with your customers. Statistics show in this excellent article by Brian Solis that “people are willing to spend more for products from companies that have a history of good customer service or that deliver outstanding experiences.”   Isn’t that what we all want at the end of the day? We want our business to succeed and our customers to walk away feeling that their money was well invested.

Enjoy this article by Brian Solis:

http://www.briansolis.com/2011/11/how-to-make-cusotmer-service-matter-again/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+briansolis+%28Brian+Solis%29

I’ve been wondering the same thing and this interview shed some light upon that missing link.  Brian Solis, author and thought leader in new media asks Tyler Cyr, web communications manager at Dunkin’ Brands about his approach when integrating social media and marketing in the following interview. Tyler describes business presence in social media and how it’s important to not push your product but to develop a personality for your business.  He emphasizes engaging your customer in their space. A good interaction on social media can outstretch not only to your customer but to their friends as well.  Dunkin’
with over 4 million Facebook Fans has very few holes in their social media
strategy.

Enjoy this interview and let us know what you think.

http://www.briansolis.com/2011/11/dunkin-donuts-uses-social-media-to-improve-customer-relationships-and-experiences/

I consider myself to be a moderate social media user. I generally do not go a day without checking my status and yes that does include when on the job. But hey, I am in marketing so I think that its borderline justifiable. I, like many have reconnected with high school friends, family, and colleagues via Facebook. The wave of friends continues to grow effortlessly. Facebook is familiar and like the smell of nutmeg and cinnamon in the fall. It is a welcome place to exist for a brief period of time during the day.

I am now trying to break my Facebook routine and push myself to use Google +. It is somewhat awkward but extremely alluring with new uncharted features. I now am able to decide who fits into which circle I’m dragging and dropping my way into a more organized structured social media which, in essence seems like a great idea. Who isn’t about streamlining their life, right? Who wants their boss knowing their political views or what a great date you had the night before. The circles do have their place and Facebook has responded simultaneously with the smart lists to avoid those awkward times before you are able to press delete those, “god I hope she didn’t read that” post kind of moments.

I am finding that since Google + pulls from my email accounts I am only getting people that I have email addresses for which isn’t that many, so even though I am being proactive in dividing everything up there are few people in my circle which is pretty boring to me. The Google+ hangout seems like an awesome feature but I assume that you need people to hang out with. Drats! I have used the search feature for my friends on Google+ but few have made the switch on my feed with the exception of Snoop Dogg (who just posted a picture of himself) and Zuckerberg. I never bothered to ask my Facebook friends their email addresses because I know where to find them, Facebook. I don’t recall Facebook requiring that much effort to connect with people.

Google + is a lot like that machine at the gym that I’ve seen people swinging back and forth on. It looks really cool, if only I could get the nerve to get on it. I like the treadmill. I know what it does, It moves and I run, it’s that simple. Getting on the new equipment is always awkward. Google + is that swingy thing for me. I am going to keep trying and maybe even like it but it so far is requiring some getting used to.

Btw Happy 13th Birthday Google!

Check out this great article with more articulate verbiage about the new Facebook and security measures as well Google+ and its new features.

http://blogs.abc.net.au/queensland/2011/09/new-facebook-and-newly-opened-up-google-plus.html