Sep 30

Google Encrypted Search and SEO – No Need to Panic!

There’s been a lot of talk (maybe too much talk) about Google’s roll-out of encrypted search.  This has actually been a soft roll-out nearly two years in the making.  In 2011, they began encrypted searches for all users who were signed in to their Google accounts.  Now they have made the switch to secure search for all users.

What it means for SEO professionals & marketers

Yes, it is important to know what keywords and keyword phrases drive traffic to a website.  This information can be used to determine the strategies applied in website, blog and social media content.  For example, if you sell personalized jewelry, data collected from keyword searches can mean the difference between using “monogrammed necklaces” vs. “necklace with monogram” in your social media/blog posts and product descriptions on your website.  Before encrypted search data, you could find out what people were searching for and then customize your marketing and content to lean closer to what your prospects were searching for.

Bottom line: this change will affect the ­ease of access to keyword information and if you’ve been using that information to guide your marketing content, you will need to adapt your SEO techniques.

What it means in plain English

Website owners and their webmasters will no longer see keyword-specific data in their Google Analytics search statistics.  Instead, they will see “not provided” in the Keyword column, like this:

not-provided

Continue reading

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Aug 26

A Study in Determination: The World’s Fastest Indian

Replica of The 1920 Indian motorcycle used by Burt Munro to break the land speed record

Replica of The 1920 Indian motorcycle used by Burt Munro to break the land speed record

As a big fan of Sir Anthony Hopkins, it was only a matter of time before The World’s Fastest Indian wound up in my Netflix queue (it was one of those I just happened to miss in theaters). It recently arrived in the mailbox and I was eager to sit back, relax with Hubby and enjoy an inspiring story starring one of my favorite actors.  Little did I know I was in for a study in determination as well.

Based on a true story, Hopkins plays Burt Munro, a New Zealander with a dream 25 years in the making.  He wanted to set a world land speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats race.  In his early 60s, when heart disease threatens his life, he mortgages his house and crosses two oceans to arrive in Los Angeles with his nearly-damaged Indian motorcycle (the ship’s crew was careless with the crate).  In L.A. he buys an old car, builds a makeshift trailer for the Indian and heads for Utah.

He meets some pretty interesting characters along the way, all the while battling his angina and living basically homeless.  He finally gets to Bonneville and the officials try to turn him away because he was not pre-registered and his motorcycle did not meet safety regulations.  Long story short, Munro is eventually allowed to participate and as one observer noted,”That is the most determined man I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”

Here are five of my favorite bits from the movie, and the lessons in determination we can learn from them: Continue reading

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Jul 11

Content Curation or OPC (Other People’s Content)

Content Curation or OPC

So the social media experts will all tell you that to grow your audience, you need good content. But it takes time and research to produce good content. Without an audience, how do you warrant spending that kind of time?

Or maybe you simply struggle on a weekly or perhaps daily basis to come up with ideas for things to tweet, write about on your blog, post to your Facebook page, share as a LinkedIn update, etc? Have you considered OPC (Other People’s Content)?

Providing valuable content doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve got to create it all on your own! It’s really all about posting stuff that interests your audience – regardless of where it originated!!

So where can you find OPC?

Google Images: Google anything with “quotes about” in front of it and you will find a wealth of content to post on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Now select the ‘Images’ option in Google search, like this:

Google Image Search

 

Example: I have a client who specializes in custom chocolates.  Doing a Google image search for ‘quotes about chocolate’, I was able to find these:

 

Photo Credit:
Creating Space Yoga		 Photo Credit:
Polyvore		 Photo Credit:
Purplle		 Photo Credit:
Walls That Talk

 

Huffington Post (and similar article-driven sites): Plug a search term related to your industry into the search box and see what you find!

Example: Using my custom chocolate client as an example again, I searched and spotted this gem in the top 5:

Huffington Post Gem

On the same page, regaled as a ‘similar story’, was this beauty:

Huffington Post Beauty

Huffington Post makes it very easy to share content, with the Share (Facebook), Tweet (Twitter) and Pin It (Pinterest) buttons in abundance!

Your social media feeds: Sharing from your own feeds on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn is as easy as…

easy1 easy2 easy3
Disclaimer: I am not suggesting that you ‘steal’ OPC and then try to pass it off as your own.  Always always ALWAYS credit your source, even if you’re not republishing a piece of content in its entirety (when you simply click share in a social media application, your source will automatically be credited…I’m really talking about copy & pasting here).  If you’re not sure how to properly credit others whose content you’re sharing, there is an excellent article on Hubspot.  

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Jun 14

No More Price Banners on Pinterest!

Remember how you could type a dollar amount in the description for a ‘pin’ and like magic, Pinterest would insert a groovy little banner up in the corner over your image?  Well, NO MORE!!

no-more-price-banners

Now, with the roll-out of other ‘enhancements’ in mid-May, Pinterest has done away with those cute little banners (and the little boost it brought retailers and service providers).  They are calling these enhancements ‘rich pins’ and while they are great for users because it’ll be easier for them to buy products (as well as use recipes and browse movies), they are likely to prove quite a challenge for small business owners.  In fact, if you search for help about rich pins on Pinterest’s site, it ultimately takes you to a page ‘for developers‘.  Incorporating these rich pins into your website will require some technical knowledge.

I don’t particularly care for this ‘enhancement’, but if you are intrigued by the idea of rich pins (right now there are three kinds:  product, recipe and movies) and feel up to the challenge, you can get Pinterest’s instant answers about rich pins on their website.  Steps include inserting meta tags in your website’s code and applying via Pinterest to be allowed to use them.  If you’re not tech savvy, you might want to reach out to your web designer for help!  In the mean time, my recommendation is that you still include a price in the description where appropriate, even though you’ve lost the little visual cue in the price banner’s demise.

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May 28

Social Media Scavenger Hunt

So…are you ready to participate for your chance to win a share of over $1000 in prizes?  Here’s what you’ve gotta do: answer the following questions and complete the listed actions (for actions, simply enter DONE or a check mark in the space).  Submit your entry via e-mail to info@timelymanner.biz.

This list is also available as a PDF.  You can print it out, write in your answers, scan it & e-mail it.  Or you can copy & paste the text below into the body of a blank e-mail in your e-mail program and type in your responses.

ENTRY DEADLINE IS JUNE 7TH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Social Media Scavenger Hunt

ACTIONS

_____ Comment on two of Timely Manner Consulting’s blog posts

_____ Retweet three of Timely Manner Consulting’s tweets

_____ Share two of Timely Manner Consulting’s Facebook posts on your Facebook biz page. If you do not have a biz page (WHY don’t you have a biz page? hehe), you may share to your personal profile.

 

QUESTIONS (Follow me on Twitter for hints on some of the tougher questions Hashtag: #tmchunt)

1. How many Gerber Daisies are there in Timely Manner Consulting’s logo? ___________

2. When did Timely Manner Consulting join Facebook (day, month AND year)? ___________

3. How many spelling & grammar pet peeves in the May-June 2012 blog series? _________

4. How many categories are there on Timely Manner Consulting’s blog? __________

5. What is the title of my signature talk? ____________________________________________

6. What is Timely Manner Consulting’s mission? 

__________________________________________________________________________

7. Name two websites redesigned by Timely Manner Consulting (title OR URL).

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

8. Name two products/services endorsed by Timely Manner Consulting.

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

9. Name the two services or packages listed on Timely Manner Consulting’s Services page that
your business would be most likely to use.

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

 

If you submit an entry and are informed that some of your answers are incorrect/incomplete/etc, YOU MAY RE-ENTER AN UNLIMITED NUMBER OF TIMES until all winners are declared.  Refresh your memory about prizes and eligibility by going here.  Please note, entries will be verified before a winner is declared (i.e., if an action is required for a particular item, you must complete the action for your entry to be considered eligible).  Have fun!

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