Review of Mitch Joel’s Six Pixels of Separation

Sep 22, 2009

Over on the Social Media Club Seattle website, they have posted my review of Mitch Joel’s new book: Six Pixels of Separation.

Here’s a taste from the review:

Today building an online brand is something anyone can do. In fact, even if you are not online, your brand is being created for you by the search engines and by other people who are. The tools that social media superstar Chris Brogan has used to create one of the most successful online brands ever are available to everyone, and most of them are free. In this new media ecosystem, some business strategies that used to work will now lead to extinction. We can’t expect old business models – like pushing ads out to thousands of subscribers – to have the desired effect on new channels like mobile phones. [Read more...]

Joel speaks from experience and, imo, he is right on target. Would love your comments. Let me know what you think.

Google Does Not Use Keywords Meta Tag to Rank Web Pages

Sep 21, 2009

There has always been some discussion as to whether Google pays any attention to the “keywords” meta tag when ranking web pages. For now, that discussion can be put to rest. Today, Matt Cutts, Google’s page ranking czar (he refers to himself as the head of Google’s Webspam team) put out a video and several blog posts that state conclusively that Google disregards the keywords tag.

At least for Google’s web search results currently (September 2009), the answer is no. Google doesn’t use the “keywords” meta tag in our web search ranking.

He notes that the “description” meta tag is used to determine what a page is about, and it is also used as the short summary that is part of a web page listing when it appears in a Google search results page.

Matt Cutts: Google Does Not Use Keywords Meta Tag

The “description” and “keywords” meta tags usually appear at the top of the HTML for a web page. They are not visible in the web browser unless you select View > Page Source or View > Source.

Google will display the contents of the “description” meta tag as part of the information in a search results page listing when it is useful information for human visitors. If there is no description meta tag or the information is not especially relevant, Google may use information from the visible web page instead.

For the McBuzz.com home page, Google uses the contents of the “description” meta tag in the search results listing.

Vote for McBuzz’s Mark McLaren for Ignite WordCamp Seattle

Sep 18, 2009

If you love McBuzz, head over to the WordCamp Seattle website and vote for one or both of Mark McLaren’s proposed Ignite WordCamp Seattle presentation topics!

http://www.wordcampseattle.com/2009/09/ignite-at-wordcamp-seattle/

You’ll find a link that says “View Poll”. Click there to take the poll. Estimated time required: 60 seconds. Estimated brain power required: 0.01 calories.

I’ve got an opportunity to present at WordCamp Seattle (a conference for users and developers of WordPress), and voting is open to members of my social network.

My topics are:

The Untimely Demise of the Webmaster, a Historical Journey, as Told by Stephen Colbert

and
WordPress and the Social Web

Thank you!

How Not To Use Twitter

Sep 14, 2009

I’m posting some Twitter gaffs over on Posterous.com. If you haven’t tried Posterous, check it out. You can post almost anything – blog-style – by sending an email to post@posterous.com.

The first one is called “Mr. Redundant”. It’s the guy – or gal – on Twitter that feels the need to tweet more than a couple times about his latest amazing blog post. Apparently, the first couple of tweets didn’t drive much traffic. It’s best to concentrate on reading other people’s blogs for a while and commenting there, golden rule-like.

The second installment is called “The Gratuitous Autogenerated ‘Thanks for following’”.

Here’s another: The “Hey, look, someone really likes me” retweet.

What are some of your favorite missteps on Twitter? Share ‘em up (in the comments below or anywhere else you like) and I will post them!

Here’s “The utterly self-absorbed, Don’t-you-wish-you-knew-what-I’m-talking-about? tweet”

“The Unintentionally Redundant Double-Followed Tweet”

and “The ‘I will retweet to win’ tweet.“

Innovative Food Website BigOven – Seattle Success Story

Sep 5, 2009

Seattle entrepreneur Steve Murch has been getting lots of attention for the success of his food website BigOven.com. According to the site, it’s a “social network about food that makes you a better cook.”

You can find new recipes using a search engine that gathers material from all over the Web. The site is particularly good at helping you cook meals with leftovers. You can post and rate your favorite recipes with other cooks around the world. And you can download award-winning recipe software for Windows and the iPhone!

They have been getting press coverage that most startups would give their eyeteeth for. Read more on Steve Murch’s blog, and check out this short TV piece about BigOven on ABC Evening News Los Angeles.