Tuesday gets concerned about noises coming from the floor.
Freaked Out Tuesday
Google’s Personalized Search
Oh Google, we love you so but why do you have to keep stirring the pot? Oh yes, because it is your job, I forgot.
Last month Google rolled out their ‘personalized search’ for everyone. This isn’t new technology. It has previously been available to only those folks who were signed into their Google account. Now, we all get to have it, whether we want it or not.
A short explanation of ‘personalized search’ comes from Google’s blog:
‘Now when you search using Google, we will be able to better provide you with the most relevant results possible. For example, since I always search for [recipes] and often click on results from epicurious.com, Google might rank epicurious.com higher on the results page the next time I look for recipes. Other times, when I’m looking for news about Cornell University’s sports teams, I search for [big red]. Because I frequently click on www.cornellbigred.com, Google might show me this result first, instead of the Big Red soda company or others.’
The long and short of it is now when I put ‘get hamster out of wall’ in the search box on my computer I will probably get a different list of sites than when you enter it on your computer.
This provides a whole host of perplexing problems for search engine optimizers starting with, oh, say keywords. Back in the old days (you know – the days of 2009) the search engines analyzed the words on a web page, then they psychoanalyzed each and every other component and Viola! a page rank is born.
Well, that was then and this is now. And this ‘now’ has your search history prominently filtered into your very own, private search results. (It’s just between you and Google and a few hundred million advertisers.)
So what is a site optimizer or owner to do?
Start with the two things that will always (probably) help with your search ranking
- Update you site often with great content your audience will want to read
- Get lots and lots of links from RELEVANT sites.
- Keep an eye on your analytics.
Marketing – Outback Steakhouse’s Bloomin’ Onion/Facebook campaign
Outback Steakhouse recently offered a free ‘Bloomin’ Onion‘ to the first 5,000 folks who signed up on their Facebook Fan page. The results? They added 24,000 new fans in the first week. And the numbers just keep on growing.
Everybody Like This!
So, Hank Harris just stopped by to drop off the a copy of his latest album “Shortcut to Hanksville”. I’m listening to it now, I’ll report back with a review after I’ve spent some time with it, but for now I wanted to show you the stunning graphics designed by, who else, ME!
We’re working on getting the album up on his site soon I’ll keep you posted as soon as we get that done.
It was a fun project. We’ve been Hank fans for a long time. It was fun to design an album for him. The album is a mix of songs, emotions and styles. So far the songs Everybody Like This! and Vacuum are my favorites. Other musicians who play with Hank on the album are:
Jimmy Goings, Mike Miller, Jeremy Hegg, Jon Hegg, Peter Neussmann, Ricky Jacobsen, Kenny Putnam, Matt Berry, Matt Wallace, Tommy Hartig, Jimmy Sanchez, Andrew Reinartz, Genevieve Goings, Tony Baker
The complete track list is:
1. Amanda Lee
2. Everybody Like This
3. Women Choose
4. Typing and Entering
5. Vacuum
6. The Way to Heaven
7. I See Your Face
8. Love Doesn’t Stick
9. Nothing 2 Wear
10. Voodoo Avenue
11. Hope Dies Hard
12. What Am I Gonna Do?
13. Hypnotized
14. After All
Termes Openhouse & Online Sale
Every year around this time our friend, family member and favorite sphere painter Dick Termes opens up his gallery for a Holiday Open House. He overs great deals on Termespheres but also on his many smaller, very cool Termesy things to buy.
This year we went out a little farther into the marketing world and made fun posters and used Facebook and Twitter to try to help promote the event. So far he’s already had a reported 3 visitors to the Gallery BEFORE the event’s even started. I’m taking that as a sign that our extra effort has payed off.
Below are a couple sample graphics of what I created to help spread the word, enjoy:
Twitter 101
It seems that people either love Twitter or they hate it, passionately. Frankly, it is hard to “get” Twitter right away. It may take two or three or ten attempts before you reach the “wow” moment. Suffice it to say there are experts from every walk of life who tweet on a regular basis. They share their wisdom, they collaborate and believe it or not most of them don’t disclose what they ate for breakfast.
The following is a quick overview of Twitter basics. If you have questions, fire away.
The 5 spoked wheel of social marketing
Social marketing, at its core, is like a wagon wheel. It has a hub and 5 spokes which can conveniently be arranged into a fine circular object that will handily take you down the social track.
- The hub is your blog
- Spoke #1 – a social networking account on Facebook.
- Spoke #2 – a microblogging account on Twitter.
- Spoke #3- a video sharing account on Youtube.
- Spoke #4 – a photo sharing account on Flickr.
- Spoke #5 – a network of like-minded blogs to follow and comment uponst.
- The invisible spoke – patience, keen listening skills and time.
In this wonderful new world of business models there are lots of folks who have reached ‘wizard’ status…and there are lots and lots and lots more who are just trying to figure out where to start. As a way to help the later group we are putting together a series of videos created by members of the ‘wizard’ ilk. We will start with a Youtube video called Blogs in Plain English by Lee LeFever.
Top 10 things you can’t live without
What would they be? For the sake of ignoring reality forego the basics like breathing, eating and sheltering. Let’s also rule out people and pets. This Top 10 list is concerning 10 things you could live without if you really, really had to but….
Here are mine:
- NPR – I’m a loyal listener to the end (even through fund raiser week.)
- Plants – the more the merrier.
- Socks – for years, like my children, I was a barefooter. Then one day (I think it was the day of the birth of my aforementioned first born,) socks = security. They don’t have to be fancy or cute socks, just plain old white crews. Happy feet!
- Cargo pants – the epicenter of geeky organization.
- A car – I know a lot of folks who don’t have one and they seem quite content but to me automobile = independence.
- Books – Confession, I haven’t read all the books I own. I’m looking for that magic device that will allow the contents of each unread book in my library to instantly drain into my brain upon contact with the top of my head.
- The Black Hills – It matters not the time of year, the Black Hills have an undeniable magnetism not just for me but for many.
- A mini arsenal of tech toys (not to be confused with the gargantuan collection of ‘glee’ in Dylan’s possession.)
- Laughter – wit and humor is very close in value to the ability to breathe.
- Football – I watched SuperBowl I with my dad, need I say more?
How about you? What’s on your ‘must have’ list?
Blogs – Talk the talk and walk the walk
I have to admit that I am a true devotee and student of the English language. As a consequence, when I go off on an exploratory research adventure for no particular reason, it often has to do with the pursuit of some lexicographic whim or another. It was the chasing down of the blogging term, ‘Doppelblogger’s origin that set me plunk in the middle of the web page Giant Blogging Terms Glossary: Need a Blog Dictionary?
My favorites come from the Blogging Habits section:
- Metablogging - writing articles about blogging
- Blogstipation - writer’s block for bloggers. Cant think of what to blog about?
- Blogathy - I do not want to post today and I do not care about it
- Blogopotamus - A long long blog post
- Blogorrhea - unusually high output of articles
- Bleg - To use one’s blog to beg for assistance etc.
- Hitnosis - Refreshing your browser repeatedly to see if your hit counter or comments have increased
- GAD - Google Adsense Disorder. Repeatedly checking your adsense earnings. more
- Blego - Blog+Ego. Measuring blogger worth
- Blog hopping – jumping from one blog to another
- Blogroach - A commenter who rudely disagrees with posted content
- Blogoholic - addicted to blogging
- Blogorific = blogtastic – something which a blogger says is terrific
- Blogsit - maintaining a blog while the primary blogger is on leave
- Blogvertising - Also called blogvert. Advertising on a blog.
- Blurker - a blog reader not posting comments, just lurking around quietly.
- Blogathon - update your website every 30 minutes for 24 hours straight. Maybe collect sponsorships. more
- Blogiversary - your blog birthday
- Blog Carnival – Links to other articles covering a specific topic.
- Multiblog - running multiple blogs
- Blog Tipping – Compliment 3 blogs on day 1 of every month. more
- Blogger bash - a blogger party
- Commenter - someone who leaves remarks / comments
- Reciprocal Links - called link love. You link to my blog, I link to yours. To improve search engine rankings.
- Linkbaiting - a habit of writing good content with the sole purpose of getting it linked from multiple sites.
- Blogstorm – a large amount of blogosphere activity due to particular controversy. Also called Blog Swarm.
- Blogsnob – refusing to respond to blog comments from “not-friends”.
- Doppelblogger – plagiarize the content of another blogger. To Doppelblog.
- Blogophobia – Fear of blogs and blogging.
- Bloggerel – the same opinion posted repeatedly on a blog
If you want to sally down the Blog Talk path a bit further head over to WhatIs.com’s bloglossary. Words are such fun.
The story of creation (via Twitter)
This wonderfully witty post is from Tom McNichol at the Huffington Post
Day One
Let there B-lite. OMG! Or shld I say Oh Me! It’s so much easier 2-C now. WTF was I thinking B4? Spent the rest of the day dividing lite from drkness. It is good. 
Day Two
Made a firmament (sort of a dome thing) to divide the waters under firmament from the waters above. Assigned firmament the file name <heaven>. +<:-)
Day Three
Gathered waters and let dry land appear. Dry land tagged <earth>, waters tagged <seas>. Uploaded grass and herb-yielding seed into <earth> folder. GR8!
Day Four
More lighting wk. Installed 1 great lite to rule day [<sun>] & lesser lite to rule night [<moon>]. Beta tested them & everything seems to work. It is gd. 
Day Five
Bushed from tweaking fish & fowl files. They wouldn’t be fruitful and multiply until I found it’s a simple <duplicate> command. >:-? Thank Me It’s Friday.
Day Six
Created 2 humans, file names <adam> and <eve>. At last – I now have 2 Twitter followers! Tweeting just to myself is sooo Day One. LOL! 
Day Seven
[no tweets]
