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Fatal Webinar Mistakes That Cost You Money
posted by Web_University @ 8:00 AM
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Fatal Webinar Mistakes That Cost You Money
Webinars have become a low-cost way for people and companies to promote their products and services. I have certainly used them and attended many webinars on a variety of topics. However, I have noticed that many webinar organizers, hosts and panelists, create a variety of mistakes that reduce the effectiveness of their program.
1. Requiring too much information. I don’t mind giving my name, email address, and company name when registering for a webinar. However, I don’t like giving my address, telephone number, and five other details. I know that you want to collect data but the more information you ask for, the less likely I will register for your program.
2. Ask mandatory questions. Most technology allows the person hosting the webinar to ask registrants several questions when they register. However, making these questions mandatory can work against you, especially if the question is irrelevant. Many people will refuse to answer these questions and will chose NOT to register for the webinar. Carefully consider which questions should be mandatory.
3. Unfamiliar with the technology. A fatal mistake many people is to familiarize themselves with the webinar technology shortly before the program begins. I admit to include myself in this category. A few years ago I agreed to deliver a series of webinars for a client and unfortunately, my contact person was unfamiliar with the technology. As a result, we had several glitches and problems that reduced the overall effectiveness of the program.
4. Using a speaker phone. I recently attended a webinar and it appeared that one of the panelists spoke from a speaker phone or computer microphone. This created a vacant echo which became distracting whenever she spoke. It is critical that you have a good connection to the call and many companies suggest that you use a landline to ensure that you have a good connection with minimal interference.
5. Poor PowerPoint slides. Death by PowerPoint! My belief is that webinar slides should reinforce your key point, not make them. Too many people use too many bullet points or try to cram too much information on a single slide. Improve your effectiveness by creating a better PowerPoint show. Check out Slide Share for some great examples on how to create an effective presentation.
6. Taking too long to get into the program. I have attended countless webinars where the first five to seven minutes is absorbed by self-promotion, introduction of the presenter or guest expert, or information that was irrelevant to participants. Although sponsoring companies want adequate airtime, it is essential that you manage their expectations and keep the introduction brief and concise.
7. Too much promotion. Many of the webinars I have attended have been a thinly-disguised attempt at selling a product or service. I certainly understand the importance of generating sales but if your webinar is promoted or sold as an “educational” session and you spend most of your time talking about your product or company, I am going to quickly disengage.
8. Failure to deliver high-quality content. A webinar should deliver value for attendees. Unfortunately, too many programs give “here’s what you need to do” information without explaining how to actually apply the concepts. It is better to delve deep into a topic than offer three dozen ways to improve without providing substance.
9. Failure to deliver value. This ties in with the previous point. A successful webinar provides high value to the participants, regardless of the price point. Enough said.
10. The webinar is too long/short. The length of webinar is irrelevant. What’s important is the value that is delivered
during the program. You can’t stretch a short program into a long one and an intense, lengthy session cannot be condensed into a short webinar. Whether you are the host, organizer, or guest expert, make sure that you allot the appropriate amount of time for your particular program.
11. Not allowing questions. Many people who attend webinars have questions and they want to have the opportunity to ask them. Increase the value of your webinar by giving participants time to ask questions and allot time for these questions so that you don’t have to race through the last five of six minutes of your presentation.
Webinars can be an effective marketing vehicle and a great way to generate sales leads. Improve your results by avoiding these common webinar mistakes.
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What to Expect from Web 3.0
Video: Google to provide Fastest Internet in US
The buzz is growing about Web 3.0, but as usual you have to filter out all the hype, self-serving PR, old-fashioned nonsense, newfangled marketing verbiage and other noise. You will then find a few facts that you can grab onto and try to figure out what’s going on. The first thing to remember is that, like “Web 2.0,” the term Web 3.0 is not an official term of any sort, does not represent any particular protocol or standard, belongs to no one – and is used, misused and made nearly meaningless by everybody. It is, quite simply, just an arbitrary “version number” that, at most, describes how the Internet is built and how it delivers services, at least as of the freeze-framed moment in time that represents the end of 2.0 and the start of 3.0.
Sometimes it is called the “semantic Web,” but perhaps the less-used term “everyware” is more descriptive. The new scenario is one of ubiquitous computing, the advent of cloud computing where a “thin client” (no- or low-powered PC, or even just a monitor and mouse) runs cloud-based applications using cloud-based data and services. The Apple iPhone, iPod and iPad are all examples of formerly standalone devices that were integrated into the Web, and connect people in a seamless, real-time and very simple way with – well, with everything, from libraries and department stores to other people, anywhere in the world.
From Read-Only to Interactivity
One of the Web’s true “parents” was Tim Berners-Lee, who had his own notion of how the technology and the Internet developed. The first phase of the Web had read-only capabilities. It was essentially a spectator experience until read-write functionality came along (sure, call it Web 2.0) that included services to enable contribution, collaboration, content creation and interactivity. The next step in Berners-Lee’s version vision, Web 3.0, is heralded as “new territory,” where users can assemble and run their own applications, create all sorts of cooperative and collaborative enterprises, and truly put their ideas in motion rather than simply uploading stuff to this, that or the other site.
People with money invested in other, still-useful devices – phones, PDAs, fax machines, etc. – don’t have to worry about Web 3.0 making them obsolete. In addition to letting users create their own tools, Web 3.0 is another step in the evolution of usage and interaction in which the Internet holds multiple databases and content that will be accessible to many non-browser-based devices and applications. The obvious uses will be video that streams from a PC to a TV, picture frames that receive wireless updates from an online or local photo app, and phones that display items recommended by your trusted sources – friends, review sites, experts – when you’re shopping.
From Data to Knowledge
In addition to the foregoing characteristics, Web 3.0 is also said to encompass other important advances. For one thing, all sorts of inputs are possible, which means all sorts of new combinations become possible. Content can be made even more broadly relevant when it’s related to GPS, so that social networking, for example, can be enhanced by knowing who is where and doing what.
More importantly, you will get more and better control of your data and be able to establish a number of personalization systems to “wrap” your personal information with different levels and types of protection – so that you can share it widely, narrowly or not at all. Over time, the accuracy of recommendations and trustworthiness of ranking systems will help us determine which data sources to take seriously and which to avoid.
From Business Faxes to Online Games
With the rise of “linkable web apps” you will be able to use all of your different desktop, server and mobile devices and applications – telephones, fax machines and online fax services, instant messaging, pagers – and control them from a single browser window on your desktop, smartphone or handheld device. All of it will take place in an always-on, always-everywhere environment, with functionality embedded sometimes in hardware, sometimes in software, sometimes in both – so that when you need to take care of business without downloading the capability, you’ll be able to do so.
Along with more of the visual and voice-based services that are already starting to proliferate, there will be more lifelike avatar interactions in the growing virtual social networking world. This will lead to social shopping trips and virtual reality gaming far beyond anything currently being done.
In mid-2009, the “Wall Street Journal” ran a story on the development of Web 3.0 capabilities and the promise of ever-greater interconnectedness among technologies, products, services and people. The story even gave us a yardstick by which to measure the success of Web 3.0, if in fact it does succeed. If, as the WSJ puts it, “computing could become as integrated and invisible as electricity and just as important” – and we can attribute it to the new and improved Web – we’ll know that the promise has lived up to the hype. Here’s hoping!
Size Really Does Matter When it Comes to Twitter
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 8:00 AM
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Back in the days when newsletters first hit the Internet, they were usually published in text format because many email clients did not support HTML email just yet. One of the problems many publishers faced was long URL’s being split in half and not being clickable to the reader. To solve this problem, shortening services started to spring up that would take a long URL and cut it down to a reasonable size.
With the popularity of Twitter and the confines of 140 characters, URL (link) shortening services are in high demand once again. When you have such a small amount of space to work with, no one wants a long URL cutting into that precious real estate.
There are a variety of shortening services to choose from, each having their own specific features and benefits. Most of them do work hand in hand with Twitter, allowing you to Tweet the link once it’s been shortened. If you’re an avid Twitter user this is a useful feature to have.
Some only provide a basic shortening service, but many allow you to view stats and metrics on your newly shortened links if you register. If you’re doing any form of social media marketing, it’s nice to be able to see if anyone’s actually clicking on all the links you’re sending out to the “Twitosphere”, or posting on Facebook and other sites. Tracking will give you an indication that you’re being heard and that people are actually paying attention to what you have to say.
Another important thing to look for is whether or not the shortening service uses 301 redirects. This is the most search engine friendly, and forces the search engine to look at the destination URL, not the domain of the shortening service itself. A 301 stands for a permanent move, not temporary. What this means is, you want the links you’re sending out to be given acknowledgment by the search engines, not the shortening service itself. Make sense?
Many allow custom URL’s, which allows you to use your name or company name in the links you create. This is great for branding purposes. Think of it as a vanity license plate. Instead of being just a regular URL it’s your special creation.
Let’s review a few options:
1) http://TweetBurner.com – A bare bones tracking service which allows you to shorten any link and then share it instantly with your Twitter followers or Friendfeed. Basic stat tracking is available so you can see how many people clicked on your link.
2) http://Cli.gs – A shortening service which includes full analytics. You can create links that include your brand in them. Free to use. It’s easy to send your links to Twitter with one click.
3) http://Bit.ly – This is Twitter’s default shortening service and used by Tweetdeck.com. It allows you to track performance of your links in real time. Easy to share generated links on Twitter, Facebook, even Gmail. It also offers many extra tools and plug-ins such as a browser bookmarklet and browser sidebar.
4) http://MyTwitterToolbar.com – Free to download and comes complete with a massive list of URL shorteners as well as over 50 Twitter tools. Also includes 100 Twitter tips.
5) http://www.TwitClicks.com – A fairly simple service that allows you to shorten a URL immediately and tweet it. Can also see complete stats. Detailed stats show percentage of browsers used and locations of those who clicked. Check out a short video on how to use it at www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1ScPeCd6X4.
6) http://www.ExpandMyUrl.com – This service takes a shortened link and gives you the true URL that it points to. Perfect for the paranoid individual who wants to know where the shortened link will send them.
7) http://www.TwitPwr.com – A short URL service which also includes analytics and stats. Their home page shows the top 25 users with the most TwitPwr and also a “hot URL” list of those URL’s that get the most clicks. Free to use.
http://1link.in – A multiple link shortening service. Simply type in a list of links and get one link back for all. If you click on the newly shortened link it goes to a page showing details of what sites that link points to, and asks if you want to open them all. If you answer yes, multiple windows will open for each site.
9) http://Go2.me – A different type of link shortening and discussion service which creates shorter links which also contain a chat window to exchange comments with your readers. It’s also easy to share on Twitter, Facebook or email with one click.
10) http://Tw.itter.me – You can customize the shortened link with your name or company name. From what I saw no stats are available.
11) http://budurl.com – Another popular service which shows you a real time view of your inbound clicks. This free service allows you to track up to 250 Budurl’s. They provide 3 pay levels of service from $4.00 a month to $49.00 a month. There is a 21 day free tríal on any paid service. You can start out free and upgrade your account at any time.
12) http://Tr.Im – Trim those long URL’s and instantly share them on Twitter. If you want stats, you’ll need to register. Offers many different tools and extensions to make for easier sharing, such as a Firefox extension that allows you to view your tr.im stats and tweet your new links quickly.
13) http://short.ie – Keeps all your shortened links in one place. Tracks clicks and allows you to instantly share your list with friends. It can also be connected to your Twitter account for more features. Customization of URL’s also available.
14) http://hootsuite.com – Not really a URL shortening service, but has the ability built-in. Hootsuite is a “Twitter Toolbox” loaded with features which are all free. They use ow.ly as their built in link shortener.
If you haven’t tried a url shortening service, you’ll want to find one that fits your needs and start to really utilize it in your marketing activities. Finding out who’s clicking on your links, time of day, where they’re from and other information will be very valuable in your ongoing efforts as an Internet Marketer.
Remember, when it comes to social media marketing T.M.I (too much information) is a good thing, unlike when your Aunt Ethel wants you to sit with her and go over every detail of her latest vacatíon [grin]. One is helpful, the other just downright painful.
Which Website Visitors Are Potential Clients?
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 8:00 AM
Monday, April 5, 2010
With today’s website tracking software and services you can find out a lot about the people who visit your website. You can learn where they’re from, what kind of browser they’re using, how long they stayed on your site, and a whole lot more. But what all this high tech intelligence won’t tell you is what kind of people they are, and how likely they are to be transformed by your Web presentation from viewers to customers.
Your ability to convert website visitors into clients depends on your ability to find the soft underbelly of their subconscious desire. After all, if someone is happy with what they’ve already got, they don’t need you, but if they were truly one hundred percent happy, they wouldn’t bother coming to your website. Therefore every visitor that comes to your site is a potential client whether they know it or not.
The Setup’s The Thing
Your website presentation has to find that annoying little subconscious scab just under the surface and pick at it until it becomes a full blown irritation that fosters discontent and a desire for change. That discontent is your opening to make your value statement.
We refer to this process as The Setup. Like any good presentation you cannot, or rather should not, just blurt out how great you are, but rather you have to set the scene. Like any good story, the punch line, moral, or payoff only works if it is properly setup. Far too many website presentations suffer from premature pitch climax.
The ability to transform viewers into customers requires patience. Entrepreneurial companies tend to view the setup as a waste of time, and they fear losing viewers before they ever get to the so-called “good-stuff.” But without a proper setup, an audience is just not primed to accept what you have to say.
You can’t sell anybody anything unless they understand they’ve not been getting everything they need and deserve. That understanding creates dissatisfaction with your competition and opens the audience’s minds to what you have to provide. In short, the setup needs to touch a psychological nerve.
The Customer Is Always Right – Not Quite
We’ve all heard the expression, “the customer is always right.” The fact is the customer is not always right, and in many cases they don’t really know what they want or what they should have; and sometimes even when they do, they resist it because of a variety of misinformation, misunderstanding, self-doubt, and preconceived notions of conventional wisdom. It’s your website presentation’s job to set visitors on the right path.
Being The Expert Inspires Confidence
You’re supposed to be the expert in what you do, and if you are, you need to have the ability to dig deeper into what people really want, need, and desire. I am always reminded of friends of mine who hired an interior decorator to furnish their new home. The decorator asked them what kind of furniture they liked. They answered that they were looking for Colonial, to which the decorator answered, “No you aren’t. What you want is Country French.” And after he showed my friends what he was talking about they quickly agreed. The decorator knew his business and understood the clients. Yes the clients liked the idea of the homey Colonial look they’d seen, but not being furniture experts they didn’t understand what the options were, and what kind of furniture best suited their lifestyle and budget, while still providing the homey rustic but comfortable aesthetic they wanted. Customer satisfaction is about providing what the client really wants and not necessarily what they say they want.
Learn How To Communicate So Audiences Get It
Let’s face it; we all like to read about how the digital revolution has opened up the business world to more audience influence, but the fact is people are influenced and manipulated and desires created through marketing and advertising as much as ever. How many website owners actually benefit in any meaningful way from social networking and search optimization, or do they do it because it’s expected and promoted by proponents as the tactic du jour.
If you think a particular song you like is played on a thousand radio stations because it’s good, or even because it has a following then you are living in a fantasy world. If you thing the vast majority of viral videos produced by corporations go viral all by themselves then think again.
Audiences are being manipulated and transformed into customers all the time, not because companies responded to what the public says, but rather to how the public reacts to various communication and marketing stimuli. What’s truly incredible is how bad companies are at doing it. With all of the television industries’ research into viewers, they still fail to deliver consistent quality programming that people want to watch. Every Fall new shows are yanked faster than a Nolan Ryan fastball, but the same crappy commercials live-on for what seems an eternity. Television viewers are a captive audience and if they want to watch their favorite show they have to tolerate the commercials (PVRs aside), but the Web is different. If your website presentation stinks, no one is going to stick around to absorb the smell.
Web Television Convergence Has Arrived
If you think of your website presentation as nothing more than a digital brochure, you’re already behind the curve. Welcome to the Web on TV.
All you need is a laptop computer or one of the new gaming consoles attached to your big screen TV to access the Web on television. And as network programmers scramble to get their acts together more and more people are opting to spend their television time on the Web. Kind of makes you rethink what kind of website presentation you should be offering. It’s time to start thinking of your website as your business channel and the content on it as programming. It’s the future and it’s here, now.
Who Visits Your Website?
Before website visitors can be transformed into clients, we have to understand who they are in terms of their mental outlook or frame of mind when they first arrive at your home page.
1. Accidental Tourists
Accidental Tourists are website visitors who find their way to your website by serendipity. Your company’s link may have come up in a search for something mentioned on your website, but not something that’s a core element of your business. But just because these people didn’t really intend to visit a site like yours doesn’t mean they’re a waste of time. Perhaps they hadn’t ever thought of using your product or service, or perhaps they didn’t ever realize how much they really wanted what you have to provide. If your website presentation is exciting, meaningful, and entertaining you at least have the chance to plant the seed of desire for your product or service.
2. Brain Pickers
Brain Pickers show up at your site with little intention to buy anything, in fact they’re there to pick your brain and find out how to do what you do for themselves. But if you’re truly an expert at what you do, you at least have the chance to show these people that what you provide is special, and doing it right requires a company with your skills and resources.
Why You Should Create Controversial Content
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 8:00 AM
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Last week, like every other week, I wrote an article. This time I decided to syndicate it, something I should be doing twice a week, but only get to about 4 times a month, and that’s if I’m feeling up to it.
This was one of the biggest traffic draws from a single article that I have had in years. It is still producing a steady stream of traffic, sales and subscribers as I’m writing this.
It’s been 2 years since I’ve gotten that much of an appreciative response, or that amount of attention, period, for an article I wrote that wasn’t widely syndicated. In fact, it only appeared in one major publication.
So what’s all the hub-bub, bub?
As you may have guessed, there was a controversy surrounding the article. First, there were several typos. Normally I’d edit the article so relentlessly that by the time the article was perfect, it would be a month since I wrote it and it wouldn’t fit into my article marketing campaign for that week.
Since I’d been kicking my own butt to get content out on schedule, even when it isn’t perfect, I took my own medicine and just sent it out the way it was. And boy were the grammar, typing and spelling police mad!
Two people wrote me that they passed my article around at their meetings as an example of what not to do. Does it count as a backfire when one of the people who sees it Googles you and becomes a client?
(Just had to get in that little dig. Forgive me.)
What else was so bad about the article?
I called my readers “punks” – in the title.
This was a calculated risk – I’d run another version of the article, a blog post, and from sharing on StumbleUpon alone it got over 3000 visitors. In this new version, the article then went on to tell my readers to basically get off their over-thinking butts and do something, then gave them two examples of things to do.
There was, of course, a vocal minority of outraged responses about this too. But, curiously, other, louder, people who read the article – people I haven’t ever met or spoken to – came along and defended it.
In the end, my slang-ridden, typo-laden, in-your-face article brought me more profitable traffic and attention than any other article I’ve written this year. It was written in a moment of passion I had at seeing a friend almost lose her house, and a peer almost lose his business, mostly as a result of inaction.
And seeing this reaction led me to go back and look at my other articles. I write all my own stuff – it’s far more profitable for those of us who are at least halfway decent at writing to write an okay article injected with personality than it is to pay someone else to write generic content.
(I still hire writers for certain things though. But I concentrate on the ones with voice and depth, and pay them more for unique, engaging writing – I don’t simply outsource to the lowest bidder. I say if you’re going to hire a writer, get someone better than you.)
If you have the ability to generate controversy with your content, do it. Not convinced? Here are seven reasons why you should consider it.
1- It’s Effectíve
Nothing gets more attention than controversy. That’s why reality shows are popular. It’s why we read the journalist who we think is making an absolutely backwards prediction about something we care about. That’s why people gossip and debate.
Why merely participate when you can be the topic of discussion?
2- Negative Attention is Sometimes even Better than Positive Attention
Nothing spreads faster than outrage. Wide exposure for a controversial view is much better than no exposure for towing the conventional wisdom line.
3- Display Your Skill at Dealing with Diverging Viewpoints
Let people see the smooth way you react to the rude comments from people who take your words personally that WILL follow. I’ve gained lifelong friends, fans and customers from them witnessing what they call poise under pressure – and I call common courtesy.
You don’t have to respond from the same type of energy that’s being directed at you. Why let someone else having a bad day ruin your day?
4- It Vets Your Buyers
For example, if you want more clients that will take your advice to heart, get off their butts, and stop making excuses, try making a video that takes a hard line and tells people to get off their butts and stop making excuses!
Yeah, you’ll get reamed for it – by people who make excuses. They will be offended and won’t ever sign up to your newsletter.
Awesome. Because the people who needed a coach who believes in swift kicks in the butt will take your advice and hungrily seek more of it.
5- It’s Fun to Do
What’s more fun than seeing something controversial? Being controversial or doing something controversial. It’s not for the faint of heart, but if you can take it, boy is that a fun ride!
6- It’s Entertaining To Experience
When people are entertained, they buy more. You probably haven’t ever noticed the music playing in the background at the grocery store. It’s there because studies show that people browse longer and thus, buy more, when they’re being entertained.
Now you see more TVs at gas stations and in convenience stores. When I used to live in Vegas many of the Strip cabs had TVs on the backs of seats before I ever saw them in regular cars.
Then there’s the classic example of commercials during our favorite TV shows.
7- It Sets You Apart
You know why bigger companies are afraid of controversy?
Me either. If you find out, come tell me. All I know is, I’m not afraid of controversy because I see it as an opportunity. It’s another way to connect, to have something to discuss, and in the case of my last controversial article, to help people.
Even if you aren’t going to make a controversial audio, video, blog post or article, for goodness sakes, do something different.
No one watches boring shows on TV, invites boring people to parties, reads boring books or listens to boring music unless they have to, for study or evaluation.
Try a little controversy and see where it takes you. If that’s too scary, at least risk being extraordinarily passionate. The spotlight can be fun.
Google SideWiki Encourages Public Graffiti
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 8:00 AM
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Google has launched a controversial new tool that allows the public to comment on any web site in a side bar displayed in their browser.
Called Google Sidewiki, the tool is integrated in the latest version of Google Toolbar and works with both Firefox and Internet Explorer but ironically, not yet Google Chrome. To use Sidewiki, download the latest version of the Google Toolbar and set it to enhanced.
When activated, Sidewiki slides across from the left and becomes a browser sidebar, where you can write entries in a vertical column and read the entries of others. To activate Sidewiki, you simply click on the Sidewiki button in your Toolbar menu or the little talk bubble on the left hand side of your screen.
See: http://www.sitepronews.com/images2/sidewiki.jpg
If you’ve got a Google profile, your image will appear next to your Sidewiki entry. You can either highlight a certain part of a web page, click the Sidewiki button and comment about it, or you can make a general comment about the entire web page. If you’ve got Sidewiki installed, you can see comments made on the same web site by other members of the public and you can forward your Sidewiki comments to colleagues, friends and family via direct link, email, Twitter or Facebook.
It appears that persons can read the Sidewiki comments sent via link whether they have Sidewiki installed or not. When you’re logged into Sidewiki, you’ll always see your comments at the top and any others below.
Not only does your Sidewiki entry appear on the original page, but if you have highlighted text, your entry also appears on any webpages that contain the same snippet of text that your comment is about. From the official blog post:
“Under the hood, we have even more technology that will take your entry about the current page and show it next to webpages that contain the same snippet of text. For example, an entry on a speech by President Obama will appear on all webpages that include the same quote. We also bring in relevant posts from blogs and other sources that talk about the current page so that you can discover their insights more easily, right next to the page they refer to.”
Rather than viewing them in the order in which they were written, Sidewiki entries are ranked via an algorithm determined by Google:
“So instead of displaying the most recent entries first, we rank Sidewiki entries using an algorithm that promotes the most useful, high-quality entries. It takes into account feedback from you and other users, previous entries made by the same author and many other signals we developed.”
The technology used to determine ranking involves large-scale graph computing but other factors are at play, as revealed by Danny Sullivan in his post about Sidewiki. These include use of sophisticated language, complex sentences and ideas, user reputation and user history as revealed by your Google profile and comment contributions. Your comments and others can be thumbed up or down using the “useful – yes or no?” tool, or reported as abuse, further contributing to your user reputation and “Profile Rank” as Danny calls it.
Google have also launched an API that allows developers to work freely with the content created in Sidewiki. Where no comments have been made on a web page, Google may show blog results relating to that page.
The potential applications of Sidewiki are interesting and frightening at the same time. For example, I can see how it could be a useful bookmarking tool, allowing you to make notes about a web site you’ve found which you could refer to later. You can even embed YouTube videos in Sidewiki (take a look at the Google home page to see this in action).
It also has fantastic potential as an online collaboration tool, letting you annotate the pages on a site in conjunction with team members in a similar way to tracking changes in a MS Word document and sharing document versions via Google Docs.
BUT, (and it’s a big but), I can see Sidewiki being open to abuse in a similar way to Searchwiki, Google’s comment tool for search engine result pages. Searchwiki has been widely panned in the search industry because it’s Notes feature has been exploited by spammers, overactive PR companies and people with a chip on their shoulder about certain web brands. Unfortunately, I see Sidewiki heading in the same direction. And fast.
Any user controlled element of a search engine is open to some level of abuse. But I don’t see a huge amount of comment filtering going on yet and have already seen evidence of spamming (view the Microsoft home page with Sidewiki installed and you’ll see anti-MS entries like this one).
Yes Google have a usefulness rating system in place, a Report Abuse link and are flagging some comments with the disclaímer “These entries may be less useful” but I doubt their filters will be able to keep up as Sidewiki takes off. There’s also going to be the troll factor which will undoubtedly lead to the system becoming worthless if it’s not carefully controlled. I’ve viewed Sidewiki entries on some major sites this past week and it’s already starting to feel like Toilet Wall Graffiti 2.0.
Sidewiki has program policies but spammers don’t care about those and trolls don’t read them. Besides, one man’s graffiti is another man’s gospel.
Google’s catch phrase for Sidewiki is: “Contribute helpful information to any web page”. To that, I say: Define helpful.
The Tricky Issue of Duplicate Content and Google
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 8:00 AM
Friday, April 2, 2010
Being a full-time online marketer means you have to keep a close watch on how Google is ranking pages on the web… one very serious concern is the whole issue of duplicate content. More importantly, how does having duplicate content on your site and on other people’s sites, affect your keyword rankings in Google and the other search engines?
Now, recently it seems that Google is much more open about just how it ranks content. I say “seems” because with Google there are years and years of mistrust when it comes to how they treat content and webmasters. Google’s whole “do as I say” attitude leaves a bitter taste in most webmasters’ mouths. So much so, that many have had more than enough of Google’s attitude and ignore what Google and their pundits say altogether.
This is probably very emotionally fulfilling, but is it the right route or attitude to take? Probably not!
Mainly because, regardless of whether you love or hate Google, there’s no denying they are King of online search and you must play by their rules or leave a lot of serious online revenue on the table. Now, for my major keyword content/pages even a loss of just a few places in the rankings can mean I lose hundreds of dollars in daily commissions, so anything affecting my rankings obviously gets my immediate attention.
So the whole tricky issue of duplicate content has caused me some concern and I have made an ongoing mental note to myself to find out everything I can about it. I am mainly worried about my content being ranked lower because the search engines think it is duplicate content and penalizes it.
My situation is compounded by the fact that I am heavily into article marketing – the same articles are featured on hundreds, some times thousands of sites across the web. Naturally, I am worried these articles will dilute or lower my rankings rather than accomplish their intended purpose of getting higher rankings.
I try to vary the anchor text/keyword link in the resource boxes of these articles. I don’t use the same keyword phrase over and over again, as I am nearly 99% positive Google has a “keyword use” quota – repeat the same keyword phrase too often and your highly linked content will be lowered around 50 or 60 places, basically taking it out of the search results. Been there, done that!
I even like submitting unique articles to certain popular sites so only that site has the article, thus eliminating the whole duplicate content issue. This also makes for a great SEO strategy, especially for beginning online marketers, your site will take some time to get to a PR6 or PR7, but you can place your content and links on high PR7 or PR8 authority sites immediately. This will bring in quality traffic and help your own site get established.
Another way I combat this issue is by using a 301 re-direct so that traffic and pagerank flows to the URL I want ranked. You can also use your Google Webmaster Tool account to show which version of your site you want ranked or featured: with or without the www.
The whole reason for doing any of this has to do with PageRank juice – you want to pass along this ranking juice to the appropriate page or content. This can raise your rankings, especially in Google.
Thankfully, there is the relatively new “canonical tag” you can use to tell the search engines this is the page/content you want featured or ranked. Just add this meta link tag to your content which you want ranked or featured, as in the example given below:
Anyway, this whole duplicate issue has many faces and sides, so I like going directly to Google for my information. Experience has shown me that Google doesn’t always give you the full monty, but for the most part, you can follow what they say. Lately, over the last year or so, Google seems to have made a major policy change and are telling webmasters a lot more information on how they (Google) rank their index.
So if you’re concerned or interested in finding out more about duplicate content and what Google says about it try these helpful links. First one is a very informative video on the subject entitled “Duplicate Content & Multiple Site Issues” which is presented by Greg Grothaus who works for Google.
Another great link is this page from Google Webmasters Support Answers by Matt Cutts. It has a lot of helpful information, including a video on the Canonical Link Element.
In yet another post, Matt Cutts discusses the related issue of content scraping and advises webmasters not to worry about it. This is a slightly different matter, other webmasters and unmentionables may use software to scrape your site and place your content on their site. This has happened to me, countless times, including when my content has been reduced to scrambled nonsense. Cutts says not to worry about this matter as Google can usually tell the original source of the material. In fact, having links in this duplicate content may just help your rankings in Google.
“There are some people who really hate scrapers and try to crack down on them and try to get every single one deleted or kicked off their web host,” says Cutts. “I tend to be the sort of person who doesn’t really worry about it, because the vast, vast, vast majority of the time, it’s going to be you that comes up, not the scraper. If the guy is scraping and scrapes the content that has a link to you, he’s linking to you, so worst case, it won’t hurt, but in some weird cases, it might actually help a little bit.”
As a full time online marketer I am not so easily convinced, I mainly have pressing concerns about my unscrupulous competition using these scrapings and duplicate content to undermine one’s rankings in Google by triggering some keyword spam filter. Whether in fact this actually happens, only Google knows for sure, but it is just another indication, despite the very detailed and helpful information given above, duplicate content and the issues surrounding it, will still present serious concerns for online marketers and webmasters in the future.
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