October 12, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Back when blogs didn’t exist…or did they?
By Eric Pangburn Web Success Team Contributor
Looking back, it is hard to imagine that there was a time when things such as “blogs”, “blogging” and “bloggers” didn’t exist. Yes, some of us have been around long enough to remember when everyone didn’t have some sort of online presence. Things are a lot different today as blogs are routinely used by everyone in order to achieve web success, implement corporate branding and act as an effective tool in direct response marketing. In fact, direct response websites – of which blogs are only some of the more recognizable incarnations – can be some of the most effective tools to have at your disposal to grow your business online. The online world is a constantly changing environment and you neglect the blogging phenomenon at your own risk.
Communication in the pre-blog age
This is not to say that people didn’t have any means by which to share information, we have indeed advanced dramatically since the “two cups tied to a string” phase, thereby enabling peers to interact with each other before the advent of blogs and blogging. Back then, there were actually numerous thriving digital communities, among which the legendary USENET, GEnie, BiX and CompuServe reigned supreme. In addition, there were also e-mail lists. By the time the 1990s rolled around, certain enterprising individuals and companies banded together to create WebEx, which was the first online service to introduce the concept of “threaded” conversations. Tell that to the Facebook-happy online cowboys of today! This early online communications model – which can be paralleled to posting and replying to messages on a corkboard– served as the blueprint upon which virtually all online communications services that have come along since then have been built on.
While CD’s were busy outselling vinyl, blogs were busy putting outdated and old fashion norms of communication six-feet under… permanently. The fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 indeed marked the end of an era that was defined by ancient forms of communication, and introduced an uprising of technological advancements in blogging and the online world.
Online diary and so much more
The next significant phase in the development of blogging occurred between the years of 1994 and 2001, where the concept of “the blog” as an online diary first took root. This essentially meant thousands of people kept an online record of everything that went on in their lives. The term “blogger” wasn’t used then obviously – in fact, it probably hadn’t even been conceptualized yet – and most people who engaged in such online activities referred to themselves as “diarists” or “journalists”. Many of these practitioners were members of the academe and the scientific communities, and these people are recognized today as the earliest “bloggers” in the modern sense of the word.
It is surprising to note that these early blogs actually had more in common with modern blogs than you would think. An early blog called the Wearable Wireless WebCam utilized text, graphics, and video in pretty much the same manner that modern blogs do today. Of course, the results were far from the smooth and slick displays that confront you with some of today’s more impressive blogs, but you can definitely see the roots of today’s current blogging scene at work in these early examples.
Blogging trickles down to the masses
As significant as all these previous events have been, these wouldn’t have been much different if it weren’t for the introduction of easier to use blogging tools that essentially served to democratize the entire blogging process. Back then, blogging remained a “black art” for many of the less technologically inclined Web residents, many of whom didn’t have the slightest idea about how to go about putting together a blog. Apparently, Borders didn’t carry “Blogging for Dummies.” This eventually led to the rise of a new stream of online publishing and made it easy for anyone anywhere to post his or her thoughts online without having to know very much about the underlying technologies. These days, you can simply download some sort of browser-based blogging software, of which services such as WordPress, Movable Type, Blogger and LiveJournal are some of the most widely used.
The origins of the word
All this still hasn’t explained where the term “blog” came from. As it turns out, the term “weblog” was introduced by Jorn Barger, with Peter Merholz later coming up with a shortened term “blog”, and the rest is history. It was shortly afterwards that “blog” came in the popular usage as both a noun and as a verb.
Blogging is a potent political tool
Beginning roughly around 2001, blogging became particularly prevalent among certain individuals in the American political scene. Blogs such as Politics1.com, Political Wire, Instapundit, and Little Green Footballs all greatly contributed to the wider spread exchange of information among political analyzers and the public. One blog called The Daily Dish achieved considerable popularity in the days after the September 11 tragedy involving the WTC twin Towers.
More recently, blogging has been used to marvelous effect during some of the more newsworthy political campaigns, such as the drive to instill now-President Barack Obama into the White House. If that doesn’t drive home the influencing power of the blog, then we don’t know what does!
Blogging made easier
By the end of the year, blogging was sufficiently popular to inspire the release of several blogging how-to guides, all of which aimed to instruct the general public on the finer points of blogging. At the same time, blogging’s role in the community outside of the Internet increased exponentially as well. In fact, even many of the more established journalism schools all over the world were looking into the implications of blogging as it related to traditional journalism.
Blogging today and in the future
Today, blogging has undeniably penetrated the mainstream, with everyone from high-powered corporate executives (and those involved in scientific and academic pursuits), to housewives (and even younger children) blogging on a regular basis.
It remains uncertain as to what the different forms of blogging would take on in the coming years. Even now, many bloggers have moved on from the Web into various other media such as radio and television. The migration process has gone the other way as well, with many personalities associated with “traditional” media having gone on to become influential bloggers in their own rights. One thing is for sure, with the many benefits that blogging continues to offer, anyone who is looking to achieve web success, grow your business online, launch a direct response marketing campaign, or simply get their thoughts out for the world to read, blogging will remain an important facet of the online experience for many years to come.
September 21, 2009 at 5:25 pm
By Bob Speyer, President – Web Success Team
On the face of it, more than you think when you consider raising children and obtaining a mortgage as two of the most important and difficult challenges parents face in these modern and uncertain economic times. But that is not really the main thrust of this article; nor is it just an attention grab.
The Web Success Team has just launched two direct response websites with very different yet distinct marketing focuses:
Be Informed. Make the Right Mortgage Decision.
NuCapital.ca, one of Canada’s premier mortgage brokers, contracted the Web Success Team to build their business online and market their outstanding services. They purchased Team’s complete online marketing solution, the Solopreneur Marketing Package, which includes a direct response website and 6 months of online marketing and promotion.
The first assessment we made was to position them as an authority on the mortgage industry with the message to the consumer to be better informed in order to make the right mortgage decision. Then we wanted to show the benefits in using NuCapital to find them the best loan for their unique financial situation. We added the tagline: “A Fresh Nu Approach to Mortgage Lending” to reinforce their online positioning and branding as working for their interest, not the banks.
NuCapital wanted to attract more clients and engage them. Our approach was two-fold. First was to build a direct response marketing website, including an opt-in to capture name and email with a downloadable free report, along with an online application to “know their mortgage options.” The color palette is especially important in that we wanted the visitor to feel “safe.” We selected a lighter and darker shade of cool blue and a complimentary cream. The home page is of course the main focus of any website and we segmented it so the visitor could see the immediate benefits of using NuCapital for all their mortgage needs. The copy was written to give them a quick advantages comparison on their promise of a “nu approach to mortgage lending.”
Having just completed the site, we are now in Phase II — Online Marketing and Promotion. Because the client has a local geographic target area, greater Toronto, we focused on placing NuCapital on several local directories. In addition to fully optimizing the website for the search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN, we created a WordPress blog. Keyword rich articles are being written, blogged and submitted to article aggregators to further increase the company’s Internet footprint. We are also using Social Media Network Marketing to broaden their reach through the use of Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter and achieve web success.
Offline, the client is doing staged postcard mailings to draw visitors to the site and further market their services to the local geo areas.
Helping Parents Raise Extraordinary Children
Great Parenting Academy is the brainchild of Terri Khonsari, a noted author, coach, consultant and successful parent. She created the Academy to assist and educate parents in developing skills on how to raise an exceptional child. She has brought together acclaimed experts in the field of child psychology and child development, including best-selling “Chicken Soup” author Jack Canfield, child psychologist Dr Brenda Wade and Janet Attwood, educator and best selling author of The Passion Test.
The Web Success Team was asked to develop a website to promote their inaugural one-day live event. We branded the site to depict the growth and learning phases of child development and gave it an informational resource feel. The site is easy to navigate where prospective attendees can delve deeper to find topics, speakers and activities that will interest and engage them. There is also an early bird registration request and blog for additional up-to-date information and resources. Again, colors were selected to elicit positive reaction from the target group of young parents. Eggshell yellow is the predominant background color with red accents. Finally, there is a bookmark tag so the site can be shared through social media.
The Web Success Team
SPECIAL: Solopreneur Package – Jump Start Your Business
The Web Success Team’s Solopreneur Package includes a 5-page custom direct response website fully branded and optimized for Search Engines with 6-months of online marketing, social networking, blogging, article marketing and much more. Lock in your special pricing now before the rate goes up! Contact the Web Success Team at 818-222-5643 or email bob@websuccessteam.com. To your web success!
August 28, 2009 at 12:21 pm
- Posted by: WebSuccessTeam under Content, Web Success, Web Success Advertising, Web Success Branding, Web Success News
- Tags: Achieve Web Success, Direct Response Websites, Duplicate Content, Grow Your Business Online, Search Engine Rankings, Search Engines Spiders, Solopreneur Marketing, Web Success, Web Success Team
By Bob Speyer, President, Web Success Team
Duplicate content is pervasive on the web. It’s so easy to take someone’s article or text and place it on your website or blog. “Everybody does it, so why shouldn’t I?” There are a great many reasons why you shouldn’t and this article will address them and make a good case for putting in the extra effort and develop original content. I will also discuss how you can eliminate duplicate content and therefore improve your search engine rankings and visibility.
How Search Engine Spiders Find Duplicated Content?
Duplicate content is when the search engine spiders detect content that has the same correlation and scoring with two or more web pages. They detect “edit distance,” in which the spiders determine how many changes are made to make it look like another document. Another determinant is they first identify and then eliminate items such as Nav Bars, Footers and Headers before comparing the documents in question. On a larger scale, they sort documents in similar categories and compare those groups to detect the duplications.
Detecting and Eliminating Duplicate Content on Your Website
If sites are determined to run duplicate content, then those questionable pages are barred from the search engine results pages (SERPs) and they will not appear in a search. However, there are tools that can help you identify the offending content in a website and help you restore the page in the SERPs.
Fortunately, there are tools out there that can help to identify Duplicate Content within a Website and assist in restoring the Webpage in the SERPs. Select a tool that will identify the exact correlation between a multiple number of documents and between your website pages; and not ones that just compare two pages. Once you make the corrective changes, run the tool again to see the results.
Of course there are things you shouldn’t do, such as: not writing content that is placed in a common area and shared (like the Header, Navigation and Footer). Also avoid changing words to their synonyms, like car and automobile or switching word order. And make sure you have enough content on each page, the less content the greater possibility of duplication detection.
Be Original, It Pays Off
Play it straight. If you develop content that is original you will greatly benefit. For starters, you position yourself as an authority on your subject matter. You site will get better rankings and hence more visibility. You will attract more authority links or inbound links that also help with search engine ranking. If you don’t have the time to write content consider hiring a ghostwriter. You can do the research and give them the direction. And remember to add content to your website at least once a week. And anything your write should have your keywords embedded for search. Take the time, it will pay off and you won’t have to worry about not being searched. Remember the spiders aren’t human and do not hold grudges. They simply go tirelessly around the clock searching for ways to knock you down on the rankings. Don’t give them the satisfaction, be original!
The Web Success Team
SPECIAL: Solopreneur Package – Jump Start Your Business
The Web Success Team’s Solopreneur Package includes a 5-page custom direct response website fully branded and optimized for Search Engines with 6-months of online marketing, social networking, blogging, article marketing and much more. Lock in your special pricing now before the rate goes up! Contact the Web Success Team at 818-222-5643 or email bob@websuccessteam.com. To your web success!
SPECIAL: Solopreneur Package – Jump Start Your Business
