Building your business on the internet is all about visibility, and by that, it means good visibility. Nothing can damage your business on the internet more than bad reputation for your company, brands, personnel, and products. Bad reputation can floor your business. It could spiral your case downwards, and before you know it, you are out of the game much earlier than you thought. Getting the right reputation on the internet for your company is as important as getting top billings on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). One in three companies is oblivious to the effects of a bad reputation to their business. The strategy—a flawed one at that—seems to be that of only trying for the highest rankings in the search results, and to forget doing anything further to make the top rankings work favorably for you. Monitoring the reputation of your company on the internet is very important for your company to grow in terms of brand image, or to maintain the level of reputation you’ve built over the years. Top rankings in the search pages are what good Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can help you achieve, but good SEO should also include ways to make the top ranking deliver more business for you. Remember, your company or business can be displayed on the top of the search results for all the wrong reasons, too. And once you get the top billings for lousy reputation, rest assured, your business is on the fast track to insolvency. Video Search Engine Optimization (VSEO) can enhance your reputation on the internet faster than conventional methods. If the reputation of your company has been affected by bad SEO, or by the sleazy campaigns of your competitors, using VSEO to correct the wrongs can be done faster and with more purpose. Experts and leaders of the SEO industry have been harping on the importance of video in SEO, and they are absolutely right when they say VSEO is the best way forward to enhance one’s reputation, or to correct damaged reputation. Why is Video so important in reputation management and brand management in SEO, and how can you use video clips to augment your company’s reputation to increase business? Consider the following pointers to understand the necessity of using videos optimally, and to realize why your company has to be placed on the top of the search pages with information that can enhance your reputation and business.

• Videos are given more importance in SERPs. Videos have more visibility on the search results pages as they have a more prominent display with icons attached to them.
• Videos have more probabilities of being visible, simply because there are high numbers of searches done on the internet for videos. So, if your company has an optimized video clip with correct info on your company, or if the videos can link the information seeker to you by providing relevant information to the seeker, the chances are high for your reputation and business to climb steeply. Here it is not only the SERPs that have to be taken into consideration; use videos on sites where you think your target customers or peers, frequent. You can use videos to enhance your reputation using simple VSEO tricks targeted at social networking sites.
• Since most searches for videos on the internet are from the younger crowd, the chances of information being relayed is all the more higher as research has proven that younger people tend to pass on information faster than the older ones.
• Visual media remain in the memory longer than simple text. Use videos to send messages to your customers that will remain in their memories longer. The longer you remain in their memories, the higher your chances of getting their business.

So, you can see that how VSEO can work wonders for your company by getting you the right visibility that will enhance reputation, brand image and business of your company by being more visible, and longer lasting in the memories of your target customers. Having said that, it is not as easy as it sounds, and you cannot just have some video clips made that dish out positive information of your company, and just go on placing them on all the sites you think your customers haunt. There are essential parameters that have to be adhered to, and some basic rules for getting your videos higher rankings as well as to make precise brand/reputation management on the internet.

• Make a conscious and detailed plan. Remember that the searchers are looking for information that is useful to them, and ones that don’t harm their eyes or distort their senses. Don’t make home videos that are fuzzy and blurry with bad audio. Use good equipment to make clear pictures with a clear audio track. Your videos should please the viewer not disgust them.
• Place the videos in social networking sites, and anywhere you think your target customers frequent. Don’t ignore the free sites. Place them on free sites where you think the information will be relayed. Remember, videos are viral.
• Optimize your videos. Create them in such a way that they get the top billings on the SERPs by providing relevant info. Make sure to include material that will enhance brand image and reputation of your company. Furnishing contact information of your company or personnel is a good way to accelerate the process. Make the videos to be your brand. Let one brand work for the other.
• The most important part—Hire a good SEO company that knows the importance of VSEO and Social Networking Sites. Take professional help from them to build, monitor, and enhance your reputation on the internet.

Make the move today. If you don’t act fast, somebody else is going to take your place. Good reputation for your competition might not be as harmful as a bad reputation for you, but the question is—are you willing to let your competition take the first step in building reputations on the internet? You might want to enlist the help of a video production company 

A friend of mine on Twitter @utahseopro sent me these questions to answer and post on my blog which he is also posting on his blog, Utah SEO Pro Blog.

1. How long have you been working in Organic SEO and Internet Marketing and what attracted you to it?
I started in Web Development in 1999, doing lots of ASP.NET coding. And sometime 2001/2002 some of the people I was doing dev stuff for, started asking for help with their internet marketing. I kind of did it as a side service for a while, then figured hell why not jump in feet first and really do it full time. I like this side of stuff a little more cause I get to use my creative side, I still <3 development stuff and writing code; but getting to do creative stuff has always been a passion of mine.

2. In your opinion, what's the measure of a good SEO/PR/Blogging professional?
Looking out for the clients best interest, making sure that they are doing what they need to do to succeed. Not doing shady underhanded things in their name & being a good part of the community.

3. Whose Blog do you read the Most?
Wow that's a toughie, I have been so busy that I haven't been reading much of anything consistantly but I still check the @SEOMoz blog the most.

4. What's your best "SEO secret" or blogging tactic?
As you can tell from my own blog I am not the model blogger, I do it all wrong and don't write enough content; but something that I tell all of our clients to do is check up on Google Trends and find trending keywords that relate to their industry and blog away :) Cause at the end of the day content is still king or atleast a high ranking member of the kings court.

5. Search engine algorithms are getting smarter, and a lot of people predict Organic SEO services will become obsolete. How do you plan to adapt?
No matter how the algorithms change, they are still an algorithm and still can be gamed steered in the right direction of content :) I will make sure that I help my clients stay at the forefront of what's going on, incorporating emerging technologies into their marketing plan. 

6. Please Describe the biggest challenge you face in your current job.
Not having enough time to do some of the stuff I really want to do. I stay really really really busy (i know judging from my twitter stream most would say I am lying =P ) and don't get enough time to do all the testing and experimenting that I want to do. Also getting clients to buy into my crazy social ideas, that's a pretty big challenge too, alot of people are afraid to put their brand out there - afraid someone might say something bad.

7. Do you have any advice for someone who is interested in Organic SEO, Digital Communications/Digital PR and ORM, but doesn't have a background in it, on how to get started in this field?
Read, Read, Read and read some more. Practice writing, watch emerging trends, study viral memes, goto conferences, network, tweet like there is no tomorrow :)

8. If you could rank for any keyword phrase you don't currently rank for, what would it be? 
I am thinking Zima cause it would still be pretty sweet to see my self top 10 for Zima 

9. Assuming you had never gone into (what you do now), what would you be doing now (professionally)?
I would like to pursue some type of acting or comedy. Maybe even get back into pro wrestling :)

10. Do you have any interest in politics?
I am a political junkie, I love all things political. I like reading Howard Zinn & Noam Chomsky, love watching Bill Maher, Keith Olberman & Rachel Maddow. I'm as wonky as they come with out being a total political insider :) And as you can tell am a little left leaning :)

 

Thank you to @MelaniePhung for writing the questions.

@almacy - A Digital Strategy Expert.
@melaniephung - A DC SEO Strategist.
@martinbowling - A lover of Zima.
@utahseopro - A Utah SEO Consultant.
@fairminder - A Boston Website Design and SEO specialist.
@cyandle - A Google Adwords Professional.
@melanienathan - An Edmonton SEO specialist.
@jackleblond - A VP of Internet Strategy.
@djpaisley - A Digital Communications Strategist.
@vinceblackham - A Utah SEO specialist.
@researchgoddess - A Staffing Social Media Specialist.
@monicawright - A Maine SEO professional.

Just How Did I Get Suckered Into a 13-Hour Train Ride From West Virginia to Manhattan?

Those attending the pre-SMX East networking event will invariably notice one or more of the following characteristics of a certain SEO:

1. He will be wearing black-framed, ultra-hip and stylish designer glasses.

2. He will talk non-stop, waxing poetic on any number of subjects on which he is an expert, such as the existential themes of Ricky Martin's music; why Cher is the quintessential pop cultural icon of the 20th century; and the ramifications of the power bomb replacing the body slam as the most common weapon in a professional "wrestler's" repertoire.

3. He will be sipping a refreshingly clean and crisp Zima, with a watermelon (or, occasionally, blue raspberry) Jolly Rancher dropped into the bottle for added flavor and color.

The SEO in question is one Martin Bowling. He's the Chief Technical Officer and resident evil genius here at Vec3. I tell you to look out for him and not for me because, naturally, I won't be there at the pre-SMX mixer myself. Neither will my colleague Matt Crist, the other Vec3 guy making the New York trip. It's not that we don't want to be there, mind you. It's just that Matt and I will be traveling to New York on the day of the mixer (October 5) via Amtrak's Cardinal 50 rail line. We will not get there in time for the mixer. You see, under ideal conditions, it's a 13-hour ride through the Allegheny Mountains into Virginia before the line turns north, running through Charlottesville before arriving in Washington, D.C. From there, the train passes through Philadelphia, Wilmington, Delaware and on into New Jersey before ending up, many hours later, in New York's Penn Station.

Now, if you've ever traveled Amtrak, you know the conditions are never ideal. That means, of course, that Matt and I will be on the train much, much longer. Marty? He'll be at the mixer, regaling you all with tales of his days as a trapeze artist on the underground circus circuit, or of his time in a Turkish prison. (I won't tell you his crime; it was a bogus charge anyway, the worst case of anti-American xenophobia I ever saw).

Marty will be there because he's traveling by airplane specifically so he can arrive in time for social (read: drinking Zima) hour. Matt and me? Again, we'll be on an uncomfortable train which will invariably arrive in New York City at 2 a.m. on Monday. We'll have to hail a cab in the middle of the night in a strange city that backwoods West Virginians are undoubtedly ill-prepared to navigate. All West Virginians are hillbillies, you understand, incapable of common sense or rational thought. It will be extremely unsanitary, for example, to walk around Penn Station barefoot. Maybe I should just break down and buy a pair of $10 shoes from Wal-Mart or something. We'll see.

But I digress. This is about our wonderful CTO and his social needs, not any discomfort Matt and I may (or may not) endure on our railroad odyssey from Appalachia to the Big Apple. Have a good time, Marty. We'll see you when we get there.

*********

Since sarcasm doesn't easily translate on the Web, a disclaimer is in order. I hate flying. Hate it. Not only did I choose my method of transportation for SMX East, I'm looking forward to the ride. Having traveled around the country many, many times in my previous life as an old-school media guy (read: newspaper reporter), I've hopped the Cardinal 50 line a number of times and have always enjoyed the trip.

Rail travel leaves a much smaller carbon footprint than driving or flying. It's also quite easy and relaxing. Sure, it takes forever and a day to get anywhere, but it's worth it to keep from dealing with airports, travel delays, turbulence at 28,000 feet and the otherwise kind, comfortable and accommodating nature of our nation's air travel system. Matt is coming along on the train because he's never ridden Amtrak before and is curious to see if I am crazy in endlessly extolling its virtues to anyone and everyone who is planning a business trip.

In addition, Matt and I will be live-blogging and Tweeting the trip through the Vec3 blog and our Twitter page--as we'll also be doing for the three days of SMX East--so keep an eye out for our updates.

Marty? Yeah, sure, keep an eye out for him, too. Trust me...you can't miss him.

So last night I am getting ready to watch some tv, being fall there is lots of good tv to watch, before I do I hit refresh on Twummize.com and low and behold this is what I see

Now I know what you're thinking give poor SEOChumpion a break, what did he do to anyone. Well it's not really what he did to anyone, it's just what he is doing that made think about how sometimes people get so fixated on rankings and keywords that they start to celebrate the empty victories. Yeah he is ranking #1 and #2 for "SEO Agency Firm" but how many people are actually typing "SEO Agency Firm" into Google or any search engine. Well let's take a look.

Now of course these numbers are kinda meaningless in themselves but when Google doesn't even have enough data to display anything you know for sure it's a keyword that is not really worth spending any time and effort on, much less touting it as a victory. Now here is a snapshot of what might actually be some money keywords when it comes to SEO

I for one though don't think ranking or not ranking for "SEO xxxx" should be a measure of ones success. We get most of our business from word of mouth referrals, and I think that is because so many people have Googled "SEO xxxx" and been lead to a snake oil seo who is using bogus claims like I can guarantee rankings or I rank #1 for this term, so I must be good right? Taking advantage of the fact most people don't understand rankings and keywords. Preying on their vulnerabilities. But I digress. So we know that this keyword has little traffic, wonder what kind of competition it has. Well thanks again to the twitterverse, specifically mvandemar 

So zero competition, zero actual searches happening in Google. What the hell is the point? You might as well be ranking for laser kitten vertices. Ok so I am getting a little ranty again oops. I guess my main point is that SEO isn't and shouldn't only be about rankings and keywords. A good SEO should help their clients with a well rounded holistic internet marketing strategy, one that helps impact their ROI. Ranking for silly terms isn't going to do your clients any good, isn't going to bring traffic, isn't going to bring leads and certainly without those things won't result in any sales. I would much rather help a client get a good solid foundation for their website, help them produce good content, provide their users with a good experience and then build on that. The rankings will come with time and patience; but getting people ranking for junk - is only going to frustrate them and continue to tarnish the image of SEOs as a whole. I am sure I could go on and write forever about that; but I thought I would list some examples of pointless keywords that I rank for just for fun :) And please share your examples in the comments :)

• I ranked 10th for how fast is mexico sinking
• I rank 3rd for baby got back 25
• I rank 12th for fast result seo
• I rank 8th for best pist off bowling
• I rank 1st and 2nd for online reputation management india

 

Of course I am sure I could go on forever and ever; but I think everyone gets the point! Don't waste your time or clients time talking about empty rankings, and please share your empty rankings - do it for the LULZ :)

Contest Introduction Brought To You By Brian Carter

If you haven't heard, Martin Bowling loves Zima. He loves it so much (or so people say), that Google Suggest has permanently associated his name with Zima- they're officially related now.

Martin Bowling Loves Zima is a meme (a viral idea) that was started by Andy Beal and his wife, and has been embraced and fueled by search industry personalities such as Rob @SEOcracy, Sheila @govisithawaii, Todd Friesen, Brian Carter, Todd Mintz, Joshua Sciarrino, Dana Lookadoo, Danny Sullivan, Rand Fishkin, and others.
Now Martin is announcing the Martin Bowling Loves Zima Meme Contest... it's the contest that asks "Who can create the best whatever (video, blog post, tweet series, captioned picture, avatar, twitter background, the sky is the limit - want a great example check out ZimaFan on Twitter) about the Martin Bowling Loves Zima meme?"

The prizes are awesome, the judges are cool, and the contest is going to get a LOT of attention.
Here's what you have to do by October 3rd, 2008

1. Create your thing
2. Put it on the internet, and you don't EVEN have to link to the contest blog post, that's right this isn't a ploy to steal your link juice :)
3. Tweet about your entry with a link & Leave a comment here with your entry (just incase as we all know that twitter is sometimes teh suck)
4. Rinse & Repeat, cause you can enter as many times as you'd like!

Then you wait for our judges' decision anxiously while chomping on your nails, knowing the outcome could change your entire life forever!

The second half of this post brought to you by your regularly scheduled host Martin Bowling

And now on to the good stuff, how is this going to get my ass to ScarySEO? Well here is how these are the fabulous prizes:

1^st place

Win a trip to ScarySEO, (includes conference registration and Two Nights Stay at the awesome Hilton Deerfield Beach Hotel - Sorry Folks Airfare not included, unless someone would want to sponsor it :wink: )

$50 bar tab provide by yours truly, and no drinks will not be limited to Zima only :)

And one of these awesome Zima t-shirts

2^nd Place

So you don't get the free ride to the awesome ScarySEO mini-con, but we still want to hook you up with some SEO knowledge so

SEOmoz SEO Training DVD’s over 7 hours of SEO knowledge from Rand & Crew

One of those awesome Zima t-shirts pictured above.

3^rd place

3 month subscription to Online Reputation Management Monitoring Tool - Trackur.com subscription, so you can make sure you don't have your own Zima Meme disaster :)

Zima t-shirt

 

*Honorable mentions to receive random Zima treasures

 

**Contest will be judged by the following panel of Zima experts: Andy Beal, GoVisitHawaii, Jane Copland, Todd Friesen, Dave Snyder, Brian Carter.

If you need more details about the awesomeness of ScarySEO go check out this great post by Eric Lander (who is also speaking at ScarySEO) and if you don't win or don't enter don't forget you still have time to go register for ScarySEO.

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As expected Rob's latest tool DataPresser (DataPresser is a one-of-a-kind utility that leverages the giant collection of databases available for sale at Seocracy.com to allow you to create massive amounts of wordpress blog content with zero programming experience required.) One note on the description I changed it from wordpress to blog; because I am using DataPresser with blogengine .net which I will be posting about at a later date! I first wanted to congratulate Rob on such an successful launch but I also want to remind anyone that didn't get in on the first round should go get on the DataPresser waiting list now Rob will be opening up a few more spots in the coming weeks and I believe it's a first come first serve kind of deal. So don't wait get your name on the waiting list. Second, I wanted to say oopsie! I meant to write this up on Friday and way to try and help Rob drum up some business for the DataPresser launch but given the huge success of the DataPresser 30 minute sell out - looks like he didn't even need my help. Which of course I didn't expect him to cause he always makes such great tools. Again congrats on the success DataPresser 30 minute sell out

Over the past several weeks there has been much discussion about serp hijacking and ninja linkbuilding. Whether or not you should be transparent with your clients and engage in knowledge sharing. We have recently started a project with client to help them properly manage their own online reputation and increase their social media presence. They were already working with another company on redesigning their Web site. This was not only a redesign of the site but a site overhaul to improve the search friendliness of their site. As we were moving forward with our portion of the project we did an internal analysis of the sites SEO so that we would know how the site would play in our plan. Discussing the preliminary results with the client - lead them to tell us not to worry all these issues were being addressed. That we should wait till the second week of January and we would be able to view the new and improved site with all of these fixes and more in place with a brand new look and feel!

We were rather excited about the prospects of the client getting and updated look and feel along with some much need search friendliness. We kept moving forward with our planning knowing that all of our concerns some of the things that raised a flag in our analysis were being addressed - and we would have a more solid jumping off point when the project went forward in January. The email stating they have gone live finally arrives, I anxiously open up the email and click the link. The browser opens to a Flash Splash Page, not just a splash page but one that hasn't even used any <NOSCRIPT> to provide any additional SEO boost and it doesn't have any links pointing the rest of the site! And even though google says they are reading flash files, there are some ongoing seo and flash tests that seem to indicate otherwise. So googlebot is already with a massive hurdle in indexing the "new and improved"   "rehased" website. I click on the button in the flash animation and enter the site. I see only two paragraphs of text and some links. Links that I find are all hidden behind some javascript.  But as I continue to scroll down the page I come across something that I find to be very disturbing.

This is the footer that is included on each page. I have blacked out the company name as to not drag them into this, even though this is about outing them to the client I don't feel that outing them to the world is appropriate or my place. But each of the red circles in the above graphic indicate a followed link, a link that has been styled to not appear as a link. They have given themselves 9 followed links with varying anchor text, appropriate title attributes and on images alt attributes. The attributes are something that they somehow forgot to include on any of the clients pages. So this of course leads me to dive into an all out analysis of the "new and improved"   "rehased" Web site. And I proceed to find problem after problem.

We now have a bit of a quandary they have paid for services that we are now telling them they didn't receive. On top of that we are going to tell them that they really need to do these things so that all of their internet marketing efforts aren't in vein. I don't feel particularly comfortable with going back to them and handing them another bill to go back and fix someone else's work. Especially someone who has an established relationship with the client; we are the new kids on the block (yes, I just linked to 80's boy band new kids on the block). So the team comes together and writes a massive report on the "new and improved"   "rehased" Web site. In this report we include everything we look at problems and their solutions - we spell it all out for them. We have decided by engaging in knowledge sharing; by not forcing them into choosing us that we will gain both trust and help make them successful - which is our ultimate goal. We don't want to create a drove of people who are dependant upon us. We want to create successful strategies, we want people not to need us; but to want to work with us on a continued basis to be a part of the process that creates the next winning strategy for them. Everyone on the team is feeling great about this decision. The client now knows what their problems are and how they can be fixed.

As soon as we deliver this report of course the client goes into panic mode. The president wants to know what is the most pressing issue that needs to be addressed is. We of course mention that some of their pages are ranking better for some the other companies terms and even their brand than they are for their own terms. And that they are leaking lots of link love on every single page to this other company 9 different times. I also wanted to stress that one link is acceptable but 9 was a little excessive and that they should really talk to these people and see if it was done on purpose, cause as I forgot to mention this is a .EDU site. And we all know how we SEO's covet .EDU backlinks. So we establish that this is indeed the standard footer and that they just want to build lots of links :) So there wasn't any attempt to game this client in particular; that they just game all their clients in this way. Anyway back to the story, we continue to work with the client and their internal Web department to identify things that they can easily fix and what they can't. Well as we get into the site more and more we realize that this is truly a mess. It's an ASP.NET CMS, that actually isn't really being used only it's database is being used - then they have ColdFusion pages making calls to the db pulling out content to display. So there is no "Theme" to edit and fix the menus, every one of the 23,000 pages has this stuff hard coded, they don't even use any include files. They let us know after the last group created the "look and feel" they went in and manually edited the pages to incorporate them. Wow! I was amazed. Many people had came through their doors - this was the 4th rework of their site; but no one had taken the time to integrate any of the different parts of the sites. Just band-aided them together and let the client worry about the consequences.

We are currently working with the client to help them decide how to best move forward. And I really believe that it was the transparency and knowledge sharing that really gave us the extra bump in their trust of us. They saw that we just wanted to help make their efforts successful, that we weren't trying to just make another buck. We honestly had their best interest in mind. We empowered them with the knowledge to fix it themselves or hire out someone else. But instead they turned to us; because they now know that they can trust us - we put their success first and it's paying off. I would encourage more Search/Internet/Social Marketers to engage in knowledge sharing and be a little more transparent and see how positively it impacts their bottom line. I will keep everyone updated as the saga continues to unfold :)

I am a big fan of the DoFollow movement and therefore have made all comments on this blog DoFollow. So as long as you are making relevant related comments you can get a nice juicy (ok well maybe not that juicy but a link none the less) link.  Hope that everyone continues to enjoy the blog and hopefully someone will find it useful.

Andrew Shotland over at Local SEO Guide had a great posted the other day about his analysis of backlinks to presidential candidate’s websites and remarkably the google algorithm correctly predicted the Democratic Winner; but was wrong on the Republican side according it to his analysis Ron Paul should have won hands down with more than 3 times as many links as Mike Huckabee. As we all saw though that wasn't the case. But anyone who has been following Ron Paul or his rise to internet fame knows that Digg users absolutely love Ron Paul they eat up everything that Ron Paul related.  So of course he is going to have more links than anyone else.

So does this mean Google's idea of one link equals one vote is broken? Or is the Ron Paul phenomenon more akin to spam and therefore not as relevant? Because as we saw the number two Republican Mike Huckabee did indeed win. So maybe in Andrew's analysis he should have penalized Dr. Paul just like Matt Cutts would penalize a filthy spammer. Lets face it, Digg users basically spam consistently and blindly promote Ron Paul stories all of which of course point back to Dr. Paul's site. And as we all know it's a very limited number of Digg power users that really control the content of the Digg front page. And once it goes hot on Digg of course more and more people link to the story in hopes to get a little residual traffic from talking about the hot item. Voting up and talking about that item becomes the "in" thing to do. So it then becomes unfair to count each one of those links as a vote, because in essence they are manufactured links - in reality nothing more than a link farm.

So am I trying to same Google's algorithm is broken? No I am actually saying the opposite, that Google's algorithm is fairly on target as it goes with deciding what content is popular and relative. But it also shows a fundamental flaw in the Google algorithm, that people can give links and people can get people to get links and powerful people can reach more and more people garnering more and more links. So good news is that Google gaming will continue on as long as links are part of the equation.  Even without links I am sure some portion of the Google algorithm will have some gameable component.