OVBlogger: Blogging and SEO

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Whoa. Really, really cool stuff going on over at WordPress.org. They’ve released WordPress 2.6 with some totally sweet options.

Here’s a quick rundown:

• Preview past post revisions.
  WP 2.6 lets you see what you’ve done before and even compare revisions to see which is best very easily.
• New Press This! button allows you to post from wherever you are online
  Snatch snippets of other blog posts, pictures, and get them onto your blog. (With proper crediting, of course.)
• See your theme before you actually change it.
  A new preview window allows you to see what a theme will look like with your content before you hit the change button.
• Get your word count!
  This is totally something I can use. Find out how many words are in each post you make.
• Give your pictures captions
  Let people know what your picture is about.

And there are more features that are new, like bulk dealing with plugins and such. Really, really sweet. Check it all out here: http://wordpress.org/development/2008/07/wordpress-26-tyner/

I love WordPress! Don’t you?

Fantastico doesn’t have it yet, though, and I’m lazy. I’ll wait. That way, the bugs might be worked out of the new software before I use it. Love that WordPress.

Popularity: 55% [?]

I was cruising around looking for cool stuff to tell you about today, and I came to a pretty sweet blog post that told me things I didn’t know about…

http://thefutureofsocial.com/7-very-likely-visions-of-social-networkings-future-is-this-web-30

Want to be a .tv star? Start your own TV channel on ustream.tv or not. I mean, some people were born to be in front of a camera. My daughter, for example, is totally photogenic, while I am totally not. I wouldn’t be a great candidate for my own .tv show. Maybe you would, though, and the beauty of this is that you totally CAN.

And what about a loan? I never knew there were such things as lending clubs, did you? I guess it’s kind of like a credit union, right? People join and members can lend/borrow money. People are making 18+% at this place: http://www.lendingclub.com/home.action and borrower are getting below bank rates.

Wow.

Can we really take back society?

I’d love to see the banks, drug companies, insurance companies, etc. who are ripping us off to the hilt totally humbled. This is a total aside to what this blog is about, but one of my asthma drugs–ONE– costs me $200 a month!

So, how’s the web going to go?

Seems you can’t apply to be a lender at The Lending Club anymore, until they get SEC approval. Hmm… wonder how that will go.

I also watched a video today from Jason Calacanis from Mahalo.com talking about how polluted the Web is becoming. He gave examples of how Usenet is dead because of all the damned spam there. I used to LIVE on Usenet. Breaks my heart.

He also mentioned that pay-to-post is dead. Google just gave the smackdown and banned some of those sites. No loss, in my opinion. People want me to post stuff about their products all the time, and they’re not even in my niche! I can’t tell you how many requests like that I’ve declined. I don’t often post about affiliate anything here.

To me, a blog is more about providing interesting information or entertainment before you include advertising. I know, it’s right there in my sidebar, and now and then in my posts, but not until I’ve given you something to think about. Right? Correct me if I’m dreaming.

Calacanis also said that “curation” is coming, meaning that eventually, all the ways we try to “game” the system, like posting to social sites and even SEO will be in the past because humans will become involved again and weed out all the dross.

His search engine, Mahalo, is a human edited SE, so it makes sense he would say that, but I can see it.

What’s wrong with pure content? AdSense sites are pretty much things of the past, which is good. I thought they sucked all along. No content, just a bunch of crap and AdSense links. People must have made money with them because there sure were a sh*tload of them at one time.

Who needs stuff like that, really? I mean, I’d much rather contribute to some of the cool things going on online than to add to the junk, wouldn’t you? Get a blog and write in it. Send new content to article directories and to social sites like Gather and my nemesis (but still a good site) Scribd.

Here’s the deal… When you give people good useful information, they’ll remember you. They’ll trust you, too, because you’ve most likely helped them to solve a problem and you need that trust if you’re ever going to sell them anything.

Become part of Web 3.0 and add to the quality of the Internet. I still think SEO is OK, as long as it’s just good solid practice, like keyword research and using the proper tags and stuff. But all that black hat stuff is just as Calacanis said just “pissing into the Web.”

I want the Internet to be the really cool place it is for the rest of my life, don’t you?

Popularity: 31% [?]

You know I love cool add-ons for Firefox, and I think I wrote about Speed Dial here several weeks ago.

Well, I liked it a lot, until I used it a lot. It makes rows of thumbnails for you so that you can see sites you visit every day. You don’t have to go hunting down the bookmark, you just click on the screen and voila! You’re there. Saves a lot of time.

But with Speed Dial, the thumbnails didn’t come up a lot of the time. And if they were there when you started out, they’d disappear. Another thing that bugged me is that you couldn’t name the site and let Speed Dial get the thumbnail for you also It was one or the other. So, when the thumbnail disappeared, you were SOL. You’d have to rest your cursor on the square to see the URL.

Not so with Fast Dial. It totally rocks. Not only does it hold your thumbnails, but it allows you to name them as well as allow Fast Dial to get your thumbnails. So, if for some reason, one disappears, you can still see the name of the site. But, what’s really cool is that they don’t disappear! At least none of them have gone AWOL all week. I’m thrilled.

You can get Fast Dial and try it out for yourself here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5721

Love it, love it, love it.

Popularity: 32% [?]

Wow! I just finished watching a video at StomperNet about Hello.txt by Paul Colligan. What a time saver! If you belong to as many social sites as I do, it totally rocks.

You can post your snippets to Twitter, Pownce, MySpace, Facebook, LinkdIn, Plaxo, and a host of other social sites all at the same time.

So, for example, I’m going to post to these sites about this blog post so that folks can check it out.

In the olden days… like, um, yesterday… I had to tweet at Twitter, then go to Facebook and post there, then go to Pownce, etc. Now, I can just go to Hello.txt and have it posted at all my favorite social sites all at the same time.

Love it!

Web 2.0 is really cool, and a whole lot of fun. I feel that the Web is leaning toward these sites that people want in a very big way. So, how will this affect search?

I’m thinking a LOT. Look at Google. What can you type into the search bar that doesn’t come back with Wikipedia in the first position? Well, I know there are keywords that don’t, but you know what I mean. Wikipedia gets a huge nod from Google, and nothing says that everything IN Wikipedia is 100% fact. I mean, kids are basing term papers on that kind of research, and it kind of scares me because it’s very dangerous to the truth.

No doubt, a big portion of Wikipedia is good, solid information, but as a very experienced researcher, it just isn’t a solid source. I’d never base anything on Wikipedia. I might use it as a quick idea starter, so that I can go to a respected source and get more information, but anyway, my point is, Wikipedia is at the top of Google because people love it. It gets lots of “votes” from people linking to it, good or not-so-factual.

So, what will happen? Do you think that the people-driven sites will take the place of Google? Will we actually be saying, “Hey, Google or whomever, we search in these social sites for news and information instead of yours because we know that other people think highly of them,”? And nothing’s better than good old word-of-mouth recommendation, eh?

I see social sites taking over in a big way, and I’m totally enjoying it, but remember, it just ain’t gospel.

Pass it on.

Popularity: 34% [?]

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been watching the pre-launch of a really impressive and brand new video contest that just launched on June 1st.

The prize?

A complete business makeover worth over $15,000. The prize package includes airfare, hotel, and you get to spend a full day with Internet Marketing experts who are there to help completely transform your business.

For more details, go to: http://easyseotricks.com/MDO

Who should enter?

What’s really interesting about this contest, is that really anyone who does any business on the Internet could really make out well here. Not only could you win the grand prize, but there are many other prizes available as well.

And here’s the big one…

The amount of traffic this could drive to your website is mind-boggling. You’re not only entering a contest, but you’re also a part of a huge viral marketing campaign where thousands and thousands of people will see your video and your website.

Talk about an opportunity within an opportunity!

Once you enter, post the link to your video here and I’ll be sure to check it out and vote on it for you!

The contest ends on July 14, 2008, so hurry! Go to: http://easyseotricks.com/MDO

Popularity: 23% [?]

Everyone is probably writing about this today. I know they’re all sending emails about it. I think I’ve gotten at least 10 by now.

John Reese is launching Traffic Secrets 2.0 very soon, and I like what I see, so far. I’m curious and quite interested. Looking forward to watching the second video because I know it will be better than the first. I just do…

I saw John Reese at a StomperNet conference last year, and he’s pretty intense. Lots of personality, a good sense of humor, and I was totally impressed with all the incredible information he gave us that day. But I’ve always been interested in what he’s doing and I pay attention when he comes out with something special.

Like Blog Rush, last year. I joined immediately, and it’s a pretty cool program. I built a downline there and my titles are shown on thousands of blogs every week. Some posts get 500 or more visitors in a day, which is cool to me, but in the first video for Traffic 2.0, John Reese talks about getting millions of visitors and having them be targeted! That’s totally interesting, no?

>>Warning: Pat is going to digress<<

Here's the thing with Blog Rush…

It all depends on your topic and your headline. I seem to do better when I’m writing about something IM or SEO, and if I write a good title, people click from curiosity, too. No doubt about it… Blog Rush does work, but it’s really up to you to make the traffic happen by figuring out what people want, writing about it, and then, writing a killer headline.

Another tip on Blog Rush is to keep it high in your sidebar, right under your optin box (which should always be your top widget). If you put it down low, nobody will see it and it won’t work for you because nobody will click and you’ll get no impressions. Unless you have a downline, you won’t get any displays. No displays = no traffic. So, get the widget up high and find some referrals, if you really want it to cook.

You can see Blog Rush working in the green box to the right that says, “News from the Blogosphere,” and go ahead and join if you’re not a member. It’s free, so why not try it?

Write some killer titles and people will get curious. Notice what gets clicks and what doesn’t. If you’re writing something really important, you want people to see what you have to tell them. You need to talk them into reading in just a few short words. That’s not always easy, but working at it will pay off.

>>digression over<<

I'm going to be watching this launch closely, and here's what I think...

John Reese is a very smart guy, and I'm always interested in what he's doing. Traffic Secrets 2.0 looks pretty sweet. I’m totally interested. If you haven’t watched the movie, you definitely should check it out. You can see it at http://www.TrafficSecrets.com/ . And no, I’m not an affiliate. Just think it’s cool.

Popularity: 25% [?]

Thanks to Annie, who commented on my last post about Firefox 3.0 and told me about a post at Mashable. It lists 30 updates to Firefox Add-ons, which is great! Check out http://net-proinfo.blogspot.com/ for that information.

Only problem is… Still no Tab Mix Plus.

Get with it, will ya, people?

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve lost material because I just opened something and forgot that Tab Mix Plus wasn’t there to open that new tab for me. It really sucks when you’re listening to a training audio and lose your place.

GRrrrrr…

If anyone spots an upgrade to that one, we’ll be friends for life.

I’m still liking Firefox 3.0 in every other way, though. Pretty sweet.

One other thing that was brought up to me was that Firefox 3.0 is incompatible with Roboform.

Untrue!

I use Roboform. Just go to the Roboform Website, and upgrade to version 6.9.09 and it works pretty well. The only issue is that it sometimes doesn’t recognize the site I’m on. No big deal. Right clicking and using “Fill forms” works just as well as the toolbar, if need be. I totally couldn’t live without Roboform.

4,000+ passwords and counting. And yes, I have the pro version.

What’s cool is that I’ve had that for a long time and it doesn’t expire. It’s well worth the cost.

But not true with Software 995. When I got this new computer with Windows Vista, I had to get a new version of pdf995, and when I tried to use my key, they told me something like, “Well… You didn’t actually think that your key would last for.ever, did you?” or something snarky like that. So, I bought it again, not realizing that Word 2007 has a plugin to use that creates .pdf docs and I didn’t have to spend the extra cash. Oh well… what’s $10?

Not even a decent lunch these days, eh?

Popularity: 24% [?]