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My Re-Gift to the World: Help A Reporter Out (HARO) »
Posted on August 18th, 2008 by Justin Seibert in Slightly Off-Topic | Leave A Comment

You know what’s really awesome?  When someone does all the hard work on something and then you can pass along that information and look like the good guy.

Enter Peter Shankman’s Help a Reporter Out (HARO).  Or more accurately, enter me talking about HARO.

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TAGS: boston tea party, help a reporter out, peter shankman, rss in plain english, search engine strategies, zombies

Blogs are Crap - More Fallout from the WVU eMBA Scandal »
Posted on August 12th, 2008 by Justin Seibert in Business Blogging, DOM News, Government Marketing, Internet, Local News, Local Search, Search Engine Reputation Management, Web Credibility | 5 Comments

Rarely do I literally stop everything I’m doing to read an article.  Or post a comment.  Or write a blog.  I hit the trifecta today.

Just when I thought I had said all I could say about the WVU eMBA scandal from an online reputation management perspective, I was sent a link to this article:

Interim WVU president has big goals — but don’t count on him blogging

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TAGS: banging head on desk, blogs vs. main stream media, charleston daily mail, Heather Bresch, Mike Garrison, naked supermodels, next generation marketing, online reputation management, peter magrath, sabremetrics, twitter, unicorns, WVU emba degree, wvu president, wvu scandal

I Wandered Lonely as a (Tag) Cloud »
Posted on August 6th, 2008 by Paul Woodhouse in Business Blogging | Leave A Comment

[Tag: Cloud]

If you go and take a look at the new archives page I’ve thrown up, you’ll notice (in descending order) a search form, monthly archives, archives by category with their own RSS feed, a latest posts section, and a TAG CLOUD. This just allows you to scavenge through our past piffle in a manner you may find suitable.

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TAGS: blogging, tag cloud, tagging

“I’m So (Not) Excited, and I Just Can’t Hide It” »
Posted on August 5th, 2008 by Paul Woodhouse in Social Media | 3 Comments

This morning, Justin accused me of being a bit short on the old handle. Or more short-tempered than usual.

I find this shocking for the fact that I like to think of myself as somewhat a-motional. (I know theoretically that means I don’t move around much, and I don’t, but a-emotional is far too clumsy and has me mentally over-exerting my jaw muscles just thinking about saying it.)

I think I may be over-compensating for any excitement about moving back up Cleveland way (don’t you be getting too excited, I shall be telecommuting) and going on vacation back to England on my own for a couple of weeks.

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TAGS: excited, friendfeed, lifestreaming, pointer sisters, twitter

On Cuil and Search Engine Reputation Management »
Posted on July 28th, 2008 by Justin Seibert in Search Engine Reputation Management, Search Engines, Web Credibility | Leave A Comment

Rule #1 for true search engine reputation management:

If you’re going to get major press for your new search engine, which is supposed to take on Google, either make sure it works or don’t put it out there for people to play with.  There’s, “hey we’re still working out the bugs - we appreciate your feedback” and then there’s cuil. It’s pronounced “werth-les.”

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TAGS: cuil, google, leftvsright.com, new search engines, Search Engine Reputation Management, searchme.com

Ego Keywords: at What Cost? »
Posted on July 28th, 2008 by Justin Seibert in PPC, Paid Search, SEM, SEO, Search Engines | 4 Comments

You have keywords you absolutely HAVE to rank for.  Admit it.  They may be your company name, your name, a very vague, and broad subject related to your industry, or something absolutely arcane that no one searches for.

Occasionally these terms matter enough that you absolutely need to own them, often you do really need to have some sort of presence for them, and probably more often than not they really don’t matter at all*.   So how do you know?

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TAGS: AOL, baseball, ego keywords, Joe Posnanski, Murray Chass, paid search budgets, SEO, wiggles

If I Sold Cell Phones…On Dropping your Blackberry in the Toilet »
Posted on July 22nd, 2008 by Justin Seibert in Business Blogging, SEO, Social Media | 5 Comments

I often make analogies to flushing things down the toilet.  Often times those analogies are about money, so that’s how I know I’ve gotten old.  That and when younger employees like Derrick call me old.

Well, I went and darn near did flush something down the toilet this week.  You see, I read in my Blackberry manual this week that it’s best to wash regularly for optimal performance, so I threw it in the toilet while giving my kids a bath.  Then I went back and re-read the manual. Turns out it actually said, “never submerge me, you goofball”.  You can see why I got confused though.

My cell phone is now dead and I am going through withdrawals worse than when they stopped showing Charles in Charge reruns.

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TAGS: blackberry addiction, forums, Lincoln memorial, long-tail keywords, made for adsense, ut fans, Washington DC

You Don’t Get This at Starbucks »
Posted on July 22nd, 2008 by Paul Woodhouse in Business Blogging | Leave A Comment

A man walks into a coffee shop and asks for a cappa-frappa-lappa-dappa-ding-dong over ice and is told in no uncertain terms that he’s not welcome with his anathema to coffee taste.

He gets something approaching an iced coffee, leaves a swear word on a dollar bill as a tip then goes home to rant on his blog about his nondescript event claiming he’d only return to the place with a can of kerosene and some matches to torch the place.

Perhaps he didn’t account for the fact that the owner of the coffee shop also had a blog, but Mr. Owner decided to reply to the customer’s complaints in full on his blog culminating in a threat to punch the fella in his crown jewels.

The next thing you know it’s all over the Web and a WaPO reporter is interviewing everybody concerned.

You can get the overall picture/primer here, then read the two offenders’ take on proceedings here and here.

I just suggest you read it if you have the time, but be warned there are some naughty words floating around - after all, coffee can be a very emotive subject.

If you must know, I’m on the side of the coffee shop owner. I believe businesses should be able to set out their vision for a better world in whatever it is they may do.

Although there was no need for everybody concerned to be so ridiculous about it.

TAGS: coffee blogs, murky coffee

Health & Safety in the Webspace »
Posted on July 21st, 2008 by Paul Woodhouse in Web Development | Leave A Comment

On my (now) regular morning flounce into work I adroitly negotiate my way past all manner of obstacles - the main street traffic, the weather-worn back alley prophylactic, and the clouds of pre-work smokers. But, this morning I had to make my way round a couple of roofers attending to their business on a building next to Subway on Market St.

Having been on a site or two in my time I’m well aware of certain health and safety measures. The most basic being, when working above the general public you have to cordon off an area so they aren’t walking under ladders or, to be more precise, walking into them.

Invariably this means wrapping yellow tape marked ‘caution’ round the base of your ladders, the nearest lamp post and a handy fire hydrant.
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Which Twittering Twit… »
Posted on July 17th, 2008 by Paul Woodhouse in Business Blogging, Social Media | 3 Comments

…after being explained the intricacies of Twitter said, of a tweet’s 140 character posting limit, “Is that per month?”

a) My lovely wife, Stephanie.
b) Ms. Riley, the world’s oldest blogger, who died this weekend at the age of 108.
c) An old chum I met on facebook recently who asked what Google was when replying to what I said I did for a living.
d) Me.

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TAGS: oldest blogger, olive riley, twitter

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