Archive for the 'SEO Stuff' Category
Theme: Congratulations Jeeves - Miss Congeniality 2007
Author: Shirley Tipsy
04 3rd, 2007
I have seen a few posts around lately about Ask.com’s lame anti-Google marketing campaign. Although I do give them a small amount of credit for the fact that the taglines they are using are rather clever, I think resorting to this kind of cheap tactic is sad and unnecessary. I mean really, so your search engine isn’t as good and therefore can not generate as much traffic as Google, do you really need to blame it on them? If you run a marathon and someone finished 15 minutes ahead of you, do you complain to the judges that it’s not fair because they are a better runner than you are and you should get credit for trying?!?! I don’t think so. But hey, I get where you are coming from and that’s why I am proud to announce that Ask.com has just been voted Miss Congeniality 2007! Congrats Ask, without you, semi-attractive pre-pubescent Search Engine’s everywhere would have no one to look up to!
read comments (2)Theme: Just Call Me Shirley Sniffle
Author: Shirley Tipsy03 29th, 2007I was killer bummed out yesterday when I read Matts post and found out that he is not going to SES New York. Anyone who knows me, knows how much of a Matt Cutts Fan(atic) I am - yeah, yeah, yeah, “Audrey, you’re a Cuttlett.”
Anyway, the highlight of going to any SEO convention for me is getting to have my Matt face time, which I am sooooo bummed out about not getting in New York. I’m sure i’ll still get to speak to lots of intelligent and interesting people, and there is always learning to be done, but it’s just not the same… Matt is my most favorite geek on the planet!
Ok, so I guess I’ll stop whining now and start biding my time until SES San Jose. 
Hugs, Kisses and Near Misses,
Audrey - The Matt Cutts Makes Me Google Girl
Theme: Link Bait and License Plates.. Oh My…
Author: Shirley Tipsy03 16th, 2007While walking out to my car day before yesterday, I ran into the owner of the “Link2Me” car. He was a very nice guy and welcomed us to the community. I asked him about the licence plate and he said that he has had it since the 90’s, which I pretty much figured because of how awesome it is. I even contemplated buying it off of him for my own car! LOL!
Well after talking for a couple of minutes I asked him about what he does for a living and he said that he is a Mortgage Broker. After finding out that I work in SEO (and real estate websites at that) he got very excited and asked for my card because he says he really wants to get some marketing going on his site. I guess we’ll see what happens with that. I checked out his site and it’s pretty pro considering that a friend of his made it for him as a favor.
So yah, just thought I’d post an update about that. Not that you wanted to know lol.
Theme: Link bait is everywhere
Author: Shirley Tipsy03 13th, 2007So Aaron and I moved into our new Condo this weekend, the entire process taking about 3 days and approximately 12 hours worth of heartache from Time Warner (Oh boy is that a whole other post in itself.) Anyway, as I was walking back and forth bringing in boxes and such from the truck I saw one of my new neighbors cars sitting out front with a personalized license plate that read “Link2Me.”
Obviously, given my profession, I was immediately intrigued and had to fight off the urge to go knocking door-to-door to find this neighbor and find out the following:
1. Who they are and what they do for a living
2. How long ago they had purchased such an awesomely fabulous personalized plate such as this one in California, where even the misspellings of popular words and phrases are taken
3. Why they had such an awesome license plate, but no license plate frame or sticker indicating where people should be linking to
Best as I can tell, the person that owns the car is in the Mortgage field, which is obviously right up my alley. Maybe I have the opportunity to make a new dorky friend, or a side project! 
Theme: 5 things…
Author: Shirley Tipsy03 5th, 2007So a while back everyone was writing these little “5 things you didn’t know about me” posts and tagging each other. At the time I got tagged but didn’t have my blog going so I figured, what the heck, I’ll do it now. 
So without further ado, I give you….
5 Things you may not have known about Audrey (A.K.A. “Shirley Tipsy”)
1. I started out my Internet Marketing career about 8 years ago, I was the in-house PPC girl for a small company in Tustin which I will not name specifically because there is a creepy ex-employee I do not want to attract here LOL. Anyway, I ran the very last Yahoo Affiliate campaign ever for them.
2. I am the “Matt Cutts Makes Me Google” t-shirt girl. I had no idea when I made those shirts that they would get so much attention, I was merely trying to be the total Cuttlett that I am in the most non-creepy, non-stalker way possible. Anyway, anyone who knows me, knows that I am a HUGE Google fan and an adoring Matt Cutts fan. In fact, I heart Google so much that when I had to go to a Yahoo PPC conference, I made sure to wear my Google T-shirt and Google Backpack so that people would know where my loyalties lie!!!
3. I LOVE to sing. I used to be in a couple of bands, “Third Day Promise” and “Stellar Transit” back in the day before I got so busy with my career. There is a tiny secret part of me that still longs to be a rockstar, but I’ll settle for Kareoke and SEO rock stardom instead. :P
4. I used to be in the Army. I was a 31 Lima Papa, which is Wire Communications Systems Installer and Repair with Airborne status. 82nd Airborne forever!
5. I am an avid reader that borderlines on obsession. I am always in the middle of a couple of different books which I keep in different rooms throughout my home so that I can pick one up and start reading where ever the mood strikes. I’m currently in the middle of reading “Good Omens” by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, “Shadow Puppets” by Orson Scott Card and “Microserfs” by Douglas Coupland.
I’m not tagging anyone because it seems as though everyone has already done this.
Theme: Don’t Follow the No-Follow…
Author: Shirley Tipsy02 15th, 2007There is a really funny post on Search Engine Journal about why no-follows suck so badly. Although I don’t necessarily agree with all of his points, they’re still a good collection.
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/?p=4410
Theme: There is no “might”
Author: Shirley Tipsy02 12th, 2007This You might be an SEO if… article cracked me up, so I came up with a few of my own to go with it!
You Might Be an SEO if…
- You meet someone and think “I hope they Digg me” and you don’t mean it figuratively
- You “Google” the names of new neighbors, just to be sure they’re not up to anything phishy
- You refer to your toddlers progress in learning to walk as “Crawl Ability”
- When writing your will, you consider asking for “</life>” to be written on your tombstone.
Theme: Tick, Tock.
Author: Shirley Tipsy02 11th, 2007With an overabundance of work and an underwhelming amount of personal time, I have not been doing a very good job with my clogging lately. I’d like to be able to say that I am a dedicated clogger and that I will post something at least a couple of times each week, but thats probably not a statement that I can back up at this point.
I’ve come to realize that SEO is alot like the book “If you give a mouse a cookie.” Every job leads into another one or an idea for something you can/should be doing. SEO is one giant winding train of thought…. It all makes sense if you read it like a childrens book though:
“If you give an SEO a job“
If you give an SEO a job, They’re going to ask for your URL.
When you give them the URL, They’ll probably tell you why it’s not a good one.
When they’re finished tearing your URL apart, they’ll ask for your analytics information.
Then they will want to show you their own analytics information, to prove that their site is doing better than yours.
When they look at your website, they may notice that you’re not using proper meta tags. So they will ask you why you chose the keywords that you are using.
When they’re finished schooling you on why your keywords are so off base, they’ll probably start suggesting new ones. They might even get carried away and give you a full presentation about every page of your website!
When they’re done giving you a presentation, they’re probably going to think of a couple of things they could be doing to their own website.
Once they have politely excused themselves in order to get cracking on these fabulous new ideas, you’ll probably hear about some wild success they have experienced as a result of it… and then wish that they had the time for you to hire them now.
Theme: SEO and Romance - Same Difference
Author: Shirley Tipsy01 23rd, 2007Most people in this industry know that in order to be truly dedicated to SEO, romance must be willingly placed in second (or third, or fourth, etc.) place when it comes to your priorities. We work long hours, hellish ones at that, and eat, sleep, live and breathe this industry. I know quite a few significant others of SEO’s who are well aware of this and have learned to cope quite well. This got me thinking though, if we could apply the rules of SEO to our romantic lives, would it make life easier for everyone involved?
I sat down and thought about all of things I would like out of my boyfriend. Things that would make me happy, things I’d simply like to see and things that are a necessity in order to have a thriving relationship. Therefore I give you (in no particular order)…
The Complete Idiots Guide to Relationship Optimization 1.0:
1. Choose your Primary Domain and stick with it!
Search engines like to see that you have one main domain name assigned to your website and that you dedicate your efforts to that primary domain. Numero Uno rule in this Book of Love… you should have ONE significant other as well.
2. Keep the original content coming!
Search engines like to visit your website and see that you have new and interesting things to say, which helps to establish you as an authority on the given subject matter of your website. Your significant other also needs to have new and interesting things to talk to you about so that communication lines stay open and the “freshness” of the relationship is maintained.
3. Paid Inclusion
In SEO, money can’t buy you happiness, but it can get you some good traffic by paying to be included on valuable websites and directories, including sponsored links, etc. A common practice for your romantic life should be to pay for your inclusion in the relationship. I’m talking nice dinners, the occasional bouquet of flowers and some good old fashioned gift giving on birthdays and holidays. If you’re willing to pay to get people to visit your website, you should be willing to pay for your significant other to continue to visit with you!
4. Be targeted and fight every battle with the goal of winning the war
It is important to select the right keywords based on the amount of traffic they get and the relevance they have to your target demographic, as well as contain the knowledge and information to know when and where to switch things around. You should be just as strategic with your relationship. Knowing which arguments to stand your ground on and which to give in on can do wonders for your love life!
5. Yes, titles are important.
Whenever I am writing a title for a website, I try to think about the best, easiest way to describe the site using as few characters as possible. It’s important that visitors and SE’s know exactly what the site is all about and where it stands when they see this title. All too many times we give the wrong titles to our relationships! Here’s a little clue for you: If you’ve been seeing each other exclusively for more than four months, you’re not “dating” you’re a “couple.” Using the wrong title can cause major arguments and tensions so it is best to be as clear as possible!
6. Keep your HOME page clean!
I can’t tell you how frustrating it is for me to visit a website and see that the homepage is cluttered with random graphics and bits of information that do not seem to logically fit the page. In that same token, I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to come home and find my boyfriends random musical instruments and such laying around the living room. Keep your entryways clean and you won’t lose your most valuable traffic!
7. Make it easy to contact you!
When a visitor is reading through your website and wants to contact you, they should be a click or less away from your contact information or an easy to use form to get a hold of you. Making it too difficult to contact you can contribute to your visitors leaving your website and finding someone easier to talk to. The same can be said about your relationship. If your significant other has to leave you a voicemail on your cell and office number and follow it up with an email AND a text message before you get back to them, odds are they are going to get tired of chasing after you and move on to someone who is “there” for them more.
All in all, it is important to be dependable, dedicated and hard working in anything you do… Especially SEO and Love.
Theme: Wiki search could be wicked sweet..
Author: Shirley Tipsy01 16th, 2007A friend of mine, Adam Moro, wrote a pretty cool article about the proposed Wiki Search engine. He brought up some great points (You can check his post out here) and also made me think about a couple of things…
I do believe that if a Wiki Search engine is done correctly it could be a very cool new way of seeing “The peoples choice,” but my concern is rooted in the seemingly unavoidable possibility of massive editing wars for top 10 positions in the results. Think of it this way, there are 10 companies (i’m being conservative here) all vying for the “holy grail”, (or so the N00bs call it) number-one spot. Who’s to say that editing of certain keyword phrases would ever allow the results to be “trustworthy” or even an accurate reflection of what John Q. Public actually wants? I mean, wasn’t this one of the original ideas behind personalized search?
Think about it, if the keyword is important enough to their online business model, large companies would stop at virtually nothing to ensure top placement of their website for that term. In my honest opinion, this leans towards search results appearing to be more of a big banking resource than a democracy.
Edit: Ok, So I went and checked out Wiki Seek and spent a little time on the site and I have to say that I am really not all that thrilled with it thus far. The “refine by category” box up at the top is too large and annoying. Personally, I like to be able to see the #1 organic result without having to scroll down at all when I am using a SE. With the search bar, refine by category, and then the HUGE sponsored results box, I have to scroll in order to see any of the organic stuff. That really bugs me.
This could be the result of being spoiled by Google and their minimalist way of displaying my results, but I don’t care. I want it the way I want it!
Also, when entering a new term into the search bar, the “refine by category” information changes. Not only is this distracting, it’s also really annoying in my opinion.
Overall, I can see the idea behind this site was good, but the implementation is lacking IMHO.