What Ohioans Are Saying About SOPA and PIPA

This post is from John Roscoe, Senior Director at Strategic Public Partners Group.

What Ohioans Are Saying About SOPA and PIPA

On Wednesday, dozens of websites including Wikipedia, Mozilla and Reddit “blacked out” in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), which are both under consideration in Congress. The PROTECT IP Act is scheduled for a vote in the Senate on January 24.

Here’s what Ohioans are saying about SOPA and PIPA:

“While I support and respect Intellectual Property rights, SOPA and PIPA are fundamentally flawed bills which I do not support. Both of these bills would restrict Americans’ ability to access sites on the Internet, impose burdensome and costly new regulations on web companies and expand the powers of the federal government to police the Internet.”

–Congressman Mike Turner, (OH-3)

http://www.facebook.com/RepMikeTurner?sk=wall

“Please know I have concerns about the legislation and I do not support SOPA in its current form; it could infringe on first amendment rights.”

–Congressman Steve Stivers, (OH-15)

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rep-Steve-Stivers/116058275133542

“Therefore, I do not support SOPA in its current form and I am waiting to see what the final product will be when it comes before the full House for a vote. If I believe it infringes on the 1st Amendment I won’t support it.”

–Congressman Jim Renacci, (OH-16)

http://www.facebook.com/notes/congressman-jim-renacci/where-i-stand-on-online-piracy-updated/364778993536958

“While I agree that online piracy is a growing problem, like many of you, I have serious concerns that SOPA could have serious unintended consequences. Some provisions would allow companies to force internet providers to shut down site without any judicial approval as well as hold third party providers, like universities, responsible for what individuals upload onto sites.”

–Congressman Bob Gibbs, (OH-18)

http://www.facebook.com/RepBobGibbs

“SOPA and PIPA are well-intentioned proposals that attempt to address online piracy concerns; however, in their current form the legislation goes too far. The proposals can present damaging ramifications to free speech, global cybersecurity and Internet functionality. At this time, I do not support SOPA and Protect IP Act in their current form, and I hope further committee hearings will be held to resolve these concerns.”

–Congressman Bob Latta, (OH-5)

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bob-Latta/115988005143254?sk=wall

“Basically what this bill does is put too much of a burden on companies like Wikipedia to start really policing the vast majority of info that are on their sites.”

–Congressman Tim Ryan, (OH-17)

http://www.wytv.com/content/news/local/story/Anti-Piracy-Legislation-Could-Affect-Local-Firms/RLsHAaFn3E2-N3-kKcWTLw.cspx

“I am against SOPA and PIPA because it would censor the Internet. This legislation would affect innovation of online marketers and how we do business. Overall, I think it’s unlawful to allow an IP owner to shut down a website without even a legal hearing or trial with the alleged copyright infringer.”

– Jonathan Levey, co-chair of SEMPO Cleveland & Online Marketing Specialist with Fathom, Valley View

“These bills will absolutely cost jobs, and search engines, social media sites and bloggers will be greatly affected.  Plus, the people who want to pirate content online will still find ways to do so.  Piracy is a problem, yes. SOPA and PIPA are simply not the solution.”

–Bill Balderaz, President, Webbed Marketing, Columbus

http://www.webbedmarketing.com/blog

“This is a bill which will do almost nothing to actually stop piracy (which is, of course, already illegal), but will further rig the system in favor of those already entrenched at the top. It would give authority to copyright holders to sue internet start-ups and any site found to be hosting links (or links to links) featuring copyrighted material.”

–Eric Chase, Edgewood

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/letters/2012/01/18/voicing-opposition-to-sopa-bill/

“My opinion is that this bill is entirely the wrong approach to solving copyright issues. It makes community sites liable for content posted by users, and the risk runs as high as having their domain eliminated from the internet. In essence, it is remarkably similar to the Chinese approach to controlling internet content: if it is disagreeable to those in power, block it.”

– Brian Guilfoos, Editor, Plunderblund

http://www.plunderbund.com/2012/01/18/sopapipa-what-you-need-to-know/

“The problem with the legislation is that it is written too broadly.  For instance, the bill states that to prevent liability sites and their hosts must take “technically feasible and reasonable measures” to prevent unlawful content from appearing on their site.  Unfortunately, the broadly interpreted definition of “technically feasible and reasonable measures” means that a judge could determine just how stringent a university’s network security measures should be.”
– Rick Cartwright, New Media Dayton

http://www.rickcartwright.com/blog/
“We are threatening our abilities to learn, grow, entertain and conduct business. There has been roughly 43 years of invested knowledge from amazing thinkers, business people, programmers, who had the ingenuity to change the landscape of how we live our lives. In just one signing and passing of a bill, we erase years of dedication. Not to mention, jeopardizing the very ability to blog freely. Take a stand!”

– Travis Childs, Social Media Strategist, Cincinnati

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/queencitywelcome/2012/01/18/take-a-stand-against-internet-censorship/

“President Barack Obama, though stopping short of a veto promise, doused the bills with cold water over the weekend, too. The protesters will make their point in a different way today, and they’ll make it with the public rather than the politicians. It could prove a real attention-getter.”

– Cleveland Plain Dealer, Editorial

http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/01/in_protest_of_pipa_and_sopa_a.html

SOPA/PIPA will have “a chilling effect on web entrepreneurship in general.”

–David Howcroft, Ohio for Internet Freedom, Columbus

http://www.thelantern.com/campus/sites-black-out-in-protest-of-sopa-pipa-1.2744651#.Txhpv_kVf-I

“We would have to hire more people to monitor and police that, which would create a lot of overhead…their sole purpose would be to monitor.”

– Stephe Kamykowski, AST2, Youngstown

http://www.wytv.com/content/news/local/story/Anti-Piracy-Legislation-Could-Affect-Local-Firms/RLsHAaFn3E2-N3-kKcWTLw.cspx

Tags: internet, pipa, sopa

The Internet Blacks Out to Oppose SOPA and PIPA

Today many websites, including Wikipedia, Reddit and Google are going dark to raise public awareness for SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP).

These two bills before Congress (PIPA in the Senate and SOPA in the House) would censor the Internet and impose harmful regulations on American businesses. The Senate starts voting on Tuesday, January 24.

This is the Internet we are talking about!

SOPA and PIPA would give the government and major corporations the power to shut down entire websites just for one infringing link without a trial or even a traditional hearing. The legislation is aggressively backed by Hollywood movie studios, major record labels, trial lawyers, pharmaceutical giants and several major news providers, including Fox News and NBC-Universal.

SOPA and PIPA could greatly affect the way we use the Internet and social media today. Sites like Twitter, YouTube  and Facebook would have to censor their users and would be required to remove all links to “infringing” content or face DNS shutdown. Internet users, like you and me, could go to jail for up to five years for sharing copyrighted work.

Check out this video from Fight for the Future:

Michael MacLeod-Ball, First Amendment counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, says:

“Our primary concerns are with the fact that non-infringing content is going to be taken down in the process of taking down infringing content. The way the bill is set up, if a site has infringing content on it…their default reaction is going to be to take down the whole site.”

David Segal, Executive Director of Demand Progress, says:

“Congress is on the verge of wrecking the greatest engine of innovation and greatest platform for democracy ever known to human kind. And for what? For the sake of propping up an ossified industry that refuses to change with the times, but happens to make a lot of campaign contributions.”

Mark Zuckerberg, Founder of Facebook, says:

The internet is the most powerful tool we have for creating a more open and connected world. We can’t let poorly thought out laws get in the way of the internet’s development. Facebook opposes SOPA and PIPA, and we will continue to oppose any laws that will hurt the internet.
The world today needs political leaders who are pro-internet. We have been working with many of these folks for months on better alternatives to these current proposals. I encourage you to learn more about these issues and tell your congressmen that you want them to be pro-internet.

How will this affect the millions of people who use social media sites to get their news and connect with friends and family? Social media is based on the idea that people are free to share content, news, ideas, photos and videos with the world!

As someone who uses the Internet and social media every day in a professional and personal capacity, this scares me! Make your voice heard now, or this bill passes:

1. Call your representatives - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:CongressLookup
2. Sign the petition – http://www.fightforthefuture.org/pipa
3. Join the online Protest – http://americancensorship.org/
4. Get the word out on your social networks!
5. NYC Meetup - http://nytm.org/sos/

This was the scene around the Internet today:

Reddit

Wikipedia

Google

WordPress

Tumblr

Mozilla

ICHC

Twitpic (remember the Hudson River landing picture?)

Tags: congress, freedom, google, information, internet, legislation, pipa, reddit, search, sopa, web, wikipedia

Offline Actions Can Cause Online Disasters: Papa John’s

If you haven’t heard, Papa John’s social media team had a busy weekend. A Twitter user tweeted a photo of her receipt, and on the receipt, a Papa John’s employee had referred to her with a derogatory name.

The picture spread quickly. In fact, there were 4,542 mentions of the Papa John’s Twitter handle (@PapaJohns) online on Saturday, the day the picture was tweeted. Compare that with around 50-80 mentions on an ordinary day. The Twitpic of the receipt has been viewed over 222,000 times and counting.

Mentions of @PapaJohns

Before the rise of social media, the customer probably would have called management and told a few friends. Obviously, Papa John’s reputation would have been tarnished to far fewer people. Social media, however, gave the customer the power to share what happened to her with people all over the country (and world!). I’m sure the customer had no idea how fast it would spread, but Twitter users were outraged by the discrimination that occurred at the Papa John’s store.

Papa John’s issued an apology, reached out to the customer and assured everyone that the employee had been terminated. Perhaps a good next step would be a video on the culture at Papa John’s and how racism and discrimination are not tolerated.

With 3,500 stores, I know how hard it is for them to make sure all employees follow policies and have just plain good sense, but unfortunately, this is reflecting on the Papa John’s brand as a whole, even though it was just one employee. Brands need to make sure all employees know the online consequences for their offline actions.

Rich Snippets and Schema.org – SEO in the Semantic Web 3.0

Each December, when the year comes to a close, it’s custom to look to the new year and things the future will bring. While there is a great host of things we can look for in the world of SEO, one of the most interesting studies is the topic of rich snippets, Schema.org and the role of the semantic Web – or Web 3.0.

What are Rich Snippets?

Snippets are additional bits of information from your website that Google, Yahoo! and Bing will display alongside your link in a search engine results page. This could be any number of attributes, from the average price of an entree at a popular restaurant to a product’s price and inventory status:

In May of 2009, Google announced on it’s blog the introduction of rich snippets. The technical explanation is that Google would now be looking for structured data using resource definition framework (RDF) – an XML-based standard – when crawling sites. In other words, webmasters would now be able to influence WHAT aspects of their site content can be displayed as a snippet in a search engine results page by adding XML based tags to their webpages.

A Brief Detour into the Semantic Web

Structured data and RDF are parts of the semantic web (or Web 3.0). A basic understanding of these principles and philosophies will make it much easier to understand how rich snippets are tagged and how they can help your search rankings, and also improve your click-through rates.

Speaking strictly in terms of websites, the semantic web is the c0llective “web” of data that exists and can be directly or indirectly processed, ranked, sorted and evaluated by machines. That’s right, we’re talking strictly about how your content behaves with search engines - not users.

The semantic web has 3 main concepts:

1. Focusing on data itself instead of how it’s presented

What does that mean? Well, say you have the following content on your website:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 cup chopped nuts

To a human, it’s obvious that this is the world famous recipe for NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Chocolate Chip Cookies. However, to a machine this is a just 10 lines of random content. The presentation is what makes it apparent to a human that this is a recipe: the indented, line-item form and listed measurements. But this does not help a machine understand.

2. Usage and Dependance on Structured Data

The second concept of the Semantic Web aims to explain to a machine that a list of items and their measurements such as above isn’t random at all; it’s a recipe, similar to millions of others on the Web. Structured data – primarily resource definition framework (RDF) – is a way for machines to understand abstract concepts such as this.

Think of RDF like this. In the same way you would use <H1> to let a search engine know that your content is the header of your webpage, you would use a particular RDF code to let a search engine know that your ballpoint pen costs $5, is a Bic, and is currently in stock.

There are 3 main types of RDF “code”: RDFa, Microformats, and Microdata. We will focus on Microdata, because this is what is used by Schema.org!

3. Reliance on Linked Data

The third concept is really just the final product of #1 and #2. Now that we are expressing data in a way that allows machines to understand abstract ideas and nuances, the machines can better rank and sort large quantities of data (websites). This will ultimately create a better search experience.

Remember “Watson” from Jeopardy? IMB’s artificial intelligence computer is a great example of how machines interact with the semantic web. Machines are able to make complicated connections from a large series of data. But if the machines can’t understand the data in the same way that a human can, it’s potential usefulness is limited. However, once we define data in a way that is accessible to machines (search engines), they will be able to find and provide very particular information that will be helpful to the user making a search query.

Rich Snippets, Your Website, and Schema.org

OK, so the ideas behind the Semantic Web and rich snippets have been around for a while – why aren’t more people using them? Well, until recently there was not a universally accepted format for adding structured data markup to your site. Google might be OK with one form, but then Bing or Yahoo! wouldn’t understand it.

This all changed earlier this year when Google, Yahoo! and Bing created Schema.org under a joint initiative.

Schema.org uses the microdata form of RDF and provides a single resource for webmasters to use when applying markup to their pages. The website has a very simple design and is actually quite easy to use.

It is broken down into categories of the different attributes or types you want to associate with your content, called schemas.

Each category provides convenient examples of how to add the schema code into your HTML:

The code is fairly straightforward and easy to implement for any web developer or webmaster. Webbed Marketing can also help implement the Microdata for you.

Sill have questions about how rich snippets work or why you should use them? Check out our FAQ and best practices below:

Schema.org and Rich Snippets: FAQ and Best Practices

Q. Why use rich snippets?

A. Because everybody’s doing it. Seriously! Big retail sites like eBay and Best Buy are using it. Restaurants and small businesses are using them. Want another reason? Because Google, Yahoo! and Bing all joined together to create a uniform way to add these to websites. They wouldn’t take the time to do this if they weren’t planning on using them to rank search results. We can’t guarantee that having rich snippets will increase your search rankings, but we can venture a pretty solid guess that it will (when used correctly).

Q. Are there other benefits to using them?

A. Actually, yes. Having rich snippets alongside your listing makes it stand out in the search engine results page. A user is much more likely to click-through to your page if your listing includes a glowing product review, or lists the compatible operating systems for your software.

Q. Who should use rich snippets?

A. Adding Microdata to all of your pages could be time consuming – how do you know if it will even be worth it? This is really a good question for this blog post. Schema.org is constantly evolving to include new industries and “things” that can be defined and associated. The best way to decide if you should be using them is to browse the categories (Schemas) and see what applies to your content.

Just last month, a post on Schema’s official blog announced support for job listings! You can tag attributes such as base salary, experience, location, etc.

Q. What do rich snippets look like?

A. Rich snippets appear along with the title tag and meta description for your website in a search engine results page. They can take a number of different forms, from user reviews to product price ranges.

Q. Will adding the code for rich snippets change the way my content looks?

A. No! Rich snippets only appear in the search engine results page. The microdata code used to add them is invisible to humans.

Q. Why don’t I see them in every search?

A. Sometimes Google (or Yahoo! or Bing) will choose not to display a rich snippet in the search result. This could be because the particular page does not have any Microdata in the HTML, or because they do not completely trust the source.

You will see rich snippets more often when narrowing your search type (try searching “Shopping” or “Recipes”)

Q. Are there disadvantages to using them?

A. You will never know exactly which rich snippets the search engine will choose to highlight if and when your page shows up in a results page. So if have 10 different product reviews on your page, and they are all tagged with rich snippets, the “bad” one could show up in a search result.

Q. Could rich snippets be used as web spam?

A. Yes they could. In fact, the #1 best practice for tagging rich snippets in your content is DO NOT GO OVERBOARD. Tagging several different attributes on a single webpage is webspam. Don’t think you’ll get caught? Think about this: Schema.org was developed by a partnership of Google, Yahoo! and Bing. If you don’t think they have contingencies in place for when people try to manipulate the system, you’ve got another thing coming. It is very possible that pages or even whole sites that overuse or misuse microdata could suffer penalties in the search engine rankings.

Additional questions? Please don’t hesitate to ask! Contact us today at 614-291-8456 or online.

Tags: google, search engine optimization, SEO

Facebook Timelines: Prepare yourselves for the evolution of social networking

Facebook Timelines are officially rolling out to Facebook users. Users can now enable the timeline by visiting https://www.facebook.com/about/timeline, then customize the information and layout and finally publish the timeline to their friends. Users have until December 23 to edit their timeline and choose to publish. On December 23 all timelines will be made live and will replace the old Facebook profile layout.

How to set up the new Facebook Timeline

Getting the Facebook Timeline is easy. Go to https://www.facebook.com/about/timeline and click “Get Timeline.”

Facebook then provides a tour of the new timeline and offers a 7-day preview. If you have no edits and want to publish your timeline immediately you can click “Publish Now” and your timeline will be made public. This will replace your profile’s old layout.

To edit items in your timeline, simply scroll through the page and hover over items you wish to edit. You can choose to change the date, add a location, hide from timeline, feature or delete the post altogether.

Once you have made the desired edits to your timeline, you can click “Publish Now” at the top of your profile page to share your timeline with your friends. If you do nothing, your timeline will go live on December 23, 2011.

What is so great about the new Facebook timeline?

I (virtually) attended the F8 Facebook Developers Conference in September and set up my timeline shortly after. I was inspired by the description of and theory behind the new timeline. “Your Facebook profile tells the story of your life.” The new features and layout allow you to express who you are in a very personal (or professional) way.

One of the coolest parts of the new timeline is your cover photo. This is the image at the top of your profile that is similar to a banner on a blog. It can be changed as often as you like and adds color and personality to your profile.

It is also easy to scroll through all the years of your life (or at least those spent on Facebook) and rediscover events, quotes, pictures and special memories. The year navigation bar at the side of the page makes going through the years so easy. You no longer have to scroll and scroll and scroll to find old posts on your profile.

Here are a few of my favorite memories from my timeline:

I joined Facebook (probably one of the best decisions)!

I graduated from Kenyon College!

I visited my sister in Boston!

I got married!

Have you set up your Facebook timeline? What do you like about it?

Follow @dcrebekah

Will You Flow with Google Current?

One of Google’s latest additions is Google Current, which allows you to access leading publications and blogs you follow on your Android device, iPhone or iPad.  Plus, you can browse, read and share your content – all in a swipable magazine format.

All you have to do is download the free app to your smartphone, and sign in with Google or Gmail.

The service allows you to add your own RSS feeds, video and photo feeds, as well as Google+ feeds and Google Reader subscriptions.  Google Current also makes it really easy to share content with your friends via Twitter, Facebook and Google+.

The app has some helpful features for publishers of content.  Along with adding content (or RSS feeds), publishers can add photos, videos, social updates, and even personalize the layout of their Google Current profile.  This is a great feature for businesses and organizations that want to showcase their brand for readers on Google Current.

We’re interested to see how quickly Google Current takes off.  What’s your opinion; will you be downloading the app?

Tags: google, Google Current

Setting Up Your AdWords Campaign for Success

Several weeks ago we talked about the impact of your quality score on your AdWords campaigns.  Today we’ll go into more detail about how to set up your AdWords campaigns for success with high quality scores.

First, keep in mind the principles of a good campaign:

1. Target only searchers who are interested in your offer by carefully selecting your keywords.
2. Make your offer clear, compelling, and persuasive in your ad copy.
3. Fulfill the promise of your ad with a positive experience on your webpage.

The best way to achieve this is to set up your campaigns in small ad groups so you can closely match your keywords with highly targeted ad copy and the best landing page.  Start with a small number of keywords in each ad group.  Focus on quality, not quantity.  Avoid ambiguous keywords and only select keywords that a searcher would use when looking for your product or service.  For best results these keywords should almost be synonyms.  Keywords with different meanings should go into a separate ad group.  In the previous post we learned that a big part of your quality score is the historical click-through-rate (CTR).  Having your campaigns set up in tight ad groups will increase your CTR as searchers see a highly relevant ad for their keyword.  This sets up your campaigns for a good historical CTR from the start.

You can expand your keywords later, but you must start small to set your campaigns up for success in the long-run.  After you have achieved a quality score of 7 or better for a few weeks you can start to add keywords, but do this slowly, adding a few more relevant keywords at a time.  If these new keywords don’t achieve high quality scores abandon them quickly so you don’t bring down the quality scores of your other keywords.

While it isn’t necessary to use the keyword in your ad copy, it may be helpful to use it.  When the keyword in your ad matches the search term the keyword in your ad will appear bold on the search engine results page.  This might be the push a searcher needs to notice and click on your ad, improving CTR.  You can also dynamically insert the keyword into your ad so the searcher will see their exact keyword in the ad copy.  Make sure the offer in your ads is clear and enticing and include a call to action so the searcher knows what to do once they get to your website.

When you select the landing page for your ad group make sure it is the most relevant page to go with that keyword and ad copy combination.  Get as specific as possible.  For example, use a product page as a landing page instead of your home page or a category page.  Also, avoid any quality score penalties by making your privacy policy available, making sure your site loads within a reasonable amount of time, and including original content.  If you are selling a product that Google considers to be unsafe or illegal your account can be suspended, but hopefully that isn’t something to worry about!

Overall, you will set your AdWords campaigns up for success when searchers see relevant ads and are taken to websites that meet their needs.  With highly targeted keywords, ads, and landing pages in your campaigns searchers will find exactly what they are looking for.  This makes them happy, so AdWords rewards you, the advertiser, with good quality scores and a lower cost-per-click.

Tags: AdWords, pay-per-click, ppc

Step Up Your Blog Posts

It’s easy to fall in to a rut with your blog.  So, how do you maintain the online presence you want, keep fresh content, and keep your audience engaged?  Here are a few tips that will help you keep your focus… and keep your followers.

1. Understand your blog’s focus. Don’t ramble on about a multitude of topics. Remember your blog’s purpose, and keep all posts centered on that.
2. Set up Google Alerts or RSS feeds for industry-related topics. The best way to gain credibility on your blog is to be viewed as an industry expert.  In order to do this, you’ll need to be prepared with the latest trends and topics.
3. Stay relevant and mix it up.  You’ll get burnt out if you’re constantly reading the same industry blogs and articles. Sing up for a conference or a webinar.  This is a great way to spark creativity and refuel your blog content.
4. Be sure you have links, or icons, for all of your social networks easily available for readers on your blog. If someone likes what they read, they will want to find a way to connect with you.  If the links to your social media networks are no where to be found, that reader might lose interest.
5. Don’t overlook the importance of your “subscribe” button.  Make sure it’s easy to find, and in a convenient location for the reader.
6. Write for a busy professional in your industry. Think about it – do you read articles with 500-word paragraphs? Probably not.  Keep the paragraphs concise, try to use bullets or numbering, and get to the point.
7. Interact.  If you receive comments, post something back.  Sometime it’s just a “thank you!” and other times it might be an answer to a question, or even direction to a previous post you’ve written.
8. Use the free Google Keyword Tool to make sure you’re using the proper keywords that are bringing people to your blog via search engines. Don’t miss an opportunity to help your audience find your blog.
9. Find another industry expert to do a guest post.  This is a great way to bring a fresh angle to your blog.  Plus, you just might learn something from the guest blogger!
10. Avoid self-promotion. Don’t use every post to sell your new book. Don’t constantly pitch your company’s services to your readers.  Your blog should serve as a resource for trends, news, hot topics and information – not a sales outlet.

Hopefully these ten tips will help you keep your blog on track, and take your online presence to the next level!

Tags: blog, online presence, tips for blog

Effective Blog Commenting

If you’ve read anything about SEO, you’ve probably learned that link building is a way to help your website’s search rankings. One tactic of link building that is frequently used is blog commenting.

Blog commenting, in terms of link building, means posting a comment on a blog post, while at the same time including a link back to your site. It is, in fact, a quick and easy way to generate links. But where do you find quality blogs to comment on? And what do you say when you do find them?

First, let’s find some quality blog commenting opportunities with this simple 5 step process…

Step 1) Download either the Firefox or Google Chrome web browser if you haven’t already done so.

Step 2) Visit SeoQuake.com and download and install their free plugin extension.

Step 3) In your browser, go to http://www.google.com/blogsearch

Step 4) Enter +”keyword” +comments in the search box, where “keyword” is the name of one of the keywords you would like to rank for. For example, if you wanted your site to rank for the term “dog food”, you would enter +”dog food” +comments in the search box…

Step 5) Using the SEOQuake plugin you installed, your search result should look something like this…

Of course, it may not look exactly like this, but the point is the SEOQuake plugin now shows the PageRank (PR), among other things, of each page in the search result.

It takes a minute or so to load all of the details for each page, but once it does, what we want to do now is sort by PageRank…

Once you’ve done this, you’ve now found a list of some great blog commenting opportunities!

The reason this works is because PageRank is one of Google’s quality indicators for a page. And by doing a search using a keyword you would like to rank for, you’ve found highly relevant blogs, too.

Quality + Relevancy is the magic formula when doing blog commenting, and with this process you’ve just compliled a nice, clean list of blogs that are highly targeted for the keyword(s) you want to rank for!

Now, the second question is… I’ve found some blogs, what should I say?

Here are a few DOs and DON’Ts in regards to blog commenting that you may find useful.

DO…

1) Add to the conversation. One of the great motto’s with SEO is keep it real. Read the article and read what other’s have commented already. Then, add a blog comment that is both informative and useful, while at the same time naturally linking back to your site.

2) Vary your anchor text (the text the link is composed of). If you’re building links for the term “dog food” don’t make the text link say “dog food” on every comment you make. Use your company or a product name occasionally in order to have a nice diversity of anchor text.

3) Link to your most relevant page. In our example, link to your “dog food” page instead of just your homepage.

4) Try to build a relationship with the blog owner. This could lead to an interview or other link building opportunity down the road.

DON’T…

1) SPAM! Posting “Nice blog, check out my site here” will have a negative impact on you and your site in a multitude of ways. Simply don’t do it.

2) Use your keyword in the name field. Sure, the name field is often automatically made into a link. However, this reeks of spam and is not recommended. Instead, naturally link to your site from within the comment itself.

3) Post something without reading the article and/or the comments. You can’t provide value unless you read word-for-word what the author is trying to say.

Bottom line on blog commenting, have a goal of providing as much value as possible. By doing so, not only will this improve the quality of links/traffic coming to your site, but it may lead to new link building opportunities from fellow commenters and/or blog authors.

The Power of Social Media for Social Good

I am an Online Community Specialist here at Webbed Marketing and am an advocate for pancreatic cancer awareness and spend a lot of my free time volunteering for the cause. Anyone who knows me, knows I insert pancreatic cancer into conversations way more than I should. I saw that Carson Kressley had tweeted a picture of a purple Empire State Building. I responded and let him know that the building was purple to raise awareness for pancreatic cancer. Later that night, Carson retweeted my tweet.

Now, I am not one to get overly excited about celebs, but if anyone saw Carson Kressley on Dancing with the Stars, you couldn’t help but love him and be inspired by his positivity and individuality. I love Carson Kressley, and I love that he raised awareness for a cause so important to me. But, this also serves as a testament to the power of social media.

My tweet to Carson Kressley resulted in him retweeting to over 48,000 followers. This led to 24 more retweets from his followers and conversation about the disease.

Social media not only gives you access to your favorite celebrities, but it also gives you the opportunity to spread your message. This particular example shows that relevant conversation is key. Because I responded to a picture Carson had posted in a relevant way, he was much more likely to retweet my tweet. Paying attention to what others are saying and engaging in the conversation can really pay off!

Tags: Carson Kressley, pancreatic cancer, power of social media, social good, social media, twitter