So Fast Company posted an article entitled Six Jobs That Won’t Exist in 2016. Hey Fast Company Staff get your heads out of your collective asses and stop with the paginated articles … especially when you don’t need them … if you don’t people will stop reading you and you won’t be around to see if your predictions came true in 2016 or not.

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This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

Why Fast Company Won’t Exist Long Before 2016

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I know everybody says it but one of the most important parts of Pubcon is the networking. I met Mario and Merrick Lozano of PRLeap and had a great time “talking shop” one night. Merrick was nice enough to do an interview and answer a few questions about himself and his company.

Tell me a little bit about yourself and how you got started on the internet.

I was born in San Diego and raised on both sides of the border: San Diego / Tijuana. I first went online in 1993 on a brand new 486 computer with a “fast” 14.4kbps modem. I didn’t get hooked until I was at UCLA in 1995; the network on campus was fast and new interesting sites were coming online all the time. I was an Economics major thinking I would become a CPA or a Lawyer, but I was working part-time as a computer consultant and and a database developer.

In late 1998 I had two quarters left at UCLA and I was done with my major. I got tired of the LA club scene and began spending nights and weekends reading sites like WebMonkey trying to figure out how to build websites. I began building a golf site, and in June 1999 after attending a tennis tournament at La Costa I uploaded some pictures of Anna Kournikova to my website. I sent an email with a link to the pictures to 10 friends. A week later I was close to my bandwidth limit and my golf site did not have any new users to show for it. I looked at the referrer report and saw AltaVista was pointing people to the Anna Kournikova pictures. That sparked my interest in SEO. I sought out all the search engine optimization information I could find and I landed at Search Engine Watch.

Tell us a little bit about PRLeap and how the company got started.

By October of 2002, Mario and I were helping companies optimize their sites and building our own sites. We wanted to get the word out for one a new project and found that no one was optimizing press releases for search engines. We learned everything we could about PR and decided to run with the idea of press releases distribution to search engines. Only we couldn’t run, we had to crawl. We had zero funds to develop and market PR Leap so we did everything ourselves on a shoestring budget. We didn’t launch until June of 2003.

What are some tips you can give people to help them get the most out of a press release

Localize your press release – include the City, State and Zip Code in the body of your press release if your preferred wire service does not already. Local news is becoming more important online every day. Gannett Company, one of the largest newspaper companies is reorganizing all of its 89 newsrooms and one of their four goals is to prioritize local news over national news. Their second goal is to publish more user-generated content.

Tie your news to current events. Just make sure you have something newsworthy and unique to discuss in your press release.

What are some mistakes that people should avoid when submitting a press release

Keep in mind that distribution does not equal inclusion or syndication. We can make sure a search engine sees your news but there are things you have to do to make sure it is included. News search engines want to see a few paragraphs of news or they will not include a press release in their search results. Avoid including dates older than the release date within the lead paragraph of a press release. Google News filters out news that it perceives is old.

The body of the release cannot be too short or else news search engines may ignore the release. We like to see at least 150 words not including the company profile at the bottom.

Do you have any stories of press releases that did much better than you expected, or maybe some creative out of the box thinking about press releases.

A few weeks ago I knew Christmas was near when I saw the referral traffic spike for “santa’s phone number”. I had no idea thousands of people were interested in calling Santa. One clever company “found” Santa’s secret phone number and announced it through PR Leap a year ago. They have top placement for their target keywords once again this year.

Are you working on new and exciting projects at PRLeap you can tell us about?

We are always up to something. Right now we are developing a social news release package, it will be out in early 2007.

If anyone wants more the tips on press release optimization visit the PR Leap Blog we add new tips every month.

Thank you for the interview.

Thanks Merrick, I just added your blog to my list of feeds, and I look forward to hearing more about your social media package next year.

This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

Interview with Merrick Lozano of PRLeap.com

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I’ll admit I’m like the people Guy Kawasaki recently talked with I don’t spend a lot of time watching TV. I watch the occasional Mythbusters, American Chopper and animal planet nature documentary, and a few TV show I run some blogs for, so we’re talking about less than 5 hours a week. Since I spend a majority of my time in front of a monitor I’m pretty comfortable watching video there, especially if it happens to be search engine related news.

Google Current
Google Current used to be, EMPHASIS ON USED TO BE, my favorite service. The original format they had when they launched was perfect, for example look at Hollywood Dream (about 3 minutes). However they somewhat recently updated and went to a slightly longer intro, why we need a 30 second intro on a 3 minute video is ridiculous compare this video to the last one. However last week they totally and completely F*cked it up (and I never use the f-word). Look at this crap, this crap and yet more crap. I’m about ready to do my impersonation of Charlton Heston on the beach “YOU MANIACS! YOU BLEW IT UP!! DAMN YOU!“. I mean we went from meaningful, insighful, and eductional commentary on subjects like LonelyGirl15 to crappy stupid lists scrolling across the screen! If anybody knows where I can send my complaint that someone involved in this project will actually read it please let me know.

Yahoo Current
Ok my first thought when I discovered this was YAY Kinga Phillips formerly of Google Current didn’t get fired after all. However after poking around the Current Buzz page I was left wondering did they use a designer they found on MySpace? The page is confusing at best. I’m not sure where to go and what to do in I’m having too many “Don’t make me think” choices. On top of that why is the RSS button burried down in the right hand corner and not featured someplace a bit more prominent? However once we get to more unneccesarily confusingly complicated page with the actual video the content is entertaining.

So what’s the takeway, we’re still in the very early stages of this game and there’s lots of opportunity and room for improvement. It’s not too late MSN or ASK to throw their hat into the ring and try and make a play. It’s also not to late to fix what’s broken. These short 3 minute videos are perfect for video IPods or other portable devices. I think what we really need is Jason Calacanis to come in make move set a good example for people to follow.

This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

Looking at Search Video News

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As I mentioned I was part of the pilot program for the MTV Google Adsense Video Beta test. I’m sure I’m not supposed to reveal the details, but I will say I pulled it down and the main reason was the low click/view rate and low payout.

Here’s a suggestion for improving the program instead of forcing everyone to show the same MTV videos give more control. Why not allow me to pick a video that’s offered for sale in the Google Video Store. Allowing me to choose a category or subject would be a nice option too. I show a short version on my site and if the customer clicks through and pays for the download I get paid.

This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

Suggestions for Improving Google Adsense Video

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I can’t imagine why some people find this an entirely shocking concept? I mean we all try to teach our children to play fair and that everybody gets an equal chance, but the sad part is once they grow up and become an adult at some point they realize it was all a lie, and well the world isn’t the egalitarian utopia they thought it was.

The system is rigged to favor the rich, wealthy, powerful, and well connected. So where people get the illusion that online life is somehow different is mind boggling in it’s naivete. Take these two stories on digg today about how the Digg system isn’t democratic and how Digg is being abused. Maybe people got confused because the currency on the web is different. Value is placed on links, trusted domains, and traffic. Some people can take this 2.0 currency and convert it into cold hard cash, most however really don’t know what to do with it.

So c’mon deep down inside is it really that shocking that things like digg are being gamed at all? Were you so delusional that you thought it was impossible, or did you have on rose colored glasses that were as thick as the bottom of old coke bottles and though who would abuse something so good and pure.

This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

Is Digg Rigged?

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If everything works out according to plan I’ll be a guest on SEO Rockstars on Tuesday August 29th 7PM EST.

Game canceled due to a the hurricane about to hit the studios.

This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

Graywolf on SEO Rockstars

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I will admit when I first stumbled into MySpace I really didn’t think it was much more than a bunch of horrendously ugly pages with really cheezy music. However if you are willing to dig a little deeper you can find some legitimate companies and organizations who are using MySpace. If you’re ready let’s dive in …

Chances are if you are like me you think MySpace is slanted towards the teen and early twenty-ish demographic. While I don’t place too much stock in how truthful people are when they enter demographic data, I can say MySpace has a lot more than just teenagers. One of the key factors you’ll need to accept if you are going to take advantage of marketing opportunities on MySpace is it’s a hangout for the hip and trendy set, and not neccisarily just teens. If you’re potential customer is more likely to drive a Toyota Scion instead of a Chrysler Mini-Van then you are in the right spot.

One of the first thing MySpace did right was get popular celebrities (or their ‘people’) to set up spaces. For example the pages of Ryan Seacrest, Madonna, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jessica Simpson, and Oprah seem to be legitimate profiles. Whereas those of Condoleza Rice and George Bush hopefully aren’t fooling many people. Once the right celebrities are involved fans will follow with the hopes of getting added as “friends”.

Some other important areas of MySpace center around music, TV and pop culture. Fox saw this coming and for 2006 set up profiles for the American Idol contestants, for example see Chris Daughtry’s page. Other well known musicians who are on MySpace include LL Cool J, Mary J Blige, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and The Pussycat Dolls. The tie in to clubs and music so strong it’s quite common to come across DJ’s or bands who are heavily promoting themselves on MySpace.

Next let’s look at some examples of corporations and big businesses who are using MySpace. The energy drink Red Bull has a page as does Aquafina, however traditional soft drinks like Coke and Pepsi aren’t, and if they are they are hidden pretty well because I went looking for them. In my opinion this is pretty serious oversight on their part. One of the more interesting examples of corporations in MySpace comes from Wendy’s with a page named squarevision. If features the square Wendy’s hamburgers in a series of flash movies.

While some corporations are clearly dipping their big toe into the waters at MySpace there are still plenty of opportunities there, and since Steve Rubel who now works at Edelman who has MySpace as a client I’ll pass along a few suggestions.

• The first thing I’d like to see is official company or celebrity profiles identified. It would really be helpful to know if I was looking an something that has been authorized, a devoted fan site, or something put in place by a clever prankster.
• Next I’d like to see MySpace try to woo more “legitimate” businesses into area. Soft drink companies, car companies, movies, TV shows, even candy like Orbitz and Mentos seem to be a natural fit.
• Next how about showcasing some of the more interesting, well thought out or well executed MySpace pages. For example Squidoo sends out the Squidoo Lens of the Day
• Lastly would an official MySpace HTML/CSS editor be too much to ask, all sorts of people are developing all sorts of tools on their own, and I’m not so sure I trust all of them to not do something funny to my page like putting in a hidden link or two

I hope that part II of my MySpace series has convinced you MySpace can be a serious marketing tool, in Part III we are going to take a peek at the Dark Alley’s of MySpace.

UPDATE:After this post was written but before it was published Disney came out with a tie-in for the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Man’s Chest that is exactly what I was talking about.

This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

Marketing Examples on MySpace

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In the past week Google played catch-up with MSN AdCenter by offering Adwords Targeting based on demographics ( see Google AdWords Help Center: What is demographic site selection? and Targeting as a Strategy). Maybe I spent a little to much time in AOL chat rooms in my youth (yo ASL roomies), but I don’t place a lot of stock in the accuracy of online demographic data.

To be clear if I’m selling air conditioners I’ll definitely want to target Florida residents over Alaskan residents, but going much deeper than that doesn’t seem accurate based on the data. I will admit that I intentionally give the wrong information everywhere I possibly can. It’s a combination of the impish joy of stickin’ it to the man and my paranoia about being tracked. In short I try put out so much conflicting data it’s impossible to separate the truth from the fiction. From a marketing standpoint I want my IP to be large uncategorizable blob of data. I will acknowledge I’m probably not representative of the typical internet user, but I think people are becoming more sensitive about how much information they give out freely, and in some cases telling little white lies.

Personally I think all of this data is really just to attract traditional print and TV advertisers online. By giving these people metrics they are accustomed to working with, you are going to have an easier time getting them to open their wallets. As anyone in sales knows it’s easier to sell someone something if they think they want it, whether it really works or not.

This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

Will the Real Online Demographics Please Stand Up

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So I finally got around to reading Brian’s article on IPTV, which tied in with something I was reading on WebmasterWorld about Dora the Explorer teaching kids to “click” on TV. Now I’ve mentioned before that I think within a few years we’re going to see an internet based TV network. Which made me start thinking how close are we to actually having “clickable TV”?

If you’ve followed any of the XBox 360 hoopla or know anything about Microsoft Vista chances are you heard about MCE or Media Center Edition. The short version is Microsoft is trying to integrate and mesh your TV and your computer as much as possible, so you think of them as a single integrated package. Now if the entertainment industry would get down from their high horses and stop being a bunch of prima donnas about DRM, we could actually do some cool stuff. Imagine going out and buying a 500 GB network storage device. You could record programs with your TV tuner equiped computer to your network mass storage device. Then you could play it back via network to any TV or wireless computer anywhere in your house. The same would hold true for your digital music files. Sure I know there are ways to do it now, but lets be honest, unless you posess some sysadmin like qualities, your never going to be able to pull it off it’s just not user friendly enough yet.

What about kicking it up to the next level, and making the TV truly interactive and “clickable”. For example say you were watching the OC you could pause it at any time and click to the attached shopping guide. It would have direct links to any music featured on the show, the clothes, and jewelry the people wore, heck maybe even the furniture they sat on and cars they drove. Oh yeah let’s not forget the OC t-shirts, baseball caps, and other related merchandise. Think of it as a digital DVD, with loads of bonus features. They could also add direct links to the web to the official show website or other online properties. For anybody in marketing and advertising this ability to track and measure this kind of data sounds like a dream come true. It would also take product placement on TV to a whole new level.

Categories:( IPTV | IPTV | mce | mce | internet.tv | internet.tv)

This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

Clickable TV

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This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone as it was bound to happen sooner or later, but the US Government wants Google to turn over some of it’s search records and history.

MercuryNews.com Feds after Google data

The Bush administration on Wednesday asked a federal judge to order Google to turn over a broad range of material from its closely guarded databases.

The move is part of a government effort to revive an Internet child protection law struck down two years ago by the U.S. Supreme Court. The law was meant to punish online pornography sites that make their content accessible to minors. The government contends it needs the Google data to determine how often pornography shows up in online searches.

In court papers filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Justice Department lawyers revealed that Google has refused to comply with a subpoena issued last year for the records, which include a request for 1 million random Web addresses and records of all Google searches from any one-week period.

The Mountain View-based search and advertising giant opposes releasing the information on a variety of grounds, saying it would violate the privacy rights of its users and reveal company trade secrets, according to court documents.

Good on Google for standing up to the feds, whether they will succeed or not is bit iffy right now. Kinda makes you regret installing that toolbar, webaccelerator, using personalized search, and GMail now doesn’t it?

Categories:( google | google | government | government | privacy | privacy | security | security)

This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

US Government Wants Google’s Data

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