Month: February 2011

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Google Update Their Algorithm to Benefit Information Rich Sites

Google just did a massive update on their search algorithm which impacted what sites get pushed to the topic of organic results this past week. The bottom line is that the change will benefit information rich sites but hurt those without original content.

This is what Google said exactly: “This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites—sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful. At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites—sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.”

For our own site and those of our customers, this is very good news. When you build content that is more than just focused on your own business and services you enrich your own readers’ experience and now improve your own chances of placing higher organically on Google.

Of particular note is the comment “with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis and so on.” This is good news for clients that we have worked with to create in-depth articles and mini white papers which we have then in turn additionally used as link bait articles and have archived back on their website as HTML pages and PDF files.

This is also be good news for blogging clients where blogs are informative and information dense content but only if the blog resides on the same website server as the website files and is found in a directory in the root of the parent website.

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New Twitter Background Design How-To

Twitter has moved to a very slim line background profile. If you haven’t visited your Twitter profile in a while and you had done a custom background, you may find that what you had before is cut off and nearly invisible with the new Twitter background space available.

Here are is a detailed explanation of what space you now have for Twitter.

We used to take a 1,920 pixel wide by 1,000 pixel tall canvas and show the company phone and website address in a block starting 25 pixels from the left to 200 pixels from the left. This space has now shrunk to 5 pixels from the left to a maximum of 110 pixels from the left.

The top drop down has also changed. Before we started our content block 70 pixels down from the top. Now we start the content block at 0 pixels or 57 pixels depending on what type of graphic you will be using. You may have to tweak a few things on your background based on the visual elements you are using, but this gives you a starting point.

The big issue is that background space has shrunk from 200 pixels to 120. This means that your previous Twitter background will look bad with the new interface design. In fact your company information that previously used to show may be cut off. There just isn’t much real estate for personalization at this point, but you can still use what is there to tie in with your website brand colors and Facebook Business page profile.

If you use HootSuite or TweetDeck to update your Twitter account, now’s the time to look at what your profile at www.Twitter.com looks like so you can make sure to make any necessary changes to keep looking good!

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How To Clean Up Your Twitter Followers Fast

You shouldn’t take action to clean up your Twitter following base until you have about 500 or so followers. Twitter operates in a reciprocal sphere. Initially to get people to follow you, you need to follow them. It just works that way in the real world.

However as your account grows and you get more serious about using Twitter and not just dabbling with it, you want to cut out people from your list that are sapping your SocialRank. That means chopping out followers who are not following you back. Don’t cut out people who have merit or who are high profile, but cut the people out who initially followed you to build their fan base and then chopped you. Additionally you want to cut out people who are just spamming your fan base with their repetitive tweets or get rich quick schemes.

To make this easy, I have found a free tool that allows me to cull through my fan base and with one click drop non- followers. I use www.JustUnfollow.com to clean up my list. (They are not paying me – I just like the online application.)

First login to your Twitter account then visit JustUnfollow.com and allow it to connect with your Twitter account. You will be able to unfollow people right from that screen. As your account and following base grows it is important to keep a differential between the number of people you follow and the people who follow you. Just Unfollow makes it easy to do.

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Growing Your Twitter Following Base Update

This past Friday I published a blog post about how to grow your Twitter following base. Here’s an update on our project. First, I prewrote that article on Saturday February 6th. On that day we had five people following AskKeebler. Our fan base grew all last week and as of today (when I am writing this – Saturday 2-19), AskKeebler has 60 followers.

Our plan this week to additionally grow our spokesdog account is to interact with followers and retweet their updates this upcoming week.

This is what I do personally, and it works to grow an account. Using HootSuite on a daily basis, I will review my home stream, they I will review the status updates of my followers. I will additionally review the stream of those I follow who are not necessarily following Keebler. Then I will choose pertinent updates to comment to, choose those updates that are funny, cute or informative to retweet, and click in to various Twitter accounts to find out more about people who had good updates. I will use the scheduling function in HootSuite to spread these interactions out over the day.

If someone had a good update, I will click in and either send a direct message or @ message (depending on if they are following me) with a question or to thank them for the information they have posted. I will also be looking to share pictures of Keebler doing some funny things this week and browsing for doggie videos on YouTube to share.

The bottom line is that I am looking to connect! Last week I asked a number of dog trainers for some help with Keebler’s incessant running around the kitchen table (God lover her), and got some great suggestions. I will go back to those people and report what I did and am trying, to say thank you.

When you look to connect more than vomit out spam about you and your services on Twitter, others respond by following you. I find that it is hard to initially build  a good following base. There simply is no short cut, but you can end up with a rich interactive community that makes your time spent on Twitter really fun.

If you haven’t followed our Spokesdog on Twitter yet, what are you waiting for? Our goal for this month is 150 followers. Click and and just follow AskKeebler to join the fun!