WordPress Has Become My "Standard" for Blog Websites (thanks in part to Google's Matt Cutts)

One of the most interesting moments at Webmaster World was the endorsement of WordPress by none other than Google's Matt Cutts. For those who may not know, Matt has become the wonderfully laid-back and articulate "voice" of Google at Webmaster World. (photo by Andy Beal used under Creative Commons license.) As detailed in the video interview linked below, Cutts unexpectedly told the PubCon audience that by designing and producing a website in WordPress you, in essence, make it defacto search engine friendly. Especially with the latest version 2.3.

I was very pleased to hear this because I've recently upgraded my golf blog, TheJoyofGolfing.com to WordPress 2.3; and then in the same week, ComBridges has also recently taken over site updates for a client who has a more static page (non-blog) website that was already produced in WordPress. Our company is also currently using it to add an integrated blog to a pre-existing design. These are options that, frankly, I didn't realize existed with a "blogging" platform previously.

Bottom line, I have become increasingly impressed with the WordPress website publishing platform. In addition to a well-thoughtout and feature rich back-end interface, there are options for everything from Google AdSense to static pages that make it more than just a blogging tool. And the real capper is the excellent array of third-party plug-in tools which have been written for the open source WordPress platform. For example, as a search engine marketer, I was thrilled to find out about the "all-in-one seo" plug-in for search engine optimization. I've gotta believe that WordPress is now the state-of-the-art website publishing platform. Personally, I feel empowered by its features, stability and extensibility.

And then today, I got word that Yahoo has written a very impressive plug-in of their own which helps website and blog authors to almost extemporaneously add links and pictures. Yahoo's is kind of a "smart" plug-in that has the capability to suggest links as well as pictures (via Yahoo-owned, Flickr). Click here to watch a video demo of the Yahoo Shortcuts for WordPress.

Below, you will find that interview with Matt Cutts. It includes similar comments about WordPress' search engine friendly "nature" as well as other sage search marketing advise. Note, this endorsement is particularly interesting (as one commenter to this video points out) given that Google owns a competing blog platform (which I am using here), Blogger.



Note, as mentioned, WordPress can also do "flat" pages so it isn't necessarily just a blogging platform. It's really a website development platform or even a lightweight CMS (content management system) as well as a blogging platform, or some combination of the above, depending on your needs.

The only trouble is that now I'm going to have to convert this blog over to WordPress. Fortunately, I don't think that's too tough...

Revolutionary gPC is a $200 Web-facing Computer with no "Microsoft tax"

This makes so much sense it's scary. A $200 computer, by Google, on sale NOW at WalMart that leverages the power of the Internet with browser-based and open source software (thus no "Microsoft tax").

I might just be geeky enough to go out and buy one. We'll see. Meanwhile, click here for details of the Everex gPC as covered by John Biggs in the NYTimes.

This kind of "webtop" computer has been a long time coming, but frankly I'm a bit surprised that it's finally here. That said, in the world of the Web, surprises never cease. Bottom line, I agree with TechCrunch's comment, "The Webtop is going to be a classic disruptive technology, starting out cheap and at the margins, but slowly working its way up the food chain."

Search Engine Ranking Factors Clearly Illuminated

For those of us who work (either for ourselves or for clients) is pursuit of organic or natural search engine rankings for targeted keyword phrases, there is a slew of information out there about both the on-page and off-page factors that contribute to these rankings (as I explain in my internet marketing ebook: "EBiz Express: What Every Business Should Know About Internet Marketing").

I'm writing not only to make this shameless plug, but also to share a new resource that I just found that aggregates the opinions of an impressive selection of experts in order to indicate which of the various factors carry the most weight (according to these experts). As something of an expert myself, I found this interactive page to be informative and useful. Thus, I recommend to you:

SEOmoz's Google Search Engine Ranking Factors V2

Enjoy.

Google Mail Video Best Viral Video User-Generated Video Marketing I've Seen

Geez, I'm always posting about how hot the online viral video space is becoming, and wouldn't you know it, here comes Google with not only my 2nd viral video post of the night, but one that leverages user-generated content to the max. Great stuff you all, and I really mean you all. And, oh yea, nice job Google for editing it all together in such a snappy fashion. More info here: http://mail.google.com/mvideo

3 Tips to Save Money on PPC Search Advertising

I like it when two of the authorities on web marketing who I most respect get together. I've had personal contact with both Dr. Ralph Wilson and Catherine Seda (whose most recent book How to Win Sales and Influence Spiders looks excellent... I've not read it yet). Bottom line, like me, both of these people are committed to helping small and medium size businesses succeed with their internet marketing campaigns. This video offers three solid tips that are fundamental strategies. I know from experience that each of these will help you save money with PPC search advertising:

MSN Makes Progress Toward Becoming #2 Search Engine

I'm frequently asked about how much each of the big three search engines (Google, Yahoo & MSN) contribute in terms of traffic. Google of course dominates, but as this chart shows MSN has recently made progress toward overtaking Yahoo as #2. This has caused TechCrunch to ask:

Could Microsoft Knock Off Yahoo To Become Google’s Biggest Competitor?

NYTimes Gets Peek Inside Google's Search Systems

Perhaps amongst the most closely guarded secrets in the entire tech industry are the algorithms or formulas that include "signals" and "classifiers" that determine a website's position on Google's SERP's (search engine results pages).

This Sunday's New York Times offered one of the clearest behind-the-scenes visits with those who make things happen at the Googleplex that I've seen including interviews and fly-on-the-wall perspectives on meetings with some of Google search's main players (two are shown here). The article is insightful and clear; and it provides, within reasonable limits, a nice overview of how Google's search engine works, an introduction to the team that manages its impressive set of variables, the awesome scope of Google's whole search techno-universe, and more.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM) and related fields. (A membership in the NYTimes site may be required to view this article.)

Google Audio Ads Ramps Up Radio's Reach

It's been widely understood and acknowledged (ever since Google's January 2006 acquisition of dMarc Advertising) that Google would be launching an interface to sell radio advertising based on it's widely popular Google AdWords platform.

Well, the wait is over. It's here. Now, anyone with an AdWords account can buy targeted radio advertising via a new tab at the top of their AdWords interface.

The impact of this innovation on the radio advertising industry cannot be overstated. Google facilitates the production of the spot as well as its placement (you can pick radio stations by audience demographic as well as geographic location, etc.). Thus this new service is truly revolutionary because it makes the whole process of advertising on local radio a whole lot easier and far more accessible than ever before.

Google, DoubleClick & the Next Era of Internet Advertising

While Microsoft & ATT are quick to raise defensive legal questions (and Google's Eric Schmidt is quick to scoff at them, while also downplaying their new online presentation application), Sara Holoubeck at the DMNews (DM as in direct marketing) has some nice references to emerging ad exchange networks that introduce and integrate EBay-style bidding into online display advertising.

Bottom line, this merger idea is not just Google getting a new way to connect to display ads, it's also about the continuing re-modeling of online advertising in general. It's moving fast and it's just another brand of toothpaste that's not going back into the tube.

Even SmartMoney calls Microsoft's claims "almost laughable" amongst other more progressive comments.

Google Apps Offers New Lowcost Website, Email Strategy for Small Businesses

There are many ways to look at the launch of Google's new Apps platform, but for me, it looks like a pretty cool and very low cost ($50/year/user) way for a small business to do a web site without traditional hosting, and with a bunch of neat features.

Because it supports direct domain (as well as sub-domain) hosting and includes integrated e-mail as well as a bunch of features (from Google Page Creator for creating web pages to calendars and other forms of collaboration), it's quite powerful. More info here specifically for small businesses.

I think the biggest challenge will be having small businesses understand the scope of what's being offered.

On the other hand, the bigger business story for larger enterprises and the broader IT market is that Google is Challenging Microsoft (NYTimes) with a service that offers email and more for $50/user vs $225/user annually using Office and Exchange.

Online Video Explosion Signposts

One nice thing about the online video explosion, revolution, or whatever you want to call it, is that it does have signposts. (FYI, I'm still waiting for some professional publisher to ask me to write more about all this... hello?!).

But meanwhile here are a couple of recent articles and/or posts that I found to be of interest and encouraging re: the re-emergence of my own "video-video" enterprises (videos about video and online communications) which are percolating in the background:

> VideoEgg Hits 3 Million Uploads -- TechCrunch insights on the growth of this online video leader vis a vis GooTube (Google-YouTube) who may have the best ad platform of the moment. I said "may."

> All The World's a Stage (That Includes the Internet) -- NYTimes writer Scott Kirsner offers a nice overview with examples of how user-generated content can and is making money, at least for a few leading edge folks.

MerchantCircle Aggregates Local Search Listings for Small Businesses

I've commented before about the expansion of local search, other convergent tools for local search, and even a directory of local search directories. All in support of small businesses who are recognizing that being found on the web is now far more important than being found in the paper yellow pages.

Now, thanks to the AlwaysOn.com Media 100 "special awards for market disruption," I've discovered a wonderful service, MerchantCircle.com that gives small business owners a convenient way to access (or add) local search listings on most of the important local search directories (only Google seems to be missing) including Yahoo Local, City Search, YellowPages.com, Verizon Superpages, Yelp.com, Insiderpages.com and more.

The result is the ability to manage your business' "web identity" and online "reputation." So, if you have a business that has local, face-to-face community contact (in other words if your business does not exist entirely on the web), then MerchantCircle is definitely worth checking out. You can monitor and update most of your localized listings and also network with other local businesses in a very state-of-the-Web 2.0-art environment.