Archive for July, 2009

Playing safe with your duplicate pages…

Sunday, July 19th, 2009

Most webmasters have a taste of  ‘duplicate dragon’  at some point of time – Many times with serious consequences. While cross-domain duplicate content is handled pretty well with ’301′ or ’302′ ,  intra-domain & sub-domain duplicate content are left to Search engine’s whims.

A pretty simple solutions is at hand for webmasters  in directing the search engines to index  the preferred page.

Say, for example, Brad has a website – www.bradsdogcare.com

  1. It has  3 pages :
  • www.shepherd.com/dog-care.htm
  • www.retriever.com/dog-care.htm
  • www.terrier.com/dog-care.htm

The content for all the 3 pages are almost similar because of the size of the breeds – The only difference being the image in different pages.

But, Brad wants only the Shepherd page to be indexed…So what does he do?

He uses the rel = “canonical” attribute in the head section of the non-preferred pages , i.e. retriever & terrier pages

  1. <link rel=”canonical” href=”http://www.retriever.com/dog-care.htm“/>
  2. <link rel=”canonical” href=”http://www.terrier.com/dog-care.htm“/>

canon

Image Credit: zealousweb.net

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The Family of Google crawlers!

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

Most of us who are engaged in the serious practice of  Site optimization are focused on the routine visits of Google crawlers – while sites with regular content updates love the FB aka ‘FreshBots’.

But, as the web is moving towards a higher bandwidth era and a more multi-media content - capable of being consumed and distributed – the data collection task has to be performed by multiple crawlers. Google utilizes a suit of crawlers for its ‘Universal Search’ …. The Graphics below gives a family picture of the Google crawlers.

GOOGLE-CRAWLERS2

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Why is Google scared of other Affiliate programs?

Friday, July 10th, 2009

Why is Google scared of other Affiliate programs?

Try searching for ‘Affiliate Programs’ in Google and the first in the list of Paid Ads is of…

Yes, Google Adsense.

Google-adsense

So, why does Google need to run PPC for its Adsense Program for major keywords -

  1. Affiliate Programs
  2. Healthcare+Affiliate Programs
  3. Top Affiliate Programs
  4. Healthcare Affiliate Programs

…..Is Google scared of other Affiliate programs?

…..Is it fair for Google to outbid its competitors on its own paid network?

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Creating Brand Ambassadors ….Part 5

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

Giving is the name…Everybody is looking out for real life solutions to real life issues…

Stereotype solutions are only for board rooms….Real solutions and strategies are crafted inside the market…

And finally – Keep inventing new ways of compelling conversation – “There are no fixed rules”

  • Its the free tips not the freebies

  • Solutions are more important than Christmas candies

  • Information intelligence is invaluable, freebies come cheap

  • People expect in-depth analysis & concepts from you rather than ubiquitous tools & formulas

  • The best Strategies are shaped on the battle field

  • The playing field is different than the laboratory

  • Be prepared to change

  • Flexibility & low turnaround time should be a part of the strategy

  • Involve your network while you are changing gears

Watch out for more posts from  ‘CopperBridge‘…

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Creating Brand Ambassadors ….Part 4

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

Its the ‘Man versus Machine’ – and a novice will tell you that the Human factor plays a decisive role in the Brand promotion.

A personalized attention is always a clincher in most cases – on the other hand, a machine response is a big deterrent to collaboration.

  • Human presence rather than a machine response system

  • There is no substitute for Human presence

  • Machines can fill up the gaps but not the emotions

  • Don’t use page generators, automated voice response systems & automated chat system

  • Be in touch with your Brand Ambassadors

  • Relationships are more important than weekend get-togethers

  • Brand Ambassadors should grow & be nurtured along with the product

  • Share the future with the Brand Ambassadors, Let them be a part of it

  • Make them your preferred previewers

  • Make your Brand partners the first to try the products \ service

  • Utilize the network of your Brand Ambassadors

  • It makes market sense to do the Beta marketing

Watch out for the final Part of ‘Creating Brand Ambassadors’…

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Creating Brand Ambassadors ….Part 3

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

Make friends with cynicism…

Negatives matter more than on-face approval..

If you have won over your harshest critics, the market is almost yours to be had…

I am not asking you to be defensive against criticism, but rather be extra rational and detail-oriented when responding in a social setup. A genuine and fact-based response will shape the market perception in favor of your brand….

  • Positive shock absorption is needed

  • Negative feedbacks are more important

  • CONSTRUCTION out of chaos

  • Absorb the criticism with dignity

  • Continue the conversation – Don’t let it be open ended

  • The most die-hard fans can be ‘once upon a time critique’

  • Its good to have a consistent critique than a neutral \ favorable one-timer

  • Critiques should be viewed as assets rather than thorn in the flesh

  • Internet Buzz is directly proportional to the number of critiques

  • If you have evangelized your critiques, you are on your way to glory.


Be on the lookout for Part 4 of “Creating Brand Ambassadors”

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Creating Brand Ambassadors ….Part 2

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

Conversation & Contribution….The 2 Pillars of Internet advertising…which is ignored most often than not. Like SEO, C & C is not only a long-term strategy but the ROI is exponential in most cases – if done in right and consistent manner..

    [A] Conversation & not promotion is vital

  • Information & promotional overload on the net

  • Avoid being in this bracket

  • The promoter tag is disastrous for your product \ service

  • Initiate & augment the conversation

  • Be the facilitator

  • You should be good at conflict resolution

  • Customers follow conversation not sales pitch

    [B] Network contribution

  • Contribution has no alternative

  • Knowledge sharing is the life line of networks

  • Contribution generates interest – and in turn collaboration – personal or professional

  • Be unbiased in your opinions & not opinionated

Part 3 of Brand Ambassadors coming in the next post..

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Creating Brand Ambassadors ….Part 1

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

The question preceding this is whether we do have a in-market brand or a brand in the making. Brand Visibility in the social networks is a completely different beast than in the traditional media because – of the flavor of the audience , the dynamics of the social networks, the word of mouth factor, the Influence & Influencer factor, and the most important of all – the intense round the clock scrutiny for the product or service.


Major points:

  • Its a marathon & not 100 meter sprint, so– Know your Network

  • Initiation: All your knowledge about optimization, market intelligence, demography, and consumer trends will come into picture.

  • Presence on the Network map

  • Understand the conversation & the participants

  • Become a part

  • Inter-networking is as important as networking

  • Contribution is key

  • Nurture your network

  • The importance of individuality

  • Being Personal & Humane

  • Maturity & retention

Part 2 of Brand Ambassadors coming in the next post..

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