Kansas City SEO and SEM

by:Anne Haynes

A client called me today and asked me if I’d heard of Cuil the new search engine created by ex Google engineers that claims to be better, faster and cheaper than Google. While I was taken off guard because I was clueless about Cuil (how embarrassing), I was curious if this new search engine would become the next NUMBER 1 search engine. So, I decided to conduct some research and a quick test.

Cuil Goal located on the website states, “The Internet is getting bigger and more disorganized every day. Cuil’s goal is to solve the two great problems of search: how to index the whole Internet—not just part of it—and how to analyze and sort out its pages so you get relevant results.”

The Cuil Internet Information Philosophy:
Size matters
Popularity is useful, but not always important
Organization is fundamental
Cuil analyzes the Web, not its users

Based on the philosophy alone it looks like Cuil could be the ideal place for researchers and students to find different information that is unbiased to Google’s popularity filter. It will be interesting to learn more about how Cuil ranks websites and what it takes to get in position one.

As my first test, I used my name as a search term because I study “Anne Haynes” regularly. While the amazing 13,305,408 indexed pages using the term Anne Haynes was impressive, how was the quality on the first page. As we all know the first page means everything and capturing the end-user within seconds is essential to a successful search engine.

If you’re interested in seeing a picture here are Anne Haynes results in Cuil But let me tell you there really isn’t much there….three of the top results were from my VMIX account and 100% of those results were displaying pages that no longer exists. The images that are embedded within the results, while very cool or Cuil, they do not correspond with the pages being displayed. I find it interesting that VMIX is all over the first page for a few reasons; one I know the founders and the lead engineer [shout out to Greg, Ed and Ian], and two, I created that account last year and haven’t logged in for several months. Why is VMIX tied to Anne Haynes in Cuil’s eyes? I don’t know that’s for the geniuses over at Cuil to figure out. It will be interesting to watch this search engine, plus it will be nice having something else to play with besides Google. As a SEOer, it’s time to read about the engine and learn its likes and dislikes – in the hopes that “If” Cuil is the next NUMBER 1 search engine, I’ll have an advantage and so will my clients.

Check out Cuil.com.

by: Anne Haynes

Today on FriendFeed, using my trusty iGoogle set-up, I noticed a link from Matt Cutts about Knol. So, I clicked on the link and poof I was in the new knol world. Knol can be thought of like About.com meets the Wiki. But it also has a global blogging feel to it as well. Many of the successful blogs out there are built with multiple authors and contributors and knol makes this happen very quickly. Following is my review of knol and my initial thoughts on the usability. Understand that my review could contain user errors, so if you find something incorrect please send me a message and I’ll fix this post. I’m sorry you can’t comment right now, I’m dealing with updating my WordPress and it’s not on the top of my priorities right now.

So when I arrived at knol I screwed up immediately because it wasn’t clear where I should be writing my content. It took me a few times to realize that the beginning content field was for a summary of the article and not the article.

Once I figure this out I was cruzin. The editor is sensitive to MS word documents and prefers article written in a txt editor – duh. I “published” my article and then searched on my name and the keyword “SEO” and there were no results, so there is a lag from writing the article to seeing the article in the knol search results. I few hours later I found my knol article in the search results and I feel pretty special to be right next to Danny! Please note, I’m logged into my iGoogle account so the search results vary. Continue reading and see the new results after knol was update.

I then took it one step further to verifying my name. Well this feature is tied to a phone directory database, so if you are like me and only have one number (private) this feature won’t work. The other way to verify is by credit card and ATMs won’t work, so if you’re only source for paying for things is using your ATM, this won’t work either.

Then there was the cool AdSense feature that gives me control over who’s AdSense is where and of course I want my AdSense. This could get tricky with the co-author model.

All-in-all knol is a cool product and with it’s recent launch there are some bugs

Update: Same Day -Different Time

I just received an email from and anonymous knol user that is reviewing my article. The only people I invited are in my gmail account. I’m no longer in the search results. I love “the” Google!

So I just tried to login to my knol account and I got this cool update:

So in the previous search results my article was published and now it’s gone and only Danny Boys is left:

SEO Overview by Anne haynes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at knol.google.com.

Last.fm just flicked the switch – and poof new design. I’m having a hard time having myBloglog recognize my last.fm account….more to come later.

by: Anne Haynes

While this might not be a “totally” funny story, it’s interesting to say the least based on the look I received when I said “Twitter” in public.

So, I’m in the process of building out a big pay-per-click campaign. My client just launched a radio ad and the PPC campaign needed to be up ASAP. I called on one of my trusty industry friends to ask for help in making things happen within the time constraints and the phone calls started. Last night, when I was in line at Whole Foods, my friend called me. She was going into all these details and I was focused on placing my items on the conveyer belt and queuing behind the woman ahead of me. During this time I noticed the woman ahead of me was wearing a “Sprint” t-shirt. For those of you that don’t know Kansas, Sprint has a huge campus. If you’ve been to Cisco Systems headquarters it resembles Cisco but with a college look and feel. If you’ve ever visit Kansas for an extended period of time, you will meet someone that works at Sprint.

So, I’m in line talking back and forth on the phone about the PPC campaign and it dawns on me that – I’m not focused and for those of you that manage PPC campaigns you know how focus is tied to ROI. I quickly ask my friend, “Are you going to be on Twitter?” When I said Twitter, the Sprint woman did a drastic head move towards me. It was as if she was thinking – are you following me? Ahhhhahhhahhaa I laughed to myself.

Twitter is fun, Twitter is cool, Twitter is more interesting when in line for food!

I have 8 BrightKite invites if anyone wants one – just shoot me a message.

Helpful video on de-aging your resume. Good story on how to update your internet presence.

by: Anne Haynes

Tonight I was thinking about an experience today on BrightKite, Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook could hurt or help a marriage. I’m a somewhat new user to this type of communication and because it so fun, you learn through trial and error. Let’s face it- if you’re using iGoogle and gadgets it’s like a party behind your computer. You can think about these applications as a play ground for the ADD in you. These are the places where you receive quick fast and filtered industry information before anyone has time to blog about the latest news. You can comment on FriendFeed and reverse feed into Twitter. Bottom-line the days of keeping “in-touch” with people through email are going to become an experience of the past.

How to save a marriage using BrightKite, Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook? I’ve turned on a few Kansas City, BBQ loving people, onto the using the four social media applications in conjunction together. And as my friends join, we figure out the ramifications of playing feisty online. Today, there was a conversation with @belpers on twitter when we joked about jealousy of friends. I’m an SEO Queen and while in my industry you can never know everything, when my following friend started making friends with another SEOers, I did get sensitive. Belpers aka BigGuyLittleGuy twittered his fear that his wife and teenage child would see his twitters about “girlfriend” and “jealousy”. Ahhhhhaaahaaahahahah! At first I was worried, but then I knew belpers and his character of being a loving husband, so there were no worries. But there could be situations when using these applications that it could be harmful to a marriage. Oh and let’s face it Christy Brinkley’s marriage issues are plastered all over the TV right now who needs more bad stuff.

Then in the middle of my evening belpers checks-in on BrightKite.com – I have a Brightkite invite if you need one send me a note. You can see through BrightKite, Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook that he’s at the gym, then gas station and so on….!!!!!! It hit me that couples having issues with trust and jealousy could use these friendly tools to validate where they are at any given time of the day or night. Is trust a characteristic of a good marriage? Is jealousy a sign of a bad marriage? Can your Facebook profile help you when checking into your spouse? Well that’s up to you and how you use Brightkite, Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook.

I love emerging technologies and I feel blessed to be associated with so many “A” players in the industry. Thanks for your includes and friendship!

by: Anne Haynes

Tonight I came home, logged into my iGoogle and within my FriendFeed gadget I found a link from Jason Calacanis. I clicked on the link and was sent to revision3.com – poof I was taken back in time 13 years to 1995 and my days on CU-SeeMe . In 1995 I was a San Jose State University college intern working at KSJS and being mentored by Dan Fortune; the first guy to play guitar over the internet. It was a crazy time! I was the production assistant managing the Sound Byte radio talk show that aired over the radio waves and internet bytes. Dan Fortune introduced me to CU-SeeMe and the PowerPC, so I decided to purchase a MAC and in retrospect I wish I purchased an AV model. Within weeks of my home computer purchase listeners/internet viewers were sending 14.4 modems and Connectix quick cameras to the station. Did someone say free gear? I had free electronics and these guys were helping me configure my stuff over CU-SeeMe. At this point, I knew I was one of the first women on the internet. Let’s remember this was before instant messaging. Cu-SeeMe was instant messaging with a video enabled option. While the 14.4 modem had resolution issues, the black and white streaming video was totally cutting edge at the time. Think about it like air brushing an image or using a filter when you take a picture. You could look like hell and still look good on CU-SeeMe. Following is the Cornell University photo for CU-SeeMe – this University created the technology and later sold it to WhitePine Software.

When I arrived at revision3.com and tried to get into the chatroom I received a message, “Room Is Full – Try Joining This Room Later“ thanks for the message, but someone please fix this issue! There is nothing more frustrating for an internet user than to NOT get into the chatroom! It brought me back to 1995 when I had to keep clicking the ENTER button to get into the BikerBar on CU-SeeMe.

by: Anne Haynes

In the past couple of months I’ve been playing around with Twitter.com and while this service was offered to me back in January 2008, I dismissed it as being lame. Why would anyone want to know what I’m doing right now? What value does knowing I’m drinking a latte at Scooters add to anyone’s day? Then one day I made “time” for Twitter! And it looks like Amazon has made 15 million dollars worth of time for Twitter. With this said, what does Twitter offer? Why would Amazon invest in a micro blogging service? Let’s discuss….

Product Ratings: real-time – Imagine if you purchased a mountain bike on Amazon and while you were riding your bike through the woods you loved it so much you sent a message from your cell phone. Yes, twitter allows you to send messages via your cell to a custom twitter email address. Now this review or rating you give via your cell phone syncs with Amazon and boom – you get the picture.

Product Photos: real-time – Imagine if you’re on that new bike and you decide to take a self portrait with your new bike – the one you purchased from Amazon (and the third party merchant). Well, now you have a following. While product ratings are great, personal pictures and events with a product are more interesting. Potential buyers need pictures and video on the internet today!

Product Chat: real-time – Imagine if you could talk to someone who’s purchased the bike right before you’re about to add your bike to the shopping cart? OK now it’s a different business model!

I remember back in 1995 when I was trying to be a chat room monitor for ZDNet. While I was never approved as a monitor on ZDNet, I did my duty monitoring an internet radio station’s video conferencing broadcasts using CU-SeeMe. And what I learned was there are “some” freaks on the internet! Mind you it was 1995 and I was one of the first women using CU-SeeMe and at this time – one of the first women on the internet and wow it was fun! I want to do another post about CU-SeeMe!!

Bottom-line, if Amazon is thinking of using real-time chat for products reviews, they need damage control! For the manufactures that create the products sold online, this should feel like a wake-up call. If manufactures aren’t listening to their buyers/customers this information should be a reason to install a blog and listen – track and monitor what the consumer really wants from their manufacturing plants. The best way to know what consumers/clients want is to listen and the best way to listen is to have a blog! Don’t worry enterprise manufactures, you have control over comments.

If you want to leave a comment, send me an email – I’m overloaded with blog spam and updating my own database and site – it takes time. Email me now!