Google Wave is Google’s new pet project that according to them will do nothing less than revolutionize the way people communicate online. It will go out to 100,000 beta testers tomorrow (Wednesday, September 30th, 2009).

Google Wave is unique because its platform is combining elements from many different online communication tools into one place. Things such as blogs, photo/video sharing, chats, email, documents, etc, will be all streaming in one fluid conversation, or a “wave” as Google likes to call it.

This web application was displayed at the Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco, back in May. If you have a spare 1 hour and 20 minutes, you can watch it here.

The Google team in charge of this project see this as something that will become as main stream as Google itself. To quote one of the creators Jens Rasmussen:

“This should be something everybody uses and something everybody knows”

If you read tech blogs, you noticed the hustle and bustle around this topic today. Many of us want to be part of this beta group but trust me, it is a tight and sealed group at this point. If you’re not in yet forget about it, maybe next time!

Wave has been described as “dripping with ambition” and as a “new communication platform for a new Web.” from places such as TechCrunch.

More to come on this… Are you a beta tester? Tell us what you think!

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Google Wave’s big day

Too often business owners make important decisions based on non-factual data. Risky assumptions can be rewarding, but the same goes for the Roulette… Do you really want to gamble with your business?

Take this scenario for instance: a site is 100% geared towards lead acquisition. It has “Try us for FREE” buttons and call-to-action all over the place. In fact, you could not buy their product directly if you wanted, all you can do is take advantage of that “free offer”. They run on that model for a few years, and begin to really understand how that machine works.

Then, one day the big cheese decides to skip this lead acquisition process and attempt to go straight into a direct purchase model. He may have his legitimate reasons for doing so, and it might make sense, but it’s REALLY important to realize that doing so is taking a huge leap into unknown ground! Continuing our story, they add a shopping cart to the site and give that “Purchase Now” more attention than the “Free offer” lead gen catcher. They still offer that “Free offer”, it’s just a bit over shadowed by the “Purchase Now” call-to-action.

So far so good, they need to test those grounds and see what happens as it could be a tremendous step forward for their business.

As any goals oriented individual would do, the big cheese asks the team to create some goals around this new strategy, and the problem begins…

There’s nothing wrong with being an optimistic team, but it’s suicidal to setup goals based on the top performing lead generation model when you’re turning your online business into a “Buy Now” machine. EVERYTHING changes!! Sure, maybe there isn’t too much difference to the naked eye, the site is still the same – we only have a new bigger and brighter button everywhere that says “Buy Now” or whatever.

This addition may be a small change in the site, or a small change for the parties in charge, but it’s a HUGE ASS CHANGE for the consumer!!! Now, all of a sudden you can buy something that you used to get for free, WHOA!

Just take this into consideration… Whenever you run into a situation where you’re making changes to your site, however small they may be, really pay attention at how that is affecting your business model. And be really careful at how you’re measuring your success. It’s important to set high goals, and they also need to be realistic – and realistic goals are almost never built on assumptions. Remember the old saying? “When you assume you make an ASS our of U and ME”.

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Never Take small changes for Granted!

I ran across something on the web today that I can only describe as being top notch viral content. This thing is already “on fire”, but it’s only going to get more and more attention.

A comedian called Toby Jones has put together this hilarious website and video — a delicious juicy bite of goodness for all social networks out there. People will love to share this because they know the people they are sharing it with will enjoy receiving it. If you like this and you’ll be in Chicago for New Years, you can party out with Toby at the Jones Big Ass Truck Rental and Storage New Year’s Eve Bash!

I can’t really explain why it’s so great, you have to experience it for yourself. Before you watch the video and visit the website, keep a few things in mind about creating viral content — this is a good example to learn from:

• It’s a simple concept.
• The video is short enough that most people will watch it through the end.
• The website follows the same pattern, it is simple, to the point.
• The follow up is great, the phone number works and everything (and he sells t-shirts!)
• It is FUNNY!

Without further due, here’s the video:

.. and site: http://jonesbigasstruckrentalandstorage.com/

What did you think? Leave a comment

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Top Notch Viral Content

Hello all,

Here’s an opportunistic blog post. Some co-workers and friends have been bouncing ideas back and forth about what’s important in a ecommerce website for us, as individuals. I put on my “lab rat” shoes and went to work. Since I spent time writing this, I thought I might as well make it into a post here as I’m sure many of you reading will have your own set of opinions on this… Please do share by commenting! This conversation is also taking place in LinkedIn, so make sure to add your thoughts there too if you have something to add about your online shopping experience.

When I’m shopping on a e commerce site, it’s important that:

• I feel safe. When I don’t see the little lock icon on the browser I get a bit uneasy about the purchase.
• That I can start adding items to my cart without being signed on. I like looking at the scenario of the purchase before I have to share any personal info.
• No errors. Nothing annoys me more than finding errors on the site. Buttons that don’t work, product that have been removed and so on. It affects the whole trust aspect for me as well. The machine needs to work well.
• Incentives are key! If I see a “free shipping with blah blah blah”, or anything that makes me feel like I’m getting a deal it’s easier to purchase.
• GOOD PHOTOS! Having TOP QUALITY photos, that you can zoom in, see the details of the product, different angles, is VERY IMPORTANT to me. The better the photo looks, the more sold I am.
• INDIVIDUAL PRODUCT VIDEO. I can’t tell how much I love to see a little video demonstrating the product I’m interested in. Something short will do most of the time. When watching the video, I want to see a person using it, the dimensions, I want to hear why they love it, and I don’t want to feel like I’m being sold… It’s just a demo. Amaze me. (This is where the guy from ShamWOW rocks my world, ahahahah – Just kidding… BUT SERIOUSLY!) 
• Easy and clean check out pages. I also like to see the images saying who they use for protection, any cool little animation that helps assure me this is safe. Maybe a few testimonials about how the product arrived safely and fast.
• When I’m done with my purchase, I also like having the chance to log back in somewhere to check on the status of my order.

In terms of usability, if the product I’m looking for isn’t in the home page, I like having it in my sight within 2 or 3 clicks. For that to happen, a site needs a powerful search engine and a well organized category/tab system.

Last but not least, if there are similar products, I do like the option to compare them side by side, like here: 

Have a good one!

This post has been syndicated from the SEO Survivor Blog. Please visit http://www.seosurvivor.com/ for more! Thank you :)

Online Shopping

Good morning, it’s Monday and time to roll up the sleeves and get back to work. Having said that, I’ll also point out that it’s important to keep the mind working, the wheels turning if you will. The last thing you want is to let your mind run loose amidst the daily challenges..

Why? – you ask.

Because if you don’t, your mind will kick your ass! – I respond.

We can get into how that happens later, but you get the point. In order to help you keep your mind thinking about something interesting, intriguing, and for all us geeks even inspiring, I’ll share a video with you this Monday morning.

This well crafted video, created by Michael Wesch, from the Kansas State University, which was actually debuted early 2007, is a fascinating look at how Web 2.0 is an era where the Machines is Us/ing Us. That’s right, the machine IS us and it is USING us.

The concept that this organic, and yet machine like organism is acting in synchrony with us, and it represents who we are, was also introduced in John Battelle’s The Search. This book is a great read, and even though it isn’t really the newest publication by any means, it still is a must read for anyone intrigued by the web. In it, Battelle refers a lot to the “Database of Intentions”. This is the knowledge that powerhouse search engines such as Google and Yahoo have of the human race. What are humans desiring? What do they want to know more of? What are we searching for? Quite interesting… Tools like Google Zeitgeist (now Google Trends) and Yahoo! Buzz will give you a glimpse, have you cared to take a look lately?

Make sure you comment if you have anything to add, and enjoy the video!
if you’re receiving this post through an email subscription or other form of syndication, click here to see the video.

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We are the MACHINE

PubCon Vegas 2008 is coming, and I’m starting to reach for my wallet to secure a pass. PubCon is put together by WebmasterWorld, home of some of the coolest threads in the Search Engine Marketing world. Not THE coolest because there are other places just as resourceful, but I do listen to the buzz at WebmasterWorld daily. Besides all of the technical stuff that will be discussed there, the awesome networking opportunities and Search Engine representatives, it’s VEGAS baby, and you can’t go wrong with Vegas! (But you CAN, you CAN go REALLY WRONG with Vegas! hahahhaah)

Plus I’ve been doing pretty well with my little Blackjack game in my iPhone, and that could mean disaster when I get to Vegas and reality slaps me in the face!

Any of you marketing people reading this thinking about attending? Let me know…

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Join the Geeks in Vegas!

Good morning fellow survivors!

As I was checking my Gmail this morning I noticed a clever little Gmail Ad that almost got me to click on it. Not because of the product offered, or because I was interested to see what was in the other site. I almost clicked on it because there are some elements that triggered some of my robotic behaviors in my computer. Here’s the ad:

Can you tell what triggered my robotic behavior? Hahahaah, no no no, it wasn’t the text saying “Someone has a crush on you..”. It was the “(1) New Message” text. You see, those ads aren’t new, and I would never automatically click on something like that elsewhere on the web. The thing is I’m in my own trusted Gmail Inbox, and I see a perfect little link saying “(1) New Message”, I automatically put my mouse cursor on top of it. I had to pause, read the rest and think for .5 seconds in order not to click.

The concept of advertisers capitalising on people’s robotic behaviors isn’t anything new, it just feels weird when you realize they almost had you. Now think of this, for everytime you realize that they just had you, there have been at least 10 or more times that they got you and you still don’t know about it.

Watch this cool short video about something similar to what I’m talking about. It’s called “Subliminal Marketing”, scary and interesting stuff…

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Gmail Ad Almost Got Me, and Subliminal Ads

I’m sure it has happened before but I have never witnessed it, Amazon.com is down boys and girls! See the screenshot below:

Ok.. Now let’s wait to see what happened

—- EDIT at 1:06pm PST —-

According to a Reuters article, Amazon was hit by technical failure!

This post has been syndicated from the SEO Survivor Blog. Please visit http://www.seosurvivor.com/ for more! Thank you :)

Amazon is Down

Over a month ago a friend sent me an email asking if his Link strategy was up to par with Google’s policies. He wanted to make sure that his site wouldn’t end up being penalized by Google.

It’s also important to determine if all the work you’re doing will actually bring you the “Link Power” you’re seeking. I often encounter business owners who still spend a lot of money and energy into builing link exchanges with other sites, and in the opinion of this humble SEO Consultant that’s the biggest waste of time! To have a relevant link exchange is one thing, but to blindly create reciprocal links from buried pages on a site about tires going back and forth to a site about candles won’t help. That’s just a ficticious example by the way.

Anyway, back to my buddy’s question… He asked if it would be ok to own 4 different websites, all using different hosting servers, then create links from three of them going to the main one. The thinking behind the different server is so they can have different IP addresses. The purpose behind that is so that it looks natural, not like you’re manipulating Google, even though that’s exactly what you’re doing.

That’s smart thinking and all, but there’s something else we need to consider, the Registrar information. If you’re buying all domain names as the same entity, then you end up having the same registrar information under your WHOIS record. Can Google look into that? You would be surprised with what they have access to! In February of 2005 Google became a registrar. What does it mean to become a registrar?

Registrars are resellers, any entity can become one and sell domains. There are different tiers of registrars. You could be a “middle man”, between the source and the client. You could even be the “middle man” between the original middle man and the client and so on. It only costs a few thousand dollars to sign up to different tiers, and for Google that’s small insignificant ash tray change. Do you think they acquired that so they could let you buy domain names from them? ——- No.

Disclosure: now we enter the area of speculation and SEO Survivor’s opinions

Google made this move so they could have greater access to domain information. That doesn’t mean that now Google has information to all domain names purchased. They would only have the information to the domain names registered under them, but now they have the edge they needed to get into the registrar databases. They may not get into the black and white information, but as registrars, they get benefits such as being able to carry out high volume of automated queries and many others. I won’t get too techincal here since there’s more information about Google as a registrar if you want.

If Google can reset the Search Engine Authority from domain names that expire, you can be sure that they can find that your domain names are owned by the same entity even if they are hosted in different servers. This remains to be tested though, so if you are currently doing this, let me know how it’s going. It could work out for a while, just keep in mind that it is a huge pain in the ass to get out of Google’s supplemental index, and that’s where you go when you do something naughty in Google’s eyes.

The best way to build links is to be active in the Social Media community, share and help others out. To have original and useful content on your site, to have an SEO friendly and user friendly site navigation. To personally contact other site owners that have relevant content to yours and offer to write something for them to post on their site and link to you, as well as other practices along those lines. Organic strategies may not produce results as fast as robotic strategies, but be sure that they are well worth the time and effort, and provide super valuable links to you. Also don’t be affraid to link to other relevant sites since you have to give if you want to receive. And remember, don’t panic if it’s organic.

I hope this helps out a bit! Stay tuned for more and don’t be affraid to comment people! Peace out…

This post has been syndicated from the SEO Survivor Blog. Please visit http://www.seosurvivor.com/ for more! Thank you :)

Link Strategies and Google

Buenas tardes everyone,

It’s another perfect day in this perfect world we live in, and what better than some good updates from the Search Engine Marketing world to make everything fit right in? I can’t think of anything better… Below is a short list of some articles that captured my attention this week, nothing from the main news stream that you already heard about from reading major news sources. This is the good stuff you don’t find out from such sources, these are things that come from “a friend of a friend”. Today I am your friend’s friend, and here are the news I bring to you:

1. imnotadoctor exposed Big Local today. As he was doing the geek’s version of the daily muscle flexing in front of the mirror, which is googling keywords your site ranks well for, he found some major spamming going on. Not only that, but they have a fishy 302 redirect in place taking visitors from the target url (www.clovers.com) to their main site (www.BigLocal.com). You should read up on that story on Search Engine Land.
2. A Twitter Search engine is out. I found http://summize.com/ this week, but I’m not sure how new it is. Pretty interesting tool, and simple concept. It basically searches through people’s tweats and serves results. Here is the search result’s page for tweats related to the seosurvivor.
3. Google’s Porn problem seems to be far from over. In the last month there have been at least two instances where Google was spotted displaying explicit porno pictures in the universal search results box. When searching for “knuckles” and “Hot Celebrities” on regular search, with the “adult filter” on, you’d get a big old explicit image right there on the top of the results. Not cool Google, not cool at all. Granted, it’s freaking hard to keep those spamming porn sites out of the way.



4. Linda Phan, from eVisibility, wrote an awesome post about helping searchers find their way with local business ads. Amongst other things, Linda talks about how advertisers don’t get charged for people clicking to expand the plusbox, clicking on the actual map, or clicking to get directions to the business location, which is nice for all adwords users out there. A good read if your business is local and you use PPC.
5. The SEM industry still rocks! Danny DeMichele wrote a post on his blog talking about some recent studies showing that the Internet Marketing Industry is far from declining, it’s actually gaining more momentum! That’s a good thing to know for all those of us who are immersed in it 24/7.

I’m stirring the brain juice and crafting some fun posts for next week. Have a great weekend and pick up your trash

This post has been syndicated from the SEO Survivor Blog. Please visit http://www.seosurvivor.com/ for more! Thank you :)

Geek gossip