In a move that could be only described as a dis, T-Mobile told Yahoo, the previous default server for the wireless network, “thanks but no thanks”. T-Mobile has instead signed with Google to serve as the network’s primary search engine as well as the default server as reported on Monday. Yahoo will continue to server in messenger and mail capacity for the phone company while Google will be doing the majority more…

A recent article on Search Engine Land by Danny Sullivan offers advice on search engine optimization for the world’s richest man, Bill Gates. Um , what could Microsoft’s head honcho possibly learn about SEO that he doesn’t already know? According to Sullivan, a lot. This SEO 101 uses Bill Gates’ new blog as a guinea pig. On Google, Gates turns up fourth which isn’t too bad, but the disheartening thing about the placement is that the fake Bill Gates blogs are ranked higher than the real thing. Even worse on Gate’s own Bing, his blog doesn’t even show up at all. Eek! Sullivan goes on to prescribe a remedy to the online ailment and teaches us a thing or two along the way.
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A Brandsplat editorial cartoon just in time for the holidays.

Enjoy.

Why get your SEO advice from a dweeby droner when you can get it from an opinionated, well-informed woman wearing a viking helmet? For a delicious mix of entertainment and SEO advice for the small/mid-sized business, check out SEO chicks, an all female blog dedicated to the art/science of SEO. I especially liked a recent post by Judith Lewis titled, “Thou Shalt Not Suffer An SEO To Live“.    Here’s an excerpt:

“As small and medium businesses struggle to rank well for things they hold stock of and should be authoritative for, they all cry out the same thing ‘just tell us what we are doing wrong’ and Google, in its benevolence created the bible Webmaster Guidelines.  Transgressions of these guidelines are punishable by being smote by the one true Google but not all transgressions are recorded in the book.”

It’s good stuff. If you like what you see, become a real fan by purchasing a snazzy Tee.

I recently attended the OMMA Video (#ommavideo) event at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles. A lot of our customers ask us about viral video, so I hope this post sheds some light on the subject. The panel “The Art of Being Discovered: Is Viral Video a Strategy” was moderated by Bob Heyman, (Managing Director, The Digital Engagement Group) and included the following panelists: Andrew Budkofsky (SVP Sales and Partnerships, Break Media), Benjamin Carlson (Chief Strategy Officer, Bradley and Montgomery), Gregory Markel (Founder/President of Infuse Creative), Matt Martelli (CEO/Creative Director, Mad Media) and Bret Wilson (Co-Founder/CEO of TubeMogul). Here are some of the talking points I walked away with that I found interesting:

• The best techniques for driving “virality” starts with content. But it doesn’t end there. Then you have to promote your video via SEO, social media (Twitter, Facebook, Myspace etc.), social bookmarking sites (Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon etc) and  getting bloggers to review and talk about your video.  Oh, and it can’t hurt to launch a full PR campaign to get a reaction from appropriate media outlets that are relevant to your audience.

• Getting a video to go viral is getting harder and harder because there is currently a glut of video out there and it’s harder to stand out. Video is following the same trajectory as banner ads; at first everyone clicked on them and thought they were novel. But today, people pay less and less attention to them. The idea of going into a teen chat room and asking them to check out your video and expecting a response is kind of creepy and pretty much over.

• Want to spread your video effectively? Consider hiring a Weblebrity (a web celebrity that has a following of a million plus fans). Pay them to review your video. Or, even better yet, have them make a video in response to your video. This practice is becoming popular among viral video marketers and weblebrities seem more than willing to participate.

But at the end of the day, it still comes down to the quality of your content and being relevant to your audience. As one of the panelist said, “sites want good content. They’re going to start banning people who flood them with crap.” Woudn’t that be nice.  If you couldn’tt make the OMMA video event, you can see highlights at the MediaPost Raw >> OMMA Video .

Video can enrich a users experience and serve as an important trigger during the purchasing process. They can be informative, entertaining and as professional or goofy as you see fit. It’s important to choose the right content for the audience that you are focusing on.  However, content isn’t the only factor to consider. Where you put your videos is almost as important as the content inside your video. Do you put them on your home page? How about product pages? Is Youtube a good place to start? The answer to the question of where to put your videos relies on what your strategy is for having them in the first place. For example, in recent Internet Retailer post Peter Leech, chief marketing officer of onlineshoes.com, said

“The biggest design issue we look at now is where to place the videos on the site in a way that’s going to create better optimization.”

Onlineshoes.com once displayed all of their videos on a separate site, OnlineShoesTV.com. Today they are placing their videos more strategically on their blog entries like this one,  and also on YouTube.  As video strategies change for companies, so will their methods of deploying their videos. One thing is for certain, SEO for video is a strategy that every company should look at before deciding how to launch a company video.

You gotta love a guy who follows up on a bet by posting a video of himself (below) getting a new hairdo by his fellow office mates on YouTube. It’s even more impressive when you are  Google’s SEO guru. Here’s the bet; Matt Cutts wagered with his team that they couldn’t keep up with an undisclosed turnaround time for a full quarter. Needless to say, Matt lost the bet.

The coiffure began as a chrome logo delicately chiseled into the back of Mr. Cutts’ head, but soon gave way to a full-fledged Telly Savalas … viola! It was an entertaining way to celebrate a milestone in a company; one million video views on the official Google webmaster video channel.  Again, nice work. Now maybe Matt would consider a future bet with the eyebrows included? Just a thought.

Eyeballs are drawn to video like bees to honey. Not only that, interesting video content can generate a healthy amount of link juice and serve as a portal to your website. Let’s say you have a great video that you’re proud of, but you’re not sure how to optimize your opus to maximize exposure. Well, just like any content on the Internet, you’ll have to make it findable for the SERPs. But where to start? Check out this recent post on iMediaConnection for 10 SEO tips for YouTube. Good advice if you are going the YouTube route. But is YouTube the best way to publish? Third party sites like YouTube can get you the exposure you may want, but this angle may not be right for everyone. It really comes down to what the strategy for your video is. Step one is to figure out what you want the end result of your video to be. Are you driving traffic to your site? Or are you creating an online reputation for yourself?

Some things to consider when optimizing your video content:

1. Have a keyword strategy and tag your video with meta data,
2. Transcribe your video in text format so it can be seen by meta crawlers
3. Understand the effect of your hosting options (on your site vs. sites like YouTube)
4. Craft a catchy title to lure in viewers
5. Time your videos for short attention spans
6. Allow users to share and spread your video by offering the option to embed and rate your video
7. Brand your video with a logo watermark

To get a better understanding of publishing options and Tips for Optimizing Online Video Content, click on the video below that comes to us via SEOmozBlog’s Whitebroard Friday. Enjoy.

If you’re like many online business owners, you’ve probably looked at your e-commerce site recently and have seen room for improvement. You may have even considered doing something drastic, like adding a social media marketing campaign or video content to spruce up the user online experience. Well, if you’ve thought about video, you are not alone. According to a recent Internet Retailer survey ,

“43.3% of merchants will update their e-commerce sites with video this year.”

But having video on your site without a real strategy for having it, does neither you nor your customers any good. While video content can greatly improve the user experience, it is important to have a thought through strategy before implementing your video content on your site. Video content on an e-commerce site should act as a sales tool that serves to nudge the visitor to your site closer to the “add to cart” button. It may help to think of your e-commerce site like a slick auto showroom with lots of product info, video and a non-pushy sales force to help you along the way. As more and more e-commerce sites become like these slick showrooms, multi-media will play a much more important role in the sales cycle of everyday products and goods that you would normally see on the shelf at your local shopping mart or mall. Adding video can be a rewarding option if you can figure out production costs, distribution and management of your content. Oh, and don’t forget SEO for your videos. For Video Search Optimization Tips from Aaron Wall of SEOBook, click on the video below.

Your entire organization is going ga-ga over your hot new instructional video on how to manufacture a better widget without going overseas. Now it’s time to post it on the Internet so you can get it in front of a larger audience and put your brand name out there. Where you post your video is almost as important as what your video says. Do you post on YouTube or do you post on your company website? That’s the big question. Before deciding which route to take, weigh some of the pros and cons to help you decide what’s best for your company:

PROs FOR POSTING YOUR COMPANY VIDEO ON YouTube:

• YouTube instantly allows you to tap into a huge audience. YouTube gets literally billions and billions of video requests per month. How many visitors do you get to your site per month? Probably not nearly that.

• If you’re video is good enough, YouTube may feature your video on its homepage. This could mean exposure to more eyeballs than you ever dreamed possible, which puts a lot of pressure on how good your video really is.

• Youtube has some pretty cool analytics tools allowing you to collect data on who’s watching, how long they are watching, where they live etc. For more info on this subject, click here.

• No need to pay for extra bandwidth. YouTube keeps all videos on their servers which means that videos that suck up bandwidth won’t cost you a dime extra for server space.

CONS FOR POSTING YOUR COMPANY VIDEO ON YouTube:

• You can’t build link juice to your site by posting on YouTube. YouTube gets all the credit. This may change in the future, but for now, they ain’t sharing.

• If people are searching for your products or services online, by and large YouTube entries will rank lower than text-based sites. If your strategy includes Search Engine Optimization (SEO),  you may want to consider housing a transcript of your video in text format on your company site.

• Why relegate your video to just one network? There are lots of other distribution channels out there (although none as popular as YouTube). For more info on other channels, click here

• For more cons, visit “You Shouldn’t Use YouTube for Building YouLinks” on linkspiel.com

No matter which route you choose, know that digital video gives your company additional exposure and can ultimately produce a wider online footprint. Keep in mind that the content of your video is of importance. If you’re doing a viral video, you had better make sure it is entertaining enough that someone will want to pass it around. Make sure that your content fits your strategy for making a video. Digital video can be a big plus if you’re the only business in your industry who offers it. If this is the case, not only will your videos help you rank higher in the SERPs, but you’ll look like a more dominant player in your industry. So what are you waiting for Scorsese? Grab a camera and a megaphone and get ready to roll.

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