Symetri Blog

On December 17, 2007, created a lovely post about Ocelot Grooming in Greensboro, North Carolina.

The purpose, of course, was to offer a tangible example to anyone involved in SEO or someone looking to hire a company to do SEO as to the importance and weight of blogs. The post was slightly heavily peppered with keyphrasing, variations, and misspellings, but without being flagrant, egregious, or irrelevant; I stated my purpose directly in the post itself. Included was an image with the proper attribute "alt" tag. [Not directly used, but a further step would be to make use of the built-in blog tags to take advantage of even more levels of relevance.]

I am pleased to say that within about a week, a Google search for ocelot grooming places pages in this blog at #1 and #2. Similar results show by adding Greensboro to the mix, and that single post lists us 2nd only to the NC Zoo for "ocelot greensboro." That would be a case in point.

However, the first quagmire that I enter with such a post is that by writing about the results of a blog post and its effects on rankings in another blog post and using the same keyphrases as the original post, I risk altering those results, immediately rendering them null and this blog post inaccurate.

Yes, you read that correctly: by writing this blog post I am entering information into the interwebs that - by its very existence - may void the information within the post itself. As Keanu Reeves and Joey Lawrence one day need to say in unison: Woah. [And, no, that's nothing like Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle; read your particle physics book again, please.]

The second issue, of course, is that some neckbeard living in Mom's basement will stumble upon this post between marathon sessions of WoW and myChickBot CAD revisions, interpret modest bravado as a personal affront, and seek only to own the phrase "ocelot grooming," which, being unemployed, he will successfully accomplish within two weeks time. This will also nullify the information in this post.

So as a single day comes and goes, never to occur again, let us enjoy the ephemeral SERP listing, and stand in awe at the fickle nature of Google, our Fortuna.

Labels: blogging, social marketing, symetri

Symetri has some very exciting news in the world of SEO: Search Engine Watch has picked us up as a regular contributor to discuss the finer points of SEO education as it pertains to both those coming in to the field and those trying to keep up with the ebb and flow of technology, companies, and algorithms.

Check out our premiere, SEO.edu: Can You Learn SEO From a Book? and keep on with us - it's going to be a brilliant ride.

Labels: blogging, education, internets, Search Engine Watch, symetri

Here at Symetri, we're very aware of the importance of social networking, particularly blogs. Any business or writer or entity in general should have a blog out there delivering relevant content, whether it's industry news or attitudes about Britney Spears new do. About seven years ago, the crucial component to a business was a face on the web in the form of a site. Even if you weren't selling anything online, a presence on teh interwebs linked a human to a phone number or information about a business.

What sites were then blogs are now. A website is analogous to the brick and mortar; a blog is the smiling customer service rep. The blog is the voice, the human component to so much steam-cleaned copy, the lightning bolt to Johnny 5.

So why am I pining romantic about blogging? Why point out the importance? Because of the impotence. Because a blog is never more noticeable than when it is missing. It all has to do with the iPhone.

If you'll recall, the day after Apple announced it, Cisco sued over copyright infringement of the name. Speculation exploded on both sides and then slowly came to a low rumble. Trying to search out the details amid a blog-flood of opinions, Slashdot sent me to Cisco's blog. That was the voice of reason - the VP - pointing out what was going on. But that's Cisco's blog, and looking for another horse's mouth, I was surprised (well, not really) to find it missing.

Cisco has a blog that concerns news and industry information, yada yada. But when the rubber met the road, when fans, detractors, and the general public were startled by the upheaval and looking for the comfort and honesty that comes from a human voice, Cisco responded. Apple did not. Their blog reflects that nothing has happened negatively concerning the iPhone (and that Vista's a wannabe Mac OS).

Another example of silence: Jet Blue's "blog." (The first problem is: while it's cute to call it a "flight log," nobody's looking for a flight log. They're looking for a blog. Some conventions are conventions for a reason. Second problem: Tlog or Flog?) Last week, during the horrifying weather, Jet Blue canceled about 1/4 of their flights over 11 airports nationwide, stranding people in airports and on tarmacs. They have since rectified the issue (in part) by taking full responsibility and are unveiling a Customer Bill of Rights.

This was the perfect opportunity for a voice of comfort in a time of despair, accountability in a time of chaos, to be followed by a lauding of this Bill of Rights (here's the problem, we're sorry, here's how we're going to fix it). But the last post was on Feb. 1.

And there is your lesson: Have a voice. Make it loud. Make it timely. And smile. People are watching.


Category: Search Engine Marketing and Optimization

Labels: blogging, social marketing, symetri