The Search Marketing Expo (SMX) Advanced agenda is out for the two-day conference, taking place June 11-12, 2013 in Seattle, Washington. With a lineup of diverse digital marketing topics to be discussed, the conference seems like a worthwhile summer event to add to one’s calendar.
The SMX Advanced agenda covers a wide range of organic and paid search marketing topics, incorporating social, mobile, and content marketing strategies into the mix. All the topic choices are in-line with current industry trends. Also, the agenda topics cater to those who are a bit more experienced in the search marketing field.
The conference is put on by Third Door Media, Inc., the parent company of Search Engine Land, a search marketing news site. SMX Advanced conferences began in June 2007, and have grown into one of the world’s leading search engine marketing conferences.
Some may want to start reading up on the agenda topics prior to the conference so they have a better grasp on what will be discussed. Below are some recommended articles:
Although there is minimal information provided on the lineup, notable participants include Matt Cutts, head of Google’s web spam team, as keynote speaker. Also, with a long list of “big name” sponsors like SEOMoz, one may assume that the speaker lineup will be a pretty good one (even before it is posted).
There are some perks to signing up early. Before Friday, March 29, one can sign up for the Super Early Bird pass option and save between $20-$200. There is still an Early Bird pass option after that date but, as the conference nears, prices go up.
SMX Advanced conference passes sell out quickly. One can read several reviews and recaps circulating in regard to past conferences, like SMX West, which are helping to build the buzz and anticipation for SMX Advanced.
In the local search ecosystem graphic published by David Mihm, Google+ Local is at the center of an enormous web of local search resources. This is significant and should not to be taken lightly. With core data providers and countless types of directories to leverage local efforts, the strength of Google+ Local is vital to the outcome of a successful online marketing strategy. However, due to the confusing and problematic product that is Google+ Local, most of us are grasping in the dark on how to leverage Google+ Local to serve us best. Honestly, we are in the dark about some of the listing set-up basics. This is frightening.
How can we leverage a product that has uncertain value, while grappling with vague guidelines and an inscrutable profile creation process?
Let’s look at Google’s Guidelines about Places/+ Local together.
Who is allowed to be an “authorized representative”? Google makes it increasingly difficult for non-owners to fully manage the ins and outs of Google Places listings. For example, SEO agencies have limited access to manage a customer’s GPlaces listing. Let’s say there is an issue with PIN verification for a listing or some other problem that requires phone communication with a Google rep—the phone agent always wants to talk directly to the customer. If the agency wants to field this inquiry on behalf of a customer the process is a lengthy and involved one that usually requires direct communication with a customer anyway. Point being: “authorized representatives” are at a major disadvantage when it comes to local listings.
Citations across the web, including address formatting is important. Consistency in the online world is important, too. You don’t want to write your business name multiple different ways. An example of this is: Mindy’s Flowers vs. Mindy’s Flowers Inc.
All local listings should have a physical address. At one time, post office (P.O.) boxes were accepted, then they were not—so many businesses tried using private mailboxes (PMB) to circumvent this requirement. Then Google banned the use of private mail boxes, too. Point: Google is increasingly smarter and their policies are stricter, thus eliminating the workarounds and grey hat tricks that once worked for businesses without a physical address to be listed on Google Places.
Regardless of which address line used, a listing is often flagged, and usually rejected for any usage of a P.O. box. Google has been flip-flopping on P.O.box use for quite some time:
Interestingly, businesses that are not illegal or fraudulent may still be banned from Google. Medical marijuana dispensaries, which are legal in 18 states, are not supported. These legitimate businesses get rejected if any mention of marijuana is found on the listing. Locksmiths also encounter difficulties being listed, because of the negative history that industry has with spam and fraudulent online activities.
What Google doesn’t tell you is that sometimes there is no clear reason why a listing is suspended. Sometimes all guidelines are observed and a listing will still be flagged. The only option is to recreate the listing. Although this is not a common occurrence, their vague guidelines strike a chord also with their vague time frames surrounding updates to the product . It has been almost a year since Google announced the shift from Google Places to Google+ Local. Anyone remember this article by Greg Sterling? After a year you’d think Google would have migrated everything to one user interface, but we still must contend with a messy “Train Wreck Junction” of both products.
Help?!?!?!
This screenshot of the form I submitted as feedback, at the end of the Google Guidelines. What they really need is a text field box, so I can properly rate their guidelines, and not have to choose from six predefined answers.
Any evaluation of the Google+ Local product in terms of usability, clear guidelines, or functionality would end the same way: with a failing grade. Unfortunately the fact remains; this product plays a critical role in the local search ecosystem. As such, we have little option but to do our best to keep up with the changes and do our best with the little information we are given. We must continue adapting and hope that with time this product improves, it is made easier to use, and its functionality is seamless. In addition to the product improvements we hope to see clearly defined guidelines. After all, a girl can dream!
Google Reader, available to the public since 2005, is one of the more popular, free RSS readers. Even so, there was still talk that Google Reader might be going away due to lack of usage and payoff. Google Reader was taken off the Google drop down menu for Google Services from March 19-20. With Google Reader’s complete departure on July 1, 2013, many are wondering if Google plans to launch a new option to take its place. In the meantime, web users have to seek other alternatives.
The above list represents some of the “most used” readers, which may help users filter through the many choices. There are many RSS readers with similar features, but my top five recommendations are:
MyAlltop
Allows user to bookmark sites/blogs as found on the web
Can view a few updates at a time from each site/blog added on a personalized page
Bloglines
Simple to import/export subscriptions
Easy to create a blog roll
Integrates with your Yahoo account and new Google desktop
Many sites/blogs have it listed as an option to subscribe to without having to go to the reader directly
Feedly
Pulls from both Google Reader and Twitter feeds
Magazine-style layout
Option for a “cards view” if like more visual design
Additionally, web users seem excited about Digg coming out with their own reader. This is a smart idea for expanding their services, considering Digg is a social bookmarking site.
News Consumption Alternatives
RSS readers allow users to choose what specific sites/blogs from which to receive feeds. A casual news reader or one interested in new sites/blogs to follow, may want to use other non-traditional news aggregators that feed trending topics (rather than topics of choice) or a wider variety of news to browse. The alternatives here may be preferred:
Some may argue that with social network sites like Twitter, one can see a live news trends easily without having to sign up for feed subscriptions. With the elimination of Google Reader, many wonder if RSS may disappear completely.
For those who still want to use an RSS reader, export your feed subscriptions using Google’s Takeout service. One can upload the subscriptions in the OPML export file to a new reader without having to start from scratch adding subscriptions.
Although there is minimal information provided on the lineup, notable participants include Matt Cutts, head of Google’s web spam team, as keynote speaker. Also, with a long list of “big name” sponsors like SEOMoz, one may assume that the speaker lineup will be a pretty good one (even before it is posted).
