Greatings from the mobile internet, this is my first attempt/test at mobile posting. So far its slower but not terrible. I sure miss spell check, but all in all it isn’t bad. I suppose if I were quicker with my thumbs this would be great or if I’m kidnapped. Ill ponder its usefulness to SEO and busness, I’ll keep you posted.

Is it wise to invest in search engine optimization services and search
advertising in a bad economy? You bet. SEO and paid advertising are
relatively inexpensive ways to advertise when compared to the older
medias, radio, television and print ads. Online media is the fast
growing and most important media in those under forty and gaining on
television in older demographics, but more importantly, it isn’t as
saturated and its benefits are measurable. Another advantage is that
gaining expose and positioning online is communalative. The more search
engine optimization and played advertising you do the further your
dollars will go. During a recession these dollars will go even further
since there is a lesser demand for premium positions.

Smart companies will use this time to maneuver their company into the
best online positions while it’s less expensive, and they will be ready
to take off when the economy turns around again. As the recession
weakens competitors, companies with an eye on the future can get in
position to dominate their market place.

Perhaps your company can’t afford to pay any amount for search engine
optimization and search advertising. There is another option, it’s
called performance based marketing. Basically the SEO company will
receive a percentage of the income you receive from their promotions.
The only thing you need to commit is some time to work with the SEO
Company in order to come up with a promotion. For example, if you do
sell Canoes you might pay the SEO company $185 for each sale that uses
the offer they promote. This risk free option works best for larger
purchases, but it can be tailored to almost anything. SEO experts can
also generate leads for you to contact and you can pay them per lead. To
start a performance based program simply contact an SEO company.

Right now the internet is still a relatively young media, but it’s also
an extremely important one. Younger people use it exclusively to find
goods and services and it’s growing rapidly. This opportunity is
literally make or break for companies and now is the best time to jump
in or fall behind.

Search Engine Optimization has the potential to radically increase your
profitability; however there are some pitfalls to be avoided when
seeking to hire SEO services. There are several, although unequal, options for
hiring Search Engine Optimization (SEO) work. You can hire an SEO expert
to work in house, hire an SEO company from another country or higher an
American SEO company. This article will take a quick look at each of
these options.

First, should an in house SEO be hired? This option seems viable for
only the largest of companies. An unfortunate reality of SEO is that
most people don’t understand what an SEO does exactly, so in a smaller
company it may be perceived that an SEO doesn’t do anything except place
some PPC ads and wait a month to analyze them. It may not be as
noticeable that the SEO is spending his/her time link building and
improving ranking for a variety of keywords. Also, it may seem that once
the SEO has achieved top rankings for the targeted keywords there isn’t
as much to do, again this isn’t true as the SEO must maintain the
positions but perception is everything. A very real disadvantage exists
concerning in house SEO’s however, succession of the position at the
time of the SEO’s departure. SEO’s are not generally willing to share
their strategies and methods with another SEO and even if they did
different SEO’s have different strategies.

Should an SEO company be hired from the less expensive third world? This
is perhaps the worst mistake that can be made, there are many SEO
companies based out of India, Indonesia and a variety of other
countries. The truth is they can do more harm than good. Promises of
thousands of links often mean they will use software to spam sites with
links to yours. This will be quickly noticed by Google and the other
search engines and your site will be penalized. Another problem is that
they lack knowledge of US culture and command of the English language,
this cultural barrier can cause them to create copy and verbiage that is
confusing or embarrassing for your company. Out of contrives SEO’s have
very little accountability and can ruin a brand in weeks that you have
spent years building up. These companies have no accountability and too
often use unscrupulous methods making this the worst option in SEO.

That leaves hiring a US SEO company as the best option. SEO companies
have a reputation to protect, they have wide experience with a variety
of industries and they generally have a pool of human resources and
technological tools to pull from. Also, they can adjust to the work load
much easier than an in house SEO, if the work is light for a particular
month, then you will be billed for the lesser amount. Companies also
have the advantage of not taking vacation time and generally have
experts in a variety of SEO skill sets. In the end, hiring an American
SEO company will be your safest bet, and generate the greatest return on
your investment.

I’m writing from Detroit, ground zero for the new economy (I’m talking about global depression and destitution, not SEO and e-business) and the news is bad. The big three auto companies or big two now, are in desperate pearl. The bailout money has been denied them and congress will not be able to help them with Bush in office. The oil industry loving President has stated he won’t be helping Detroit automakers, blaming them for giving in to much to the unions. You would think he would thank them for making gas guzzlers that make his beloved oil friends rich, but not so. It doesn’t look like GM will be able to make it until even January when a new president and congress can through a life line. To top it off the Detroit Lions football team is 0-9 so far this season.

However, when I drive around Detroit and its suburbs in Oakland county (once one of the nation’s richest) listening to the continuous dire news coming from the radio, the scene outside doesn’t match what I hear. The bridges are still standing, gas prices are low and people seem to be driving to work. I guess there are more than a few foreign cars around me too, but in general things look stable. I guess looks can be deceiving though, I’m sure the Detroit Lions would look pretty formidable to me if I saw them up close.

Despite what is obviously a bad situation to everyone (and to some it seems we are on the brink of doom) there is probably an upside to this. It has famously been pointed out the renaissance came out of chaotic, warring Italy, not peaceful Switzerland. The point being that stressed, unstable situations can be breading grounds for innovations. It often takes dire situations and shocks to old systems to improve them and make real changes to their general structures. General Motors has been a slow moving goliath of a company, not embracing the winds of change such as fuel economy. The Lions can get a first draft pick and start building a new team. Michigan will have to reinvent itself, it seems even the most optimistic feel the auto makers will have to come back as much smaller companies. Michigan will then have to look towards other industries; perhaps in this environment tech companies can flourish. SEO, e-business, and hundreds of other technologically based company models could fill the space available. Michigan’s workers would have to reinvent themselves as well, but we need a revolution, not a modification. So if there is a silver lining, it is that the change continuously talked about in our last presidential election isn’t just a possible path forward, it’s the only one.

It looks like Google can predict who will win the election! Obama was ahead in search engine optimization (SEO) throughout the campaign except for a little while in September, a time that happened to coincide with the GOP’s bump from their convention. It seems the search results and polls came to the same conclusions at the same times, and ultimately so did America. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues throughout the next presidential election cycle. Perhaps Google even pulled some strings, after all they did support President Obama. If I where a conspiracy theorist I would say they are getting pretty close to complete domination.

 You would think Barrack Obama would be pulling further ahead in the presidential SEO race, Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt announced that he will soon be campaigning for him but it is getting closer insted. When comparing the first page results on Google over the presidential campaign season Barrack has generally had the most positive results. McCain has done well in closing the gap though, using strategies like becoming the oldest person on MySpace and filling up another spot on the Google search results page. However, the one problem that has dogged him is still present, satire. He is satired on YouTube, and it remains popular and takes up a spot right in the middle of his search results. This is where McCain has fallen behind, but just barely since he got one of his attack videos onto Obama’s search results.

The Obama camp continues to run a nice clean organic search page and has caught up in an area where they previously lagged, the paid search results. Obama supporters have ousted the paid attack ads that previously popped up in the “sponsored results” section attacking his character. Apparently the Dems are using their money advantage in the online space as well. It was ironic though, the last few months the popularity driven search results went to the Democratic candidate while the republican candidate held the purchased positions.

One thing is certain, it will be an interesting couple of weeks with both camps trying to drop last minute bombs, bombs that will find their way into the SERP’s (Search Engine Positions) and we all know that the SERP’s are a modern, infallible barometer of who will win the next election and rule the free world!

We know that in the area of internet marketing Obama has been walloping John McCain, and every other candidate ever for that matter. His fund raising has been strong and broad reaching, but who has been winning the search engine optimization competion? Who has the stronger SEO?

Up until this last week John McCain had more positive information dominating the top ten ranks for his name in a google search. However, a Barack Obama surge is on! Barack has, like McCain, pushed his MySpace page on to the front page ranks! The worse news for McCain however is that satire has sprungthrough his SEO defenses, YouTube videos atitacking his credibility have made the top list. (From therealmccain.org) Also, the search results tide has shifted towards Barack since a lot of the hoopla about his minister and Jessie Jacksons BS have cleared up. So for right now…

Barrack Obama has the lead in the presidential SEO contest!

Michigan SEO expert will continue to keep track of who is winning this portion of the presidential contest and then drawing some sweeping, over simplified conclusions about the results of the Presidential SEO contest in November. Remember, this is where you will find the score card for this historic event.

Disclaimer: Presidential campaigns know very well that the internet has a potentialy huge impact on modern political campaigns. They hire the best and brightest guns in the business to aid there canidacy. However, in the massive world of presidential politics this might not even be enough, if a story has weight behind it then will make the top of the search rankings. However, that is beside the point, in the world of SEO cry babies get no love… and perhaps no votes.

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Does Barack Obama a Favor

Today Barack Obama is making his third stop in Michigan this month and his first stop in Detroit. Detroit is a regional democratic strong hold and could be instrumental for the democrats taking the state in the general election. Kwame Kilpatrick is Detroit youngest Mayor ever elected (at age 31) and he is currently embattled in a scandal that will most likely bring him down. Kwame shares many similarities to Barack; both are young black democrats with meteoric career paths. Barack hopes that the similarities, associations and any comparisons end there. Kwame is political poison and his support would be as helpful as a Bin Laden endorsement. Association between Kwame and Barrack are the equivalent to tying McCain to George W. Bush. Kwame did do Barack a huge favor though, he won’t be attending Barack’s Detroit rally. If you’re wondering why, just do a Google search for Barack Obama then do one for Kwame Kilpatrick. There is a vast difference; Barrack commands the first page with a positive crafted message while Kwame is plagued with scandal headlines.

So the reason Barack doesn’t want a photo op with Kwame, is the Google results? Well, not exactly, there is the fact that “the hip-hop mayor” is involved in the most comical sex scandal this year (except perhaps Spitzers). Kwame denied a relationship with his Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, 37 but was ousted for lying under oath when the text messages from his city owned phone where made public. See if you think the text messages below contradict his sworn testimony that he did not have sexual relations with Beatty (I personally love the LOL’s from the mayor). I will give Kwame a little credit though; at least he did Barack a favor and didn’t hurt him like his self promoting pastor.

WHAT THE KWAMI TEXT MESSAGES SHOW:
9/12/02, 10:38 p.m., during trip to Washington, D.C.
Christine Beatty: Can I just come and lay down in your room until you get back?
Kwame Kilpatrick: Yes.
9/13/02, 9:02 a.m. (the next morning)
KK: They were right outside the door. They [the mayor's bodyguards] had to have heard everything…
CB: So we are officially busted! LOL
KK: LOL LOL! Damn that. Never busted. Busted is what you see! LOL. …
CB: LOL, LOL. Damn, so they have to walk in before you conceed busted! LOL.
KK: Hell yeah. Walk in.
9/15/02, 3:38 a.m. (still in Washington)
CB: I’m on my way to your room now. But by the time you get there I’ll be sleep and it will be 5am!
KK: I got something for you.
CB: LOL. Is that so? I’m in your room. Don’t let Mike check it [an apparent reference to Mike Martin, a bodyguard who often traveled with the mayor]. Are you in route or still hanging? What do you have for me?
9/24/2002, 6:56 p.m.
CB: This is one of those little things I had to tell you. Last night when I was laying on your shoulder in the car and you held my face and sang whatever song it was, that felt so good. It was just one of those little moments when you just made me fall some more.
9/28/2002, 11:53 p.m.
CB: Where are you now?
KK: At home waiting for all EP [executive protection unit officers] to leave. Where are you?
CB: At the residence inn in Madison hgts.
KK: What rm?
CB: …I’m in room 311 in bldg 3 in the back.
10/7/2002, 11:20 p.m.
CB: OK, I’m feeling like I want another night like the most recent Saturday at the Residence Inn! You made me feel so damn good that night. As you can see I can’t let it go! …
KK: I feel that we can do that in WV [West Virginia] + just relax together. I need you soooo bad. I want to wake up in the morning and you are there. Make it happen. Love ya.
10/8/2002, 10:18 a.m.
KK: I’m fine. Need a break. I want to get out of town w/you. Check on resorts outside of Houston.
10/16/02, 11:48 p.m.
KK: I’ve been dreaming all day about having you all to myself for 3 days…relaxing, laughing, talking, sleeping and making love.
10/31/2002, 5:28 p.m.
KK: I’ll feel better once I’m holding you.
CB: You didn’t say whether or not we are trying for some time tonight.
KK: Definitely. I’m getting a room. Damn that!
CB: LOL. Okie dokie.
(Kilpatrick later tells her to pick up room key at Marriott)
11/1/2002, 12:28 a.m.
KK: 6301 or 6302?
CB: Definitely 6302! 6301 has two double beds.
4/8/2003, 8:55 p.m.
KK: I’m at Laker game. The security doesn’t believe I’m mayor. Mike is pulling out all kind of shirt to prove it.
CB: And, did you miss me, sexually?
KK: Hell yeah! You couldn’t tell. I want some more. Don’t sleep!
5/5/2003, midnight
KK: That’s the first time that I couldn’t fully seduce you. My game is off. LOL! Thanx for the conversation and the QT! Love you!
CB: LOL! Your game is way on baby! “you had me at hello!” Jerry McGuire 2000. LOL. I just didn’t want to get caught.

A while back Britney Spears walked into a barber shop and shaved her head. The photographers where right there and of course the pictures would soon end up online. What a crazy chick right? She must be really screwed in that bald head! Before that she had accidentally flashed a private part to the paparazzi and exposed, (excuse the ludeness) a shaved part of her anatomy due to a lack of underwear and some good upskirt photography. What an idiot!

Well not so fast, maybe she just got a little advice on SEO and PR (public relations, not page rank) and realized that she could bury the pictures of her shaved private part with the new pictures of her shaved head. Searches for ‘Bald Britney ‘ images and ‘Shaved Britney ‘ images would then produce the pictures of her at the barber shop not the club. Now I may be assonated for revealing this to the world about the pop star, but it demonstrates a good point, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) has a role to play in public relations. This doesn’t clear Britney from being completely nuts, but it shows that unwanted press can and is buried through strategic planning. Companies that receive bad publicity often wisely release their own versions of events along with other materials that flood the search engines burying the bad news. This isn’t really misinformation, but more like over whelming the information outlet. Politicians have been accused of this for years; they call it wagging the dog, or in Bush’s case it’s gay marriage instead of a haircut. It’s the same thing as in SEO, if there is something people are paying attention to that you don’t want them to (like the war in Iraq in the Bush example) simply point at something else and start yelling “Hey! Look over there!”. When done correctly, by a genius like Britney, only an isolated Michigan SEO blogger notices… when someone that isn’t quite as sharp like, say President Bush does it though it can be less effective. Regardless, there is a lesson here for all companies and people that want to manage their brand online, everyone is going to get slammed on the net, so make sure the slams don’t get top page ranks on the search engines. Throw a hay stack on that needle.

The business environment in Michigan is without a doubt depressed. Presidential candidates have called it a one state recession and butted heads debating if the auto jobs will ever return and they probably won’t any time soon. Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the nation and heavily dependent on manufacturing jobs at a time when they are being rapidly outsourced to the developing world. Michigan is down but not out though, with a long history of innovation and an educated work force Michigan has the opportunity to reinvent itself as a technology leader. Michigan’s governor Jennifer Grandholm has suggested that we lead the nation in green technologies; others have suggested that short sited auto executives move their focus from hummers to hybrids. Other experts have suggested nanotechnology and biotech. However, high tech companies have been thriving in Michigan for years though, Troy is known for its miniature Silicon Valley technology center and midland has housed Dow Chemicals for decades. Two new high tech firms have chose Ann Arbor, High Tech Firms MyBuys and Sakti3, for their locations. MyBuys is a California based personalized product recommendation company and Sakti3 will be producing batteries. I find it very interesting and refreshing that MyBuys has chose to invest 5.4 million in their Michigan location, since like many others I have a pet direction that I feel Michigan should diversify into in the area of internet marketing and ecommerce. This is the niche I dwell in and I would like to see the state I dwell in become a major player in the area as well. Perhaps we can have a major SEO or search conference hosted in Michigan, after all Chicago, Los Vegas and New York are going to get boring. Obviously there are many areas in technology though; it’s just nice to see web marketing joining in the diversification. In 2007 Michigan was ranked 10th for cyberstates, a ranking devised to show the quantity of high tech jobs per state, California, Florida and Georgia took the top positions, for now.