Words Are Important

As you can see from this sign at the front desk of Santa Ana's police station, words in the right context, are extremely important. I still trying to figure out the meaning of the sign. Could it mean that if you are a gang member, you could register from 8 to 11 in the morning? Would you really want to register with the police if you were a gang member? May be if you want to register your gang you can do it...hum... that doesn't make any sense either. Anyway, we recently went over SEO strategies in both classes, Mondays and Wednesday. I believe it's one of the most important topics for any new website, no matter the business model that you choose. It's critical for the ranking of your page on a search result. Remember that 90 percent of the clicks will happen in the first page of the results. Some of the results will be influenced by "keyword" usage. A few weeks ago, I registered with SEOBOOK and I wanted to share some of the lessons you can get for free. You could go to SEOBOOk website and get a free account. It's very simple and useful. After you register, you will be getting some tips. For instance, on key word density they explain that,

"Your on page SEO strategy should use semantically related phrases and mix up your keyword usage. If your page title is "Chicago Dentist & Dental Care : Business Name" then your on page heading tag should be something like "Your Friendly Dentists in Chicago".

They advise not using the same words so many times because it may be too "Spammy", instead...

• Singular vs plural forms of a keyword
• Use synonyms
• Add in relevant keyword modifiers
• Change word order

If you want to learn more, you know what to do...and may be you can help me understand the sign, leave a comment.

Local Stations Searching Twitter, Facebook for News?

I recently heard that local TV news departments are using Twitter, Facebook, etc to find stories. Well, let me rephrase it, the local morning newscasts have dedicated a few assignment desk editors to look for "trends" online, so they can assign stories on what some people are posting. Not a bad idea, but what makes news these days? Ok, if a video of a cat playing the piano is suddenly popular on line, should it make it to the local newscast? Most news reporters that I talked to are not happy about it. And it's not because they think they're above that, it's because we are becoming more like TMZ (no disrespect, Josh) and not what we were created for. Suddenly, we want to become "cool", web centric. We are TV local news. We're not cool. So, instead of embracing the technology to improve our product, we are embracing the products that have been highlighted by the new technology (specially here in LA, any content that has to do with Hollywood and Paris Hilton). I'm currently reading, "The Revolution Will not be Televised.." by Joe Trippi. Trippi makes the argument that Howard Dean's campaign for the 2004 election was the result of our current social media tools. Dean's staff was able to raise a huge amount of money through small on line donations. At the end, we all know how Howard Dean ended, but the seeds for a new way to finance campaigns were planted. Trippi also argues that the conventional media really disliked Dean, in part because his staff circumvented them. Now the same conventional media seems to be trying to become a mirror image of the online space. How sad. Now we see all these anchors preaching "follow me on Twitter" or "talk to me on Twitter". Don't believe the hype. Most of them won't talk to you, not even in person if they had the chance. Ok. May be you can talk to them on Twitter, but that doesn't mean they will talk to you.

Welcome to the new Enlacalle, powered by SEO

As you can see, I have updated my design. It's still not as good as many of you. If you want better ideas check Jesse's or Christopher's I'muphere and, of course, one of my favorite ones: Thadoghouse. Anyway, I did a couple of things to improve my dismal web traffic, using a couple of SEO tactics. First, I included a new set of links to all of your blogs. This is basically to help you get one more visitor (myself) and more important get me a better page ranking when they search for a key word or this blog. I also included more content in the form of a poll. If you're reading this using google reader, go to my blog and vote: would you would buy an I-pad? Both elements were really simple to create and only took sometime because I'm really awful at using Blogspot. Anyway, I took all the links from our Apoc intro wiki page, so if you don't see your link is because there's a problem with the link you provided on the page. Thank you for reading and comeback again.

Power Law Distributions and Brand Evangelism

Clay Shirky points out how the Power Law explains how content is created on the on-line space. The web is full of examples of this "great imbalance" of participation, like Wikipedia. More locally, for instance, when I was trying to look for the restaurant with the best Yelp's ranking in Burbank I found it was Studio Cafe Magazzino with four and half stars. The restaurant has been reviewed (until this afternoon) 43 times. From those 43 reviewers only six had written 200 or more reviews in total. From those six one had more than a 1000 reviews and the second close to him had about 500. This is really helpful to understand online communities, in particular corporate communities. How important? I believe that those super contributors can be target to become a x-brand's evangelist. These fans will be the people retwittering and blogging about your ideas and products. This also changes the dynamic of mass media advertising. As a company, why would you spend a lot of your resources to randomly targeting your prospective costumers if you could just win the trust of your fans to take the message more effectively? I don't know. And I still haven't tried Studio Cafe and when I do I won't be writing a review.

Chuck Liddell and Girlfriend Naked Workout - Viral Ad

Here's the link so you can have your own thoughts about it. The video is a viral ad from Reebok that's causing a lot of buzz in the web. It shows MMA fighter Chuck Liddell and his girlfriend working out naked, wearing only Reebok Zigtech shoes. I learned about the video this Saturday while I was reading a blog from a Miami Herald's sport writer. Mashable has an entry about it. There's no doubt that the ad will get a huge amount of visitors, just like other Reebok's ads that follow the same concept in the past. First, it's controversial. Second, Liddell + Girlfriend nude = a lot of hits. How will it engage consumers? It's hard to tell right now because the campaign just started. One of the comments left in Mashable by a man says that after watching the ad with his girlfriend, she wanted to buy the lingerie that Liddell's girlfriend was wearing. Another one complains that kids are being bombarded by too much sex already. I believe that the ad has already accomplished one of it goals: attention. How that will translate into sales remains to be seen.

Health Care Summit

This has nothing to do with our class, but I wanted to share my two cents on healthcare, now that the White House and the Congress are taking another (perhaps final) look at how to fix the system. Last year, after a mild pain in my back I decided to visit a doctor. First, I made sure it was in-network and close to work. After my first visit, the physician said that he wasn't sure what it was and that he need a MRI to see my lower back. Before that, he needed to take x-rays because the insurance wouldn't approve the MRI before the first procedure. I lost another day of work to got to the lab. A week later the results didn't show anything. He ordered an MRI. Right in front of me he got the approval over the phone (at least that's what he said). Went to the lab again and waited a week for the results. In the meantime, the doctor prescribed to me an anti-inflammatory drug like Motrin. When I got the results, I was already feeling fine. The doctor said that nothing looked particular worrisome and could had been a nerve in my back. Almost year after, I got a bill from the MRI place for a few thousand dollars. They said that the insurance did not pay. I called the insurance and they said that the doctor didn't follow the right steps. I called the doctor and he said that it was the insurance's fault. Nobody wants to pay, but there's only one name on the bill. The insurance, by the ways, is from GE, one of the biggest companies in the world, in the richest nation in the world, with the "best" healthcare system in the world. What a joke!

Chile, Chilenos, and Texting

By this time, we all know what happened in Chile this weekend. Chileans love "futbol" (the picture on the left is from Colo-Colo, the most popular soccer team in the South American country). I met many chilenos when I lived in Miami. We used to play soccer for hours, young and old, in the same field. Chile is a great example for other South american countries. After years of a military dictatorship, it transformed itself to a prosperous and stable country, without firing one bullet. I had already booked a trip to Chile for this summer when I learned about the earthquake on Saturday. I'm still going because the country will be ok by then, I believe. Of course, Chile will need help. There are new campaigns to raise money using texts. These campaigns are very simple, you just need to text a key word and a donation is charged to your account. Could this be the start of a new model to gather donations? It proved very successful with Haiti, but I don't think it will be as impressive with Chile. One of the reasons is that you won't see as much damage (even though the earthquake was more powerful) in Chile. We will have to wait and see how the people respond. I'm afraid that if we keep seeing the same tactic applied to the latest tragedy people may get tired of it. With those questions aside, it's great to see technology working for a good cause.