Diamond Bar Local SEO – Foot in Mouth Consulting

Entries categorized as ‘Uncategorized’

Quick and Easy Hosting

March 4, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Getting started with your website?

Creating a website may seem simple. But one of the problems sometimes is ending up with the wrong web hosting provider for it. And if you happen to be looking for a free hosting provider, that’s where it even gets challenging. This is because not all web hosts that offer free hosting are reliable enough to keep your website up online. That’s why it’s important that you take time in choosing the right host for your site.

One you might like to try is Doteasy. Doteasy is one of the leading domain name registrars right now that also offer hosting packages from free hosting to unlimited hosting. And for someone who is looking for something with great features but still reliable enough and for free, then you’ll definitely like Doteasy’s free web hosting plan. They guarantee 99.9% uptime and no ads. Another thing that is great with Doteasy is that they also offer a lot of great tools and apps to help you build your website a lot easier. You can use these tools such as website creator, application for forum, blog, webform and other great helpful tools all for free. Even without knowing much of the technical stuff, you’ll be able to learn how to use these.  You can even check their easy box demo section to get a better feel of how things really are easy to use. They also offer email virus protection for your emails.

These are just among the other reasons why Doteasy’s free hosting package excels from the rest. And with their big discount offer for registering a domain name now for only $7.95, this is definitely a great deal you shouldn’t miss. Just use the coupon code 1003BPM and  register your personalized domain name.

Categories: Uncategorized

Blog is a Four Letter Word

February 27, 2010 · 1 Comment

- Guest post By Erin Rivera

A personal blog is, to me, a misnomer. Other than being in the drivers seat as to its contents, what’s so personal about it? Isn’t the point to reach other readers?  Because honestly if I just wanted a personal diary, I’d still keep it between my mattress and box springs.  And I’m not gonna lie… even at my age, it would have unicorns or ponies on the cover and a cute little plastic padlock that couldn’t keep a two-year old out.  Whether it’s posting personal photos, articles I find interesting, music recommendations or random ramblings, my primary audience is friends and family.

But let’s face it. Branching out from that and reaching strangers who want to read what you have to say has its appeal.  And with user friendly operating systems and the plethora of blogging sites out there to get you started, it’s so easy for almost anyone to get into blogging.

If you’re like most people, you want to make your blog special. You want yours to stand out. Or at the very least, as in my case, I want to enjoy looking at it. Because if I enjoy it, then the friends, family and occasional stranger who stumbles across it just might enjoy looking at it as well.

The basic templates available to users are fine for getting started. But who wants a blog that looks like (potentially) thousands of others?  So you have to get creative.  In the interest of full disclosure, I did cheat a bit.  Being barely conversational in html, I usually turn to my lovely sister-in-law for assistance. She’s responsible for my newest blog layout and can read code like she’s reading an elementary schoolbook.  But what to do when she’s not available? (The Holy See of search engines, Google, doesn’t even need to be pushed here, right?) So aside from bumbling around with trial and error,  has some great advice and straight-forward instruction for html, graphics, and coding of all sorts. I’m even tempted to delve into their Java tutorials next.

Another site I found helpful when first starting out was (http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2009/02/04/starting-a-blog-12-ideas-for-blog-posts/) I find #12 especially amusing given my present task, but I vehemently disagree with #6.  That just seems like dirty pool to me.

So go forth and blog. It’s simple enough to do, and hey, it’s the interwebz.  That means someone, somewhere, will probably want to read what you have to say.  And if you feel so inclined, stop by, say “hi,” and listen to the birds.

Categories: Guest Blog · Opinion · Random · social media
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On The Hunt: Raven SEO

February 22, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Are you on the hunt? My favorite SEO tool company Raven SEO has just announced an internet Scavenger hunt for this week! Prizes are a camera and subscriptions of various times of year.  (of course you can always get a 30 day trial, but this if for a full subscription!)

So follow their Twitter and Facebook for clues.

RavenHunt is an online scavenger hunt where you’ll have to solve a series of puzzles in order to win elite Raven Tools swag and prizes. RavenHunt works in correlation with top industry blogs to provide you with hints to find the next clue. Each game spans one workweek and the first 10 players to catch the Raven win!

If you find the final clue on Friday you’ll be taken to a form where you can insert the unscrambled word you’ve collected each day this week

Good luck on your hunt!

Categories: Random · Uncategorized
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Ideas for Youtube Content Post#1 Topic: Real Estate)

September 23, 2009 · Leave a Comment

This is a series of posts for some real estate agents I’ve recently worked with who were wondering what kind of video content they should create that would complement their real estate efforts online. Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting a slew of different ideas, so stay tuned!

Neighborhood Video Tours

As part of the process in deciding where they will relocate, home buyers are going to get as much information as they can about prospective neighborhoods and cities. You can provide a valuable service to prospective buyers by taking your camera, and taking some videos of your neighborhoods. You can also highlight the amenities available, so it’s advisable for you to write that information down and do a practice run before you roll film. If you have a real estate website, then you can embed those videos directly into the page to provide extra relevance to that area and subject.

Categories: Content · Video
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Grunge Rolled:Ultimate Tribute to Grunge Rock

July 20, 2009 · 2 Comments

You’ve Been Grunge Rolled!

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Rich Snippets: Adding Microformats to improve your SERP

May 13, 2009 · 3 Comments

Just in March Google announced that it would be altering the SERP result page to increase the amount of information that the description would give for long tail searches. It started pulling additional context from the page, in addition to the information it may pull from DMOZ. Google has upped the Ante… Today at Searchology among other new programs the most important change for SEOers and Website owners in my opinion is “Rich Snippets“. Here’s an example of a “Rich Snippet” from Google’s Search Result Page.

So essentially by using RDF markup and Microtagging you can utlize special markup on page and that information will actually be utilized in the Google Serps. These types of Microtags have been used in the past but this is the first time Google has announced that they’re using this information. It will be interesting to see how this change roll out will affect Google’s fortunes. While Matt Cutts says that this change will roll out slowly for specific searches at first, but there’s a form where you can indicate you’d like to participate.

Adopt Early

If you’re a small business website and your trying to get your information displayed more prominently then add the microformats to your address or if you offer online products, be sure to add the proper tags!

Categories: Uncategorized

Google Profile is a Valid Anchor

March 8, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Google profile

Several months ago Google started offering an additional option for Igoogle account holders. Each igoogle account holder can create a profile, with their contact information and important details. Also, you can add in a website address with your own anchor text! I did this recently for one of my clients who is a mortgage planner in corona, and at the same time I created a Google Webmaster Account, and verified his site.

Google Profile Value

One of the major benefits of verifying your site via webmaster tools is that it will report recognized links as well as “anchor text” to indicate the relevance of that link. As you can see here in these screen shots, Google’ webmaster tools is recognizing the link from the Google profile, as well as recognized the anchor text utilized. The lessons here are obvious, take advantage of the Google Profiles and Webmaster tools.

Categories: Uncategorized

connected: Life as the Internet

December 19, 2008 · 4 Comments

I can’t tell you why it took as long for weblogs to happen as it did, except to say it had absolutely nothing to do with technology. We had every bit of technology we needed to do weblogs the day Mosaic launched the first forms-capable browser. Every single piece of it was right there. Instead, we got Geocities. Why did we get Geocities and not weblogs? We didn’t know what we were doing.

One was a bad idea, the other turns out to be a really good idea. It took a long time to figure out that people talking to one another, instead of simply uploading badly-scanned photos of their cats, would be a useful pattern. That useful pattern has churned out entire online communities of interconnected people interacting on 2.0 websites every day. The numbers are STUNNING, with Google reporting in it’s Social Media Webinar, “86 million users on social networks” with 78% over the age of 18 and the number is expected to grow to 115 Million in the next 2 years.

The evolution of 2.0 software, as talked about by Clay Shirky, has lead to a new type of communication, and as you can read from his keynotes “”A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy” it poses a big challenge for website owners and designers, bloggers, as well as a more and more “Connected” society.

You cannot completely separate technical and social issues.

Our whole society is becoming more and more plugged in, as noted in this years “future of the internet III” survey from Pew.

The divisions between personal time and work time and between physical and virtual reality will be further erased for everyone who is connected, and the results will be mixed in their impact on basic social relations.

It’s up to us to determine what kind of actions we will choose to make. We’ve all been to a blog post where a flame war has sprouted, or just random insults fly… The question about our future is will it be the case of  “Normal Person + Anonymity + Audience = Total Fudgewad” as Viginia Nussey of Bruce Clay noted in her article “Let’s make intolerance intolerable“, or will we take her advice and “be a smarter, wiser, bigger person”….

One of the lessons that Clay Shirky teaches us is that owners of 2.0 sites actually can design platforms that encourgage good behavior, by adding member recognition, kharma, and a profile system. However, a site owner can’t just step back…your online community has to be engaged. So as a blogger, site owner, or moderator, you need to remain engaged in your community to keep it viable.

As users, we need to see ourselves as members of our online communities and work together to encourage a positive experience.  Desphinn bad comments, thumb down knee jerk flame comments and take the time to read your comments before you post them.

Categories: Opinion · Random · social media
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Google Suggests Advertisments

December 16, 2008 · 2 Comments

Google has gone just 1 step further than it’s competitors in the world of “suggestion” to the searcher. I had previously blogged about Aaron Wall‘s tips
about getting a “fat belly“  and targeting particular keyword terms that would be likely to be suggested by Google. Well, now they’ve taken the next step: Adwords in Google suggest. Now I am displaying these when I log into two different accounts, and when I am signed out. A co-worker doesn’t currently see the same advertisements.

advertisements in google suggest

When I type in the “ad” I get an advertisement for Advance Auto Parts. It seems to me that Danny Sullivan is also seeing these results, what do you all think this means for search/SEM?

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Twitter: Finding free shirts and SEO tools

December 12, 2008 · 3 Comments

Just yesterday, I was on my twitter account, and I saw a tweet about a free t-shirt , filled with glee I happily signed up.

*My wife when I told her about this sighed and shook her head at my giddiness over a free t-shirt. She said in expaseration, “You already have TOO MANY black t-shirts!” to which I replied, “But it was FREE!”. *

Ironically, I really had no idea who this company was, but it turns out they do SEO Tools. I was just commenting on Sphinn about needing an SEO tool to track my link building campaigns. LO and BEHOLD, they have that tool, a mix of keyword and diagnosis tools as well as serp checking, and historical tracking on a multi-user platform: Exactly what I was looking for! Thank you Twitter oh provider of free t-shirts and great SEO tools!

Update: Shortly after tweeting my joy about the free t-shirt and the SEO tool, Jon of SEO Raven DM’d me and quickly setup a webinar presentation of the full suite! Very impressive!

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