Ecommercepartners.net

Each time a new site comes in the door for ecommerce development, I’ll be informed as to whether or not they are going to sign up with our SEO services. Regardless, I always involve myself in the development of all new sites to ensure proper usability, design and scalability for the future. But when clients simply sign up for ecommerce development I am hands off in many ways. One task inparticular that I do not participate in, is Information Architecture. That tends to be left in the hands of the client.

Suprisingly, it’s a little known fact that the better one structures their information via logic, segmentation AND naming, the better they will perform in the SERP’s based on those segments and names (assuming the site is built to be search engine friendly). I can’t tell you how many times I see unknowing clients categorizing their product inventory and assigning the most vague category names to represent their catalog offerings. Even worse is when they are interested in SEO services and refuse to budge on how the site will be set up, in this regard.

If all I have to work with on your gift site are two categories entitled “For Him” and “For Her”, you’re really not giving me much to work with, are you? From a search engine standpoint, what does “For Him” describe? Is that the phrase you’re targeting for high rankings? I sure hope not. But in truth, that’s what’s happening. “For Him” is what will appear in the title tag, “For Him” is what will appear in the navigation anchor text, “For Him” is what will appear in the heading… and so on. So from a search engine’s perspective (which is that of a text only view), the page in question is all about “For Him”.

But what is “For Him”? How about getting a little more specific..? Maybe set up category levels with the top levels being “Gifts for Men” & “Gifts for Women”, then break down the types of gifts the site offers for each. Under “Gifts for Men” you could add sub-categories that include “Sports Gifts”, “Graduation Gifts”, “Retirement Gifts”, and any number of logical descriptions and segmentations of your product offering, which also happen to be GOOD KEYWORDS.

High rankings not enough to get you to change your ways? Then do it for your users (who we should always think of first, anyway). If we’ve learned anything it’s that the majority of web shoppers aren’t all that savvy and need help navigating a site anyway. Setting up logical, descriptive categories and levels based on descriptive keywords will help aide the user in finding what they are looking for.

So, tip for the day… If you sell organic bedroom products and one category of your inventory happens to be organic mattresses, instead of following the initial instinct of naming that category “mattresses”, name it “organic mattresses”. This is much more on target with what the site is actually offering and will pay instant dividends with improved conversions and higher rankings down the road. Otherwise, you might as well sell regular mattresses and live in SERP oblivion.

Remember, a large percentage of the keywords a site should target can be accounted for through the logical structuring of information via categories and product naming. Why scramble to target those keywords later on and through other means when it can be effictively taken care of before the site is even built?

technorati tags: seo | information architecture | ecommerce seo

It’s just not possible to ignore the magnitude of this day when one works a few blocks north of what we used to know as the twin towers and world trade center… and as all inhabitants of downtown Manhattan and the surrounding areas, I continue forward with my life. But I do so on a somber note… it’s not easy having an every day reminder of complete vulnerability. Times are scary… times are sad.

Take the subway or PATH train to the WTC and you’ll see what I mean. This hub used to be completely underground. I could walk multiple city blocks without ever seeing daylight pre-9/11. Today, both the subway and the PATH are completely exposed to daylight. One might ask, “what’s wrong with that, a little daylight in your life?” But all it takes is a quick look around you to see the massive hole in the heart of the city to understand. There’s nothing there. absolutely nothing… I’m supposed to be 5 or 6 stories beneath the streets and sidewalks, yet I see the sky and the clouds.

5 years later, this hole in the ground looks bigger than ever. Granted, some wonderful development has occurred. Mass transit at ground zero has been completely restored, which is amazing. Tower 7 has been rebuilt and is currently at 60% occupancy, which is very encouraging for business and also pretty amazing. And downtown Manhattan is becoming a popular residential location as opposed to a work only location. So things ARE moving ahead…

But I just can’t get over that huge hole in the ground I still see every day. It’s a constant reminder that we are a target. That each and every day I need to be aware of my surroundings on the subway, on the street, everywhere… That each and everyday I wake up, something like this could happen again. If I take a look at the news and believe the popular opinions (or even simply listen to my own instincts), something will happen again… eventually. Life becomes more an issue of being in the wrong place at the wrong time when living under such circumstances, which makes one feel virtually helpless. But there is nothing that can be done about that, not in the immediate future anyway.

So if it’s just a matter of time, why stay? To be honest, I don’t know. What I do know is, I’m not leaving… Not for those reasons, no way. It’s not like NYC was a blanket of security to begin with. But in order to fill that massive hole in the ground that haunts us on a daily basis, we need to stay put… build businesses… build life… and help the community move on to bigger and better things.

Therefore, it’s with a heavy heart that I (and we at ECP) send my regards to all affected on that very sad and scary day… As the wound in our island heals and new structures grow from this abyss, the world will begin to see again the true heart of this city, as it once was…

tecnorati tags: september 11 | september 11th | 9/11 | wtc | world trade center | nyc

We recently upgraded a few sites to the latest version of our ecommerce platform, e-shop v3. In doing so we were able to provide www.mywrestlingroom.com and www.essentialapparel.com with some nice added features and overall, a more effective ecommerce solution. Conversions will be better with the new software, no doubt.

(note* my wrestling room was on eshop v2 and essential apparel was on marketlive)

So, as long as the budget and the business is there to justify a change for the better, shouldn’t it be a no brainer to upgrade? Sort of… One of the costs of switching to v3 was that the URL structure would be different from e-shop v2 and the marketlive engine. For anyone interested in their search engine rankings, that’s not the greatest thing in the world to hear. All a search engine has to define a webpage is its URL. They don’t call it a web address for nothing. And each page in your site has its own address, the URL. A few years ago, this might have actually been reason enough NOT to upgrade. Can you believe that? A reason so powerful that it hampered the growth of your business (losing rankings!!)?

Well, good thing today the situation is not so dire because of the wide-scale acceptance by the search engines, of standard re-directs. By using a permanent 301 re-direct, all of the old URL’s will be forwarded to the new URLs. And not only will they be re-directed, but using the 301 is in essence informing the search engines the page has been permanently moved. And that’s exactly what we did for Wrestling Room and EA.

(Using a 302 re-direct will tell the search engines the page has temporarily moved.)

If you’re interested in learning more about re-directs and how they can help you if your URLs are changing, there are several excellent resources that can be found by running a quick Google search or visiting the below list of URLs directly:

• Mcanerin Networks 301 (IIS) redirect for SEO
  
• Mcanerin Networks 301 (Apache) redirect for SEO
• High Rankings 301 re-direct thread

Over the years we’ve come to know Google and its user interface pretty well. And much like when you look at the face of your best friend (in my case, Tim), 20 years after they’ve been your best friend, Google always seems to look the same. But being avid Google users we know better than that (things HAVE changed), even though we’re fooled by our own perception and become oblivious. Just as Tim has aged and made certain changes to his look and life, so has Google. The additions and/or subtractions are often subtle and blend in well, but they are changes nonetheless.

Changes are made to serve a purpose. The purpose is almost always an answer to the question, “How can we make things better?”

As this concept applies to Tim… maybe his changes were made in an attempt to more effectively pick up chicks? He may have asked himself, “How can i make the ladies want me… more than they already do?” a tough question for Tim, I know… but still a valid one.

In the early 90′s, as a young teenager, Tim may have punched a hole in his left ear to sport an odd colored stone studded earring, stocked up on an assortment of champion sweatshirts in all colors and bought a bunch of pairs of SKIDS *ryan cringes*… Why? because studies showed back then that if you wore those sweatshirts, SKIDS and had a funny looking earring in one ear, girls might be more attracted to you. What studies am I referencing here? None in particular. But the social experience of life is much like an everyday experiment, especially at that young age when we’re looking for as much acceptance as possible (much like Google today). As Tim grew, he would make changes to his wardrobe, hairstyle, diction, etc. Each time Tim made a tweak and annouced it to the world, he would be perceptive of the feedback given…

“How did that change effect my life?”

Did the girls begin to flock to Tim like Charlie Murphy at a Rick James after-party? Or did it have the opposite effect? Reactions to Tim’s personal tweaks were duely noted, and over time he has modified his life and look according to social feedback. As a result, Tim now has a beautiful fiance and is no longer worried about what the ladies think (yeah right). Would he have gotten that result without the constant experimentation? Who knows… But even so, Tim still makes changes today whether he realizes it or not, and probably on a regular basis.

“But why the focus on Tim… I thought we were talking about Google?”

Oh yeah, Google. Let’s bring it back to that… Throughout its short history, Google has been doing the same thing as Tim has (as any good business should). Google makes changes both small scale and large then listens to feedback, tracks behavior and constantly strives to enhance the overall user experience. Since the degree to which something can be enhanced is infinite, this is a truely never ending process, as I mentioned above with Tim. With the spirit of change (for the better) in mind, let’s take a look back at what Google was, what it is today, and what other changes those bright folks over at the ‘plex’ are experimenting with now.

For a look back at overall UI change, there’s no reason to re-invent the wheel here. The folks over at outer-court.com have already done an excellent job at chronicling Google from 1997 – 2006. Have a look at that blog post post and when you’re done, come on back to see what UI changes are being made to Google listings (not the UI in general) today.

Today’s changes:

Over the last year or so many search marketer’s have been reporting different changes in the Google listings interface. These changes tend to show up sporadically and only a few of them have really stuck, to date. Regardless, it’s a good idea to note these changes as it provides us with some insight into the concerns of Google and how they are trying to improve themselves.

Image 1: Here we see an entirely new layout which could be considered a MAJOR change to the Google UI. In it Google has taken the text links that were above the search box and moved them to the left side of the page. This is a clear attempt to re-locate Google’s ‘other’ services into the path of the users eye.

To see this UI in action one either has to do some javascript tricks which are outlined here, or catch Google on a day where they’ve put this into play. Otherwise, the average user will not be seeing the above listing UI.

Image 2: Here is a UI changed that has actually stuck but is only seen for a very select few websites. Notice the 4 extra links below the natural listing.

To me, this is huge for any website that can acheive such a listing. It effectively pushes the user to a specific section of the website instead of relying on the user to navigate their way to that section. I get questioned at least once a week on how this listing phenomenon occurrs. Some industry experts claim that to see this, a site has to be considered an authority in their niche. But I’m not a believer in that at all. Although I agree some sort of trust must be established with Google to acheive these results, I do not believe it is an authority thing. Instead it’s my belief that a well structured site with some brand recognition can acheive this. The listing above is in fact a client and I can assure you they are not an authority on cookies. Instead, the site has been logically categorized and David’s Cookies has high brand recognition as their products are sold in retail outlets across the US. But getting back to the point, this is a UI addition worth some further discussion. It is a GREAT asset to have for any site.

Image 3: This UI change was pointed out to me today by Rand at SEOmoz. Rand mentions “onebox” results and that he first started seeing them in October of 2005. I reproduced the search using ‘new york to seattle’ and received the following results. In them you will notice two input boxes for dates of travel and 5 links to the major player in the travel industry today.

You may also notice that the main link entitled ‘Flight from New York, NY to Seattle/Tacoma, WA’ is a direct link to an expedia search for flights. One must wonder what type of deal Expedia has in place with Google (if any). That link is CERTAINLY beneficial to Expedia, much more so than the 5 links below the text boxes.

Image 4: In this example we see a drop down box replacing the text links across the top of the search box. In the spirit of the changes made in Image #1, this is just another way to display the same information.

*Added 10/20/06*

Image 5: Here we have a search for ‘back pain’. Notice the 8 links which are meant for the user to filter the search down further (treatment, symptons, etc).

Even more interesting, when one of these links is clicked to, the search query modifies itself with the more: function. I have yet to research this function and understand fully what is happening here but I will continue to update this post with any information I find. *added* We have found that this function (more:) is a labeling feature offered through the Google Co-op. A relatively unheralded service offering from Google that allows users to create specialized search for their chosen topic.

END OF EXAMPLES

It just goes to show that even Google is unsure of how to layout their own information. So when you’re agonizing through the decision making process of what to put and where, think back to Google and understand that even the largest companies aren’t completely sure what to do.

Which is all the more reason to TEST, TEST, then TEST again!

Testing is exactly what Google is doing here, just like Tim was doing when he made that fatefull decision to pierce his left ear. Google will test each of these UI tweaks and take in the feedback. Changes that are well received or improve the overall user experience may stay, and the others probably will not. But the information pulled from making them is invaluable.

Now… I know there are tons of other UI changes that Google has made over the years to listings as well as their own site layout… So if there is anyone out there with screen shots of something new or old, send it on over and we’ll expand our list.

Let’s add to the list one more automated method of skewing the search numbers… TrackMeNot was brought to my attention through this article on Yahoo!.  Heard of it?

This is a classic case of jumping on the bandwagon. I understand AOL releasing user search data has sprouted untold amounts of privacy concerns for many. The truth is, those in the know already had those concerns. But since the AOL data hit the main stream we’ve now got doctoral students from NYU coming up with terribly bad solutions to the problem. I don’t quite understand how sending fake queries to the major search engines every 12 seconds is going to fix the privacy issue. Add to that, this ‘invention’ is only a firefox plugin, which makes it 90% less effective anyway since only 10% of internet users use firefox. Add to that, those 10% tend to be savvy users and would see right off the bat that this is a terrible idea.

Even so… i just don’t get the thinking here. User data will still be recorded. If a user searches for something personal… will surrounding it with queries about ‘boston clocks’ really help things very much? The answer is no. Anyone who gets their hands on such logs (the government perhaps) will simply be searching for incrimminating terms and disregard the normal searches. Yes, it may send some AOL marketing scumbags to spam a few users with clock shop advertisements, but that’s about it.

Oh yeah… there’s one other MAJOR issue too! This tool completely violates search engine TOS. Anyone that decides to actually use this plugin will be breaking most search engines terms of service. It’s clearly stated that the SE’s do not take kindly to automated queries.

No Automated Querying
You may not send automated queries of any sort to Google’s system without express permission in advance from Google. Note that “sending automated queries” includes, among other things:

• using any software which sends queries to Google to determine how a website or webpage “ranks” on Google for various queries;
• “meta-searching” Google; and
• performing “offline” searches on Google.

And any automated queries they do allow must come via a personal API. I don’t know for sure, but my guess is that this plugin does not force a user to enter an API key. So, not only will users be skewing already skewed keyword data, but they will also eventually be getting their IP blocked by the major SE’s, and thus not allowed to perform any search queries, period.

Wait.. maybe this guy IS on to something. If everyone gets their IP address blocked by the major engines… no one will be running any searches at all. If there are no searches, then there are no privacy issues. BRILLIANT!

Ok.. ok… maybe not. Since i’m a native of new york and our lovely company office sits close by to NYU, i’ll go ahead and give this guy a pass for now. But i hope in the future the bright minds over at NYU might get a little bit more into the game and come up with some real world solutions to these types of problems… Otherwise, stay out of the search space =D

DIGG This

I look at the this article as a little piece of vindication for myself. It’s been tough explaining what I do to friends and family over the last 6 years or so. While in college everyone else was pursuing the normal degrees.. Me, I wasn’t pursuing any of them.

Instead I focused on a little known process we called SEO, and search engine marketing in general. I’ve endured the torture of birthdays, holidays and other family/friend oriented events where I continuously tried to explain my field of work to the always inquisitive and often times critical, friends and family. Needless to say.. many of them thought I was a bit of a kook. Some even thought i was full of $hit..

It didn’t help that my older brother was a fine up-standing corporate citizen working with a world renowned software company (and still is). His story goes over much better with the crowds. When I began to tell people what i did… their attention quickly turned back to my brother in a manner similar to, “So Sean, have you cashed in your stock options yet? Do you think you could get your brother Ryan a job there too?”

Well folks… instead of asking me what I do (then ignoring my answer or doing a bit of eye rolling) and whether or not there’s an actual future in it, allow me to point you to this quick synopsis entitled “4 Jobs on the Cutting Edge“. And I quote:

This is an especially important task in today’s Internet-driven world, where many customers first learn of an organization and its products or services through the Web. Because of a shortage of experts in this relatively new area, many top SEOs receive multiple job offers.

So there it is.. direct from a 3rd party we see SEO listed as a HOT JOB of the FUTURE. And not just a hot job… but on the cutting edge too. See, mom and dad..? I wasn’t making this whole thing up and I really do have a bright future! Lucky for me, I’m more than 6 years into this field and can honestly say that I am now one of the most experienced individuals in the industry today. I had to sweat it out though.. As with anything new, there were no guarantees of a future.

And to anyone out there that I’ve tried explain my field of work and you didn’t quite get it, I’d like to stress the following point one last time:

No.. I am not the guy that causes those Pop Ups..

SEO is a true and legitimate process with an end goal of creating the most valuable user experience possible through logical site design, architecture and a clear message. The search engines were built for the users and as long as we conitnue to build our sites for users, we will continue to drive success.

A commonly asked question i get here all the time is, “Can you provide me with a list of comparison shopping engines to look into?”

I say sure! the more channels you push your product through the better success you will have online. It’s as simple as that. The great thing about comparison shopping websites is that users of them seem to be much more motivated buyers. And there’s no need for a long term monetary commitment either. A small intitial investment into each site will quickly give you a good idea of whether or not it’s worth paying a cost per click on that particular engine. So without further or do.. here’s the list.

• AOL Pinpoint
• Become.com
• Froogle
• MSN Shopping
• NexTag
• PriceRunner
• PriceGrabber
• Shopping.com
• Shopzilla (BizRate)
• Smarter.com
• Yahoo! Shopping

If anyone has any sites they’d like to add, please feel free to comment.

*Update – EntireWeb has since changed the author bio informatiion to the proper source, however they refuse to send an email to their userbase acknowledging the mistake.

For reasons unbeknownst to me, I started receiving newsletters from Entireweb on a regular basis, as some 413,883 other subscribers do (as of March 23rd, 2006).. Somehow I got signed up and I guess I never much minded them coming to my inbox on a regular basis. But from the first time I read it to this very day, I’ve seen nothing but obvious or very low level SEO information come from it. Needless to say, it’s not one of my daily reads.. However, today something compelled me to take a closer look. So I did..

As expected, it was a basic beginner’s article about title tags and meta data. Offering nothing new, but information a beginner might benefit from nonetheless. After I finished reading, I took a look at the author bio to see the source. This is when the unexpected happened.. My jaw dropped and a silent anger crept through my veins. The author name, Akash Kumar, was the same person I had discovered stealing my own articles a few months back. Articles I had written for the benefit of our clients that I used to write on a regular basis.

In fact, Mr. Kumar’s theft of my own hard work actually caused me to STOP writing these articles because of the helplessness I felt reading my own words attached to his name. Not only did Akash Kumar steal my articles but he also syndicated them across the internet through various sources under his name, as if it meant nothing to him. By weeks end I had found over 50 instances of my work syndicated on websites thanking him for the contribution.

I worked tirelessly to have these copyright violations taken care of. I contacted webmasters, article syndication sites and anybody else that played party to this theft. Most parties I contacted were very helpful. They removed Mr. Kumar’s information and replaced it with my own. But they all spoke of how difficult it was to control such violations, which I disagreed with. Today, when I saw the name Akash Kumar attached to this so called expert article, the feelings of rage came back and I knew this would be another case of blatant copyright violation. Cheaters always cheat, Akash Kumar will always pretend to be an expert while passing off others work as his own.

As I suspected, it took me about 30 seconds to run the Entireweb newsletter issue url through copyscape and find the exact same article, word for word, elsewhere on the internet. One of the url’s that came up was to a SiteProNews newsletter issue dated December, 2002, written by a man named Donald Nelson (note: not only is entireweb allowing copyright theft but they are also handing out information that is outdated by 4 YEARS!). I’m sure Mr. Nelson would not be happy to find out his article has just been sent out to over 400,000 subscribers 4 years later.. attributed to Akash Kumar.

It’s no wonder the field of SEO is looked upon with suspicious eyes.. So called credible sources of information like the Entireweb newsletter are nothing but mass advertising with little regard for their actual reader base. Entireweb doesn’t care if the article has been stolen, evidently. They only care about gaining more subscribers and pushing their search engine to a greater audience. Unfortunately, many of the newsletter recipients are beginners. They don’t know right from wrong in this field. They subscribe because they believe the information they are reading is valid and the source of that information is valid. Many people today looked at Akash Kumar as a helpful, knowledgeable person in the field of SEO. Many may try to contact him for further advice or even for services. Little do they know Donald Nelson is the person they should be contacting, not Akash Kumar.

Article thieves are true scum. They hawk on the altruism of others to progress their own cause. Instead of taking the time, doing the research and writing something useful of their own, they steal from those who do. Unfortunately, this tactic seems to work. Akash Kumar got mass exposure today through stealing, which is bad enough. But Entireweb is ‘entirely’ to blame as it’s their job to force quality control and ensure their users are being exposed to the truth. Anyone who’s ever put any stock into something seen in Entireweb’s Newsletter is now forced to reassess its validity. That’s all 400,000+ of you. My hope is that you unsubscribe immediately and find yourself a better, truthful and more quality source of SEO information.

*note: the following links no longer show proof of the copyright theft as entireweb rightly changed the author bio information

For proof of this blatant copyright theft, feel free to run the Entireweb Newsletter url through copyscape or compare the links below.

Entireweb’s Latest Newsletter aka: Stolen Content:
http://www.entireweb.com/newsletter/archive/2006/ISSUE229.html

Original Article from 2002:
http://www.sitepronews.com/archives/2002/dec/2.html

someone pointed this out to me earlier in the week, and i thought i’d share..

On Wednesday of this week (today), at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00
in the morning, the time and date will be: 01:02:03 04/05/06

Beatlejuice, Beatlejuice, Beatlejuice… was the last time i’d heard of consequences for saying a word 3 times in a row. But that was in a movie (Beatlejuice is the name of the movie in case anyone didn’t know). Well, mark March 27th, 2006 as the new ‘last time’… but this is in real life, not a movie. It seems in some far off places saying certain words 3 times in a row actually does have consequences.

Poor Sohela Ansari was lying in bed one night when she overheard her deep in sleep husband say the word “talaq” 3 times. Turns out, talaq translates to divorce.. and if said 3 times in a row the marriage is over.. Unconscious or not.

Here’s the full story

Some interesting quotes for those not wanting to read the whole article:

“When local Islamic leaders heard of the sleep talking, they said Aftab’s words constituted a divorce under an Islamic procedure known as “triple talaq.â€?”

“The religious leaders ruled that if the couple wanted to remarry they would have to wait at least 100 days. Sohela would also have to spend a night with another man and be divorced by him in turn.”

The following is a quote in the man’s defense…

“The law clearly says any action under compulsion or in a state of intoxication has no effect. The case of someone uttering something while asleep falls under this category and will have no impact whatsoever,�

The funniest part about the last quote is that it shows that “triple talaq” is actually a real thing.. just not when one is sound asleep saying it.