google

How To Rank on Front Page of Google

chrishambly — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:45:46 -0500

It's really easy these days.

No, really it is.

OK so in the past it was hard (cough) to rank on the front page of Google if you were new to the business, in any sector. Lots of things were (actually still are for non real-time) taken into account in order for your site to rank well for a given term. Lots of weight is given to credibility, i.e. other sites (humans) thinking your site IS credible, by the way of incoming links. If we all link to a site it must be good content right? This model has been Google's backbone product for years, forever actually.

Then came Twitter and the mob

This experiment has been conducted numerous times in other places, and you may have come across it already, but because I think Google is shooting itself in the foot it warrants a mention.

So Google has started including "real-time" results in its index, in particular from Twitter, the micro-blogging service. This basically means it is open season for you and me to actively use this service as a tactic to appear on the front page of Google for any given search phrase.

Down to business

So considering Tiger Woods is hot news at the moment I figured this would be a good test target for ranking. Before the inclusion of real-time the chances of appearing on the front page of Google for "Tiger Woods" were slim pickings for mere mortals. Typically, of course, it would usually have only been credible news sources, or perhaps other content that was mass approved through incoming links (us all linking to it). That is still the model Google has in place with the exception of a little iframe half way down the page, the real-time zone.

So I sent out a tweet as follows

OK, so a tweet that clearly contains Tiger Woods and some other attention grabbing nonsense and an all important link that someone may click on (in this case an intelligence test, just for the irony of it).

So a few moments later, literally within a minute or so I searched Google for "Tiger Woods" and sure enough found my tweet.

You can clearly see my ridiculous tweet, and my url.

Why is this bad?

Well think about it for a moment, this is now open season for real-time spam... hell I might even employ someone in a developing country, pay them peanuts, to sit down and tweet nonsense all day, with affiliate links included in the tweets, and target very competitive key phrases. < oh that happens already?

What do you say? - you could say hey Chris this is fabulous, people are all wonderful people and good through to their core, and we'd never ever game the system, our tweets are credible and we only speak the truth. Well folks, I have news for you, that is not the case with the masses, and once the search dudes and dudettes catch on to this (done), you can be sure to see utter nonsense in that real-time zone.

Google, you have gone nuts.

Thanks guys

chrishambly — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 08:50:03 -0400

Xavier Grimes (client)

“My company Grimes One Media has utilized Chris for several press release distributions throughout the course of a year. I will say that we are pleased with his service and recommends that any company seeking an online press distribution utilize him.” November 2, 2008

Jo Jordan, Psychologist & Director, Rooi Limited)

“Chris is the David Plouffe of social media in the south-east of England. His first successful venture in on-line education in 2000 has grown into a thriving consultancy practice in High Wycombe just outside London where he supports colleges offering on-line education and businesses breaking into social media. Chris understands the nuts & bolts of websites, search engines and social media platforms. He connects noobes, old-hands, geeks, marketers, educators, PR, HR, musicians & artists with consummate ease, generosity, and flair. Chris has introduced me to people with like interests, helped me engage the press, and provided a platform through Social Media Mafia for me to shape a solid local profile. Chris is always available to offer a critical eye over practical plans and projects. He is currently working on the roll-out of on-line education for SAE and the integration of social media into the working routines of successful organizations. ” February 14, 2009

Ken Vitto, Director of Marketing, GizMac Accessories

“The news distribution web site that Chris runs is a great resource for marketing and especially important for Search Engine Marketing specialists like myself. Chris' work in maintaining an important and easy to use service shows through with the excellent results that are obtained.” December 17, 2007

Starr Ackerman (client)

“Chris interviewed me for the Bang Music Festival and included us on his AC Radio show which was an added bonus for our publicity campaign. He was great fun to work with and made us feel at ease, the AC Radio show was a blast and professionally put together. Recently, he posted press releases for us (on IK Multimedia's music productions software and hardware tools) which have given us great product coverage. - Starr Ackerman. Marketing, Promotions and Public Relations Manager, IK Multimedia. Musicians First.” December 31, 2007

Eaon Pritchard, New Channel Development and User Experience, WEAPON7 (business partner)

“Chris combines tech knowledge, creativity, business sense, a passion for all things digital with the ability to enthuse others and pass on that knowledge. In particular, he opened my eyes to the possibilities within immersive virtual worlds. I'd recommend Chris to any organisation that wants to get involved in emerging media.” January 15, 2008

Caron - Jane Lyon, Owner, PCM creative (colleague)

“Chris Hambly? "Creative essence, business drive with a passion to inject every project and venture with an infectious enthusiasm." A phrase that can be used to describe Chris. Since lending my services as an event ambassador for the Summer of Love Festival, SOL staged at his ACHUB presence on Second Life in August 2007. Since collaborating and participating in the 'unconference' MediaCampBuck07 event in the south of England I am constantly astonished by Chris's productivity, extensive network and people skills. A prolific podcaster producing AC radio, Running Man radio and CarCasts, Blogging and more. An air of ease and his willingness to share his knowledge, not to mention a great soothing vocal tone plus a musician and audio recording specialist. I can't imagine a project that won't succeed with Chris on board.” January 17, 2008

Kristian Eliasson (client)

“If you want to meet a person that combines passion, an extraordinary knowledge in his field and a lot of skill in teaching on the web it is Chris. The courses I took at Audiocourses.com really made a difference for me professionally as well as in my view on distance learning. The carefully designed courses which manage to teach you a vast field in relative short time combined with Chris almost magical way to guide you through the details made the experience invaluable. The courses provide an excellent combination of theory with practical tasks. Even now after a couple of years I still go back to my documentation from the courses and I am astonished over how I managed to learn it all in such a short period. Chris doesn’t give you any answers instead he guides you to find the answers yourself. You learn the hard way and it is well worth the effort. If you really want to learn something for life I would highly recommend all courses that Chris has set up.” September 4, 2007

Chris Brogan, cofounder PodCamp, PodCamp.org (business partner)

“Chris has years of experience in understanding how traditional marketing meets the web. He is a media maker, a community guy, and an all around renaissance man in the arts of delivering information, developing need, and driving professional value into projects. He is personable, creative, capable, and has a strong sense of professionalism that doesn't overshadow his winning personality. Consider Chris for your next creative project and you won't be disappointed.” June 15, 2008

Mal Burns (client)

“Chris, together with his inworld avatar (audio Zenith) in Second Life, has provided constant high-quality help and advice especially in the area of audio technology, environment design, event-planning and distance communications. His online radio show is also a joy to listen to. Chris is also a prolific "Twitterer" and it never ceases to amaze me how he gets so much done. He seems particularly adept at using multiple media at the same time, yet always seems to have time for an ad-hoc consultation too. He is also a prime example of someone using the future "metaverse" interface to its best advantage at present.” August 19, 2007

Doreen Pugh, Co-Chair: Finance, Development & Security, Second Life Best Practices in Education International Conference (colleague)

“I recently had the opportunity to work with Chris Hambly on educational and entertainment events held within Second Life, a multi-user virtual environment. Chris has displayed generosity, unflagging enthusiasm, and a willingness to dig in and work hard for what he believes in. It has been a pleasure to know Chris and I believe that he will continue to provide valuable and innovative solutions for online education and collaboration.” August 21, 2007

Jason Jarrett, Director, Bluebell Media (business partner)

“Chris is a strong character with well honed skill sets in new social media. He has a great way with people and has a natural ability to empathise and communicate complex concepts in a readily understandable format. He is inventive and prolific and someone who can really help a company.” October 31, 2007

Ken Vitto, Director of Marketing, GizMac Accessories

Dimitry Korolkov, Public Relations Manager, Program-Ace (business partner)

“From the very beginning of our contact, my impression of Chris was the one of very communicative and active professional. Later on, this positive image was only confirmed and enhanced! He is always fast to respond, really friendly and very well informed in a great variety of different business fields.” January 9, 2008.

Google's Social Graph: Client Disclosure

chrishambly — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:55:33 -0400

Google's Social Graph is one method which would provide a very easy way to inform robots who is your client and who isn't.

Adding the rel="client" to your client related links would in fact mean that any future buzz monitor policing application would be able to easily distinguish you have offered full-disclosure.

Of course, this would not be very obvious to the reader of your text, and that's the important person in the policing. So perhaps our publishing platforms could also translate our use of rel="client" in order to offer a visual for the reader too.

Thinking about social graphs today.

Social Media Traffic

chrishambly — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 10:25:15 -0500

Forget that title already, it's something which will just confuse you and lead you up the garden path of a low traffic site (well unless you are selling to the social media niche, as in people wanting to be a part of the scene - yuck please hand me the "in-flight social media sick bag").
No, the word social is clearly a very undefined entity to the point of simply causing confusion, just take a look at these definitions of the word social.
Um what? ... you mean "human media", no really, human beings interacting with media that is digitised, oh goodness me that's one complicated cookie to get our head around isn't it.
Hmmm ... and people are also trying to measure social media influence ? - How can one possibly measure something that is even outside of a definition itself?
Let me let you into a secret, you can't.
What you can do is analyse qualitative data as a means of capturing intention, and then segment as much as possible and dish up delicious customised experiences (more of that later, if you watch closely).
Right, now that that is out of the way, let's just consider the term media and fuck the "social" bit, OK, that's MEDIA, as in stuff we can interact with, comment on, share, immerse into, and generally be a geekoid with.
Find below a list of things that will bring you traffic, it is a list that has worked for me, and continues to, it is not exhaustive by any means but a good start:

Content - it may sound obviously obvious but search engines absolutely adore fresh original content, it is their job to go out and hunt and gather new content. If you regularly add fresh content you will be continuously feeding the search engine spiders looking for food.

Minimal design - you need to forget about making the site too pretty with flash and other nonsense that search engines cannot read. Here there is often a trade-off between that flashy agency design and what will actually help the site get noticed in search. Take my advice and do not use Flash, use a clean VERY quick loading template, simpler the better (look at Google itself)

Forums - visit all the major forums in your niche, create an account, edit your profile and become busy reading and reading and reading and then start to engage in the community there and offer help and advice on a balanced level. Visit them daily and become prominent in your niche, you are aiming to be associated with being an authority on your subject. I'm including Facebook groups in here, you know large number ones.

Trends - monitor your niche by using google alerts and trends, and really keep an eye out for what is hot, then write content about it when it is a buzz topic. The aim here is to get the news about products before they are launched, so you are right up there with your date stamp.

Logs - site access logs are like mines of gold, you know where you can hunt and see how people are finding your site, how are they reaching you, and from where and with what keyword combinations? This is essential reading, very geeky but I kid you not, you will find gold in your web logs. If your host doesn't provide them change your host, you cannot do any serious business without reading your web access logs. You will be amazed at how people are finding your site, you should then provide more content for them (see this ties in with capturing intention above).

Page load - I'm a widget hater, not because they do funny things and connect you up with third party content, but their strength is also your weakness. Widgets will slow your site down to a crawl if not careful. This is bad for search engine spiders and bad for customer experience on your site, it is a major sucky experience. You can use this tool to check your site(s). I started using widgets back in 2000 where I was displaying content on one site pulled from others, believe me I learnt my lessons early on that reliance on third party feeds and content is not a good idea. Proceed there with caution, ensure the feeds you choose are VERY resilient and fast as hell. Page load speed is EVERYTHING for customer experience.

Stickiness - you know when you pop along to the pub and the conversation is so cool you can't leave? Or the bartender has the twinkle in her/his eyes that just keeps you there? That's stickiness, you need that equivalent on your site to keep people there and more importantly coming back for more.

In Bounds - in bounds links or IBLs are the golden currency of Google, the more links you have pointing to your site for a specific keyword the higher in the rankings you will potentially appear, it is almost that simple, to a point. The higher the page-rank of the site linking to you, the higher the quality of IBL, therefore the more ranking potential. You must make gaining IBLs a fundamental target of your traffic building campaign. There is not easy way to do this other than creating compelling content that people will link to, or popping along and actually asking for links. N.B. THIS IS IMPORTANT. Some So.Me "experts" might say just blog away and people will link if it's good. That's basically completely inefficient, you need to target sites, people and links, you want traffic don't you? Don't gamble in the hope people will magically link to you.

Directories - make sure you your site is appearing in all the major directories, the biggest is probably DMOZ, are you in it? Oh by the way did I mention this has been community edited since the late 90s, yes way before the ridiculous term Web2.0 raised it's ugly head. Get in all the major directories for your niche.

Ebay - you what Chris? Yes ebay, I would put up a digital package for sale, you know a virtual thing, information for sale, and set it for bidding, including links back to my sites in the descriptions (plus branding potential) - huge amount of eyeballs on your product and brand there.

Craig's List - similar in approach to the above, don't make it obviously advertorial but you will find huge amounts of eyeballs there for your site/brand.

Free Downloads - Package up a free download and get it hosted on a variety of download sites, the big one being download.com. Befriend a coder who can build a simple download for you around your site/product. I personally like ones which bring the user back to your site for a whole host of reasons including updates, interaction, support etc etc. Again, huge numbers to tap into here. Think iPhone apps or whatever is the latest thing.

Google Analytics - don't piss about with second rate measuring, get yourself deep into the jedi analytics of traffic, seriously study what is taking place on your site, it is all there to be read and disseminated. Here you need to create regular reporting systems so that you can make evolutionary changes based on the reports, small site changes can make a significant difference to traffic.

SEO - search engine optimisation, actually much of what I have said already and what follows falls under this heading, so let's leave it at that, but also just to mention study the basic SEO concepts on page construction. If you do not know basic HTML and the implications for search you should start immediately.

Press Releases - ignore what the "social douches" say about press releases, believe me they will bring you significant traffic and ranking providing you target them with keywords. There are hundreds and hundreds of press releases submission sites around (full-disclosure that's mine), you should aim to pump your release into about 20 or more of the significant ones.

Out Bounds - aim to place some out-bound links to sites of authority in your keyword target, you will be amazed what associating with authority can bring.

Blog Comments - hmm well maybe to a point, yet in the eyes of search you can forget about getting ranked for them, well your own site anyway, as most site owners use the nofollow tag. OK maybe some PEOPLE will follow through onto your site after reading a comment, but seriously, the numbers are not that significant at all to the above.

Guest Blogging - for sure this is a good thing to do, you have the ability to create links on other sites to destinations of your choice with the keywords of your choice, this is gold. The trick is becoming someone who will be asked to guest post.

Free Articles - write articles with a disclaimer in them that they can be re-published providing the links are left in place. There are thousands of people out there looking for content to post all the time, so go ahead and let them, you'll gain if the links remain.

Newsletters - you can love them or hate them but I'm telling you they work very well at building a community and brining people back time and time again. Just ensure you segment your data well and send relevant information to people, that they want (again we are seeing intent feature here). Segment heavily.

Infinite responders - you can set up a series of emails that are sent at a pre-defined intervals all pre-written, serving up helpful information lightly sprinkled with data tags you have collected to ensure appropriate segmentation. This aid in building credibility for your wares, and run on auto-pilot, they are heavy traffic pullers and this is one of my favourites.

Stumble Upon - worth putting all your pages into the pie here and while at it crank them into other similar style initiatives, and certainly many of the smaller search engines that allow submit.

Email Lists - sign-up to very busy email lists and gently become familiar with the etiquette and before long you will be able to post to the list helping people out and also show-casing your wares.

That's all I have time for now but should be a good start, I may even come back and add some more once I remember them. Certainly each item on the list could warrent a post by itself.

The main thing to extract here is that "social" is a red herring, traffic is about following the numbers, and then segmenting it once you have it, but I'd welcome your thoughts on it too. What do you say?

F*ck Google Ask Me

chrishambly — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 05:31:40 -0400

But stop and think for a second, is this the mentality that Social Media is promoting?

Do not get me wrong, having advice from your friends is useful, but how much objectivity do your friends bring, do you have friends whom are brutally honest with you?

Just curious..

Then again, how much objectivity does Google provide you?

Twitter Without Images Google Feast

chrishambly — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:28:00 -0500

This is what Twitter looks like when their image server don't work. Their images are stored on amazon big boys I believe, here: http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/ (that won't work by the way).

It's interesting to note that this is one of the reasons why your Twitter profile ranks so well in Google, oh you never checked? You should.

What you see here is what Google would see, instead of images they would see the text profile names, just as you see here, typically used as an "alt tag" AND "title tag".

There you go.

Some people I know have protected their updates due to their Twitter page out-ranking their blog or whatever domain they wish page.

You had that issue?

Google Releases Social Graph API

chrishambly — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 09:03:39 -0500

I'm excited about the possibilities of the Google Social Graph API as this will really open the potential for us all to use our connections much more openly than any current system in use. And more to the point we won't have our hands tied with "walled gardens" like Facebook, we'll be able to build our own using our social graphs.

The API already has a demo available which you can try out, I popped along to their demo and entered my twitter url and was impressed by the outcome which I have listed below.

Are you on my list?

Contacts you link to

from twitter.com/audio

twitter.com/adambroitman contact

↔ twitter.com/ahynes1 contact

twitter.com/ambermacarthur contact

twitter.com/amyjokim contact

↔ twitter.com/andreamercado contact

twitter.com/andycaster contact

↔ twitter.com/annene contact

twitter.com/arroba contact

twitter.com/aweckerle contact

↔ twitter.com/bagwaa contact

twitter.com/bander contact

twitter.com/barcampla contact

twitter.com/bbcworld contact

↔ twitter.com/bbluesman contact

↔ twitter.com/bethgo contact

↔ twitter.com/bethgranter contact

twitter.com/billpalmer contact

twitter.com/biz contact

↔ twitter.com/blubrry contact

twitter.com/bnr1 contact

twitter.com/boagworld contact

↔ twitter.com/brettbixler contact

↔ twitter.com/britneymason contact

twitter.com/bryper contact

↔ twitter.com/bucketjen contact

twitter.com/cameo contact

twitter.com/cc_chapman contact

↔ twitter.com/charlotteann contact

twitter.com/chrisabraham contact

twitter.com/chrisbrogan contact

↔ twitter.com/chriscavs contact

twitter.com/chrispirillo contact

twitter.com/cmduke contact

twitter.com/courtneyp contact

twitter.com/cspenn contact

twitter.com/danielheaf contact

twitter.com/dario contact

twitter.com/davedelaney contact

twitter.com/davewiner contact

↔ twitter.com/davidavdavid contact

↔ twitter.com/desertjul contact

twitter.com/dough contact

twitter.com/drewolanoff contact

↔ twitter.com/edroberts contact

↔ twitter.com/elsakawai contact

twitter.com/emilychang contact

twitter.com/ericskiff contact

twitter.com/festmob contact

twitter.com/filos contact

↔ twitter.com/fncll contact

↔ twitter.com/gapingvoid contact

twitter.com/gilest contact

twitter.com/giovanni contact

↔ twitter.com/gomemdesoto contact

↔ twitter.com/goodspeed contact

twitter.com/gordonwsmythe contact

↔ twitter.com/hmason contact

twitter.com/hotdogsladies contact

twitter.com/ijustine contact

↔ twitter.com/indiefeed contact

↔ twitter.com/isfullofcrap contact

↔ twitter.com/jangles contact

twitter.com/janinaz contact

twitter.com/jasoncalacanis contact

↔ twitter.com/jasonjarrett contact

twitter.com/jeffpulver contact

↔ twitter.com/jesta contact

↔ twitter.com/jmoonah contact

twitter.com/johnniemoore contact

twitter.com/jowyang contact

twitter.com/juliaroy contact

twitter.com/julien contact

↔ twitter.com/justinkownacki contact

twitter.com/labanex contact

↔ twitter.com/ldpodcast contact

↔ twitter.com/lloyddavis contact

↔ twitter.com/lovehouseradio contact

twitter.com/lucacappelletti contact

↔ twitter.com/lynetteradio contact

↔ twitter.com/maccast contact

↔ twitter.com/magicbug contact

↔ twitter.com/malburns contact

↔ twitter.com/maxcrash contact

twitter.com/mbl contact

twitter.com/mdy contact

↔ twitter.com/memory contact

↔ twitter.com/mercy contact

twitter.com/metblogs contact

twitter.com/mickipedia contact

twitter.com/microformats contact

↔ twitter.com/mikewills contact

twitter.com/missrogue contact

twitter.com/mmcallen contact

twitter.com/mobasoft contact

twitter.com/mrsb contact

↔ twitter.com/mrtopf contact

↔ twitter.com/myn contact

twitter.com/neilford contact

↔ twitter.com/nnoakes contact

↔ twitter.com/outer contact

twitter.com/parkylondon contact

↔ twitter.com/podcastpickle contact

↔ twitter.com/podcrawl contact

twitter.com/remy contact

twitter.com/revtim contact

↔ twitter.com/richpalmer contact

twitter.com/robertbrook contact

↔ twitter.com/robusdin contact

twitter.com/sae contact

twitter.com/sarahmeyers contact

twitter.com/scobleizer contact

↔ twitter.com/servantofchaos contact

↔ twitter.com/shannonkay contact

twitter.com/springnet contact

twitter.com/steverubel contact

↔ twitter.com/stuwarf contact

↔ twitter.com/swanlike contact

twitter.com/swords contact

↔ twitter.com/tartanpodcast contact

twitter.com/technorati contact

twitter.com/thediva contact

twitter.com/tommyvallier contact

↔ twitter.com/treocast contact

↔ twitter.com/von07 contact

twitter.com/vravindran contact

twitter.com/whurley contact

↔ twitter.com/wiggly_lisa contact

twitter.com/xyour925job contact

twitter.com/yoz contact

People who link to you as a contact

to twitter.com/audio

twitter.com/100kplay contact

twitter.com/11thcommandment contact

twitter.com/2pac contact

twitter.com/_brooke_ contact

↔ twitter.com/ahynes1 contact

twitter.com/alexearnshaw contact

twitter.com/amayat contact

↔ twitter.com/andreamercado contact

twitter.com/andypowe11 contact

twitter.com/anjibee contact

↔ twitter.com/annene contact

twitter.com/articleckr contact

twitter.com/artofpaint contact

twitter.com/astral_guardian contact

twitter.com/astralguardian contact

twitter.com/attitude contact

twitter.com/audiogeek contact

twitter.com/audiophilia contact

twitter.com/audiotechnews contact

twitter.com/axels contact

↔ twitter.com/bagwaa contact

↔ twitter.com/bbluesman contact

↔ twitter.com/bethgo contact

↔ twitter.com/bethgranter contact

twitter.com/bethritterguth contact

twitter.com/birdie contact

twitter.com/blacktar contact

twitter.com/blored contact

↔ twitter.com/blubrry contact

↔ twitter.com/brettbixler contact

twitter.com/brettdporter contact

twitter.com/britcaster contact

↔ twitter.com/britneymason contact

↔ twitter.com/bucketjen contact

twitter.com/catkins_in_nz contact

twitter.com/cbensen contact

twitter.com/charlesmahon contact

twitter.com/charliev contact

↔ twitter.com/charlotteann contact

twitter.com/chelpixie contact

↔ twitter.com/chriscavs contact

twitter.com/christinagreene contact

twitter.com/cr3 contact

twitter.com/daneelariantho contact

twitter.com/daphnea contact

↔ twitter.com/davidavdavid contact

twitter.com/davidross contact

twitter.com/deanpence contact

↔ twitter.com/desertjul contact

twitter.com/dickanddoof contact

twitter.com/digiworldtravel contact

twitter.com/dimension3d contact

twitter.com/duk_chat contact

twitter.com/eaonp contact

twitter.com/earideas contact

twitter.com/eban_c contact

twitter.com/eddm contact

↔ twitter.com/edroberts contact

twitter.com/eigo contact

twitter.com/eloise contact

↔ twitter.com/elsakawai contact

twitter.com/fauxpress contact

twitter.com/fleep contact

↔ twitter.com/fncll contact

↔ twitter.com/gapingvoid contact

twitter.com/gearpipe contact

twitter.com/gideontv contact

twitter.com/girlygeekdom contact

↔ twitter.com/gomemdesoto contact

↔ twitter.com/goodspeed contact

twitter.com/gracepiper contact

twitter.com/gray88 contact

twitter.com/greatdabu contact

twitter.com/gwenbell contact

twitter.com/har0ld contact

↔ twitter.com/hmason contact

twitter.com/hollowmarked contact

twitter.com/holymeatballs contact

twitter.com/hyme contact

twitter.com/hz37 contact

twitter.com/inboundpass contact

↔ twitter.com/indiefeed contact

twitter.com/injenuity contact

twitter.com/intellagirl contact

twitter.com/iruk contact

↔ twitter.com/isfullofcrap contact

twitter.com/ispenc contact

twitter.com/jaffejuice contact

twitter.com/janecalvert contact

↔ twitter.com/jangles contact

↔ twitter.com/jasonjarrett contact

twitter.com/jaygould contact

twitter.com/jayyoo contact

twitter.com/jdbauer contact

twitter.com/jeffmcneill contact

twitter.com/jerseytodd contact

twitter.com/jessicagold contact

↔ twitter.com/jesta contact

twitter.com/jimgustafson contact

twitter.com/jimmachine contact

twitter.com/jimmygolding contact

↔ twitter.com/jmoonah contact

twitter.com/joepeichel contact

twitter.com/johanbryggare contact

twitter.com/johnbuckley contact

twitter.com/johnchavens contact

twitter.com/joikoi contact

twitter.com/jokay contact

twitter.com/juel contact

twitter.com/juliabradley contact

twitter.com/juliejoyce contact

↔ twitter.com/justinkownacki contact

twitter.com/karmyn contact

twitter.com/kathrynjones contact

twitter.com/kennyhubble contact

twitter.com/kfirpravda contact

twitter.com/kmakuakane contact

↔ twitter.com/ldpodcast contact

twitter.com/lesliemckay contact

twitter.com/lhuga contact

↔ twitter.com/lloyddavis contact

twitter.com/louistec contact

↔ twitter.com/lovehouseradio contact

↔ twitter.com/lynetteradio contact

↔ twitter.com/maccast contact

twitter.com/macfixer contact

↔ twitter.com/magicbug contact

↔ twitter.com/malburns contact

twitter.com/marketingprofs contact

↔ twitter.com/maxcrash contact

twitter.com/mazphd contact

twitter.com/mcksean contact

twitter.com/meezabella contact

↔ twitter.com/memory contact

↔ twitter.com/mercy contact

twitter.com/merlinn contact

twitter.com/mike_ohara contact

↔ twitter.com/mikewills contact

twitter.com/movietrivia contact

twitter.com/mrmovie contact

↔ twitter.com/mrtopf contact

twitter.com/mryworth contact

twitter.com/mseckington contact

twitter.com/musicbydawn contact

↔ twitter.com/myn contact

twitter.com/nethermind contact

twitter.com/nexeus contact

↔ twitter.com/nnoakes contact

twitter.com/notime4yourcrap contact

twitter.com/ons contact

↔ twitter.com/outer contact

twitter.com/pcmcreative contact

twitter.com/pcyden contact

twitter.com/petecooper contact

twitter.com/petermv contact

twitter.com/podcampnyc contact

↔ twitter.com/podcastpickle contact

↔ twitter.com/podcrawl contact

twitter.com/podsafe contact

twitter.com/popcastdave contact

twitter.com/postblah contact

twitter.com/quotesblog contact

twitter.com/radarmatt contact

twitter.com/rhiannonsl contact

↔ twitter.com/richpalmer contact

↔ twitter.com/robusdin contact

twitter.com/ronna contact

twitter.com/rubs contact

twitter.com/rumorgirls contact

twitter.com/sam1972 contact

twitter.com/samantha_grant contact

twitter.com/samismail contact

twitter.com/saxdiva contact

twitter.com/scriggity contact

↔ twitter.com/servantofchaos contact

twitter.com/sesty contact

twitter.com/shanitomorrow contact

↔ twitter.com/shannonkay contact

twitter.com/shornik contact

twitter.com/sidepodcast contact

twitter.com/silvitcha contact

twitter.com/skytrystsjoy contact

twitter.com/slick_sellers contact

twitter.com/slinkyferret contact

twitter.com/somersetbob contact

twitter.com/sreljic contact

twitter.com/stephenjoyce contact

twitter.com/steve228uk contact

twitter.com/stringtunes contact

↔ twitter.com/stuwarf contact

twitter.com/susanbratton contact

↔ twitter.com/swanlike contact

twitter.com/takingcare contact

twitter.com/tamk contact

twitter.com/tarayeats contact

↔ twitter.com/tartanpodcast contact

twitter.com/tatsuyanakagawa contact

twitter.com/teachjeffcorwin contact

twitter.com/timallik contact

↔ twitter.com/treocast contact

twitter.com/twitopera contact

twitter.com/typewriter contact

twitter.com/vanwilder contact

↔ twitter.com/von07 contact

twitter.com/warzabidul contact

twitter.com/wickedgood contact

↔ twitter.com/wiggly_lisa contact

twitter.com/wingservers contact

twitter.com/yne contact

twitter.com/yogeek contact

Debt Settlement Ads

chrishambly — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:59:37 -0500

Facebook advertisements are not so bad, in fact I find they are generally really subtle and unimposing, they just become part of the daily stream of my social graph updates.

I’ve experimented myself with a few ads recently for a project, and I found the demographic data Facebook provides pretty comprehensive for targeting just the kind of people you desire.

As an example I am currently targeting “liberal, moderate, and conservative men between 18 and 65 years old who are single, in a relationship, engaged, or married in the United States who like music production.” I’m not sure why I chose conservative men, as I look at it, in fact I should change that to cover perhaps more liberal minded folk and definitely include women too, however you get the point, the demographic is pretty neat, and my experiment is done.

I like the ads because I can pay for them on a per click basis and of course they are targeting people INTERESTED in what I’m selling.

I’ve used google adwords for literally years, since they were released actually in 2003, and as that system is also targeting contextually it makes for good conversions. However, I would say that google adwords probably would have more redundancy due to not all traffic landing on an ad placement zones to be totally pre-qualified.

I’m working with a new client now also to help them understand how they can use some of these technologies, the client works in the texas debt settlement and I spotted a competitor’s ad in my stream today, see below.

Pretty unobtrusive yet handy info if you are interested eh?

How do YOU feel about the ads in your Facebook Social Graph?

Changing Communications

chrishambly — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:10:48 -0500

Yesterday I mentioned to my partner I intend to use Google Calendar on my mobile phone. I also stated she’d be able to track any updates in my schedule fairly easily. For example, suppose I made an appointment during the day, and input that into Google, she would be in a position to quickly cross-check my schedule should something come on the horizon that she needed to book herself.

I thought this was pretty neat, hmm but I was wrong. Apparently it would be a little redundant due to the amount of tweeting I do concerning my plans etc. She said “I only need to see what your are tweeting and I’d know”.

This made me think hard about what I actually do indeed tweet, and this has got me wondering about my tweet use.

Fact: I am using far less text messages a month than I have in the passed to send updates to friends. I recall in the late 90s I used to get through hundreds and hundreds a month, now I get through maybe 10 a week tops.

Fact: I do indeed tweet rather openly about my whereabouts and “some” of my plans.

Fact: I seem to be actively in communication with my social graph between the hours of 8am and 8pm GMT.

Fact: Not everyone in my social graph follows me on Twitter. However, most of the others use Facebook (my tweets get shown in my FB status). The ones whom are not in either system get an email, or lastly a text message, or private IM.

Oh and of course I just call people a lot more these days too.

There we go, my communication methods have change considerably, and become almost free.

What about yours?

Gmail Tip Username + Whatever

chrishambly — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 07:37:25 -0500

Gmail Tip

You might not be aware of this (I wasn’t until recently).

You can use your gmail username with a + after it with absolutely anything and you’ll still get the email.

You what?

Yep, for example my username is “chambly”, so I could let’s say use chambly+disposable@gmail.com and I’d still get the email.

Or chambly+yahoosignup@gmail.com and I’d get the email still.

Why is this so cool?

Well you can use different combinations for different contacts you may meet, say +business, +friends, or say +spam if you want to sign up to a site but fear spam. You can then set up filters in gmail to filter your mail based on the +whatever, keeping you very organised and your precious username lean.

I love that tip, think it's handy yourself?