| LED Digest 2426: Support a Fellow LEDer! |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom www.GetWebContent.com/LED : the LED's Key Sponsor The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ : the LED's Premier Sponsor Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. June 8, 2007 Issue no. 2426 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ====== NEW ====================== --== Support a Fellow LEDer ==-- ~ Steve Pronger "Al Toman has been battling a life-threatening illness and underwent major surgery." ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Images and Google Unified Search ==-- ~ Phil Chave "You can do it, but it probably won't help at all." --== Can SEO Become Obsolete? ==-- ~ John Smart "Why do you read the LED?" ~ Tom Aman "I mostly have to agree with Shari's comments in her original post." ~ Shari Thurow "Search usability is not limiting. Online advertising is limiting." ========== NEW =================================== From: Steve Pronger Subject: Support a Fellow LEDer Some time ago I was contacted by one of my subscribers after posting to my list about whether your average small business owner was capable of creating their own website. This post actually stemmed from a discussion in LED. However I soon realised that this guy was not your average subscriber. Not only was he a talented and knowledgeable web developer, but in the past he'd also designed bridges and nuclear plants, of all things. But what got me was his sharp wit, intelligence and sense of humour. It quickly became apparent to me that he would be a valuable contributor to LED and urged him to subscribe, which he did. I remember his first post and Adam describing it as unlike any post he had ever received [see issue 2249 http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1052/55/ ], and I smiled when he referred to Adam as "the Adam Guy." Since then he has given some great advice such as how to build secure forms. Some of you may have noticed that Al Toman hasn't posted for a while. I recently learned at Al has been battling a life-threatening illness and underwent major surgery. He told me that he'd basically written this year off to fighting this illness with "humour." That's Al. "Gotta laff, otherwise, it's all over" is how he is dealing with this. But the prognosis is good and he's hoping to be stirring things up on LED again by September. If any LEDers would like to pass on their best wishes I'd be happy to forward them on. Cheers Steve Pronger http://www.stevepronger.com Comment? <Moderator Comment> Al is an amazing man and truly a courageous person. He has a strong spirit and it shines through in everything he writes. We miss you Al! I love the unique perspective that Al brings to the list, on topics such as Web design, SEO, and secure forms. Al is a highly talented programmer and does some fabulous work. Al -- we hope to see you soon. We'll be here when you're ready to come back :-) Adam ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Phil Chave Subject: Unified search > However what about more general terms... am > I able to add them to the keywords list with confidence > or will they have to appear in the text... to be seen as valid? - DL Neil, LED Digest 2425 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1829/55/ Hi DL, I think you've answered your own question, don't you? If that were okay, why not add Britney, Lopez, or just plain old Boobs and quadruple your visitor numbers. You can do it, but it probably won't help at all. One of the reasons of course, is that was precicely what happened in the early days of Keywords, and it was the first thing that SE's dumped when it came looking at pages for search results. Anyway, think about this; will you sell the artwork to a browser, or will it go to someone searching for "supermassive star I Carinae .. in the giant Eta Carinae Nebula (NGC 3372)"? Yes, your audience is smaller, but your focused group is probably 1000x more likely to buy. My son searches for astronomy, stars, NASA and star gazing, but he's 8, and I'm not planning on giving him access to my credit card just yet. Besides, the wife has already tried to get it to melt in the shopping mall, but that's another story. All the best Phil Chave www.distanthealer.co.uk Comment? ============ Sponsor Message =========== Would you write your own Super Bowl commercial? Or would you hire a professional ad copywriter? Guess what? Your website copy is your Super Bowl spot, your best shot at winning new business. GetWebContent.com is the web's premier provider of "Super Bowl-winning" web copy. When words are king, visit GetWebContent.com, the King of Words. http://GetWebContent.com/LED ============ Sponsor Message =========== -------- new post - new topic --------- From: John Smart Subject: SEO Idiots > Though I have to admit that I am dying to get > rid of these idiot SEOs who do nothing but degrade > the search usability experience and only chase rankings. - Shari Thurow, LED Digest 2423 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1827/55/ Shari is, if nothing else, opinionated. I have always read her posts with interest, some I agree with strongly, others I disagree with strongly. I feel the same about many posters here - sometimes I could not agree more with you, sometimes I could not agree less. But, when you post, you have taken time out of your day, to share information with me. I appreciate that, and would like to thank everyone who posts for that - I may not agree with you, but you are giving something to me, and that deservers recognition. It also deservers respect. You probably have better things to do than write posts for the LED! But without us all doing that, there would be no LED. So when Shari starts a post saying " You see, I try very hard to not give people whose opinions I do not respect publicity", I scroll down to the next post, pausing briefly to write this. Shari - you do not respect others postings - and comments like that will no doubt diminish the amount of respect you receive - so why do you post? Why do you read the LED? Your ramblings have long shown that you grace us only to show how well qualified and how much of an expert you are, even though it becomes strenuous to respond to people you do not respect. John Smart InternetDesign.com A Human Touch in a Digital world. Comment? -------- new post - same topic --------- From: Tom Aman Subject: SEO I mostly have to agree with Shari's comments in her original post. The black hats are SEO idiots and do little for a serious researcher beyond cluttering up search results with garbage near the top of the list of items returned. The "berry picking" approach to search referenced by Shari is a really good description of successful searching but the fast finding of the desired items is often much hampered by the black hat influenced high placings of essentially irrelevant sites. To me, "search usability" mostly means having a search return really relevant results - sites that contain data or items that are the actual target of my search and not garbage results. "Black hat" techniques, aimed only at getting a site high rankings for specific keywords, regardless of whether or not the site contains really relevant content, just make searching more difficult. Tom Aman http://www.cyberspyder.com Comment? -------- new post - same topic --------- From: Shari Thurow Subject: Can SEO become obsolete? Hi all- This is in response to Detlev Johnson's post in LED #2425. In his post, he stated: > It might be a little limiting in scope when one > thinks it all boils down to just that. It's more complex. > Search usability has nothing to do with Branding > and search generally does. Okay, I do not want to pick on Detlev specifically. What he wrote is such a huge, huge, huge misconception about search usability. A lot of people have misconceptions about search (in general) and usability (in general). I did at one time as well. A lot of people give what I call "lip service" to Web site usability. Great, you read Nielsen's and Spool's newsletters. You take their classes. You read their books. You incorporate their vast knowledge and expertise into your Web sites. And I believe everyone should. Their work is really admirable and carefully studied. Now, just because one does what I described above does not make one a usability professional. You have to actually do usability tests and all of the fun things involved with it (field studies, being a facilitator and/or observer, etc.) to be a usability professional. It makes a major difference in how you approach things. It changes your methodologies. Honestly, you can honestly believe an interface is intuitive all you want. Then when you actually observe people using it? Wow, people really say one thing and do other things. The overly simplistic, "Ask your users" is not good enough. A focus group is not a usability test. You can have thousands of people like your site but not use it the way it was intended. Branding people don't get that the biggest impact on brand is the usability and functionality of the interface. Search usability affects objective, third party link development as well. Two sites can contain the same information, but people link to the site that is easier for them to use. The information is easier for them to find through the wide variety of search behaviors that people exhibit without realizing it. You have to watch it happen. Most SEOs (I believe) don't make that crucial step and test. They talk about the user experience but never actually observe users. > Just remember, you can appeal to some people > sometimes, but you can't appeal to all the people all the > time. That is what limits 'search usability' in scope. That statement proves that Detlev does not understand search usability. Duh, no one can satisfy all of the people all of the time. Search usability is not limiting. Everybody searches. It's this huge misconception that search only means "querying." It doesn't. It doesn't apply to the commercial Web search engines only. It applies to software, shopping (on and offline), everyday things. Everyone searches actively or passively all of the time in their daily lives, whether they consciously realize it or not. Search usability accommodates all or most of those search behaviors in a wide variety of fields. So no, Detlev, it's the other way around. Search usability is not limiting. Online advertising is limiting. And that is why SEO won't become obsolete. Understanding how people search? That subject has been in existence throughout history and will continue to evolve. So I "stepped out of the box" (I hate that marketing hype phrase) and see it more than only Google and Yahoo. But it made me a better SEO and Web developer. I watched how it affected my clients' businesses. That one thing is what made a difference for me professionally -- understanding search usability. At the last conference, it meant the world to me that one staffer from the Nielsen Norman Group came up to me, shook my hand, and emphatically thanked me for being the only panelist who stood up for users. I get search usability. The vast majority of SEOs don't. Sorry about the long post. I'll be quiet for awhile. Sincerely, Shari Thurow http://www.grantasticdesigns.com/tips.html Comment? ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by: GetWebContent.com The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. Free no-obligation proposal: http://GetWebContent.com/LED SEOToolSet.com Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification Join the certified SEO directory: www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ Interested in becoming a Key Sponsor? 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