And after Apple announced that the iPhone 4S was going to be available on the Sprint Network. Boom, Sprints Phone page crashes… and it’s been crashed for about 2 hours now.

EDIT: 4:41pm CST, Sprint phones site back up. Still doesn’t have any marketing pertaining to iPhone 4S.

Nice work, Apple and Sprint. You took a potentially huge moment and took a poop all over it. I bet Steve Jobs would be rolling over in his grave, if he was already dead.

But, it wouldn’t surprise me if Steve Jobs is out of retirement as soon as Wednesday morning.

EDIT: 5:53pm 10-05-11. Steve Jobs passed away this morning on October 5th, 2011. So, this original post joke seems kind of assholeish. No disrespect was meant.

Siri Search, makes use of Yelp’s business ratings, thus this makes instantly makes Yelp a strong local competitor to Google Places.

The understated thing for small businesses, is to make sure that you nurture your Yelp business profile page. You need to claim your listing, and encourage happy customers to leave their happy thoughts on your profile link.

Yelp is now very relevant to your small business rankings. Google Places has been the big dog in local optimization or as I call it, Local Awesomeization…. And your places ranking and profile completion has become very important for your local marketing.

Now, Siri, which is a virtual assistant will be able to find you anything you want… and it is using the Yelp Reviews to rank therecommendations.

Apple just entered Local Search in a big way. This is the key take away from this event, not that the iPhone 5 isn’t here, but that the iPhone 4S with Siri is going to revolutionize how Apple iPhone users find local information.

HUUUUUUUGE.

Siri used over 35 APIs to find what its users were requesting, including one to translate speech to text. In April, 2010, Apple bought Siri before it could expand to Android. Over a year later, the app has been built into the next generation iPhone software. The fact that Siri uses Yelp, instantly gives them importance, and even more importance, when the Siri service launches on some of the other iOS versions.

Nuture your Yelp account now.  Claim it, and begin getting good reviews.  Local search is a science, and you have to get that information out there.

Now, what you may want to do, is to connect with and nurture relationships with people on Yelp… the people who leave reviews for your business.  Look at this message that I recently got via Yelp.

Yelp has re-entered the local search fray, folks.  Pay attention.

First of all, what is SEO?

Wikipedia defines it as:

“Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the “natural” or un-paid (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results.”

Search Engine Optimization is Obviously Part of Marketing.

Search Engine Marketing is certainly a tactic to get more customers to your website. Most website goals are to bring buyers to the company website, and to get them to convert. You want them buying the products or services you are selling. This is marketing. SEO should go in marketing, right?

Well, not so fast.

Search Engine Optimization is Obviously Part of I.T.

When you search engine optimize or as I call it, “Awesomeize” your website, it is a technical act.

Much of the work up front will be changes to website copy, backend work on page titles and meta tags, and other technical work that requires the knowledge and assistance of your IT team. You go through best practices to identify the correct keywords, structure, tags, and content of the site. When you are dealing with the structure and programming of the site, this needs to be done by web engineers, who understand the language of ‘teh interwebs.’

It’s a two-way street. For this reason, SEO bridges marketing and the I.T. dept. And for your in-house SEO to be effective, you need to have buy-in from each dept. But really, SEO is a marketing tool, not just another I.T. project.

SEO is Marketing Tool, not really an I.T. project.

It’s easy to define and allocate a project based on the expertise needed to do the work. This happens all too often with SEO. Because a large part of the practical work seems to fall to the IT department, especially if you’re working with an outside SEO firm and implementing SEO work in-house, it’s easy to also delegate the bulk of the SEO decision-making power to the IT team as well. However, SEO is a marketing tool and requires intricate knowledge and consideration of marketing and branding strategy.

I.T. may work on a large portion of the SEO project, but I.T. involvement, as well as most major SEO decisions should be managed by your marketing team. A lot of companies have their SEO department be strictly I.T. and many companies have their SEO departments in the Marketing department. I’ve heard bitches and whines from both sides of the fence. But, it all boils down to this question, “Is the work getting done, effectively?”

There are two main types of SEO, on-page and off-page, there are different functions that fit under each dept.

On-Page SEO is more Technical, the changes done to the site. It is the changes you make to your website that will help your web pages to be indexed correctly by the search engines. By doing this, you are laying the foundation for future success in your search engine rankings. Here is a great On-Page SEO Checklist that may come in handy for you, when you are “Awesomeizing” your website.

Offpage SEO is a combination of all the things that can help you to rank your website well in the search engines.

• Factors which are not located ON your Web site pages
• There are many functions involved in Offpage SEO that if you do correctly, can help you to get your site ranked well in Search Engines.

Here is a great Off-Page SEO Checklist that will certainly be enlightening after you’ve completed your on page SEO recommendations.

So Where Does SEO Fit?

It can be a tough business decision to definitively decide where you place your SEO team. Again, part of your On-Page SEO is done by the I.T. Dept, but it doesn’t mean that I.T. should be driving the SEO bus.

In fact, Marketing should be driving the SEO Bus, but many of the passengers on that bus will be from the I.T. Dept. It truly does bridge both worlds, so the people in charge of your company’s SEO should be able to fluently speak the language of marketing along with the language of the I.T. dept. You can’t have one without the other, if you want to fully Awesomeize your web presence. Together, I.T. and Marketing can help make your website shine in the eyes of Google… and that’s really what you want, right?

He has since moved to Hong Kong and has created one of the most amazing iPad cases that I’ve seen, yet. This thing is made of freaking KANGAROO Leather! PETA be damned! I said Kangaroo Leather!

Leather iPad 2 Case?

Yes, Leather. Did I mention Kangaroo?

Check this out, I don’t do reviews on this site, but for this one, I just had to. I literally LOVE this iPad 2 case. This stylish case features genuine high-grade Australian kangaroo leather which is known to be the best performance leather in the world – it’s light and tough. When you combine this material with the unique notebook design, the result is a benchmark-setting luxurious leather case. That’s right… luxury.

And it has a handy flip up piece that allows you to turn your kick ass leather iPad 2 case into a stand.

iPad 2 case with a Stand? How legit is this?

I took this iPad 2 case to the SMX conference in New York with me, and had several people comment on how awesome it is. Once I told them about Mr. Gadget and the story behind the case, they thought it was even cooler. So, if you are looking for a non-traditional iPad 2 case, I’d recommend this one.

Here is my unboxing video for this product.

Leather iPad 2 Case – Unboxing

One out of every three mobile searches has local intent.

So, if you are a local business and you aren’t engaging your connections via mobile, you maybe missing a vital component of your interactive marketing.

Here at the SMX conference, they call it SoLoMo, but we call it Mobile, Local, Social. (duh.) SoLoMo doesn’t do it for me, but I have the feeling they may have called it MobLoSo, if we didn’t already own the name. Mwhahahaha.

But whatever you call it, it’s very important.

According to Greg Stewart, here at SMX, the intent of a consumer using a mobile device with social and local utility, 50% want to get coupons.

A study from 2010 of consumers using sources to find local info and content, the numbers show clearly that cell phone and mobile devices have the highest YOY growth rate.

Facebook is accessed on a mobile device 1/3 of the time.

Consumers are increasingly using more sources to find local information and content.

• 76 percent using search engines
• 67 percent use a print YP or WP directory
• 60 percent use IYP sites
• 47 percent local search sites
• 14 percent use mobile, up 40% from 2010
• 9 percent use social media, up 28% from last year

Where is Local Business Information Found?

• 56 percent find it via Company Page
• 55 percent Recommendations (from friends)
• 48 percent Promotions
• 43 percent Ads
• 42 percent References
• 35 percent Apps
• 25 percent Consumer Reviews

Local Search Foundation is about Listing Management

• Accuracy: Ensure that business listings contain the correct information.
• Distribution: Disperse listings to multiple distribution channels.
• Signal Strength: Business listing is accurate and identical across multiple channels.
• Enrichment: Add additional information/features to listings

Claiming and optimizing local listings leads to additional visibility in local search. Nearly half of social network searchers select a local biz based off of consumer ratings and reviews.

So, this is where the rubber meets the road.  Make sure that you have a system in place to help convince your customers to leave reviews for you.

Three key factors in local search rankings:

1. Reviews
2. Citations
3. Links

Despite the importance of this information, only 23% of consumers have ever left a rating or a review for a business and only 6% are active in leaving reviews and ratings. People WANT the information, but most are lazy bastards.

5 Mobile Local Search Takeaways from Greg Stewart

1. Make sure basic listing information is visible and accurate
2. Optimize your pages
3. Engage and capture users through promotions
4. Ask consumers for rating and reviews
5. Monitor all local search sites to see what’s going on and what’s being said about you.

Next up at the panel is Gib Olander, the local guru for Localeze.

It’s never been more crowded and more exciting to be involved in local, social and mobile than it is right now.  People want to get started and create apps. They’re excited about it. That fragmentation is always proving some difficulty in marketing things. He’s gonna share some trends.

• 38 percent of mobile searchers frequently look for local retailer info including phone number and address
• 70 percent of all mobile searches result in action within 1 hour
• There are 6.8 billion people on the planet. 5.1 billion of them own a cell phone, but only 4.2 billion own a toothbrush.

Honey badger even thinks that is disgusting.

Mobile Local Social is getting more personal. Increasing at the local level, our friends’ recommendations are apparent and very important.

Also, services are taking check-in history and presenting similar types of businesses in search results when you visit new destinations. This makes it very important for marketers to upload meta info into listings services.

Our friends are influencing what we’re seeing at:

• Google+
• FourSquare
• Gowalla
• Yelp
• Facebook

What does this mean?

• Establish your online identity, it anchors customer experience.
• Claim your listing or your identity won’t exist across Mobile Local Social.
• Avoid fragmented listings.

Word of mouth is still important

• 83 percent of online shoppers say they are interested in sharing info about their purchase with people they know.
• 90 percent of customers trust recommendations from people they know and 70 percent trust the opinion of unknown users
• Consumers say word of mouth is the #1 influence on Electronics and Apparel purchases
• Many local searchers still considering multiple businesses. 45 percent of consumers say they have products in mind, but don’t conduct a local search for specific businesses.

For more information on Mobile Local Social, here is a post from June from SMX Advanced on how Mobile Local Social drives sales

Does your branding kick ass?

If your branding doesn’t kick ass, then guess what… people may not connect with your company. If you don’t “speak” to your targeted demographic, then your company is going to have a hard time maximizing it’s potential, until this issue is solved. Maybe your brand needs a refresh? Go to a crowdsourcer site like 99Designs or Crowdspring

Does your product kick ass?

Now, your product doesn’t have to be 100% at launch, but you still want it to kick ass. Hear me out. When Apple launched the first Macintosh computer in 1984, it was 100% what they wanted. They were able to fix issues and make it better. But it worked. Launch quick and see if it has wings before you put 100s or 1000s of hours into a product that may have legs. You don’t know if the legs are gonna crawl or run, until you test. But, the main idea has to kick ass. It can eventually get to 100%, but it has to kick ass, and it has to grab people by the balls. If your product doesn’t kick ass… then it’s a fail.

Does your marketing kick ass?

What decade is your marketing stuck in? Are you still paying for dumb marketing? It’s 2011. You should be spending at least 25% of your marketing budget on interactive. And if you get a few key salaried people to do it for you, perhaps it is more. But you have to really think about Inbound Marketing, instead of Outbound Marketing. Are you trying to contact them with radio ads, or TV ads… or yellow pages? Maybe a die-cut piece of shit brochure or direct mail piece that sucks and wastes money and doesn’t kick ass. Read this: The State of Inbound Marketing 2011 PDF from Hubspot. Learn to kick ass.

Do your sales kick ass?

If not, you are missing some of these other principles of ass kicking. And your sales team needs these in their tool set. Now, if you kick ass at all of these other things… and if you have hired competent sales people and given them training on your products… and they are excited about it… then they will be more kick ass. So, do some testing, figure out where your weakest links are… and try to turn those into a strength, by hiring the right candidate for the culture that you are hiring for.

Does your SEO kick ass?

How are you doing your marketing? Do you know the most popular keyword or phrase that people type into Google to find your type of business? Have you claimed your Google Places / Maps listing for your business? Is your business information connected accurately with the main local search ecosystem? Have your researched your industry and competitor keywords? Do you know about your competitors backlinks? How many do they have? How many do YOU have? Have you checked your Mozrank? How is your page rank or domain authority scores looking? Have you ran a website grader report on your site?

Does your social media kick ass?

Do you own all of your usernames for your business? If not, you need to. Go to KnowEm and type in your business name and have them mass register all of your social channels. Take care of that. Do you monitor your online reputation? Do you hear who is talking to you on Twitter or Facebook? Do you interact with them? Do you engage them? Also, do you track your interactions with key influencers? Here is a pretty handy tool out there to help you manage social, Sprout Social and here is one that helps you manage your tweets, BufferApp. It finds the optimal times for you to send out your message, so you get more retweets. It kicks ass.

Does your culture kick ass?

Do your employees want to stick around and kick ass? Or do they go home as soon as 5pm goes off… are they gone? Do people hate coming to your work? Do they complain a lot? Is your boss becoming a curmudgeon? If so, that doesn’t kick ass. You want to have a place where people love coming to work, where they are happy and proud to work. A place with a big ideas. A place that focuses on adding value and finding ways to make things mo’ betta.

Does your team kick ass?

If you hire great people, and continue to hire more brilliant people, you will eventually win. Can they execute on the strategies? Do you need to hire smarter engineers? Do you need to hire more entrepreneurial minded people? The really, really good talent is hard to pay for, at times. So, figure it out. Quit bitching and start doing. If you have to, get some motivated interns in, if you can’t afford to pay top dollar. Do your best to assemble a team that has such passion for technology, knowledge and a love for continual education. Shit changes quick in tech. Do you have a team hungry enough to learn how to maximize the tools to make the products kick more ass?

Does your CEO kick ass?

Do you have a solid leader at the helm of your company? This is important. You need to have someone with vision and insight. They need to love the company and have passion for the ideas. I think what happens to a lot of companies that have too many investors, you have to worry about how much profit you are going to make, and then the consumers end up getting fucked over because of corporate greed. Is your CEO a greedy bastard? Do they make $18 million dollar bonuses and golden parachutes? That doesn’t kick ass. Not for the people, who are the cogs that make the engine work. A good CEO has the best interest of the company, but also has the best interest for the consumers and clients. Make things better. Don’t suck. Kick ass. Your CEO has to kick ass. When you CEO stops kicking ass, it may be time to freshen up the resume.

Do your finances kick ass?

It’s my belief that if you can build something that kicks ass, that has decent sales, that has fully optimized SEO and a great presence on social media it can kick ass. Does your company have kick ass culture and does your CEO kick ass… well, if your product kicks ass… and the other stuff kicks ass, finding an investor will be easy as shit.

There are many ways that your business can kick ass or suck ass, and you have to a plan of action in play to make sure that you stay at the top of your game. If things aren’t where they need to be, now is the time to move the rudder towards kickassness. If you wait to long to make these changes, then one of your competitors may kick your ass!

As U2 never actually said, “In the name of kicking ass… ♪♫ one more, in the name of kicking ass.”

Behind every screen is a person, who wants to connect. We spend hours and hours of each day behind computer screens, mobile devices and televisions.  Sometimes, they are so concerned about connecting in the screens, that they miss can out on real life offline experiences.

“Now is the moment of power.”, or “Manawa“.as they say in the ancient Polynesian philosophy called Huna. I rarely mix my spiritual thinking with my tech thoughts, but in this case, I feel that it is important. Recognize that we only have this moment, and that your walking around with your face in your phone is fucking annoying.

Now, is the only time that we have, so if you are around real people, interact with them! And if you are driving, put down your phone, at LEAST OCCASIONALLY.

How many of you have had the opportunity to go to conferences and meet the amazing people that you’ve connected with online? For those fortunate enough to go to the cool conferences, you can be amazed finally putting a face to the avatar and a real life connection with people you “met” online, 1000s of miles apart.

It’s about the people. At one of these conferences, Web 2.0 expo in San Francisco, I met the director of emerging media from 360i in NYC. We had a great face to face real life discussion. It was funny seeing most people walk around tweeting, updating statuses and texting and not connecting with people right near them. But, we kept in touch. BTW, this guy is the person who hooked me up with my Google+ invitation. [He may have given me my Google Wave invitation, as well, but I won't hold that against him.]

Tonight, I saw one of Tamar Weinberg’s posts, [another TW, I might add], and she mentioned how she met someone offline, and has been helping him online… which is awesome of her. But, he has been too busy tweeting and checking in on foursquare… and not responding to her job assistance. Plus, the dude is currently unemployed. Yeah, he is too concerned about growing his Klout score so he can get a job, than actually talking to someone who is trying to hook him up with a job.

When we blog and tweet and socialize/whore ourselves out there in the interwebz, it’s important to remember, that it’s not the platform, the tools or your online influence score that matter. It is the connecting with the people. Not to sell them, but to authentically connect. To help. To share. To teach. To care.

We are on this Earth for a very short period of time. Let’s not waste it on worrying about Klout scores and what our social stock is worth… let’s connect and help add value where we can.

Are you authentic? Do you care about the people? Because, that’s what matters.

Have you ever wanted to take a Facebook Fast? And just delete your account? Well, I just finished a 30 day Facebook Fast from my Facebook Wall. I went into my privacy settings and shut down the wall.

I always have to quantify the value of something to my life. And it seems to me that Facebook is serving less and less of an importance, and Google is gaining rapidly gaining even more importance and influence. With Google+ being all the rage, I decided to spend less time reminiscing with friends on Facebook, and started meeting some more industry badasses on Google+.

You know, like many others, I’d love to just deactivate my Facebook account. However, due to my profession as an internet marketing provocateur, that’s hard to do. I run a few Facebook fan pages and am an admin for a few others. There is no way that I can completely deactivate my Facebook… but what I could do, was eliminate access to my full wall so that I wouldn’t feel forced to entertain my facebook friends with my uber wit and hilarity. The cloak of invisibility would be my Facebook face to the world.

One lesson that I gleaned from my Facebook Fast, is that I noticed I would check Facebook much less often. I would end up reading many more worthwhile articles and industry resources. Less time was spent reading about someone you met once at a event or worse reading personal updates from people who you don’t even know.

Another things that I learned during my Facebook Wall FastWell, apparently, if you shut your wall down for any period of time, people think you are only blocking them. I received numerous messages from people who were insulted and who thought that I had blocked them from my wall. So, if you take off your wall, remember, people will probably think you are an asshole. Some of them are probably right.

When I would check-in somewhere on Foursquare, the updates or whatever were posted to my friends news stream… they could see the update, but not make any comments or engage me in anyway, aside from private messages. When you change the privacy settings for your wall, you can still comment on other people statuses, photos, etc. and on fanpages. Which I did.

Who knows, I may decide to permanently get rid of my wall… and now at least if people saw this post… they know where I went. Don’t take it personally. It’s Facebook I hate, not you. But don’t feel bad Facebook, I kind of hate Google, too. Let’s put it like this, though. True story. My phone autocorrected “Facebook”… into “feces book”. I tend to agree with that.

How to Quit Facebook Without Quitting Facebook

Go to the upper right corner Click – Account > Privacy Settings. Here you are gonna look for a option to uncheck “Uncheck Enable”

Also, make sure that “permission to comment on your posts” setting is changed over to Only Me.
.

Now, that I’ve been using Google+ for 3 weeks, I’ve noticed my online behavior evolving. Whenever I’m reading an article by some brilliant thought leader, writer, journalist, marketer, blogger… whoever, I immediately go type their name into Google+ to see if I can add them to some circle, so that I can begin learning from them and interacting with them.

My concern is when corporations and brands enter Google+, that it doesn’t taint the G+ experience. I’m thinking that extensions will be built to help filter the noise, if need be, and we can mute whoever we don’t want in our stream of G+ consciousness.

Connecting intimately with these people, makes the internet feel like an industry conference or something where side conversations happen all over the place. I’m sure that many business deals, friendships and partnerships will sprout as a direct result of the interactions with Google+.

There is a goldmine of opportunities for those paying attention. Personally, I’ve had conversations with the brightest minds in technology, journalism, SEO, social media and I’ve had hangouts with Michael Dell, Mike Blumenthal and other awesome, brilliant people. This isn’t a social media site, this is a connection engine. None of this is possible without Google+ ability to comment and circle these thought leaders.

If you haven’t given Google+ it’s due time, yet. I highly recommend it. You may just meet your next business partner, land your next job or come up with the next world changing idea with someone you interact via Google+. So, anyone you find online who appeals to you, look them up on Google+, and begin to get to know them. Then begin to find ways to add value in the discussions that see them having.

Boom. The science of G+. Circle. Listen. Add Value. Communicate. Influence. It’s as easy as that.

Personally, I’ve been doing SEO since the late 90′s and many iterations of what’s good practice and bad practice have changed as the industry has evolved. The industry is about to evolve once again.

How will Google+ affect SEO? Well, Google will know have social data from you and all of your friends. They will be able to see who you like, what interests you like and what content you most share. Once they take this information into account, your search results will begin to certainly change. To keep track of all of the implications of Google+ and all of the new ways this could affect the SEO industry, it is a good idea to follow all of the top thought-leaders in SEO.

These are the brightest minds in SEO, currently, that are currently on Google+. [it will periodically updated as more SEOs get their butts on Plus.]

1. Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz
2. Danny Sullivan of SearchEngineLand
3. Search Engine Land G+ page
4. Dev Basu of Powered by Search
5. Matt McGee of SearchEngineLand
6. Andrew Shotland of Local SEO Guide
7. Matt Cutts of Google
8. Mike Blumenthal of Blumenthals
9. Carter Maslan of Google Local / Places
10. John Heard of SearchEngineNews.com and Beyond Engineering
11. David Mihm of Get Listed
12. Andy Beal of Trackur
13. Bryson Meunier of Resolution Media
14. Lee Odden of TopRank Marketing
15. Dean Bairaktaris of TheDudeDean
16. William Slawski of SEO by the Sea
17. Ann Smarty of SEOSmarty.com
18. Jill Whalen of High Rankings
19. Travis Wright of Advangel Interactive & MobileLocalSocial
20. Greg Sterling of Screenwerk and SearchEngineLand
21. Barry Schwartz of Rusty Brick
22. Michael Gray of Atlas Web Service
23. Lisa Barone of Outspoken Media
24. Rae Hoffman-Dolan of Sugarrae and MFE Interactive
25. Don Campbell of Expand2Web
26. Bruce Clay of Bruce Clay, Inc.
27. Aaron Wall of SEOBook
28. Brian Carter of FanReach
29. Anne Haynes of Integrated Web Technologies Group
30. Martin Maybruck of LocalOnlineMarketingTips
31. Taylor Pratt of RavenTools
32. Melanie Nathan of CanadianSEO
33. Kate Morris of Distilled
34. Jeff Gold of Marriott Intl
35. Drew Hubbard of The Search Agency
36. Mitch Monsen of WhiteFireSEO
37. Joanna Butler of Search Engine Chocolate
38. Mark Murnahan of YourNew.com
39. Michelle Robbins of ThirdDoorMedia
40. S Evan Fishkin of Slingshot SEO
41. Ian Lurie an Internet Marketing Curmudgeon
42. Bryan Eisenberg of BryanEisenberg.com
43. Casey Markee of SearchEngineNews and MediaWyse
44. Michael Black of SEOMike
45. Dan Thies of SEO Braintrust
46. Bill Hartzer of StandingDog
47. Jon Henshaw of Raven Tools
48. Martijn Beijk of OnetoMarket
49. Gaby Flatt of Vero Group
50. Jon Maxson of iCrossing
51. Amit Singhal a Search Geek at Google
52. Brent Payne of The Tribune Company
53. David Harry of Reliable SEO
54. John Shehata of ABC News
55. Dana Lookadoo of Yo! Yo! SEO
56. Courtney Seiter of Raven Tools
57. Brent Csutoras of BlueGlass Interactive
58. Lisa Myers of Verve Search
59. Stacey Hood
60. Polyana Ferreira De Oliveira, a Brazilian SEO
61. Will Scott of Search Influence
62. Steve Plunkett of Rockfish
63. Kristi Hagen of PlanetOcean
64. Todd Mintz of SEMpdx
65. Joanna Lord of SEOMoz
66. Janet Driscoll Miller of Search Mojo
67. Neil Sargisian of Jedi Web
68. Mike Ramsey of Nifty Marketing
69. Robert Patterson of MMG Worldwide
70. Dan Shure of Evolving SEO
71. Elisabeth Osmeloski of SearchEngineLand
72. Christine Churchill of KeyRelevance
73. Steve Adkins of SteveAdkinsSEO
74. Greg Boser of GregBoser.com
75. Debra Mataler of Alliance-Link
76. Melanie Mitchell of Digitas
77. Pamela Lund of BlueGlass
78. CK Chung of WEBOSIS
79. Susan Esparza of Bruce Clay
80. Michael Dorausch Local Search Speaker
81. Aaron Chronister of JunkBoxx Media
82. Adam Audette of Audette Media
83. Vanessa Fox of Nine By Blue
84. Dennis Goedegebuure – SEO of eBay
85. Rhea Drysdale of Outspoken Media
86. Kimberly Krause Berg of Cre8pc
87. Eric Enge of Stone Temple Consulting
88. Ross Hudgens of MediaBoost
89. Mohit Maheshwari of NMG Interactive
90. Julie Joyce of Link Fish Media
91. Todd Nemet of Nine By Blue
92. Ross Dunn of StepForth Web Marketing
93. Dave Snyder of BlueGlass
94. Loren Baker of BlueGlass
95. Jordan Kastelar of BlueGlass
96. Marcus Tandler of MediaDonis
97. Bob Rains of Let’s Make it Awesome
98. Selena Narayanasamy of BlueGlass
99. Rebecca Kelley of SoMuchSmoke / This or That
100. Stacy Williams of Prominent Placement
101. Keri Morgret of SEOMoz
102. AJ Kohn of Sphinn & Blind Five Year Old
103. Rob Watts of RobWatts Inc
104. Matt Siltala of Dream Systems Media
105. David Wallace of SearchRank
106. Hugo Guzman of Zeta Marketing
107. Simon Heseltine, Director of Search at AOL
108. Jessica Bowman of SEOinHouse.com
109. Todd Malicoat of StuntDubl
110. Bill Hunt of Back Azimuth Consulting
111. Stoney deGeyter of Pole Position Marketing
112. Dixon Jones of MajesticSEO
113. Brett Tabke of Pubcon
114. Laura Thieme of Bizwatch Search
115. Kelena Jordan of Search Engine College
116. Joost de Valk of Yoost
117. Will Reynolds of SEER Interactive
118. Troy Reddington, SEO for FatWallet
119. Horia Neagu of SEO-Wolf

Add more below in the comments or in the Google+ Stream and they will get added.

Thanks!

Mine is https://plus.google.com/u/0/107496519574681170790/posts.

How in the hell is anyone going to remember that? Zero percent chance of remembering that. Ok? Sure, Google+ is still in beta, but a vanity URL would be quite handy. Et voilà! Here is the remedy for what ails you. Gplus.to, the unofficial short vanity URL for Google Plus.

All you need is your Google+ ID, which is the long string of numbers that currently makes the URLs so ugly, to get your short URL. This ID is located when you click on your profile picture or username. Go to GPlus.to and plug in your desired username, and you’re good to go.

If you don’t have you G+ invite, yet…

If you do, hit me up! http://gplus.to/teedubya

Google+ seems like a “reaction” to Twitter/Facebook. But are you starting to see the ways that Google+ just makes Google a better, more integrated set of services? Google already has top-notch products in key categories–photos, videos, office productivity, blogs, Chrome, Android, maps and (duh) search. Can you start to see/imagine what Google+ does for Gmail? Picassa? Youtube? Not to mention search? The +1 system that Google now has control of (unlike Facebook Likes) can really influence and change the nature of their search.

My original vision for MS was that everything got better when it was social–so I tried to build all the super popular things used on the web (blogs, music, classifieds, events, photos) on top of MySpace’s social layer. When Yahoo launched 360, MSN launched Spaces, and Google launched Okrut, I was shakin in my boots. But quickly I saw that it’s really hard to layer in social to features after the fact. At MySpace we had the luxury of having social first, and building the products on top of that layer. Then I choked and Facebook realized that vision.

But Google+ really seems to be primed to make good on that original premise–that everything gets better when its social. And unlike FB, Twitter, or anyone else, Google already has the most advanced set of products. And if I can clearly see where this is headed, then I think what we are getting is a much better Google. Does that kill FB/Twitter? Who cares? I’d use all 3, but more importantly, I’ll be using Google products I never used, or use them in new, better ways I never used them before.

Oh yah and I love my Google TV

Silicon Valley is all about creating the next big thing.

The trio that helped turn Twitter into an Internet sensation has joined forces for another go-around at internet glory. But, how this affect Twitter?

Biz Stone said Tuesday he’s leaving his full-time gig at Twitter to resurrect the Internet incubator Obvious Corp. with Evan Williams , co-founder and former chief executive of Twitter, and Jason Goldman, former head of product at Twitter left Twitter last year. Williams stepped down as CEO in October, andDick Costello took over as the CEO of Twitter. Williams asked Costello to take over, as he wanted to focus on Twitter product development. If you recall, Williams was also the founder of Blogger, which he sold to Google for a rumored $20 million.

The timing on this is interesting as Biz has mentioned having troubles with Twitter’s “coziness” with the U.S. State Dept. Biz Stone sat before a crowd at the Aspen Ideas Festival today and declared that Twitter had to remain a “neutral” technology and cast aspersions on Twitter’s long-noted relationship with the State Department.

Here is Stone’s statement as transcribed by The Atlantic:

The thing we’re facing now is that, you know, the State Department is suddenly really cozy with Twitter because they are like, “Oh wow, we were trying to get this done with AK-47s and you guys got it done with Tweets. Can we be friends?” But I maintain that it has to be a neutral technology because there are different forms of democracy. You don’t want your technology, you don’t want Twitter, to look like it’s simply a tool for spreading US democracy around the world. You want it to help for good, but you don’t want it to look like you’re in the pocket of the US government. So we try to speak out and say that they have no access to our decision-making.

Stone is teaming up with Twitter co-founder Evan Williams and former Twitter head of product Jason Goldman to start Obvious. That is the name of the original company that hatched the idea of Twitter. Stone first started working with Williams and Goldman in 2003 at Google while working on Blogger.

The website of Obvious Corp. is not clear on what the company will be doing but it sounds like an incubator, accelerator or investor of some kind.

“The Obvious Corporation makes systems that help people work together to improve the world. The proliferation of technology can seem superfluous, but with the right approach, technology can benefit individuals, organizations, and society. We are relaunching the company that originally incubated Twitter with a high level of commitment to making a difference and developing products that matter.”

It does sound like Obvious will have a social component to how it approaches starting new products and companies:

“In more than a decade of developing large scale systems on the Internet, we’ve never been more excited than right now. The possibility to reach and connect expansive numbers of people fundamentally changes the nature of what’s possible when it comes to building businesses on the Internet. Also, there’s room for innovation in how businesses measure success and more meaningful definitions of ambition.”

Stone is the last Twitter co-founder to leave a full-time slot at Twitter. Meanwhile, co-founder Jack Dorsey is still chairman at Twitter, while he is also CEO at payments start-up Square.

So, Jack Dorsey is the one who will hold the candle for Twitter’s future. Will the democratic torch be extinguished by the State Dept? Those of us who love twitter hope that it remains a tool for freedom around the world, and not just a tool for the State Dept.

Best of luck to Biz, Ev and Goldman. Stay true to your values. And knock another one out of the park.

I help businesses be found online. I need to know what in the hell Google is doing with Local SEO and Google Places. Local marketing changes monthly. So, I have a Google Android phone, an iPad, an iPod and a couple Windows PCs. This is so I can keep up with and learn about each specific OS and what it has to offer. We can then figure out how it can be used to optimize local businesses marketing dollars.

A Foot in the Android World: Samsung Charge

I just upgraded my phone with Verizon. And my first choice was the Droid X2. I had it for 24 hours and hated it. So, I took it back to the store. Verizon has a 14 day return policy. $35 fee. So, I went with the Samsung Charge. I would have preferred the LG Optimus 2x… but Verizon doesn’t have that one. And the Revolution doesn’t quite measure up.

Anyway, The Motorola Droid was my first real “smartphone”. I had a Blackberry 3300 but that was more of a feature phone. I consider a smartphone, one that has a cool app store. And let’s face it. Blackberry sucks. Unless you really, really like the keyboard of the BB. But, I digress.

iOS iAWESOME.

My first Apple device that I ever played on was in 5th grade in 1985 on an Apple 2c. We played Oregon Trail and Lenonade stand on it. After my school responsibilities as one of “the safety patrol”, I logged onto one, and thought I was hacking into Russia on the Apple 2c that wasn’t connected to any network. #winning.

Fast forward to high school, I used a Mac to construct the monthly newspaper. Then, no more Apples for me… until the iPod classic came out. I still have it, and it has tons of good educational stuff on it. I listen to little music, I prefer the humming of the sounds of my own #awesome #thoughts to be distracted by music or TV… although sometimes, I do love to jam. I play the guitar and the drums at very mediocre level, as well. #nottryingtobrag

Then, I got an iPod Touch around the time that I got the Motorola Droid. I wanted to know what was going on over there with that cool Apple OS, but I needed the SEO knowledge of Android. Then, I got an iPad… soon, I’ll get an iPad 2. I love them. The iPad has only crashed a couple of times, but that is normally because of some faulty app. And it seems just as fast today, as it was the day that I got it. I’d recommend one to anyone. The iPad2 is very thin. Gotta love that.

Windows 7 PC Comfortability

I’ve had a windows PC since the mid-90s. It’s difficult to get off of it completely. I’d probably already have a Mac PC if they weren’t sofa king expensive. But, technically, my PC that I bought in the mid 90s are about as much as a MacBook today. Maybe I will someday… but $500 PC sounds so much more reasonable. And with tablets now, I find myself using PC’s less and less.

It would probably be more convenient in some ways if I were totally compatible with all of my media operating systems, but for now, I like to keep my feet in all of the worlds, because I can learn about them, and look for opportunities within those ecosystems.

This appears to be a relatively new phenomenon. There are several sites out there that gauge our social influence. They take our actions on the top social media sites, sees who interacts with us the most, sees which content we are sharing, see who is sharing our content and comes up with a composite score based on your actions, social influence and general online awesomeness.

They each take into consideration things such as:

• How influential are the people who @ message you?
• How influential are the people who retweet you?
• How influential are the people who follow you?
• How influential are the people who list you?
• How influential are the people who follow the lists you are on?

Each site does tend to measure the social influence a bit differently.

Klout Ranks Social Influencers

Klout was one of the first companies to begin ranking social influence.

According to their definition, Klout is defined as:

The Klout Score is the measurement of your overall online influence. The scores range from 1 to 100 with higher scores representing a wider and stronger sphere of influence. Klout uses over 35 variables on Facebook and Twitter to measure True Reach, Amplification Probability, and Network Score.

True Reach is the size of your engaged audience and is based on those of your followers and friends who actively listen and react to your messages. Amplification Score is the likelihood that your messages will generate actions (retweets, @messages, likes and comments) and is on a scale of 1 to 100. Network score indicates how influential your engaged audience is and is also on a scale from 1 to 100. The Klout score is highly correlated to clicks, comments and retweets.

Empire Avenue is a Social Influence Stock Market

Empire Avenue is the Social Stock Market, where you can Grow your Social Capital online. Here’s how it works, you get to discover valuable, interesting, cool, fun people online and then based scores or share price, invest virtual currency in their profiles by buying shares in our Social Stock Market. It’s an interesting concept. The simple act of buying shares in someone you think is worth your currency, you will create new connections and as people invest in you, grow your own social influence within the game.

Empire Avenue is what you make of it. Empire Avenue can be used as a complement to your social networking, as a way to meet and make great new connections, find individuals who are engaged in each of their networks and as a way to connect online. If you’re new to social media, Empire Avenue can even be a great training tool – a fun way to discover the power of social networks, find out how strong your social media efforts are and how to make your online presence even more effective by growing your social influence.

Triberr Creates Groups of Social Influencers

Basically, its a syndication network. You can build a group of influential people, who like what you like. And everyone agrees to share everyone elses content in their Twitter following.

To join, you must be invited. Which doesn’t look to hard. Seems lots of people are eager to “build their tribe” (especially given that then you will broadcast their content to your following – everyday). Who knew that people would be so eager to promote themselves?

From Triberr.com:

Every time you publish a new post, Triberr sends it to everyone in your tribe and they tweet it to their followers. You do the same for everyone in your tribe. All this is automated of course.

Creating a tight tribe with like-minded people has an interesting impact on the other social influence ranking systems such as Klout and EmpireAvenue. You can literally see the effect on your rankings. I posted a blog post earlier in the week, and my Klout went up 2 points in 4 days. The traffic to the blog post was much higher than normal.

Social Influence is very real.

People gauge your worthiness as a marketer or thought leader by the information that you share, and by who you are connected to, and who shares your information. Some people even put their social influence scores on their resume!

Razorfish also put together a Social Influence Marketing Report, that is worth checking out. There are becoming more and more companies that measure social influence by all of your social accounts, and some that just measure certain networks. Like TwitterGrader.com just measures your twitter account. And PeerIndex does some of the same things that Klout does. So, the space is gaining attention.

Have fun out there, and make sure to invest in my social influence capital on EmpireAvenue (e)TEEDUBYA. But, when my social influence scores start to drop, don’t be afraid to “Sell, Mortimer!! SELLLLLLL!!”

Brian Solis has a great writeup on this topic of social influence. How do you increase social influence? Don’t think about the score