Bharati Ahuja

The Art Of Commenting On Blogs

Blogs are usually created for sharing , expressing and voicing certain thoughts, opinions and information to reach out to more and more people , comments on the blog prove that this exercise has been fruitful and has a multiplier effect on the outreach.

Blog comments are the most valuable UGC (User Generated Content) which benefits the blog as well as the commenter. It works both ways , the blogger gets the opinions and view points of the readers which initiate a discussion, if the discussion has been meaningful and highlights the importance of the topic then it makes the blog post a valuable resource on the topic.

Such kind of regular value added comments from regular visitors which create interest in other visitors also help build a community. The success of any blog is based on the regular readers it has and how many additional visitors become regular readers on a regular basis.

No doubt the blog posts have to be interesting enough to generate that interest but to maintain that interest level the blogger too has to reply to every comment to make the person who wrote the comment feel that he was heard and what he shares regarding the topic is a value added content for the blog.

The back link you get from the comment thread may or may not pass on the link juice. I shall not mention the core SEO benefits derived from commenting as I think it is not ethical but when you share links in your comments do it from the perspective of adding content value to it or purely for the purpose of sharing the content on the link shared which according to you is correlated and will help the readers in some way or the other.

There are certain things to keep in mind while commenting on other blogs:

Never just post a comment for the sake of getting a link back. It is unethical and also resorts to comment spamming.

Share valuable info. related about the topic or share your opinion about it.

Reply to other people’s comments if you think have something to add to.

Do not make your comments too long so that they end up superseding the blog post itself.

If you think that your comment is worth being shared to other beyond the community of that blog tweet the link on Twitter or share it on social media. This again subtly benefits the blog too.

Comment only on topic for which you are passionate about or have knowledge about.

Incase you are posting a comment on a blog post about which you do not have Much knowledge, you can even ask a question in the comments section.

Be honest and authentic about who you are and if possible allow your logo or picture also to be displayed

By having such a commenting policy and approach your web presence can reap the benefits of promoting your brand, having a voice in the selected community, have indirect SEO and marketing benefits, reach out to new communities beyond your blog and search engine presence and also manage to get additional direct and referral traffic.

URL Shorteners And Anchor Text

We all know the importance of using URL Shorteners especially when we have to tweet a link on Twitter here there is a limitation of 140 characters. As we all know that social media signals are being integrated with search it is very important to find out if the shortened URL is passing on the SEO benefit behind it.

Yes we know that Twitter and other social media sites have a ‘No Follow’ attribute to links but that does not negate the importance of sharing links.Despite the No Follow attribute all the links shared on Twitter are being saved and recorded and there is also a twitter search by which these links can be found by people . Hence it is very important that the shorteners pass on the link juice to the destination URL.

So the question is which URL Shortener should be used?

In order to get all your links shared on Twitter be found in one place I suggest registering with www.trunk.ly which automagically collects links you share on Facebook, Twitter and Delicious, ... and makes them searchable.

According to me this is the most important spade work to be done by every SEO for each of their client Twitter accounts. As this will be the database or index of links shared on Social media which maybe and can be used by search engines in the coming future when their search algorithms are updated with the complete integration of search and social.

You can find our Trunk.ly presence on http://trunk.ly/Webprotech/

Bing Searches Hit The 30% Mark In The US Market

It’s the first time Microsoft has captured this large a market share of the search world. The kind of qualitative changes Bing has been coming up with on the Bing Webmaster Tools and local business portal it clearly indicates that Microsoft is serious about search.

According to analysis firm Experian Hitwise.

As SEOs if we have been focusing on search engine optimization rather than Google Optimization the efforts put in all this time are going to start bearing results. As I can already see in the analytics for the sites managed by us the organic traffic from Bing is picking up.

If you have been adding your sites to Bing Webmaster Tools also and have been focusing on ranking on Bing too you are in a Win-Win situation. Well I am all smiles and welcome the competition as this will make the search scene more qualitative and innovative and will give us the nutritive food for thought and the true challenge for genuine SEOs.

The international Panda update of Google, the increase in the market share for Bing, Bing’s local business Portal Launch and improved Bing Webmaster Tools are making the search industry come of age and gain its true place on the online marketing scenario.

The Next Big Evolution Of The Web : The Data Explosion And Open Data

In one of our previous articles http://blog.webpro.in/2011/03/game-dynamics-and-influence-layer-of.html we spoke about the influence layer of the social scenario on the web. The next big concern is the volume of personal and general data which is being shared across the social media sites and other platforms on the web.

In the following videos Vivek Wadhwa (@wadhwa) speaks about the availability of data about each person on the web. Its pros and cons and how it can be used to make the web a better place and how it can be used efficiently and more effectively.

Today your personal records, health records, financial health,the personal choices you make on the web, which sites you visit, with whom you interact,etc. is all being recorded on the web. The questions who owns this data, who can use this data and how it can be used are all valid questions cropping up because of easy access to someone’s personal data and preferences.

He also adds that You may think that the U.S. leads in information collection. But the most ambitious project in the world is happening in India. Its government is gathering demographic data, fingerprints, and iris scans from of all its 1.2 billion residents. This will lead to the creation of the largest, most complex identity database in the world.

What To Do When Your Content is Being Copied ?

Google can do a fairly good job of knowing the origin of the content but incase your content has been uploaded by someone else by manipulating the time stamp then :

1. Send a warning email telling them to remove the content.

2. Send A DMCA Notice.

3. Do A Spam Report.

4. Write a blogpost and share it on Social Media.

What Is DMCA?
The DMCA is a United States copyright law which implements two 1996 WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) treaties. It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services that are used to circumvent measures that control access to copyrighted works (commonly known as DRM) and criminalizes the act of circumventing an access control, even when there is no infringement of copyright itself. It also heightens the penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet.

What Is DRM ?
Digital rights management (DRM) is an umbrella term that refers to access control technologies used by publishers and copyright holders to limit usage of digital media or devices. It may also refer to restrictions associated with specific instances of digital works or devices. To some extent, DRM overlaps with copy protection, but DRM is usually applied to creative media (music, films, etc.) whereas copy protection typically refers to software.

What Is IP Delivery And How You Can Use It?

IP based delivery is serving content to users based on their IP address. Serving different content to users from different countries or locations is not cloaking and is very much a white hat technique. Cloaking is showing different content to users and different content to the search engine bots which is not as per the Google guidelines.

The reason for varied content targeted based on IP address could be to display region specific Ads, varying costs for shipping as per the location, change the language as per the location or even different discount rates as per location.

The following 2 videos explain how Google handles this aspect of IP delivery.

India Wins The ICC World Cup 2011

Wankhede Stadium Mumbai India witnessed the magnificient shot played to hit a six and make India win the World Cup.

Great team spirit, hard work and determination and a humble captain made it all possible. Of course the support of the whole country which is mad after cricket and movies cannot be ruled out.

This was also special for coach Gary Kristen as it was his last day as Indian coach.

Thank You Team India For Making Us Feel Proud And Happy:

The Wise Words By The Captain :

The Team Sentiment :

+ 1 Recommendations : Google’s Way Of Offering The Facebook Like Button

Google has always focused on the relevance factor of the search results. It adds that relevance is about relationships as well as words on webpages.Google has gone a step ahead on the social scenario by adding a +1 button to the search results which enable you to recommend a search result right on the SERPs itself.

The +1 button will appear next to each search result

If you cannot see the +1 button then visit Google Experimental, where you can select an option to force it to appear in your searches.

When you click +1 you publicly give something your stamp of approval or recommend it. Your +1's can help friends, contacts, and others on the web find the best stuff when they search.

SHOW +1's

In order to +1 things, you first need a public Google profile. This helps people see who recommended that tasty recipe or great campsite. When you create a profile, it's visible to anyone and connections with your email address can easily find it.

Your +1’s are stored in a new tab on your Google profile. You can show your +1’s tab to the world, or keep it private and just use it to personally manage the ever-expanding record of things you love around the web.

View The Video For More Details :

With this Google I think has added the influence factor of game dynamics to search results.

These + 1 buttons may soon be available for websites too.

Game Dynamics And The Influence Layer Of The Social Scenario On The Web

Seth Priebatsch spoke about’ The game layer on top of the world’ on ted.com last year.

He says that the last decade was the decade where the social network was built, this decade is where the Game Framework will be built.

The Game Framework according to him is the motivation tools that influence behavior. The loyalty schemes on websites and other techniques used to influence the people to take certain decisions are actually game dynamics in action.

One of the following slides that he shared was as follows:

It says that the last decade was about connections which was enabled by the Facebook Graph whose construction has reached a peak and a saturation point. The next decade will have a focus on the influencing behavior for which the construction does not have any set foundations and the work has just begun.

I totally agree to this point. If we correlate it to our SEO and other SEM campaigns for websites we can see a clear climb to this next evolutionary step.

When we work on our landing page dynamics to make a person take a decision to buy a certain product – we are try to influence his decision.

When the search engines integrate the social results in the SERPs it is kind of influencing the decision of the visitor.

When the most retweeted post becomes the most read post , it surley says a lot about the influence factor.

When we talk about posting a tweet, a blog post or a comment at the right time so that we have a maximum reach by keeping in mind all the continent time zones (Like the best time to post is when there are maximum users online i.e when people from Asia, America And Europe are online together) and thereby achieve the set goal we are working on having a better influence.

The latest which I just came across Man Proposes to Girlfriend via iPad 2 Engraving so you have boyfriends influencing their girlfriends online in a geeky way to say “I Do”

View the video to learn about :

1. How to build the game (Influence) layer ?

2. 4 Game Dynamics which help you to create that layer.

3. Appointment dynamics

4. Influence And Status (Influence Through Social Pressure)

5. Progression Dynamics (You move thru progressively in a granular fashion eg. Linkedin)

6. Communal Discovery (Everyone has to work together to achieve something . The communities which build around a blog are a classic example)

Its all about mind share and influencing people and getting influenced by people once you are on the social scenario of the web. Klout.com which analyzes and rates your Twitter account measures and determines ‘The Standard For Influence’ and scores accordingly. So, we surely are at the infancy stage of the influence dynamics which is used in Games .

Points To Ponder…

Is life becoming a Game
Or

Life has always been a game but we are learning to play it now more efficiently , effectively and globally?