Thursday, August 30, 2012

Blogging SEO Question

On this blog, there are two widgets that get users to see old articles.

One is the archives-based widget which first takes them to  a URL that involves the term "archive".  For instance:
http://learn-to-market-online116.blogspot.com/2011_10_01_archive.html. Then, by clicking on the article title, you get to the article with a URL that starts with the date:
http://learn-to-market-online116.blogspot.com/2008/12/marketing-plans-for-2009.html .  This is I believe that cannonical url for the content on that page.

Another way of getting to that content is through the tags or categories widget.  So if I click on social bookmarking (4), i get a page titled 'http://learn-to-market-online116.blogspot.com/search/label/social%20bookmarking" which has links through titles to http://learn-to-market-online116.blogspot.com/2010/07/how-many-and-which-social-media-icons.html.

Here's my question: Is one widget any better for SEO than the other? Does having both help or hurt.
Secondly, the URLs all have the date added to them. Is that good or bad? Do I have control over it?


Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Mobile App Advertising Metrics


Mobile App Advertising Metrics

I'm looking for some basic metrics and info on how advertising revenue works for mobile apps.  

- How much does one make by having a company's app listed in my app with a link to the app store? Do people pay for the placement? The Views? The clicks? The purchases?
- What about other types of ads inside apps?

For instance, on the web, I'm familiar with placing ads on my webpages that earn based on:
- total page loads.  So everytime the page loads, or every thousand times is the usual metric, we might earn $2.50. This is called $2.50 CPM. Of course, some ad placements and websites earn a lot more, others earn less. Big vendors are Valueclick and Tribal Fusion.

- pay per click.  On these ads (usually Adsense), we get $0.15 (or whatever) everytime someone clicks on the ad. Over thousands of users and page impressions, this averages out and produces a eCPM (equivalent of a CPM). 

- pay per action. These are the affiliate programs where they pay if the user registers or signs up.  I've stopped using them since I've only found one that out performs (on a eCPM basis) CPM or PPC advertising and generally, I've wasted lots of time trying them.  The one that I use pays $25 per sale on a $49.99 product.

- preroll videos - These videos are embedded at the start of a game or video (or in the middle) and pay on a CPM basis.  Some pay if they just start to roll, others pay only if they are totally viewed. They tend to get really high CPMs.  Say $25

Can anyone summarize how this works, who the vendors are,  and what the numbers might be for childrens' educational mobile apps?

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Inapp promotion but not inapp purchases

In app app promotion
I've noticed on TempleRun that they have an in app promotion of their and other people's apps.

I wonder how this business relationship works?

 Doeducational apps have such things?


Wednesday, August 08, 2012

Messaging on Google Plus

This turns out to be really difficult to figure out. I've found a description of DM on G+.


Google+ does not have a Direct or Private Message feature built in, but there is a slightly less obvious way to send a message that only one other person can receive and read. To send a direct or private message on Google+, just start typing an update in your Stream on Google+ like usual. However, you’ll choose to share that update with only that one person whom you wish to receive your private message. Then, right after you send it, click the triangle in the upper right hand corner of the post you just sent to reveal options for the post, and select Disable reshare. This will prevent the recipient from sharing the private message with anyone else, which would make it not private.
Additionally, Google+ users have the option to include a feature to allow others to email them right from their Google+ profile. Users who enable this function will have a Send an Email button underneath their profile picture. This button can be limited to the user’s circles, extended circles, custom defined users, or anyone on the Web. As a result, you may only have limited ability to send an email to other Google+ users as a way of sending a private or direct message. If you want to enable this function for yourself so others can send you an email via Google+, just visit your own profile and click the blue Edit Profile button, and then click the email button under your photo.
Read more at http://www.lockergnome.com/social/2011/07/11/how-to-send-a-direct-or-private-message-on-google/#uFaBzzCuIdY6B78Z.99

you click someone's name to open the profile and just below the profile photo , there's a "Send an email", which constitutes a DM since you have to have a gmail account to have a g+ profile, and as everything is integrated...NO THERE IS NOT A SEND AN EMAIL LINK UNDER THE PROFILE PICTURE!!!!

My Online Identity

I haven't yet read a good article that helps me understand my many different online identities.  Here's a quick list.

Facebook. I can login to a lot of sites with my Facebook credentials. I'm not sure if this means that my Facebook identity for others to see includes these places that I join? When I join and comment there with Facebook, does it show up on my Facebook wall?

Twitter.  There's very little that I understand about this.

Disqus - I've seen this around for awhile and never really understood it. I just clicked on one of my comments on a blog done through Disqus and found out that all my previous comments, done with the same email, are immediately available. Worse, I sound like a broken record usually making the same point, despite the topic. Embarrassing.

Google - I use to have a gmail account, a blogger account, and a Youtube account. They seem to have somehow merged. So far, they still seem separate from my Google Plus identity but I'm frankly, pretty confused by all of this. These accounts also have control of my Adsense, Adwords, and Analytics accounts.

Wordpress - Some of my wordpress accounts, not sure if they are the hosted or wordpress.com ones, seem to be useful as an identity when I want to comment on blogs.

Other identities such as digg and de.lic.ous and stumble upon and of course, AOL and yahoo, all seem to have disappeared.

Monday, August 06, 2012

The History of Seaching on the Web


Here's a funny thought...History happens!
Initially, to find something on the web, we went to directories. There were many directories. The top ones might have been Yahoo, AOL, and DMOZ.  Then, Google came along with their concept of search. The directories started declining and search dominated with Google, Bing, and Yahoo being the big long-term players.  New trends that have emerged that may or may not turn out to be historical:
1.  Search for Videos. I've heard that Youtube is now the number two place for searches (after Google).
2. Social search. Ask your friends on FB or Twitter or ask on Google and get input from your friends' likes.
Will these overwhelm search as we know it?