Mobile World Congress Barcelona

If you want to be ahead of the game and know what mobiles are coming out and what will be the latest technology to hit the market place, book yourself a ticket for the Mobile World Congress

It will be in Barcelona again and from Feb 15 – Feb 18th next year. So book yourself a ticket for the four days, it is not to be missed. That is of course, if you can afford the price tag. Like most events, it is rather pricey from 2,099 euros for a silver pass.

Last conference saw the preview of the Sony Ericsson’s first 12 mp camera mobile phone which came out in the UK in October. There was the launch of Vodafone’s HTC Magic, Palm PRe, INQ’s INQ1 and Windows Mobile 6.5 launch, all handsets that were then released later this year.

This is the place to be at, if you want to know what mobile phones will be coming out in 2010. Drop me a line and let me know if you are going.

Mobile App meet up

Those in seo and mobile seo may know of an event called meetup.com. I am a newbie to the meetup group and have really enjoyed it. I have been to the London Bloggers meet up on two occasions and it was a great set up.

Yesterday, I went to App Jam which was the first meet up and if this one is anything to go by, I will certainly be going to the others. App Jam was set up by Tania and Laurence Adermi and they organised a whole host of entrepreneurs and developers to talk about their apps.

One of the speakers was Remco van den Elzen who founded Distimo and talked about his experience with apps.
What I found interesting about Distimo is that if offers a free analytics tool called Distimo Monitor which they use to monitor their own apps and those of apps in stores.

There was also a panel where there was a discussion on the subject “To App or not to app”. Apps appear to be the way forward despite the fact that not every phone is a smart phone. This was a good topic to discuss as I mentioned in my last post, mobile app or mobile site people are divided between making their website seo friendly and building an app. An app is more expensive and if you do not have the resources, make sure your site is visible on a mobile browser, but the conclusion was that Apps are the future for companies that want visibility on handsets.

No one mentioned anything about mobile seo which I was surprised about. Perhaps they do not think it is as important as mobile apps. Or maybe mobile apps is seo? However there are more app meet ups to come and this topic will be explored further.

Here is an overview of the topics discussed at the meet up:

40 AppJam: App developer demo include
Name: Marko Balabanovic
Company: Lastminute.com
App: Topsee – compiled by an all-star cast of London bloggers, the real experts on the latest greatest places to go and things to see, the top foodie finds, cool bars, shopping spots and quirky sights. http://www.lastminute.com/site/labs/topsee.html

Name: Morgan Davies
Company: Sauce Digital
App: Flick Football 3D – a unique gesture based football game – played in first person

http://www.saucedigital.com/

Name: Michael Breidenbruecker
Company: Reality Jockey
App: RjDj – ses the power of the new generation personal music players like iPhone and iPod Touch to create mind blowing hearing sensations.

http://more.rjdj.me/what/

Name: Doug Chrisholm
Company: Rippill
App: Rippill – iPhone and mobile apps which utilise social and location-based features

http://www.rippll.com/default.aspx

Name: Neil Stanley
Company: Almex
App: iHi – iHi breaks the ice in any situation with eye catching electronic speech bubbles.

http://www.appstorehq.com/ihi-iphone-75206/app

Name: Kavin Bharti Mittal & Namit Chandha
Company: Kodu
App: Movies Now – Movies Now! makes it easy to find cinemas near you and check showtimes. You can browse the latest movies and watch high quality trailers on the go.

http://www.kodu.co.uk/moviesnow/

Mobile app or Mobile site?

As the growth of the smartphone market continues, more people are now accessing the web on their mobile phones. This has started people asking the question “Should I make my website mobile friendly? and if so,
“What does this involve?”

Mobile seo is the practice of improving a website’s visibility on the mobile phone. It is search engine optimisation on the mobile client.

There are two schools of thought how to make your site mobile seo friendly.

1. Build a mobile site
Some argue you should have a completely different mobile site with a different domain, eg .mobi instead of .com at the end. However, this can be costly and it is harder for people to remember the different URLs. It also removes the risk of creating duplicate content.
Some mobiles such as the iPhone and Blackberry Storm load images the same way as desktop pcs do and so can handle large images so some argue you do not need to have a mobile site.

Traditional SEO methods are valid for “mobile SEO” as mentioned in my previous post How do I start mobile seo There are a couple more steps to make sure the site is mobile friendly.:

* Submit the site to mobile search engines.
* Create dynamic mobile pages by combining your website’s content database with user agent detection. This will avoid the need to transcode pages on the fly as this is very complicated.
* Search results from your mobile you will see nearly the same search results as from a desktop PC. I have tried this and it was true. What does this mean? Google mobile search doesn’t list mobile sites preferentially.

2. Create a mobile app for the site
The other argument is that there are so many different smart phones in the market place and they all have a different browser experience. Therefore it is very difficult to make a mobile site to fit each of the different browsers. It would mean simply testing against all handsets, a very costly job. The solution is to make a mobile application that users can download. The developers create an app and it is handset agnostic, so every mobile phone will treat the application in the same way and the user gets the same rich experience.

Let me know what you have experienced and what you have found works best for you. Mobile seo is still new and developing so the more information about it, the better.

What is on page optimisation?

On page optimisation is one of the first steps in seo and looks at all the elements on the web page that can be used to improve a website’s rankings in the Search engine result pages (SERPs).

On page optimisation looks at the following elements of a page
Title tag
Meta description tag
Meta keywords
alt tags
H1, H2, H3 tags
Internal links
URL structure
Keywords within the content of the page

Before any of this, you have to choose the keywords or keyword phrases for the website. These keywords will be in the URL, the title, meta tags, H1,2,3 tags and alt tags as well as in the body text. You need to be aware of keyword stuffing which is the over use of key terms. To avoid this, you should aim to have a keyword density of 2 – 4% ( or 2 to 4 times per 100 words). This is the number of times the keyterm appears on a webpage (in the code and on the page).

1. Title tag
This is one of the most important elements of on page optimisation and should contain the keywords for that webpage. The keywords should be at the front part of the title tag with branding at the end.
For example on this page the title is:
On page optimisation | seo tips | seojoblogs
The key term I am optimising for is “on page optimisation”

2. Meta description
This is the information that appears in SERPs. It needs to be compelling to encourage those people to click on and visit your site.

3. Meta keywords
These are not as important due to the fact that black hat seo gurus took part in “keyword stuffing” and are not seen as important by Google.

4. Alt tags
Images need to be optimised so that they can be ready by search engines. Spiders only read text. The alt tag should contain text that describes the image and should be short but concise. eg “Nokia 6700 mobile phone.jpg” instead of “DSC344550.jpg”
The image title appears as a tool tip when a user moves the mouse over the image.

5. H1, H2, H3 tags

The H1 tag is the most important of all the H tags on the page. It should contain the keywords for the webpage as it is the headline for that page.
The H2 and H3 tags are the subsections and less important. The Htags are not as important in SEO as once thought according to seomoz but it is still good practice to implment.

6. Internal links
Linking between the different pages of the website with footer links on all pages will improve the visibility of the website for the search engine spiders and the visitors.

7. URL structure
It is important to keep the URL short and optimised with keywords.

Once you have optimised your webpage, you will then need to begin off page optimisation – which includes getting links to your site, optimising press releases and submitting your site to directories. It takes time, but I would strongly suggest looking at the on page optimistion elements first.

iPhone on Orange November 10

The day has come…. O2 no longer has exclusivity on the iPhone.

Orange iPhone

As you have probably read in the news, Orange launched the iPhone on Tuesday this week and what a record day it was. By 4pm on November 10th, Orange announced that they had sold more than 300,000 handsets. Orange stores sold more iPhones than at Carphone and Phones 4U. (the company who leaked out the launch date). Staff at Phones4U were motivated and still are to upsell the iPhone. They receive £7 commission for selling an iPhone 3G S on a £45 tariff or above and £5 for the 3G version for tariffs £40 and above.

People have been flocking to the Orange iPhone, following on from all the advertising including Orange’s £4millon campaign “You’re covered” which started last week. They are promoting how widespread the Orange 3G’s network is. Orange last month won “WHAT mobile” award for Best network coverage so they have certainly been spending a lot of time and money into improving their service. That was one of the areas that was letting them down.

Unfortunately for those who were waiting for a cheaper contract will be disappointed. Orange have avoided a price war with Apple and the tariffs are roughly the same as with O2. Customers can pick up the latest version of the phone which is the iPhone 3GS for free when they sign up for a contract for £45 a month over 24 months. If you are feeling rich and you don’t want to be tied in, you can always get the iPhone on pay as you go from £343.

http://www.mobilenewscwp.co.uk/News/361070/orange_outruns_indies_for_iphone.html

10 ways to optimise your blog

If you want to start blogging but are overwhelmed by the reams of information out there, don’t worry, this post will outline how to start optimizing your blog in easy to follow steps. I have divided them into two sections – on page and off page optimization.

A. On page optimization – all the changes you can make on the webpage.

1. Domain name
Before you register your domain name, make sure it has the keywords you want to optimize for. For example if you want to make a blog about traveling for students, make sure the URL is “travellingstudents.com” or “students-traveling.com” instead of “Destinations”.

2. Decide on a theme
There are a lot of blogs out there and you have to make your blog attractive to visitors. Do some research and see what other blogs are talking about and if there is a niche area that bloggers are not writing about.
Write about a topic you are interested in and that you can add value to. For example, there are a lot of blogs about seo but there is not as much about mobile seo. I have a keen interest in emerging platforms and therefore have written posts about new mobile phones hitting the market place and mobile seo.

3. Decide on your key words
If you are writing a post about seo or mobile soe, you must concentrate on a few keywords which you will base your post around. Use Google keyword tool to find out the volume and competition for particular terms. There may be a lot of competition for term “mobile phones” but may not be as much for “mobile seo”.

4. Blog often
Now that you have set up your blog, update it frequently. If you regularly add new posts your readers will notice that you have a lot of content and come back for more. If you just add a couple of posts and leave it for a few months, visitors will realize you are not adding any interesting content and your followers will leave. You should try and write and new post at least 3 times a week, which is

5. Optimise your images
A picture paints a thousand words. It is important to put keywords in the alt tags. With wordpress, you can add a title and a caption to the image. The captions will appear below the image and will make the page look more attractive. While the title will be scanned by bots crawling through the site.

2. Off page optimization – attracting visitors to your blog.
Now that you have optimised the copy on the blog, you need to attract traffic to your site. Here are a few tips.

6. Submit your blog to directories and search engines
Submit your site to all the major search engines, such as google, yahoo, bing, even AOL and ASK. I would also recommend submitting the site to blog directories.

I have taken this step and submitted my blog with a description and keywords to the following:

http://www.blogarama.com

http://www.britblog.com/

http://www.bloggapedia.com

www.blogcatalog.com

http://www.bloggingfusion.com/

http://www.ukblogdirectory.co.uk

http://blogville.us

You will often be asked to write keywords or push terms for your blog and also a description as the one below.
seojoblogs is a one stop site for all your seo needs covering mobile seo, link building, article writing and keyword research. Seojoblogs prides itself on making seo easy to learn and helping all those new to this field to start implementing seo as business as usual.

7. Guest blog
This involves writing posts on other people’s websites with a link back to yours. Obviously this will only work if you have a written a good post with attractive content and relevant content.

8. Networking
Go back to basics and start networking. Go to the blogging events, the marketing and seo shows and remember to bring your business cards. Talk to people in your field and let them know what you are doing.
9. Start using social media.

If you have a blog that you update regularly, then start using a twitter account with links back to your site. Make sure your blog has an RSS feed so people will be informed when you next update your blog.

10. Take part in forums
If you want people to find your blog, start connecting with other bloggers on line. Take part in forums. UK Yahoo answers has a lot of visits and a lot of people who come and ask questions, so you could be the answer they are looking for.

Sony Ericsson Satio on Orange, Vodafone and O2

The world’s first 12mp camera phone is now available on Orange, O2 and Vodafone.

The first 12mp camera

There has been a lot of hype and publicity around Sony Ericsson’s first touch screen phone. It has to an incredible 12.1 Megapixel sensor, Autofocus, touch focus and a Xenon flash. It delivers top quality photographs, so you never need to take a separate camera out again.

It is a true multimedia phone. It has a built in 3.5 inch touchscreen and has Wi-Fi connectivity for high speed web browsing. As well as GPS for SatNave and support for music and video file formats.

It is avaible on Vodafone, Orange and O2. Vodafone are giving the Satio away for free but requires at least a £35 a month on a 24 month contract or a more expensive plan on a shorter 18-month contract.

However, now tha the phone has been out for a couple weeks, it has been getting some negative reviews from customers. A lot of reviews have mentioned poor battery power and the phone freezing. Some also say the exterior looks too plastic.But despite some of these poor comments, we still have to give credit to Sony Ericsson for its first Symbian S60 smartphone, it normally releases J2ME phones.

For more information, have a read of the following:

http://www.mobile-phones-uk.org.uk/sony-ericsson-idou.htm

http://www.cnet.com.au/sony-ericsson-satio-339295076.htm

http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/10/12/four.touchscreen.phones.hit.vodafone.uk/

More to be added shortly…

Google branding

I have to say I am very impressed the way Google keeps modifying its branding.

This past week it was Wallace and Gromit’s 20th birthday and google had a team party image of them. It has also been Sesame Street’s 40th birthday and the rest of the week has seen images of different sesame characters on google’s home page. My favourite is the one with Elmo as below.

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?

Sesame Street was set up in 1969 by the Children’s Television Workshop (CTW) aimed to help all kids especially those that were from poor neighbourhoods to learn and prepare for school. The use of television for educational purposes had not been a proven tool before this time and Sesame street was ahead of its time promoting values we take for granted now. Some of these values were that everyone is created equal, accepting people from different racial backgrounds and not making assumptions based on gender. The show integrated muppets and people from different racial groups.

According to reuters to celebrate its 40th anniversary, Michelle Obama will appear on Sesame Street on November 10th. This will probably be the episode shown in the US and will be aired in the UK after.

Sesame's Count loves counting

Cookie monster says share

SEO explained

I have been trying to explain to non seo gurus why people should engage in seo and felt I needed to clear up the “myths and fasle information” that people have been told. Then I saw last Friday, that Patricia Robies wrote on econsultancy blog about “The six inconvenient truths about SEO” and what an interesting read it was. Here are the six points she mentioned with my comments added.

1. Time – SEO takes time.
It can take anywhere from 3 to 6 months for the results of your seo efforts to take fruit. You should be patient, do not give up.

2. SEO is not fair.
Patricia mentioned that paid links may work and your competitors might be winning by using them in disregard of Google’s ‘rules’. Don’t worry about this though, just focus on your site and use white hat seo techniques.

3. Top SERPs aren’t always possible.
I agree with Patricia on this point. Even though you perserve and put in a lot of time optimisng your site, you may not be able to get the top SERPs for particular keywords. There may be a lot of competition, too much in your field and for your budget.

4.SEO is not all about process.
Some people are natural born seo gurus and some are not. Those that have the talent are able to get to the top of the SERPs. I agree with Patricia in some ways, however, I do feel if someone is passionate about seo and trains and works on a vast number of websites, their experience will help them become the seo expert delivering sought after results.

5. SEO isn’t a standalone marketing strategy.
I strongly agree with Patricia. I have mentioned before than seo is BAU . SEO should be part of the company’s marketing strategy. It should be implemented with paid search, display, email and offline marketing.

6. The last mile counts more than the first 99.
Once you have reached top SERPs, don’t sit back and wait. Now that you are ranking within the top ten of google, you have to convert those users.

To find out more about the six inconvenient truths about seo please visit the econsultancy website.