Did you know that when you search Google [standard] you are actually searching all forms of content?

Referred to nowadays as ‘Universal Search’ Google search results may include the website or blog text links you are accustomed too and then also [assuming there are any to index], picture images, video and audio files. "The goal", says Google’s Bailey, "is to present balanced results based on the search term and move away from the heavy emphasis on only textual Web links that existed prior to the switch to universal search in May 2007."

As a search marketer/ advertiser, the question you should be asking yourself here is, "have I helped Google to understand my business blog pictures?" In fact, Google is so interested in indexing more pictures they have created Image Labeler. The purpose, in lieu of depending on average human web publishing, is to recruit anyone’s help in the development of better technology for understanding pictures.

Note: The Google spider or crawler cannot read the text contained on/ in an image as shown above; however, it can read any alt tags that have been added, only visible to the human eye when a cursor is rolled over the picture. It also reads and follows an embedded link to any other site or page. Clearly, most alternative content [i.e. a picture] is published to the web without any description.

So if Google is looking to index all pictures, if you can index [alternative] content where most haven’t and if some of your purpose online is search findability… why not start immediately? In fact, consider going back into your blog and adding text descriptions or ‘alt tags’ to all its’ pictures.

Typically referred to as ‘alt tags’ or ‘alternative text tags’, your pictures can be labeled easily for search engine indexing and, as a result, consumer findability. Again, Google can’t see text on/ in an image; however, depending on the content editor you have, there should be an icon for uploading pictures. When clicked you should see a pop up window appear with tabs for 1) picture file upload, 2) add ‘alt tag’ data entry [shown above], and 3) add link [also shown above] areas. Sometimes the ‘alt tag’ data entry will be referred to as ‘alternative text’, ‘image info’ or ‘tool tips’, but I’m certain you get the picture.

In summary, knowing that Google actually wants to understand, to index and to include your picture images in consumer search result pages should do nothing less than heighten your sense of opportunity! Why? Because, if not already, all of your picture images are an immediate chance to get a leg up on the competition. Use alt tags and you may generate more consumer findability in the search engines!*

I thought this post might be useful to folks who enjoy adding pictures to their business blogs, but that might also appreciate basic information on picture usage, copyright, public domain and the creative commons.

I don’t know about you, but I’d like to add more pictures to my business blog. We spend a lot of time here talking about how to satisfy the search engines, but we must also acknowledge the balance you need in order to satisfy humans. I mean, I’m human… and I like pictures. Don’t you?

Copyright

For starters, we can’t just go grabbing any old picture from the web. I certainly don’t want anyone using my pictures any way they choose. Do you? Copyright law exists to prevent picture copying, including the possibility of civil suits with punitive damages. It exists to protect us all and [ultimately, despite the obvious tempation] that’s a good thing. A little history on the subject: apparently until 1976, creative works such as pictures were not protected by copyright law unless they had a published copyright. If it did not, it was ‘in the public domain.’ Changes to the law occurred in 1976 and again in ‘88, effectively saying that all creative works were automatically copyrighted. The belief being that if there was no ‘copyright by default’ it might undermine the creators’ or an artists’ interest in sharing their work, thereby limiting the public’s’ access to art. In effect, protect art and protect culture.

Copyright law is pretty simple, actually. Any work or picture you or someone else creates is automatically copyrighted. No one really needs to do anything at all to receive protection under copyright law. While one might go to such ends as the Registrar of Copyrights in DC, there isn’t much preventing an owner from exercising rights when someone has blatantly copied their picture.

New Jersey Beach Picture by Jason Burmeister

Now, not to worry because there are good exceptions and opportunities for picture usage on the web including [obviously] those pictures you can take yourself, those in the public domain and then those for use in the Creative Commons.

Public Domain

Public Domain describes any work that is not protected by copyright. For instance, photos are copyrighted unless they’ve given up protection. Explicit permission is one example. Another is if you have a photo on the web, you notice other folks have been using it a bunch and you don’t really do anything to stop it… it’s then in the public domain. Regardless, if the picture is not ours or we don’t have permission the rule of thumb should probably be "don’t use it!" FAIR WARNING: sites that say they have free or public domain pictures may not be reputable… be careful to use good judgement. If the site doesn’t reveal an owner or a means to communicate with one it’s likely not reputable.

Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that has delivered a widely accepted means to share pictures. By using a Creative Commons license, which attaches itself to the work, a picture’s owner is allowing others’ usage. This exists outside standard copyright law, because the Creative Commons’ has no legal ground; however, it has been widely accepted… and that’s meaningful. Many people using Flickr.com offer usage via the Commons, which essentially defines various permission standards. I added the picture of a NJ Beach above partly because it’s summer time and where I’d love to be right now but mostly to demonstrate a Commons Attribution License, which allows for the picture to be in the public domain *if the owner receives credit.* In this example the owner has his due via a picture- based link and then another just beneath.

Anyway, I hope this all helps and then I’ve included some resources for when you need a quick fix… or a picture:

Public Domain

• http://karenswhimsy.com/public-domain-images/
• http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/
• http://www.pdphoto.org/
• or you can just search public domain pictures to find a number of resources

Creative Commons

• http://creativecommons.org/
• http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

Other Free, possibly with restrictions

• http://weblogs.about.com/od/startingablog/tp/FreePhotoSites.htm
• http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

US Copyright

• http://www.copyright.gov/

This post is going to be pretty obvious to some people so please forgive me in advance, but I still see a lack of Business Blogging focus out there. So, I felt it to be as good a time as any to sound the horns!

If you’re reading this post please ask yourself three simple, but very important, questions: "What are my Business Blogging target topics [keywords and key phrases]? Does my Business Blog demonstrate a consistent focus for my target topics? Am I achieving findability for my target topics?"  If not, STOP!

While none will take priority over targeted topics, raising your performance includes several important disciplines you must always consider:

• Basic and Effective Advertorial Business Blog Post Creation
• Blogging to Demonstrate Value Add
• Deep Internal Linking
• Use of Anchor Text
• Inbound Linking
• Social Networking
• Findability and the Long Tail
• Invite Subscription to your Blog

However and if not already, please stop what you’re doing. Jot down the list of target topics you wish to be visible for and begin to set your discipline for blogging about them. If, for instance, you are an Orlando Realtor also focused on selling Davenport FL Investment Property, add it to your list! Prepare to cast as wide a net as you can serve! Don’t limit yourself because breaking down the valuable knowledge you have will amount to many, many important target topics. They are all related to your business and to the market you serve; they are all the target topics you should have findabilty for; they’re all useful to someone somewhere who is or who will be researching them online

Most everyone knows that the objective of a search engine is to provide searchers with the best user experience possible. Did you know that accurately linked anchor text can raise the odds your content will be highly ranked OR a part of that user experience?

 Wikipedia defines Anchor Text as follows, "The anchor text or link label is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. The words contained in the Anchor text can determine the ranking that page will receive by search engines. Anchor text usually gives the user relevant descriptive or contextual information about the content of the link’s destination."

That’s right, links in anchor text can improve the rank of the page it points to. Normally you can’t control how someone else will link to you, but given the opportunity be sure and ask they link to your posts or pages from text that accurately describes them. What you can control are your own outbound and also internal links. An outbound link is demonstrated above where we buried a link pointing outward to Wikipedia’s page defining ‘anchor text’ in the words "Wikipedia defines Anchor Text"; whereas, these contextual links below point inward [NOT to a home page] to our own content where we actually define RSS and offer a tutorial on Google Alerts.

This, in theory, is because search engines are constantly crawling the web, content and especially links for newer and better sources of information; therefor, the sources using links accurately are rewarded. Again, if anchor text is truly relevant to the page it links, the page’s visibility to a search engine algorithm will be raised carrying page rank along with it. Careful!! A common mistake is to bury a link in the words ‘click here’ rather than using appropriate words [or anchor text] for a clickable link. ‘Click here’ is NOT anchor text!

In summary and whenever possible, try and make the text that link inward to your pages or blog posts [inbound or deep internal] or outward to other pages or posts [outbound] the right contextual or descriptive key words and phrases!

We get the Duplicate Content question, "may I copy content that I believe will be valuable to my audience?" quite often. Our answer, which really tries to address the question with both search engines and humans in mind, is always, "duplicating someones content is never a good practice and it can get you in trouble; however, within reason you may be able to excerpt some content you’d like to share. The excerpt[s] should always be less than half the post, you should block quote it and you should credit the author with a live link."

Admittedly this advice is based upon hearsay, but the consensus seems to agree it’s the way to go. Google, which [itself] isn’t that far off, defines duplicate content as, "substantive blocks of content within or across domains that either completely match other content or are appreciably similar." They also say, "Most of the time when we see this, it’s unintentional or at least not malicious in origin… In some cases, content is duplicated across domains in an attempt to manipulate search engine rankings or garner more traffic via popular or long-tail queries."  And finally they add you should not concern yourself with occasional snippets or quotes being identified as duplicate content, but in the event you are removed from the search results you must review webmaster guidelines. Once you’ve corrected the problem based upon those guidelines and the site is in order you can submit it for reconsideration.  

But what does Google actually say about the consequences for duplicate content? Apparently, during spider crawling and then the serving of search results, they trust their algorithms to rank similar pages correctly. When filters do identify the intent to manipulate rankings or to deceive searchers, the appropriate adjustments in the ranking are made *but they readily admit they’d rather rely on their filters than on making ranking adjustments.* I’ll add they don’t define "adjustments" so one can only conclude the range lies somewhere between a lesser rank to actual removal. Your guess is as good as mine; however, it’s likely that your time, effort, cost and future business is at risk when duplicating content.

According to SEOMoz.org’s Eric Enge in his post ‘When Duplicate content really hurts’, "Conventional wisdom among experienced SEOs is that there is no such thing as a duplicate content penalty. There are exceptions to this rule. Search engines implement a filter… there is apparently a duplicate content threshold where Google’s filter will identify and actually penalize a site." He says, "I write this based upon a combination of heresay and also some experience we’ve had we could only speculate about." Enge also warns that Search Engine spiders only visit with so much crawl bandwidth or what he refers to as budget. If you waste those crawls on content that won’t be indexed successfully, you are sacrificing other useful content that could have been indexed.

In a similar instance we can only speculate about, we had a client who was copying the lead stories from their local newspaper. Low and behold, one day they disappeared from the search engine results pages [SERPs] eliminating their potential for consumer findability. Let’s face it, the vast majority of consumers are searching and they are researching so I’m certain no Advertorial Blog owner would ever want removal.

Folks, regardless of what one can and cannot get away with you must - at least - demonstrate a trustworthy, knowledgeable and value adding presence on the web. If the search engines don’t penalize you, the humans most certainly will. Considering the guidelines mentioned above [and I was careful to excerpt less than half this post], please do NOT duplicate content without thoughtful care and good reason!

Recently, while participating on a Business Blogging panel at the CO Realtor Rally, a gentleman in the audience posed a great question. He asked, "I blog to promote my business; however, I enjoy mixing in family- oriented posts. Is this a bad strategy with Search Engines?" I jumped in with the question, "Business- wise, are you satisfied with the response you’re getting?" His answer, "yes." He added he was generating solid awareness and good lead activity

Now I guess we could have broken down competitive sets, his writing & optimization skill sets, posting activity, links, blog solution, subscriber count, etc., etc. and then the cost of that ‘awareness & activity’, but this wasn’t the forum to be an SEO- obsessed arm chair quarterback. He said he was satisfied, with awareness and leads

The Internet has changed media, shifting power from traditional media to the users. As Business Bloggers, we need to set our own discipline, goals and expectations accordingly. This gentleman admitted that he hadn’t solely been blogging for the Search Engines. Some would argue that if we Blog for people optimization takes care of itself and, while I’m a firm believer in ‘Best Blogging Practices’, it’s only logical that a disciplined and family oriented Real Estate Blogger will appeal to [and be discovered by] Home Buyers with similar family values in a marketplace

I think it’s safe to assume some of that satisfaction stems from local search engine findability. Even family- oriented posts can help to emphasize a local marketplace, but the answer to the question ‘Do you Business Blog for Search Engines or Humans?’ is certainly BOTH! They don’t have to be mutually exclusive: Business Blog to appeal to people, but with a healthy respect for how to satisfy the search engines… that will bring the people along

We were recently interviewed by the Real Estate CyberSpace Society on the subject of Business Blogging. Click on the logo above or here for access to the interview and a basic transcript. We cover Tips for Getting Started with a Blog, Web Sites vs. Blogs, Getting Your Blog Recognized, More on Search Engine Recognition, Interactivity, Creating Local Brand Awareness, and the general Advantages of Business Blogging.

If you have been thinking about why other folks in the Real Estate Industry are blogging or even how it can help you to generate search engine discoverability, an online presence, trust in a marketplace, direct subscribers and lots of new business you may find this useful.  

And thank you Real Estate CyberSpace Society for allowing us to participate  

Real Estate CyberSpace Society is a great organization dedicated to providing resources and programs to its’ Real Estate Industry members. They also put on a very innovative Online Convention & Expo 

 The web affords all consumers power to find and to manage information on their own terms. They search, research, expect the gratification of answers and they are confident they can make informed decisions. With traditional marketing / advertising messages marketers are challenged with limited space & time to get a consumers’ attention.

A Business Blog affords us marketers the ability to generate visibility, discoverability, trust, brand and direct RSS connections… affordably and without limits!

Our friend Bryan Bomba recently spoke about the value of Blogging in his interview with Star Power’s own Howard Brinton. Bomba, the leading ReMax Real Estate Professional in Illinois for years running, operates in and around the Hinsdale IL area. His interview with Howard Brinton is meant to demonstrate how leading Realtors execute in their business. 

While there were seven topics of discussion, the Internet Tools piece details Bryan’s recent web commitments including to Blogging. As an aside, they also discussed the type of Home Buyer or Seller that will typically hire Bryan. He suggested his model client is a person looking for a "Realtor for life." They’re the type of home buyer or seller that will do their homework, researching the right Realtor for the long haul. Obviously, nowadays people do their research on the web, which is why Bryan’s success is so relevant.

In the piece, Bryan mentions he’s achieving good Internet visibility with his Blog; however, it’s the nature of how he is managing to win new clients that is telling here. The one he details is a Fortune Brand Executive. She was doing her research online, she discovered Bryan’s Blog and she decided to subscribe to it via RSS. Patiently, she began to follow him via his reporting on the area. You might say that Bomba was being interviewed. Several days later and without requiring an in- person meeting she called to award her listing. Never the type to presume, he extended an offer to come and do a listings presentation for her. She said "No, I’ve been following you’re Blog and I’m convinced about you Mr. Bomba. I am awarding you my business."

In summary, sharing his local knowledgebase on Hinsdale IL Real Estate community news & information is very much a part of Bryan Bomba’s normal routine. It has resulted in home buyer & seller 1) search discovery, 2) direct RSS subscriptions, 3) local brand, 4) trust and 5) prestigious new business. Home buyers & sellers are searching, they are researching, they are subscribing and they’re doing it long before they get in touch with the Realtor. The modern day business challenge is to to be available online. By Blogging, Bryan is meeting the challenge 

Great post on proper [Business or Advertorial] Blogging and how search engine’s value consistent and relevant content over at Grokdotcom:

"…If you are selling Piñatas, talk about piñatas; how they originated, the different materials/manufacturing techniques being utilized, market share, growth opportunities, or give examples of when and where it’s appropriate to have one. Show piñatas across the world, client testimonials, the most commonly used characters, licensing issues, what NOT to put inside them, the best sticks used to break them, how to liven any party, how to grab the kid’s attention during a birthday party . . . you get the picture."  Juan Tornoe