Digital Biographer™ » 2008

How to get to Page 1 on Google in 24 hours - and get paid for it. July 27, 2008

Posted by David Petherick in : 2.0, authors, commerce, knol, search marketing, share, social media ,

The Google Knol I created on the 24th of July entitled ‘How to Read the Russian Alphabet in 75 Minutes‘ was already appearing on Page 1 of a Google Search for “read russian” with 12,300,000 results following, just a day later.

I have updated the title within Knol from the one showing in the Google index, but that’s still a pretty impressive result for content that I created and put online only the day before.

And Google say they’ll pay me from any adsense revenue the page generates. This is part of the reason why I was interested in Google Knol from December last year when it was first announced. We’ll see how it develops, but it looks like a fairly effective way to share your knowledge, get good search positions, and also perhaps make some money. Until someone pinches your content… (to be fair, Google allow content to have three copyright models - the two popular Creative Commons licence types, and one of ‘All rights reserved’.

You may be interested to joing a Ning-powered discussion group that I created when first hearing about Google Knol, and which is now beginning to gain members and become active: Knol Roll on Google Knol .

View my page on Knol Roll

PS: You may also want to see Search Success for details of getting yourself to Page 1 on Google.

Google Knol arrives: Fountain of Knowledge, or Spurious Source? July 25, 2008

Posted by David Petherick in : authors, commerce, googlicious, knol, search marketing, share ,

I first wrote about Google Knol when the topic was first aired in December 2007 on Google’s Blog, in my article “Knol is on a Roll: Google’s new economy for online authors?“.

A knol is a term Google had created for a ‘unit of knowledge’ and the announcement created a great deal of interest and speculation, as much for the lack of details as for the excitement at what it might evolve into. Many commentators called it ‘Google’s Wikipedia killer’ but as I said then, that was simply a lazy and incorrect generalisation - but there was little very specific information. And today, many commentators are again likening Knol to Wikipedia - see related links below.

Today, Google has announced its public beta of Google Knol, defining a knol as “Knols are authoritative articles about specific topics, written by people who know about those subjects.” So from today, you can start to add your knol, or knowledge. This is a beta version, so of course there are rough edges, and Google will be looking to get feedback on many aspects and issues. (I for one found that I could not log at all in using Firefox on my Mac, but have had no problems with Camino or Safari.)

Some positive features are what Google calls ‘moderated collaboration.’ “Any reader can make suggested edits to a knol which the author may then choose to accept, reject, or modify before these contributions become visible to the public.” Nice.

Google, why I can’t verify my identity?

However, one issue that seems a very basic oversight is that ‘Name Verification’ (so you can verify that you, as an author, are who you say you are) is only available for those based in the USA. The systems available for those Knol authors in the USA are via Phone or Credit Card checks. Pardon me for pointing out the obvious, but there are telephone directories and credit cards used all over the world, Google. The raised credibility that Google cites arising from verifying yourself is therefore, at present, reserved exclusively for you only if you live in the USA.

So if you live anywhere outside the USA, do not send to know for whom Google knols, it does not knol for thee. (Apologies for that play on words to John Donne)

This is not the sort of even-handed approach you’d expect from a global player like Google - and the fact that there is no mention of OpenID or even Google’s own identity systems like Google Checkout or Adsense strikes me as a missed opportunity, even for a beta-stage development. The fact that one can share revenue with Google by electing whether or not to show Google Adsense Adverts on one’s Knol content makes this a very strange omission, and I fear, one that may open Knol up to a lot of spam entries or gaming.

I managed to log in and add a Knol to Google this morning entitled ‘How to read Russian in 75 Minutes‘ (I’ve proved that this works in a 75-minute lecture in 2005, by the way) but at present, my Knol on Reading Russian only appears in a search when I am logged in with a Google login (the login I use for Gmail, Google Reader etc), but it the knol is reachable with a link, whether or not I am logged in.

However, the range of ‘Featured Knols’ as samples that appeared on my screen today had me speechless - they covered Diabetes, Lung Cancer, Toilet Clogs and Tooth pain. Wow. Maybe that’s Google’s way of encouraging you to add better content - or at least, to add more cheerful and uplifting content!

UPDATE: The Google Knol I created yesterday entitled ‘How to Read the Russian Alphabet in 75 Minutes‘ is on Page 1 of a Google Search for “read russian” with 12,300,000 results following. I have updated the title from the one showing in the Google index, but that’s still pretty impressive.

Online Reputation Management: I spy a bandwagon. July 21, 2008

Posted by David Petherick in : 2.0, brand, commerce, googlicious ,

When individuals and companies working as web designers, web programmers, in public relations and search optimisation experts all begin to start dropping the same buzzwords and approach into their promotional material, you know there’s a bandwagon rolling…

The latest big bandwagon is Online Reputation Management which now appears in the famous ‘Web 2.0 Buzzword Bingo’. It’s popping up in hundreds of blogs highlighting how ‘if you Google Company X, the first page is full of people dumping on them‘ and invariably points to the author, or their associates as the expert who can fix the problem, and make this bad coverage disappear. A search in Google for the term ‘online reputation management’ finds over 4.6 million entries, and the sponsored ads are full of phrases like ‘Remove Bad Information’, ‘Fight Negative Publicity’ and ‘Defend Your Reputation’.

The organic listings within that search contain content from many seasoned Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) ad Search Engine Marketing (SEM) experts and there are a few respected and familiar names I recognise there like Lee Odden and Andy Beal, who has also written ‘Radically Transparent‘. However, there are also a lot of links to those who are clearly doing their best to game Google’s search results, and offer to do the same for you, in a fairly cynical ‘digital dirty laundry cleaner’ approach.

Now, that’s a fair enough business model, and good luck to those seeking to take advantage of a new opportunity… (more…)

Less red tape and more red carpets for Europe’s Entrepreneurs? July 18, 2008

Posted by David Petherick in : 2.0, commerce, e-government, startup ,

Image via WikipediaSocietas Privata Europaea (SPE) is a proposed EU-wide company type designed specifically for small to medium sized companies to operate in EU member countries, which could be enacted as soon as 2009. This is a core part of the Small Business Act for Europe, which the European Commission unveiled at the end of June, based on ten guiding principles and proposing policy actions for both the Commission and Member States.

Here are some of the headlines in what is being planned:

An SPE formation should be effected within 7 days.
A cap on obtaining business licences and permits of one month.
Lower VAT for services supplied locally.
SMEs can set up their company in the same form, no matter if they do business in their own Member State or in another.
Cut the administrative burden by 25% by 2012.

The press release begins with the wonderful phrase “a step towards a Europe of entrepreneurs, with less red tape and more red carpet for Europe’s 23 million SMEs“. [English Version] [Dutch Version] A set of Frequently Asked Questions also helps to explain the benefits of this initiative.

The lawyers, accountants, international tax experts, company formation outfits and administrative bureaucrats will hate this, as they have long grown fat from the cumbersome and often antiquated legislation and regulations that small businesses are forced to deal with, often irrespective of their size, and the necessity to follow separate, complex, and expensive company formation rules and registrations in each country. I would not be too surprised to see attempts from these types of organisations to slow down and undermine this initiative, as it of course lessens their role, and reduces the number of intermediaries involved when a company expands and works in more than one country.

However, the European entrepreneurs of today and tomorrow will love this - and it is in the long-term interests of every member nation in Europe to support this type of initiative. This is how one creates the jobs of tomorrow. It is a sad fact that long-term enlightened thinking has not always been a strong point for politicians and entrenched vested interests in Europe, so it is up to enterepreneurs across Europe to applaud, support and spread the word about this initiative.

Does your web site really suck when viewed on an iPhone? July 11, 2008

Posted by David Petherick in : 2.0, brand, mobile, mobile search ,

Does your web site work well on portable devices? Or does it work at all? Mobile search (and specifically mobile search for local content) is growing rapidly, so your visibility and LEGIBILITY will be more and more important.

The iPhone currently the subject of much frenzy and queueing as the 3G Version goes on sale today, has an advantage over most mobile browsers with its high resolution screen at 160 pixels to the inch, as opposed to a more common 96 dpi for an LCD computer monitor, and has an easy to manage zoom facility, so one can view any website fairly well - but do you know what your site actually looks like when it’s viewed?

iPhonemy.com is an elegant, simple site that allows you to answer this question - you can download free software (for Mac users) or have a screen shot of your site viewed on this software sent to you. For WordPress users, there is also a link to a plugin that automatically senses when an iPhone or mobile phone is viewing your site, and displays your site with a specific mobile-friendly theme.

It’s worth remembering that a mobile phone is also a wallet - and it’s always there, and almost always switched on… Informa Telecoms & Media predicts spending on mobile advertising as a whole to reach £5.6 billion by 2011.

What does your site look like on an iPhone? Find out at iPhonemy.com Web Site
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