How do I know which keywords to use? (How To Help your Potential Readers Find You)

HISTORY

Back in the “old days” (circa 2002) of website building and SEO (search engine optimization), keywords, or “meta-tags” were included in the header section of the html code. If you don’t know what that means, consider yourself blessed, and don’t worry about it, because that’s not important anymore. Why? Because the entire purpose of the meta-tags was to help people find your webpage when they searched by topic on the search engines like Google, Yahoo, and AOL.

As the number of web pages has increased, and the search engine “crawlers” have become more sophisticated, some of the techniques for getting found on those search engines results pages (“SERP’s”) have also been updated. The search engines moved on to crawling the sitemap of the blog, then the tags, categories and titles of individual blog posts or articles.

NOW

Now, the search engines crawl all parts of most well-designed websites and blogs, now, including the text of each individual article and post. So now, we use, now, it is important to incorporate good search terms, or “keywords,” throughout the text. So how do you we do that?

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Does ‘Go ye into all the world,’ include the internet? (Church Outreach 2.0 – 1 of 3)

UPDATE 12/15/09: Click HERE to Download the .pdf of Church 2.0 – Online Outreach (All Three Parts)

• Does ‘Go ye into all the world,’ include the internet? (Church Outreach 2.0 – 1 of 3)
• The Internet as a Mission Field – Is Anyone Searching for Your Ministry? (Church Outreach 2.0 – 2 of 3)
• Moving from ‘Self Promotion’ to ‘Outreach’ Online (Church Outreach 2.0 – 3 of 3)

The following is part of a series on Web 2.0 for Christians, and Christian Leaders. See Church 2.0 for a list of the posts to-date.

Update 12/13/09: See the response from Dwight Baker, The Mission is for Those That Have Passion

My heart sank yesterday as I received yet another e-mail from yet another Christian friend of mine announcing that he was retreating from the “evils” of the internet. This time, it was a pastor, and this time the “evil” was Google. I don’t know what his specific reasons were – I’m sure they were good ones. Google is, after all, on a mission to commandeer the world’s information. Others I know have simply hired virtual assistants to handle their “internet stuff” for themselves and their churches so they don’t have to “go there,” any more than is absolutely necessary. Many I know refuse to even use the web for anything more than e-mail, explaining that it’s just “too dangerous.”

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen. -Mark 16:15-20 (KJV)

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Why Page Rank is Important

FHK’s TXPoet had an article that did really well today, in terms of traffic – most of that traffic was from the search engines. He posted the entire text of Krazy Kucinich’s attempt to impeach our President.

He had a very good scoop, obviously, because he was the first blogger to post the entire text, but another reason the article did so well is that FHK, through trial and error (a LOT of both), has been working very hard on increasing our Google Page Rank score. On a Google Search, as of the time of this writing, FHK is the second result under the search: Kucinich articles of impeachment text (right behind Rep Kucinich’s website). Earlier today, we were second only behind another blogger, that did not have the entire text.

How did we get Page Rank? You get that when other blogs link to you, and when you link within your own blogs to “pillar posts.” It’s also important, as we discussed here, not to leak page rank by linking to blogs that won’t link back or to blogs that Google considers spam…it dilutes your page rank, and lowers your page rank score.

There’s actually a whole career field dedicated to the study of this, called “SEO,” (Search Engine Optimization). The problem, of course, is about the time we figure out how to be successful in this game, Google and the other search engines seem to move the goal posts. It’s almost as if there is an agenda somewhere regarding what information is “legit,” and what isn’t…?

That’s why we need to get more right-thinking people active in this business. If we have the numbers, we’ll be able to influence what information is considered “important,” and “worthy.” Right now, we’re at the mercy of an industry that is not just “social,” in nature, but “socialist.”

Also see: Why Conservatives Need to Geek-Up: Download

Results of the WebWarriors of FHK Workshop Survey (Updated: Live Podcast Tonight!)

As promised, here’s the podcast for last nights show…below are some of the links shared in the chat room. If anyone has more links, please feel free to post them in the comments, and we’ll be glad to add them.

The first half of the show is a discussion about conservatism online and the last part of the show is a discussion with Jeff Blanco of the Louisiana Conservative about socialism in his backyard, and his thoughts on the idea of Bobby Jindahl as a potential V.P. running mate for John McCain.

• Socialist Squirrel
• Louisiana Conservative
• Ft. Hard Knox
• Scott Cleland, on the Dangers of Google
• Why Conservatives need to Geek-Up Series on FHK
• Study exploring how students perceive the truthfulness of search-engine results

 

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Call-in # for tonight’s show: (347) 838-8983
Here’s the link to the Show

More Updates: Buffoon, of D=S is offering

Fifty bucks to the first belligerent and drunken liberal who can call in and make Chad cry!”

(Disclaimer: If you’re successful, please hold your breath until the money arrives.)

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Updated: The Web Warriors of Ft. Hard Knox will be on Chad “Teddy Bear” Everson’s new talk show, Socialist Squirrel, tonight discussing why it’s important for political conservatives to be active online, and how we can do it! The show starts live at 11:30 pm CST…a podcast will be available when it is over, @1:00 am CST.

Jeff Blanco from Louisiana Conservative will also be on the program.

If y’all are up then, be sure to call in, and give your ideas. The call-in number will be available on these links when the show begins. Click either of the links below to listen to the show at 11:30pm CST.

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Thanks, to the 28 people who took time to complete the WebWarriors of FHK Workshop Survey, and give feedback. Following is a summary of the results – click on the thumbnails to view the detailed results of each question.

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Using (and Abusing?) rel=”nofollow” to Preserve Page Rank

Bloggers, how many times have you noticed that you’re getting traffic from a link on one of the “huge” blogs and websites on the web…only to check your Technorati links and Google alerts to find that the link isn’t showing up? Have you wondered why that’s happening?

Chances are pretty good that the Biggie-Blog (or social-networking site) is adding the code: rel=”no follow” to its outgoing links.*

As we know, one of the ways to increase Google page-rank (and Technorati authority) is to get links from other blogs (For more info on why Page Rank is important, see Why Conservatives Need to Geek-Up). All of the Biggie Blogs got big by receiving lots of links from other bloggers. But now, it seems, even among politically-conservative bloggers (which are decidedly a minority in the blogosphere), some are unwilling to help other like-minded blogs in the same manner. They have started putting the rel=”no follow” code in all of their outgoing links, to preserve their own page rank.

Others are selectively inserting the code, so that they only support other bloggers that they want to support with “link love.” This is a more responsible use of the rel=”nofollow” code.

 

What is rel=”nofollow”?

This code was actually developed by Google a couple of years ago to try to help prevent comment spam. It didn’t work for that, but what it did do was give bloggers a whole new way to compete with each other for page rank. Some figured out that they could use their knowledge about the code to preserve their own Google ranking while still receiving links from lesser-experienced bloggers who didn’t know how to use the code.

 

How does using rel=”nofollow” preserve (or stop leaking) page rank?

A couple of very thorough explanations are here and here, but in a nutshell, the more links you have on a page, the less each link is worth in Google’s highly-secretive and ever-changing system for determining page rank. Therefore, linking to outside bloggers reduces the “value” of your own internal links. Currently, if you use rel=”nofollow” in your outgoing links, those links will theoretically not be counted against you, and will also not increase the linked blogger’s page rank.

 

How/Where do I insert rel=”nofollow” on my links?

(For general information on hyperlinks, see Adding Hyperlinks, and Hyperlinks on the WWF Wiki) When the code is added to a link, the link will look like this:

 

So, when should rel=”nofollow” be used?

Here are my suggestions (and I am open to discussion on these) – these are guidelines, not hard and fast rules:

1. Use it when you know the linked blog is not going to return the link. (Some blogs simply don’t return links.)
2. Use it when you do not wish to increase the page rank of the other blogger (i.e., the other blog is a competitor or opponent).
3. Use it when you need to link to a for-profit blogging site, like a retailer, or so-called “spam blog.” (Google often punishes these blogs on the page ranking, as well as any blogs that link to them.)
4. In the comments section, which is susceptible to spam (Wordpress does this automatically -in fact, if you want to disable the feature, you’ll need to a plug-in like one of these.)

 

Is there a time when rel=”nofollow” should NOT be used. (i.e. Wouldn’t it be easier to just include it in all outgoing links?)

Sure, this is a good idea of you are so big and so powerful that you no longer need to network with other bloggers to maintain your success online.

For the rest of us, who actually are interested in building up the conservative movement online, I would strongly recommend not using the rel=”nofollow” tag on links to other bloggers you want to network with. This would include:

1. Blogrolls (Assuming you’re using blogrolling software that IS recognized by the search engines).
2. Blogbursts (Remember, one of the reasons you signed up for the blogburst was to get links from other bloggers, so don’t be ugly, and not return the links.)
3. “Hat-Tips” (“Thank-you’s” for good leads for stories, either via e-mail or from other blogs)
4. Links to information you’ve borrowed or quoted from another blog to support a point you’re trying to make (C’mon – if you’re going to use their stuff, give them credit, and share some link-love! This does not necessarily apply when you’re “exposing” rather than “using” info from other blogs – see #2 in the previous list.)

 

Alright, who is Using and who is Abusing the code online?

To see if your favorite blogger is using (or abusing) the code, simply go to a post on their site, and click “view” then “source” (or “page source”). Then use “Edit-Find” to see if the rel=”nofollow” code is in ALL of the links, or just in links to their opponents, competitors, advertising sites, etc.. You might be surprised at who is more interested in preserving their own page rank, rather than promoting conservatism online.

 

More information on using rel=”nofollow” can be located on the following sites:

• LinkTutorial.com: Attribute ‘rel=nofollow’
• Wikipedia: nofollow
• About.com: rel nofollow – What does this mean?

 

*Another possibility, if the link is not showing is that the link may be included in a script that is not recognized by the search engines…see:Why Blogrolling is Useless

 

The mainstream media is suddenly “anti-terror,” when the cyberjihadist turns out to be a blogger.

According to the Daily Mail:

A computer nerd from Shepherd’s Bush, West London, became al Qaeda’s top internet agent, it can be revealed today.

Younes Tsouli, 23, an IT student at a London college, used his top-floor flat in W12 to help Islamist extremists wage a propaganda war against the West.

Under the name Irhabi 007 — combining the James Bond reference with the Arabic for terrorist — he worked with al Qaeda leaders in Iraq and came up with a way to convert often gruesome videos into a form that could be put onto the Web. …

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Why Conservatives Need to Geek-Up (Part 3)

(Most recently updated 3/28/08)

(Click here to read Part 1 of 3)
(Click here to read Part 2 of 3)

This is the third and final installment* of this series explaining why Conservatives need to become more active in the Web 2.0 environment. Part One discussed the generational gap, generally between liberals and conservatives online, while Part Two discussed the how this gap is creating an imbalance of information readily available online through a typical search engine query. We will finish this series by highlighting a few of the major figures supporting Web 2.0 financially, showing how their political leaning is further compounding the imbalance in the information war.

Online social networkers are familiar with Digg.com, the current top social bookmarking site, which has enjoyed unprecedented success in social networking, through its use of bookmarking and syndication, with over 20 million visitors per month.

Where does a site like Digg get funding? Who are its investors? Primarily Greylock Partners and the Omidyar Network. The Greylock Partner team is an international investor in primarily technology and medicine, with a special interest in Israel. The Omidyar Network “has invested in a variety of areas, including microfinance, participatory media, open innovation, open source and transparency in government.”

In addition to investing financially, the Omidyar Network is on mission:

Ultimately, we hope that people everywhere will constructively engage with each other to pursue what they care about most, resulting in a global society that is continually advancing social progress.

If the name Omidyar rings a bell, it’s because Pierre Omidyar is the founder of e-Bay, a philanthropist who is #43 on Forbes’ list of billionaires, and a benefactor of a microfinance fund at Tufts University.

From April of 2002 to June of 2007, and during the formative years of Digg.com, Omidyar’s COO/CEO was Iqbal Paroo, a Shia Imami Nizari Ismaili, whose interests involve complex healthcare and higher education. He has a long history of involvement with the Aga Khan Foundation (1977-2000), and “From 1977-1980, he served the Aga Khan Foundation as both director of commissioning for the initial phase of the Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan,” which has “teaching and research programmes in Pakistan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Afghanistan and the United Kingdom.” The university is billed as “an agent of change” and “an important force for pluralism“.

Omidyar and Paroo are champions for the left’s most sacred causes, and now their organization is one of the primary investors in the largest, most influential social-networking site on the web.

Where is the conservative counterpart?

*Special thanks to blogger 1389 for research assistance on this installment.

Related Articles on FHK

Why Conservatives Need to Geek-Up (Part 2)

(Most recently updated 3/28/08)

(Click here to read Part 1 of 3)

When I was growing up, if I had a question, I was often encouraged by a parent or teacher to go look for the answer in a dictionary, the encyclopedia, or in the library. Students of all ages now have it a lot easier, as they often need to go no further than their closest internet connection, so that they can Google, Yahoo, or Dogpile, or Ask Jeeves for the answers to their questions.

It’s so easy, and convenient. Just type in a few keywords, and voila! Often hundreds of pages of information is instantly available on any given topic. But we don’t sort through all of those pages, do we? I personally almost never go past the first, second, or rarely the third page. So who controls what information populates those first pages?

There is an entire career field dedicated to getting websites promoted to this highly coveted location, called search engine optimization (SEO). There are directories, crawlers, and paid listings. Organizations such as SearchEngineWatch.com offer suggestions online for getting websites closer to that front page, and explaining the hierarchy of search engines.

Google PageRank’s webmaster center explains, “In general, webmasters can improve the rank of their sites by increasing the number of high-quality sites that link to their pages.” High quality sites, as it turns out, are pages that have a lot of traffic, and have lots of other sites linking directly them. See a pattern? The more links you have to your site, the more traffic you will get, hopefully resulting in more links. There is a compounding effect.

Why do conservatives need to understand this? As we discussed in part one, there is a noticeable liberal/progressive majority in the politics discussions of any of the social networking sites, which extensively utilize the newest technologies and the art of collaboration. This is also reflected in the information that is available online through a typical search.

The compounding affect of the search engine algorithms assures that the majority view will continue to be the majority view. Want to test this theory? Try the following searches in any of the search engines, and see if the first page leans right or left: Iraq war, immigration, or gender.

Curious about where your favorite websites rank on Google? Try this free PageRank checker.

(Part 3 of 3)

Why Conservatives Need to Geek-Up (Part 1)

(Most recently updated 3/28/08)

If you are not a liberal when you’re 25 you have no heart, and if you’re not a conservative when you’re 45, you have no brain.

This saying, sometimes credited to Winston Churchill, seems to hold a bit of universal truth, as does the notion that the young people of a generation affect change, while the older folks lend stability. This certainly seems to be the case when it comes to politics online in the 21st century (allowing, of course, for exceptions such as the Young Republicans clubs and the die-hard hippies).

Web 2.0 technology affects our lives online in the form of blogs, online citizen journalism sites (social news), wikis, folksonomies, social networking sites, collaborative bookmarking sites, podcasts, aggregators (e.g. RSS), semantic web, collaborative software, and other online scenarios in which users create and share content such as graphics, news, information, technology, creative writing, software, photos, and videos. The original World Wide Web gave us the opportunity to share information by posting what we had to say, and by reading what others had to say. Web 2.0 takes that concept to the next level, by giving users the opportunity to collectively influence what information is available and how the information is distributed.

Today’s twenty-somethings grew up online, and generally seem to be more intuitively tech-savvy and more comfortable with online collaboration than those of us that are older (“older,” in this case meaning anyone over 35!). It is no wonder, then, that there is a noticeable liberal/progressive majority in the politics discussions of any of the social networking sites, which extensively utilize the newest technologies and the art of collaboration.

Largely due to Web 2.0 technology as well as increasingly interactive search engines, there is a growing body of knowledge online that is taking on a life of its own, and it is very influential. Features such as Google PageRank assure that the majority view of any issue is likely to be the first available information on any given topic. Anyone interested in the accuracy of the information that is being disseminated online, needs to have a voice in this increasingly important global discussion.

As conservatives, we need to understand and utilize Web 2.0 technology if we want this body of knowledge to even partially reflect our values, attitudes, respect for history, and vision for the future.

(Part 2 of 3)
(Part 3 of 3)