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We made the Financial Post

Just a quick note to mention that we've been featured in an article in the Small Business section in the National Post today!

Check out the article in the Financial Post.

Mobile browsing - the present and future of the web

First of all I need to apologize for the lack of posts in the last little while. Things have simply been too busy, and unfortunately this blog has suffered from the increased workload around here. But enough with the apologies, on with the article!

I've been using my iPhone (yes, in Canada) now for the last couple of months, and of course I love it. Beyond the sheer coolness factor, I have to say that I grow increasingly convinced that it will redefine web browsing, web development and especially local search and advertising for many people.

The Future of Search is in the Palm of Your Hand

Running an SEO/PPC company provides constant stimulation. I'm forced to stay on top of the latest trends in online marketing, including not only search engine algorithm shifts, but also the evolution of digital media. It's amazing to see how the modern world is quickly advancing in the ways they access the web and search, and it's even more amazing to project into the very near future.

It's easy to see the what future of the internet looks like - it's about 3" x 5" in size, plays music and videos, and is also a great phone.

Initially I really believed Apple's iPhone would change the world of digital media. And to be honest, I still think it will have a very significant impact. However, it won't necessarily be the main catalyst for change, for these reasons:

1. Cost prohibitive - it's price tag still keeps it out of the reach of most mobile users, as does the cost of a data plan.
2. Closed architecture - it's the only reason I haven't bought one yet. If I can't load my apps (e.g. TomTom) on it, I don't want it.
3. Network exclusivity - if you're not on the right network or in the right country, you can forget any support or warranty.

Despite these issues however, I still believe the future of the internet will be heavily focused on mobile browsing and search. This is because of one particular product - Android. If you haven't heard of it yet, it's an advanced operating system for phones, release by Google. I firmly believe that Android will change the world of mobile internet, and the very nature of local search.

No, Google doesn't have the marketing savvy that Apple has. And no, Google has never made a play at the consumer product segment - where Apple is already a well-established player. However, there are a few reasons why I feel that Android will succeed:

1. It's free. It's open source, you'll be able to install and run it on many different mobile devices without any cost! And knowing Google, they'll most likely come out with some free data plans supported by advertising.
2. Open architecture. Not only will there be plenty of apps to install on it, but already Google is hosting a $10 million contest to develop the best new applications. The iPhone may very well end up looking archaic in comparison.
3. I'm sure as long as you can get a sim card, you'll be able to use this phone on your network.

So yes, they're the exact reasons why the iPhone is failing. But hey, there are more reasons, like integration with Google Docs, Calendar, Gmail, etc, but that all remains to be seen. And sure, Android is buggy right now, but that too is to be expected.

Anyhow, my projection is that within 18-24 months, a large percentage of people who previously had a cell phone will then have replaced it with a very capable mobile device. You will see people on every street walking and surfing - or more likely yet - walking and searching.

What does this mean for your website? Your business? Search engines? I'll cover that off in another article.

Do Meta tags matter for SEO anymore?

There is a lot of mystery surrounding meta tags and their affect on SEO. I guess it simply boils down to the fact that there has always been a lot of mystery around SEO in general, and meta tags were originally what 'worked' to get sites and pages ranked high in search engines.

In the beginning, search engines like Metacrawler and Search.com simply required that you place the proper meta keywords and description on your pages, and they'd reward you with high rankings. Of course, spammers quickly exploited this to get all of their pages ranked for whichever terms they wished - relevant or not. Then a couple guys built a search engine called Google, determining true relevancy by looking at all factors of on-page optimization (not just meta tags), as well as the anchor text in incoming links. Later on they dumped meta tags as ranking factors, and other search engines followed suit. Yes, it's an over-simplification of the history, but it gets me to where we are now.

Interesting health benefits option for small businesses

Being full-time self employed with Convurgency is a relatively new venture for me. For the past 6.5 years I worked for larger companies, and of course the nice thing about that was having health benefits. However, now I'm left to fend for myself, to cover all (though very few) health expenses.

Buying health insurance for my wife and I seems almost like a waste of money, considering that we don't have any prescriptions, we're young and in good health, all we really spend money on is dental work - like our regular cleanings. It seems like serious overkill to be paying monthly for something that in all likelihood we won't use.

So you can understand how interested I was when I heard of the concept of the Private Health Services Plan. If you've never heard of it, here's a link to one provider of PHSP (the acronym). It seems like a really cool concept, where you can just pay for the health expenses you have, and they become a company expense.

If you've heard of or used this service, please let me know your experience with it. Would you recommend it? Could I use it for my wife as well?

New Toronto Small Business Directory!

I'm happy to announce the launch of AllToronto.biz, a new online directory for Toronto small businesses. Though there are already popular online portals for finding businesses in Toronto, there was still a need to create AllToronto.biz as an alternative. The reasons for this are two-fold:

1. Our localized SEO clients will receive a featured listing in the directory, which will serve as a value-add to our offering.
2. Other Toronto-based businesses that are serious about Search Engine Optimization will receive very little benefit from such portals as Toronto.com. For a fraction of the cost, they will be able to receive an optimized link in what should become a pretty heavily trafficked (and very targeted) directory.

In the future, as traffic to the site grows, I will be adding a review/voting mechanism. Also, if it becomes a popular request, I'll add features such as the ability to find popular restaurants in your neighbourhood. All in good time though! For the time being, the site's purpose is primarily for the advertising of business websites.

So if you happen to have a Travel Agency in Toronto, feel free to place a listing. And I really do mean "feel free", as the listings will all be free for the next 3 months!

How to get high PR, high traffic links for free

So, I've recently stumbled across a great new way of getting inbound links which I'm ready to share. Especially given the current controversy over paid links, this method of link acquisition has the following advantages:

• It's free, so therefore it's in compliance with Google's requirements
• It's free, so therefore a PR8 link will cost just as much as a PR2 link
• You're quite likely to get good traffic if you target the right sites
• You may even get some recognition out of it!
• Oh, and it's free
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How to get a Backlink from CNN

So, this entirely an experiment, I can't verify how well it works, if at all. Today I read an article on Self Made Minds about getting links from authority sites. I decided I'm going to first try the CNN search link, and then spend a bit of time looking for some .edu sites that would actually link back to me.

Anyhow, this is the CNN search query that I'm interested in: http://search.cnn.com/search?query=convurgency

I'll monitor it, see if it gets picked up by Yahoo and/or Google. This should be most interesting!

If I have any success finding a relevant .edu site, I'll post the results.