jpuopolo.com

Blog and place for general Musings of Joseph Puopolo


I wanted to write a simple article on SEO or Search Engine Optimization. I have a lot of people coming to me and asking how they can improve their ranking and drive more traffic. Time and again, the people I am working with haven’t done these basic steps required to drive traffic. I wanted to take a few minutes to break down SEO and to show how it can be made quite simple. This isn’t to say I don’t have a lot more advanced tricks up my sleeve, but this will at least get you on the right path.  More importantly, it will help you to start driving traffic to your site. Do some basic analysis – Want to get more traffic to your site? Start by understanding what people are searching for. With all the tools currently available, there is absolutely no reason you shouldn’t be able to understand what people are searching for. Get the Tools – Start by getting a Google Analytics account. Using this account you can use the Google keyword predictor to see what are the relative searches on different keywords on a monthly basis. Pick 20 Keywords – Once you see the list and the searches, pick keywords to optimize against. If you try to pick all of them you will water down your site too much (unless you know what you are doing). You want to pick keywords that you think you could convert on and have a chance of ranking on in Google. Analyze – Analyze your current site against those 20 keywords that you just picked and figure out where the deficiencies are. Which keywords could be mapped against existing content? Am I missing content? If so, what? You need to ask yourself all of these questions at this step. Localize – If you are trying to capture a local market, use local markers like cities and neighborhoods to further refine your keywords. Adding your location to Google Places is also extremely handy for driving traffic, especially when people are searching on Google Maps. Create Content – Content is king (yes I just broke out that cliché, mostly because it is true). Text, video and images are your weapons. If you have all 3, you are set.  Start by tailoring good text around the keywords. Don’t write for the search engine, but don’t keep the search engine out of mind when you are writing them. If you have images, rename them to your keywords. Take the time to implement Alt and Anchor text throughout the site. Alt text refers to alternative text that tells the search engine what an image...

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Ever since game dynamics really took center stage with things like Foursquare, I have become very interested in how people become so quickly enticed in to getting badges and earning points. There are have been other companies who have taken gamification to websites. Two companies, specifically Badgeville and Bigdoor, have caught my attention. I will be writing a detailed article on both. In the interim, I have decided to gamify my website using Big Door’s plug-in. Now by interacting with my site you can earn points. Right now you can’t use these points for anything (I am still figuring that part out). If you want to earn some points you can start by: Checking In using the bar below  (10 points)  Commenting on any article (15 points) Liking my page (10 points) I am still experimenting with Gamification, but would like your input on how I could either improve the experience and make gamification a worthwhile addition to my site. I would encourage you to to interact with my site and see game dynamics in...

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A Farewell to Movember

A Farewell to Movember


Posted By on Nov 30, 2011

So After 30 days of Moustache awesomeness it is time to call it an end. We raised a lot of money for Movember and hope to raise more. If you haven’t donated, you should feel ashamed of yourself. Alleviate this overwhelming feeling of guilt by donating now mobro.com/jpuopolo Watch the farewell to #Movember in the little video I cooked up! You can also view my salute to moustaches...

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A loving heart is the truest wisdom. – Charles Dickens As the holidays approaches each year, while many gather to celebrate their many blessings they have received over a feast of food, many go without. There are many families struggling to put food on the table, especially during the holidays. The Toronto Daily Bread Foodbank valiantly tries to make sure every table has food, but even do-gooders need help. With a shortfall of 140,000 pounds of food and $85,000 from the Fall Drive, Daily Bread is looking to raise 1.2 million pounds of food and 1.2 million dollars by January 4 in order to ensure that food continues to go out over the winter months to families struggling with hunger. Most-needed food items include peanut butter, rice, dry pasta and sauce, baby formula and food, dried or canned beans, canned tuna and meat, canned fruits and vegetables. Enter a merry band of social media enabled individuals bent on mobilizing the Toronto technology community to give back and help those less fortunate. In response to the growing need from the community for food, HoHoTO was born. Using little more than their Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn rolodexes, the organizers have made sure that HoHoTO has become a regular fixture on the Toronto tech event calendar. For those interested in this event, it is recommended that they move quickly. This event is a regular sell out and tickets are on sale now here. Essentially, for every ticket a person can eat for a week. One of the defining elements of the event is the support from our community – the corporations and individuals who make the lion’s share of donations to the event. You can see the long list of sponsors who contribute and are classified by the holiday theme that is a hallmark for the event. While HoHoTO has an impressive list of sponsors, the fight to keep Toronto fed is not an easy one and they are looking to surpass last year’s goal of...

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Over the past year the WWE has continued to push the social media envelope by integrating Twitter and Facebook further into its regular broadcasts. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, now a cross-over star in both the WWE and Hollywood, cut a promo on WWE Raw to hype the upcoming pay-per-view “Survivor Series”. During that promo, the Rock quickly coined a new catchphrase “Boots to Asses” and said it was now trending worldwide. Before he mentioned it there was no mention of it on Twitter. Shortly after he said it, not only did it start a new chant throughout the arena, but it proved that Mr. Johnson was prophetic as minutes later the term “Boots to Asses” was trending worldwide. One might say this is a one off, but for anyone observing what the WWE has been up to this can be seen as only a small part of a much larger social media strategy. In the last year, the WWE has bolstered it’s already strong web presence with a very savvy social media offensive. Now every performer who appears on WWE TV has their own Twitter handle which they use to build a fan following and actually continue storylines started from the show. During the broadcast, whenever a wrestler heads to the ring, their Twitter handle is prominently featured next to their name on the screen graphics. Their strategy is obvious and effective, providing a method to allow their show to be more interactive and leverage casual fans to tune in more regularly especially when something eventful is on the screen. Throughout the show, it is quite common to hear announcers talking about whether something is trending worldwide. Some wrestlers who are trying to increase their standing in the company have actually taken to social media to build an audience. Zack Ryder and his self-styled ”Jersey Shore” persona created a series of YouTube videos to drive interest. To his credit, not only has he been successful driving nearly 100,000 people to become subscribers on Youtube, but he also has 300,000 followers on Twitter. He essentially went out and built a new fanbase for himself and received more airtime and interest as a result. Wrestlemania is by far the biggest event held by the WWE. To hype the main event, they have already launched a separate site to highlight their main fight, John Cena vs. Dwanye “The Rock” Johnson, and to encourage fans to choose whose side they’re on. The site is integrated with both Twitter and Facebook pages. On each side they have attracted huge audiences. Here is the tale of the tape so far, and it is pretty impressive. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson John Cena Twitter Followers 1.6m...

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Reflections on being a father

Reflections on being a father


Posted By on Nov 16, 2011

In and out, in and out, I quietly sit, watching my daughter breathe while she is sleeping truly a miracle. Anna lays between Laura and me peacefully sleeping on the eve of her surgery. I can’t help but feeling such a huge range of emotions. Over the past 10 months I have built such a tight bond with my little girl, my first concern is providing for her, protecting her and keeping her safe. Since Laura has to go to work early in the morning, she feeds her in the morning and then leaves my little daughter next to me to let us both a little extra sleep. Sometimes I wake up before her and I watch her wake up and it is one of my favorite moments in the day.  For such a little person, she has so much personality and has brought so much happiness into my life and into the life of our entire family. Since becoming a father it is amazing how a switch flips inside you, and your world turns upside down.  You grow a parental 6th sense for your child, learn their little idiosyncrasies and what makes them an individual. As sappy as it sounds songs, I find myself getting really moved songs that choke me up inside. I mean I love Guns N’ Roses, but when I hear sweet child of mine I well up inside. The song The Suburbs by The Arcade Fire really touches me especially this lyric: So can you understand? Why I want a daughter while I’m still young I wanna hold her hand And show her some beauty Before this damage is done It touches me especially because I want to show my daughter beauty and protect her. It has been 19 months since I found out I was going to be a father and 10 months of actually getting to hold my little girl in my arms.  I find I am getting to re-experience everything through my child’s eyes.  On a trip to the zoo, I get so much joy watching her eyes light up. As we get closer to Christmas, I look forward to seeing Anna get excited as she gets to experience it for the first time. I write this blog tonight because I can’t sleep. I haven’t been able to sleep much lately. Tomorrow will be a tough day, but we will get through it. Anna is a tough little girl. While she woos everyone with her cuteness and personality, I know she is a fighter like her parents and will be fine. This year I have felt the full range of emotions...

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Have you been waiting for a taxi to come take you to an airport and it never comes? Or worse yet, you have ordered a car and don’t know where it is. A Toronto based company named Winston aims to change the way you call for a taxi or limo. Launching today exclusively in Toronto, Winston is going direct to cab or car companies and pitching a different way to operate. Instead of high overhead dispatch, which can be hit and miss they are leveraging the customer, GPS and integrated credit card functions to change the game. Sounds a lot like  Uber, but Winston’s prime focus is around the business user. The business traveler typically has very different needs than an average traveler. The launch of the app is currently limited to Toronto, Canada, but they will be rolled out in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco by the end of the year. Winston is negotiating agreements currently with international providers and will be in multiple markets in Europe and Asia in 2012. Winston believes it will win out by leveraging broader distribution and greater adoption across more cities. Uber is currently available in 5 cities. “Our customers will be everywhere, we need to be everywhere they are” says Aidan Nulman CEO of Winston. With Winston, rather than picking up the phone, you will be able to order a cab at the touch of a button using the Winston app. While waiting for your ride you can track it approaching via GPS. When you complete your ride, rather than having to reach for your wallet, you just leave the car and the payment is handled via Winston. The payment is tracked via the app, it tracks the pick-up and drop-off location and time spent and charges a credit card on file appropriately. Whether you want either a cab or a limo, a prospective passenger can order either. Limousines obviously come at a premium and a minimum cost of 50 dollars. Winston has already negotiated numerous agreements with cab and limousine companies. Winston has received significant interest from corporations looking to manage employee expenses. One of the key reasons for this is that tax chits can often be abused by employees while traveling. As well, for employees, keeping track of travel expenses is often the last thing they want to do. All in all, this is ideal for a busy business traveler who is getting off a flight to catch a business meeting. This expedites and automates the entire process. Winston derives revenue by taking a percentage of each ride and sees many other potential revenue streams. Winston was founded In January...

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Here, if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw. There it is, that’s a straw, you see? You watching?. And my straw reaches acroooooooss the room, and starts to drink your milkshake… I… drink… your… milkshake! – There Will Be Blood. Daniel Plainview was brilliantly acted character played by Daniel Day Lewis and this scene won him the Oscar. It does say something about competition and going after your competitors’ resources. Your competitor’s most valuable resource is their customers. So how do you “Drink Their Milkshake”?. These strategies are really suited to a David and Goliath approach.   Here are 5 really simple steps (some are quite aggressive) to target and win over your competitors customers in a digital age. Here are some top tips: 1.     LinkedIn – LinkedIn is a powerful tool for understanding competitive information. There are a number of different ways to effectively poach your competitors clients. a.     See what their sales force is doing – Watch what the sales reps from your competitors are doing, and see who they are connecting with. It is likely that those people are either their leads or customers. Target those people and begin discussions of your own. b.    Infiltrate their LinkedIn groups – Most of the people who manage LinkedIn groups quite honestly don’t pay attention to who they let in. Some of the people there are likely either users or power users. You have to be discriminating to who you begin to contact, as usually these groups are teeming with consultants and members of that company. It can be a quick way to generate a really quick list. 2.     Twitter – It is very simple to go after your competitor’s customers in Twitter. The rule is simple: if they are following your competitor, it is likely they are customers. So the next step is easy – you follow them 500-1000 at a time. You wait a week and see who follows you back. By virtue of them following you back, they have self-identified that they might be interested in trying a different service. At the very least, you see what topics are resonating and can derive new messaging from that. 3.     Facebook – Fans and people who actively post on their wall are obvious targets. Depending on the product or service you can begin to run ads for anyone who “likes” your competitor. This is a hyper targeted approach to catch the eye of these potential clients. 4.     Event Sign-ups – Many companies are using 3rd party sign-up tools for their events or webinars. Search and scrape any sign-up sheet to see the...

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You are building too slowly

You are building too slowly


Posted By on Oct 25, 2011

When I was a child I played with Lego. If I was at home, I had the leisure of playing with my own Lego, and I could take my time and build an elaborate creation. I would go to meticulous detail in building ships, castles or other buildings. I realized there was a certain serenity to playing my own sandbox at my own pace. When I went to kindergarten, I noticed they had a large box of Lego. When I went to play with it for the first time, I got upset that there were other kids taking blocks I wanted to use. I wasn’t afforded the luxury of taking my time, because if I did, I wouldn’t have the pieces needed to complete what I wanted to build. This is a simple parable but it made me realize that I was building too slowly, and not afforded infinite timelines. I thought back to this during Democamp, where a company named VidYard built an impressive application in 16 weeks, got funded and are now on the upswing. This example made me realize that if you think you are building something quickly, you probably aren’t and will pay the price for it. The level of competition in the software/web application space has only gotten more intense. The ability of a focused and dedicated team to build something quickly is needed more than ever. What I have come to realize is that zealotry of innovation is powerful. People with a taste for both innovation and building something are hard to stop. Last week, due to this epiphany, I decided to try to tackle something in one week that would normally take me multiple weeks. I refocused, got team buy-in and went to work. This didn’t come without bumps – the time I would normally take to think out every nuance was not there. I stayed up late and built and tweaked until it was ready. I would argue that a perfect plan with nothing built takes a backseat to something that works that perhaps isn’t perfect. It may sound cliché, but a good plan today is truly better than a great plan later. At the end of the week, I lost a lot of sleep and built out something cool. I didn’t quite hit my timeline, but when I looked back at the week, I saw that my team and I had built a lot and learned a few lessons. So you want to build something quickly? How do you do it? Set an unrealistic timeline. How better to start this project? Ask yourself how long it would normally take on...

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My parents have become an informal guidepost for technology adoption. Whenever I come home to visit them, they usually ask me if I have heard about some new technology. It is that point that I know that the tech they mention has reached a certain level of critical mass. My parents are by no means tech neophytes, but conversely, they aren’t cruising tech blogs attending regular tweet-ups. Facebook is a regular part of my mom’s life. I often get messages and Wall comments from her, and in quite a few instances, our Facebook communication has replaced picking up a telephone. So, this weekend I asked her whether she uses Google+ or has heard about it. She said she had heard some buzz about it, but had no intention to change from Facebook. I started to think about this, and wondered if this trend of one would hold true in other demographics. I also began to wonder whether Google+ might be in for a slog trying to convert my mom and others who share similar usage patterns and demographics. Before I make such a bold blustery claim, we should evaluate why my mom uses Facebook. The biggest reason? Because everyone else uses Facebook too.  Facebook has built a competitive advantage that will make it difficult to overcome, especially in the older demographic. The younger generation has less of an issue trying something new and flipping between multiple services (Google+, Twitter, Foursquare, etc.). One could easily make the argument that Myspace was well ahead of Facebook and they caught up. This is a totally different game due to the three principle ways my mom uses Facebook: 1. Playing Games with friends – Facebook has become an impressive platform for non-immersive pastime games I consider myself a gamer, but still play Facebook games from time to time. For my mom, on the other hand, Facebook’s game offerings are often at the perfect skill level for her and others in her generation. These games also attract users who don’t have the time to commit to an engrossing game and just want a five minute distraction. Facebook Scrabble is one of my mom’s favourite games, and she plays with all of her friends from the comfort of her iPad. Facebook quickly become one of the strongest gaming platforms out there over the past 3 years. The Google game strategy is emerging via the Google App store, but currently is both under-developed and not tightly integrated into Google+. 2. Seeing what we are up to – With a new baby in the family, my mom is quick to check for photos or keep in touch with friends. I haven’t felt the need to really post pictures on both services (Facebook and Google+) because when posting...

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