Posts

Now am very jealous.... take a pic!!
Must confess, this something I'd like to explore if I ever get 5 minutes, I'm clueless when it comes to video.

Still got wedding video waiting to be edited from years ago..
“I always choose Samsung and I have no explanation why.”

I was pretty late to the smart phone revolution, and have never been a mobile fan, and could see little point of trying to access the internet on a phone, read email etc. As a techie, I dunno why but I was complete mobile technophobe

How wrong was I... We got some iphones on a company contract 3 years ago, and I've never looked back. I genuinely have no idea how I survived without one! I can literally run the office from the phone if I needed to, and I know Clive has when we've done trade shows. Then watching our traffic explode on our mobile site just reinforced the point I was talking cobblers.

But I've always been an iPod fan, so having this on my phone is an added bonus, and I like the fact I've still got the same phone, nothing wrong with it (other than being with Vodafone and no signal in my street!).

People that have the Samsung seem to rave about them and I guess they perform exactly the same job (or better), but in a world where technology changes every minute, it is nice to have something familiar and I know inside out! I used to hate getting a new phone every year and trying to work it out
“Ahhh, my next door neighbour! ”

Of course, it's based at Robin Hood airport, lucky you! You must have seen it take off a few times.

Was lucky to see it as it left RAF service, and it did a circuits and bumps tour of all the old V Bomber bases, and I was based at RAF Wittering. Was amazing, but never thought it would fly again. Have seen it a few times since, and it is a magnificent sight.

Problem is aircraft have a shelf life, and once it's airframe has expired it's allowed flying hours, it's an expensive rebuild. You nearly get to the point of the broom and replacing the handle, is it the same broom, then replace the broom head, is it still the same broom?

We have the Wellesbourne Vulcan just down the road, and that does a fast taxi every year and is kept in a ground running condition, but lives outside, so is only a matter of time before she deteriorates to be come a static exhibit.

Be great to see the Vulcan maybe fly for another 2 years while she can, and then retire gracefully and be preserved for the future.
SEO Sources 21st August 2013 12:14 PM
Great question

Me personally, I have a pro membership with Moz, and find the place a goldmine of info, as well being a member of linkresearchtools.com

For general SEO news, I like and trust Search Engine Land and Search Engine Roundtable. It doesn't mean all articles are necessarily right, and there is a lot of speculation (which is a fact of life in the world of SEO), but most of the articles are informed, generating good comments and debate.

For general SEO, SMM and Semantic SEO I have a few favourites:
semanticweb.com
SEO Skeptic
SEO by the Sea
Occam's Razor
socialmediatoday.com

and always keep an eye on:
mattcutts.com
Google Inside Search

Then there are Google Communities, SEO/SMM wise my favourites are:

Social Media Strategy
https://plus.google.com/communities/100354381402619402956

Semantic Search Marketing
https://plus.google.com/communities/103048251221048356778

SEO+ - Search Engine Optimization / Website Design
https://plus.google.com/communities/109827412704845128980

Google Authorship & Author Rank
https://plus.google.com/communities/104474428845467390263

Be interesting to see anyone else's choices.
I dunno, a marketing budget of $0

Incorporate the latest thinking, make sure your designers utilise structured data, and use the latest SEO principles in the actual design.

Try and be different. Why does the world need yet another directory in New York? What are you going to offer that's different to Yelp, Google Local, foursquare or the countless number of directories already out there.

I assume you've done your market research and have found a niche. What is your traffic plan, how will the site be funded? No point putting ads on a site with no traffic, and no business will pay any money for a listing that doesn't stand a chance of either generating leads or have a benefit to their own site.

I genuinely love directories, but it's a different landscape now, than back in 2005 when I started MLS, and even long established directories are failing who haven't moved with the times.

From a standing start, imho you are going to need a decent marketing budget to generate some initial exposure, and then hopefully that will give you traction which you can build on with blogs, SMM etc.
“We had a similar discussion recently with a big SEO company. They coined what they said was a new phrase being bounded around the corridors of SEO - linktation. A mixture of links (they need a link budget) and citation (getting people(other sites) talking about your site)”

What you're describing there is a blended marketing approach, which has been the correct approach for a long time. Unfortunately people get hung up on link building, and thats most peoples perception of SEO. This twisted view in my mind has actually contributed to the countless SEO idiots offering paid services to the novice, gullible and inexperienced. It's easy money, pretty easy to fudge results (look you're page 1 for "1 legged dinner ladies in Bolton").

Social Media Marketing, Semantic Search, structured data will all go hand in hand with writing compelling useful content. Add in some PR if you have a decent budget, build up your external reputation by inviting genuine customer reviews, and have a decent customer service and the ability to be proactive when things go wrong, and I think you've got it all covered.

SEO/SMM or just call it online marketing, but it is evolving, and things like new structured mark up for in depth articles is as about as far removed from buy 1000 directory links for $10 as you can get.

Trouble is, doing things properly takes time and effort, and time is something most business owners don't have. So getting bombarded with daily offers of fast seo results and guaranteed page 1 slots, I can't see the bad old days disappearing any time soon
Couldn't believe this article from Search Engine Land:
With Amazing Chutzpah Google Claims It Can't Be Sued In UK Courts

“Google is moving to dismiss the UK case on jurisdictional grounds, arguing that it is not subject to UK privacy laws and that plaintiffs must refile their case in California where Google is based. Google argues, essentially, that UK courts have no jurisdiction over the company...

...Google argues that UK nationals must come to the US and sue Google for privacy violations that happened on British soil. Would then Google argue that US and not UK law should be applied in the case as well? That
The Vulcan Debate - what do you think? 20th August 2013 10:06 AM
No, nothing to do with Startrek I'm afraid, but rather the last surviving airworthy Vulcan Bomber.



After an expensive rebuild, she re-took to the skies 18th October 2007, and has been a crowd puller at every airshow and event she's been to. But the reality is she's an old lady and very expensive to keep in the air. Her airframe will need a major rebuild within the next few years, and the charities plan that own her is to turn it into a ground running exhibit and build an educational museum around her, to save her for future generations.

But that's a couple of years away, so the immediate question is, should she keep on flying, and is there enough support to keep the donations rolling in that will pay for it.

So the Vulcan to the Sky team have got a simple web page with a question:

Should she keep flying after 2013?

Click to answer Yes | No | Undecided
Am I spending wisely? 19th August 2013 1:11 PM
“.
...and if that fails, My Local Services ”