I need not delve into the technical details of percent-encoding to make my point regarding keeping your URLs clean as part of your on-site search optimization, but some basic coaching is in order. I see a couple repeat offenses that bother me and I would like to discuss them here briefly in hopes of raising some awareness of the situation.

First major offense is the use of an apostrophe in URLs

Feel free to use them in the title and throughout the content of your page but do not use them in the URL structure. Search engines view an apostrophe in a URL as %27. So Google sees http://domain.com/don’t-do-this as http://don%27t-do-this. This causes issues with keyword separation and can very well cause issues in your search rankings. Some sites also have problems dealing with encoded characters as well. For example bit.ly and other URL shortening services have had issues properly linking to sites using apostrophes and other encoded characters in the URL.

If you use the WordPress platform for your site and/or blog it will automatically fix your URL for you after you type your post title as you can see in the image below.

Second major offense is the use of spaces in URLs

I don’t see spaces used in URLs as often as I see apostrophes but it is unfortunately still all too common.  Spaces cause a similar issue by displaying as %20 character. Hyphens are the preferred character for separating two words in URLs – do not use spaces or underscores. Don’t argue with me, there are many reasons for this, including the actual spec that explains it.

Same goes for Filenames

While I’m at it, your filenames need to follow these same guidelines. You optimize your image and video filenames to include keywords (right? you should be!) and should be using hyphens to separate those keywords as you do in your URLs.

If you currently have these problems on your site – I don’t recommend editing your old URLs unless you’re prepared to create 301 redirects for all of them.  Do keep an eye on your new posts and be cognizant of the situation in the future and keep your URLs clean as part of your SEO strategy.

rYnoweb.com by Chuck Reynolds

Clean URLs for Good SEO

I mentioned previously that I was speaking at the Local Search Summit in NYC during Search Engine Strategies. New York was great, met (in person) great people in the industry that I’ve only previously talked to online and more importantly was able to present on something I’m very passionate about – local search. My talk and accompanying slide deck focuses on Foursquare and using Foursquare for local search marketing.

Foursquare is a location-based application that works on the iphone, android and blackberry smart phones.  It brings a game aspect and some competition into the mix and you can use that to your benefit as a small business in regards to how you market yourself locally.  I’ll tell you how you can use it for free marketing and promotion as well. I’ve attached the slide deck at the bottom of the post for review.

First and foremost, Foursquare promotes exploration around town and trying out new venues.  You can open the app, see what is around your current location, if there are any specials nearby and what those are, and you can see if any of your friends are checked-in at any of those locations.  You can see if a place is trending (quite a bit of checkins in a short amount of time) and how many people are there.  Think popularity.  Foursquare has badges that one can “unlock” for certain accomplishments, say if they visit 5 different Starbuck’s they unlock the “Barista badge”.  There is also a “Leaderboard” as you receive points for checking in and for visiting multiple venues in a day.

What do badges and leaderboards mean to you as a business?

Ego.  People have one.  Competition.  People like to win.  This means that people are already playing this game and checking into your business whether you’re currently aware of it or not.  This means that there is a game, external from your knowledge, that is essentially tracking and rewarding your customers for frequenting your venue.

The next magic part is that Foursquare will dub the most frequently visiting player a “Mayor” of that location.  Somebody could quite possibly be the Mayor of your venue right now.

What does Mayorship mean to your business?

Again, think of the game – people like to win. Ergo people start to try and oust the Mayor so they can be in that spot. Being the Mayor is like having bragging rights.  Whoever comes to your business can see who the Mayor is, click on their profile, friend them, etc.  Mayorships and the oustings get posted publicly to twitter (most people have their account hooked to twitter and sometimes to their Facebook wall as well) with your business name and a link to your business’ profile page on foursquare.com. (Example: CK’s Tavern & Grill)

In addition to that, visitors can announce their arrival and/or “shout” that they’re at a location and again your business name and profile link will be posted along with anybody else’s username that has checked in recently (slide 4).  In addition to all of that, people can leave “tips” and “todo’s” for other visitors that will literally ‘pop-up’ when they check in at your location.  “Try the buffalo wings with ranch, best in town” or “Friday fish fry is awesome” or “Best tax prep in town and excellent service”.  Think short reviews.  And why are those good?  Read the SEO Benefits section below to learn why!

Some Stats about Foursquare

At the time of my talk, Foursquare had been around for just about 1-year.  In one year, they’ve obtained about 600,000 users (now they’re getting very close to breaking 1 Million users), have over 16 Million checkins, have over 1.4 Million venues in the database (all created by users mind you).  That’s fairly impressive no?  Out of the over 1.4 Million venues, only about 1200 venues have special offers.  Really?  Can you say “Opportunity“?

People love playing the game, and less than 1% of businesses are seizing the opportunity to entice those users into their place of business.  And you’re spending how much on print ads that hardly convert?

SEO Benefits of Foursquare

Google maps (slide 6) and now Bing maps are showcasing Foursquare venues when people search locally.  Again all without you spending a penny.  Google is starting to use the tips and shouts from Foursquare venues for citations about your business.  If you haven’t heard, citations are used in the rank algorithm.  This is why Yelp and Google Local reviews are so powerful and sought after.

Foursquare venue pages are ranking in search results (slide 7).  It has your business name, address and again links to your Foursquare venue page which also has your phone number.  Need I say more?

How Businesses get Involved with Foursquare

Simply put – goto Foursquare.com, and Search for your business.  If you’re in there make sure your information is correct.  There should be a little pencil icon under the info (once you have an account).  This is like any site, you need to make sure your information is correct and that you’re represented properly.

Not listed on Foursquare.com?  Add your business/venue at Foursquare.com/add_venue

Start a Special Offer for your Business

Like I mentioned above, there is a great opportunity for businesses to get an offer on Foursquare and potentially be one of the only places in town offering a deal.  Foursquare is still new, and people like exploring so if you’re one of the only places that shows you are on Foursquare and recognizing people’s enjoyment of the game and you basically say HI we have a special for you because you play Foursquare…  And even if they’re close to you, a “Special Offer Nearby” tab will show up and upon clicking on that your offer will be visible. Tell me that’s not great!?   Maybe you’re an ice cream shop next to a steak house – make an offer for “Free scoop with your Acme Steak receipt” or “25% off dessert every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night”.  (make up whatever)

How?  Goto Foursquare.com/businesses and fill out that form – they’ll get back to you shortly. My experiences have proven they act fairly quickly.

Note: In slide 9 I show a dashboard with some nice stats on it.  That currently is in private beta and will be visible to businesses with offers.  Possibly a monetization entry for Foursquare as a “pro” feature or something but currently there are no such talks.  Only that the stats dashboard is in private testing for businesses.

Though you can see some of that on your profile page, such as who’s there, who’s been there, what tips there are, etc.

New School Loyalty Rewards

The new dashboard present some great flexibility for business owners.  Think of Foursquare as the 2010 version of the old school rewards punch card.  You could offer rewards for tweeting 20 times while at the venue or even about the venue, or even a reward for bringing 10 friends in with you.  Foursquare is working hard for local business; expect to see more coming in that regard.

Big Name Companies are already Adopting Foursquare

More and more companies are seeing the benefit in the many options Foursquare can provide and already Pepsi, the New York Times and Bravo network have jumped in and are working with it in different ways.  In fact while in Manhattan I unlocked a Bravo badge for visiting Radio City music hall!  In Las Vegas if you become the Mayor of the Miracle Mile Shops you’ll get your face and name on the 126-foot LED video screen.  I don’t know about you but that would be fricking cool (yes I’m a geek and simple things make me happy – if at least for the photo opp).

So the question is how are YOU going to use Foursquare for local search marketing?

I’m Chuck Reynolds on Foursquare as I am everywhere.  Feel free to friend me on Foursquare and follow me on twitter @chuckreynolds.  I appreciate you reading.  Feel free to ask any questions and/or post concerns on here or twitter.  Cheers!

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rYnoweb.com by Chuck Reynolds

Local Search Marketing using Foursquare

Self-Promotion to save the world
– by Peter Shankman @skydiver

- Get other people to WANT to do your promotion for you
- not saying how great you are, but having others want to say how great you are
- when self-promotion is done right – it’s helping
- being “that guy” – the person you call when you know you’re in the shit and they’ll get you out of it, they’ve done it before without having to ask.
- Transparency: obama won off being more transparent, works for you too
- Relevancy: is what you’re saying / promoting relevant to your audience?
- 2.7 seconds is attention span now – and get hit with that 16,000 times a day
- people like “finders” – the guys who are discovering the cool things and sending it out
- do it to be a nice person
- using the word “I” is the key to self-promotion failure
- be thankful and respect other people
- Everything you do either good or bad is a reflection of your personal brand – we live in a society now that there is no personal vs professional – there is no more private vs public

Peter’s post w/ video

rYnoweb.com by Chuck Reynolds

Notes on Self-Promotion by Peter Shankman

I’m packing up and heading to NYC to speak and be on a panel about Local Search Marketing, more specifically asked to focus on Foursquare and location-based mobile apps. To be honest I’m humbled to be on a panel with some wicked smart cats (@W2Scott and @Matt_Siltala) and going to New York to speak? Crazy talk!

If you’re going to be there, please stop and introduce yourself and say hi!  If not I’ll have my slides up for review and hopefully somebody is recording it.

rYnoweb.com by Chuck Reynolds

Speaking at 2010 SES Local Search Summit

I got over that year one – but SXSW Interactive is a great time, good to hang out with all those you talk to online from around the world and build better relationships, meet other entrepreneurs and gather insight on their positives and failures in the startup world and more.

Austin itself is a really cool town, great downtown area and awesome music scene.  The conference is beyond huge and offers a lot of information packed into a week.

So with that I’ll link you to my SXSW schedule if you’d like to see the panels I’m hitting or you can track me down via the normal methods: twitter, foursquare, gowalla & brightkite.

Cheers

rYnoweb.com by Chuck Reynolds

SXSWi bound in 2010

It’s a philosophy I have always felt and more recently started following myself for a while and, among other things, explains why past business partnerships I’ve made eventually failed and why I’ve decided to be solo for good.  This whole talk refers to and explains (MUCH better than I could) why I say “old school” all the time; this is what I mean, people I say are old school are working for the paycheck, not for what they believe.  Living in the top 10% and trying to do business with somebody in the last 16%… lets just say you don’t quite see eye-to-eye.

Anyways it’s good and I thought it needed to be here for you.

Quote from Speech:

“There are leaders and there are those that lead.
Leaders hold a position of power or authority, but those who lead – inspire us.
We follow those who lead not because we have to but because we want to, we follow those who lead not for them but for ourselves.“

Check out his book on Amazon: “Start With Why”

Watch the whole speech: (recommended)

Part in speech regarding type of people to hire: 08:02
Part in speech regarding the Law of Diffusion of Innovation: 11:05

rYnoweb.com by Chuck Reynolds

People Don’t Buy What You Do – They Buy Why You Do It

High Profile Events

Arizona Entrepreneurship Conference
Thursday Nov 12 – 7:30am – 7:00pm, Register, hashtag: #azec09
Desert Willow Conference Center – map

WordCamp Phoenix
Friday Nov 13 – 8:00am – 5:00pm, Register, hashtag: #phxwc
Arizona Grand Resort – map

PodCampAz
Sat-Sun Nov 14 – 15, Register, hashtag: #podcampaz
University of Advancing Technology – map

Other Important Events in November 2009

Ignite Phoenix 5
Tuesday Nov 3 – 6:00pm – 9:00pm, Tickets, hashtag: #ignitephx
Tempe Center for the Arts – map

Tedx Phoenix
Friday Nov 6 – 6:00pm – 9:00pm, Tickets, hashtag: #tedxphoenix
Mesa Arts Center – map

Desert Code Camp
Saturday Nov 7th – 8:00am – 5:00pm, hashtag: #desertcodecamp
DeVry University – map

SustainaBIL Conference
Sunday Nov 8th – 11:00am – 7:00pm, Register
ASU SkySong – map

AZIMA – Build Your Tribe
Tuesday Nov 10th – 6:00pm – 8:00pm, Tickets, hashtag: #joinAZIMA
Tempe Mission Palms – map

Creative Connect
Tuesday Nov 10 – 6:00pm
Tuomisto Bell Studio Foundry – map

Gangplank Hacknight
Wednesday Nov 11 – 6:00pm – 9:00p, hashtag: @gangplank
Gangplank – map

Developer Ignite 2
Wednesday Nov 11 – 6:00pm – 9:00pm, hashtag: #devignite
Gilbert Community Center – map

Social Media Club Phoenix
Thursday Nov 12 – 6:30pm – 8:00pm, hashtag: #smcphx
Desert Willow Conference Center – map (after #AZEC09)

There are also some pretty interesting after parties to attend but currently we haven’t planned anything, YET… I’ll see you all there!
(map removed as events are over now – next year!)

rYnoweb.com by Chuck Reynolds

November in Phoenix for Geeks

I keep getting asked to elaborate a bit and now that I’ve had the iPhone 3GS for a couple days I have some more details and insight that may interest those who have pondered a similar switch.

• I had an issue with with apps on the G1 as they don’t store on the SD card and the actual handset has only like 256mb of on-board memory so I had to keep uninstalling apps to add new ones.  iPhone has a 16gb hard-drive – nothing to worry about (and a 32gb model is available also).
• The keyboard typing logic is much smarter on the iPhone; less mistyped words and I seem to be faster typing on the iPhone than the G1 (while using the software keyboard).  I think the keys are better placed as the screen seems wider, but they’re not as tight together and I can type pretty quick and even better on landscape mode.
• GPS on the iPhone locates me much faster than android and it seems much more responsive to movements and rotation.  The original G1 demo videos had Google maps rotating the little street view guy to the direction you were looking but for one, I never used that specific functionality (no need), and two, it was so far buried in the map menu’s it wasn’t fast enough to be useful in my opinion.
• Apps wise…  and this partially ties into GPS but BrightKite and Foursquare actually work for finding where I’m currently located (despite their own individual software flaws).  The BrightKite app on Android would always keep me stuck at my last check-in point even if I hit “dismiss guess” 10 times.  Searching worked for finding and checking in but that’s not the point.  Only once out of about 30+ check-ins so far did I have to search for the place I was at on the iPhone’s BrightKite app.
  There wasn’t a Foursquare app (there was FourDroid but it was beyond horrible and FourSquared is in limited alpha at this point) on the G1 Android platform so I can’t compare apps, but the mobile version of their site didn’t have nearly the features the iPhone app has (but the iphone app doesn’t have venue search yet either so).
• Battery life… perhaps too early to tell because I’ve been hammering my iPhone with new apps and download tons of apps/games to test and also beta testing for a new GPS-based game called 5thDimension so that has been sucking the battery down.  But with that said – I’m not getting any less battery life than the G1.  Batteries in gadgets in general suck so I know there will be no dramatic change either way.

iPhone quirks at the moment

• Having some duplicate entries and split records with contacts that have synced from my Google Apps account.  I’ve heard from a couple iPhone users they have the same issue and I’m hoping that’s one of the issues addressed in the 3.1 update coming in a few weeks.
• The lack of settings options for the system and individual apps.  For one I’m used to going into the app and then doing its settings, but iPhone has all settings for everything in one spot. Again something to get used to but I can’t have different sound volumes for sms versus ringer tones… can’t set ringer to a sound but then have sms/emails vibrate… it’s all things make noises or all things vibrate – nothing in between.  And certain alerts seem much louder than others.
• Ringtones have to be hacked to work but there’s a great way to create free iPhone ringtones (thx to @amysellers and @leaky_tiki for the find)
• Alert sounds… how do I get new ones? fail
• The protective Incase case I bought was $37 bucks after tax… holy crap!

Anything I currently miss from Android?

• the simultaneous background processes was pretty slick on Android, not gonna lie, but in all practicality I don’t really miss it and I have yet to run into, or foresee running into, any position I’d be in to where that would be a vital feature I absolutely needed.
• I kind of miss Android’s ability to “tab” into other apps while they’re running, but I think that’s just a work flow issue that I’m not completely used to yet as the iPhone you have an app open or closed – nothing else.  Again nothing big that I foresee a problem with once I get more used to the flow on the iPhone.

I’m sure there will be more things I forgot (always is) but you can follow me on twitter for the smaller bits of info and all my other random stuff I post about.

Jan 2010 UPDATE: I waned to mention a great post on TechCrunch titled “An iPhone Lover’s Take On The Nexus One” that’s worth a read.

rYnoweb.com by Chuck Reynolds

Android to Iphone Part 2

Watch the video for details.

I don’t want to explain exactly what the video covers but in general the Android and HTC G1 combo are growing too slowly and I think have some road blocks coming along the road. This isn’t to say the iPhone OS is perfect – far from it but it’s had much more time to grow up and I realized I can’t wait for Android to grow up. Regardless of my switch I’ll watch the maturing Android OS and see how it goes and you never know what will happen – but for now I’ve taken the contract break from T-Mobile and moved over to AT&T.

Comments are where you should ask your questions and I’ll reply to them here so everybody can contribute. This isn’t something that should turn into a flame war but if you must. There are good things about both platforms and there are a couple things I’m leaving behind to make the switch so neither is perfect. Talk to you soon, cheers!

Full Sized HD on YouTube.
Also on Vimeo & Viddler for further commenting.

UPDATE: I’ve added some more insight in a second post after using the iPhone for a couple days: Android to iPhone Part 2
Jan 2010 UPDATE: I waned to mention a great post on TechCrunch titled “An iPhone Lover’s Take On The Nexus One” that’s worth a read.

rYnoweb.com by Chuck Reynolds

Android G1 to iPhone 3GS

I’ve created my card that I’ll be handing out so look for that and feel free to leave feedback on the card as well in the comments.

rYnoweb.com by Chuck Reynolds

Attending SXSW Interactive 2009