Mom + SEO Junkie = Burnt Toast

My darling 10 yo daughter, Madison (left - a few years ago,) is at summer camp this week. It’s amazing how much quieter the house gets when you go from 2 kids to 1 kid. My son is 6 and full of energy, but he wastes that energy outside when his sister isnt here to pick on. Not only are they not fighting CONSTANTLY - I’m not yelling at them to stop fighting CONSTANTLY.

I spend 1/2 hour reading last night - without locking myself in the bathroom! I’ve decided this is a happy-mom’s key to a balanced life. As documented, I’m not that great a parent. I’m sure if I could parent through Instant Message or email I’d be much better, but alas, that doesnt happen apparently.

Now the next step is to get them both in camp - at the same time - and have a whole week of “vacation!”

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I love Mel Brooks movies – “History of the World- Part I” is one of my favorites. The wacky blend of comedy, history, shtick, and innuendo makes me smile every time I think about it. The other night I was wondering about how the last decade look like through the lens of a camera? More to the point – what would the internet look like? Now – 98% of the population might not care – and will certainly think I’m a big nerd – but just think – 20 years ago there was no community for the nerds like me – outcasts from the norm hiding in the AV club room talking about D&D (Dungeons and Dragons for you non-nerd types out there) and the new Apple IIe I was going to buy with my babysitting money. Now I have SearchEngineLand, MyBlogLog, a pletora of forums and even the newest addition - Sphinn - to commiserate with my fellow techies (nerd is no longer PC and I have NEVER had a pocket protector - that I’ve put in my pocket anyway.)

Like all things technical - search has grown leaps and bounds in the last 10 years – actually – in the last few years. Like all technology, it takes that one innovator to light the spark that starts the fire that’s fanned by demand. If you asked a business owner 10 years ago, “Do you have a Web site?” The standard answer would have been, “No – do I need one?” These days you’re not considered serious about your business until you have a Web site. When I’m looking at a business I want to partner with or hire – I want to see at least some semblance of innovation. I want to be able to pay my mortgage online or order a movie without leaving my house. If you can’t offer that, I’m going to find someone who can – and I can do it by typing a few words into a browser. Keeping up means being involved, involved owners are acutely aware of their market and if they care about their Web site, they care about their business.

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Blizzard has just rolled out a project that I worked extensively on and I’m really proud of the outcome. If you have a travel or tourism website, maps are a piece of the puzzle that you just cant overlook. What amazes me is the lack of inventiveness out there when it comes to hotel/inn/resort owners using maps to really push their potential guests to book. Part of getting paying guests in the door is getting them there - and giving them options about what to do once they are there.

With our mapping program, we’re offering clients maps that are embedded in the site, but built on the CommunityWalk platform. I know I know - on-site content is best, right?? Not necessarily. Theoretically, for semi-competitive terms I’m going to rank ONE page (maybe 2 w/ a site link) for my keyword. By building and optimizing our map and map points offsite, you’re increasing your Search Engine Result Saturation (I like to call it SERS.) So feasibly I can have from 1 to 4 results in the top 10 that will lead a potential guest right to my site. Here’s an example:

DestinDays.com recently implemented an optimized map of their local attractions. The page they’ve embedded the map on is optimized for “attractions in destin, fl” Now - at this time DestinDays is ranking about 19th in Google for that term. We expect that to increase to first page presence, and the best part is that the page at communityWalk where the map has been built is very likely to rank on that first page.

These maps are really interactive and informative. Here is an example of how they work. This map was built for a client I have that runs a not-for-profit B&B in Mendocino, CA. The Lighthouse Inn at Pt. Cabrillo is located on a 300 acre nature preserve that is run by the State of California. The inn is, quite honestly, a little bit of a drive from town, so things aren’t within walking distance. Part of our goal was to be honest about the location, while giving information and directions to all of the area restaurants, attractions, etc. that the Innkeepers recommend. This map is on their Fine Dining page - along with some great text to feed the spiders.

CommunityWalk Map - Dining near Lighthouse Inn at Pt. Cabrillo

The bottom line is this - adding a map is a relatively simple undertaking, that can provide huge rewards in the realm of usability and guest satisfaction.

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Okay - part of me really disapproves of this - that’s the good mom part and it’s voice is soft and often buried by my sick sense of humor.  Baby Pearl has captured the blogosphere with her foul mouth and manhandling of Will Ferrell. 

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Because I’m a blog-slacker I dont think I’ve shared with anyone that I’m going to my first SEM conference in a few weeks.

 Elizabeth Osmeloski was my editor at Search Engine Watch and she put together a SES conference for the Travel Industry.  SES Travel is July 26th & 27th and I’ll be attending, speaking and moderating - i’m really excited.

When you spend hours every day blogging (obviously not on THIS blog) along with reading blogs and forums the chance to meet even a few people you’re interacting with, reading and hearing about on a daily basis is exciting.  Rebecca Kelly from SEOMoz will be there, along with Todd Sarouhan from GoVisitCostaRica.com and Emarketingtalkshow.com.  Quite a few of the other SEW Experts will be attending also - it should be a great learning experience for anyone involved with Travel search.

The panel I’m speaking on is about small budget/small business PPC marketing.  I’m moderating one panel on Keyword Research and another on Repuatation Management.

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