Like any good company, Google is continually working on improvements to their products. It’s like updating your software. That’s what Panda, Venice, and Penguin are all about. Google releases an update (like they’ve been doing all year) to address a recurring problem (like spamming for rankings), change the face of search (Search, plus Your World) or fix some things that were missed in a recent update. All hell breaks loose in our industry, and eventually, if it’s that big of a deal (like it has been this year), it hits the main stream.

Do you have anything to be worried about?
Funny thing about all the Google updates is, if you aren’t doing shady stuff in the first place, what do you have to be worried about? Granted, there are many documented instances of good websites who get sucked innocently into Google’s wrath. But we’re talking big picture here.

A couple weeks ago when Penguin hit we wrote a post about SEO Stuff you Shouldn’t be Doing. Read that, and then put this stuff on your list for everyday. Yup, you read that right. Every day for the rest of your life (ok, except maybe on your birthday).

The deal is, you’re working towards building relationships, so you do have to work at it every day. Here’s how we would do it if we were you:

1. Find your online community
   We do some research and figure out who lives in our online community. It’s not everyone, people. We’re not going for the whole web here. You want to start small and target some people that you think are great and worth having a relationship with. Start with Twitter and your thought leaders. Find them and follow them. Pick a few of the people they’re following and follow them.Do the same on LinkedIn and Google+. You’ve now developed a small online community that you can keep tabs on, get inspired by, and maybe even contribute to. That’s your next step.
2. Get in there

   Now you’re in the room, all you gotta do is get involved. Start reading the blogs your thought leaders and other online community people reference. In a short time, you will feel comfortable interacting and engaging, maybe even blogging about this stuff yourself (yup, it’s gotta be done).First things first…comment on blogs and tweets. Be authentic and genuine. Don’t try too hard. It’s like being with a person face to face. Use your manners and don’t be too aggressive. Take your time and things will happen.
3. Write some stuff that people want to read and share

   If there is one trick to any of this stuff, it’s content generation. Everything you do in your online community starts from the value that you are generating and it has to be worth sharing. Your blog posts need to have more than words in them (we call it universal content) and your writing needs to exhibit your personality.Use images, video, and infographics. And don’t just pick out a stock photo and plop it in there. You’re trying to give people the experience without them actually being there. Look for websites that display what you’re trying to explain and link to them. Embed videos that other people have created and give them credit for them.Make the experience rich and engaging and they’ll not only come back for more, they’ll tell their friends.

 Before you know it people will be referencing your stuff and pushing your name around. And that’s when the real magic starts to happen.

Ok, so we’re gonna say it again

You’ve heard us say it. You’ll hear the thought leaders in our industry say it.

Ready?

Wait for it….

You have to do the work.

That’s right, this stuff takes work.

The team here at Mack Web gets so excited when Google cleans house because we are doing what it takes to get there (and helping our clients get there too), but the road is steep and narrow and it often feels like you’re pushing a 50 ton boulder up a hill.

Even we get discouraged, but never fear. There are little rewards along the way. Don’t forget to celebrate your tiny successes. One day, you won’t know what hit ya. You’ll have built so much value in your company and so much trust in your customers that you won’t care if you rank #1 in Google.

When I gave birth I nearly died. Seriously. I had a case of 24 hour preeclampsia (which means that I had insanely high blood pressure) and my nurses and husband were running around my hospital room frantically as I sat there arguing with my nurse about my condition.

I felt fine. I was calm. I knew I wasn’t going to die…and I didn’t because 10 hours later Price Juron was born and the life of a 22 year old changed forever. I began to truly live.

My son was the sweetest baby ever. He rarely cried, always smiled, and ate really well. (Babies that eat well make life easy.)

I fell in love with his little blue eyes and blonde hair.  They are anomalies given that my husband and I have dark features. (Gerald is African American and I am Korean.Yeah, we are both mixed with some Caucasian.)

My husband changed every diaper for a straight month and we were on rotation for sleep. I was thrilled and my son was precious.

It was bliss…bliss or sleep deprivation.

When my son was 3 months old, we decided to leave Chicagoland, where a majority of family lives to venture out to the wild wild West and cheer for my brother-in-law as he played football for Colorado State University.

On July 5, 2008 my entire family sobbed,  including myself as the Macons drove off into the firework flashing sky and began our first journey as a family.

Fast forward nearly four years later and you find me realizing how quickly time moves.

I have enjoyed three Mother’s days where it was I who was being honored. I embrace the recognition because motherhood has had its ups and downs.

Not a full night of sleep for three straight years, being peed on, being pooped on, money going towards diapers instead of shoes, money going to daycare instead of clothes, meltdowns in public places (both Price and myself). Plus, the changes a woman goes through while being pregnant and after giving birth are ones you can’t prepare your mind or body for.

When my friends refer to me as a mom, I think…yes, yes I am.
When my sister says, “You are just saying that because you are a mom”, I think…no, no I am not.
When my husband reminds me that I am not “just one of the girls” anymore and I can’t spend weekends frolicking the city or hitting up a happy hour sans Price without getting a sitter, I think…damn why did we move so far away from family.

BUT I would not change it for anything because look at his face!

Before I had Price, I knew that I wanted to conquer the world of business. I would not be a stay at home mom. It wasn’t for me. I stayed home while I obtained my Master degree and loneliness was nearly my demise. (We were new to Fort Collins, Price was less than a year old when I began my studies and I am an ENFJ.)

We spent many a time doing stuff like this…

And having conversations through out his four years of life that leave me with great Price quotes like:

“Mom, I woke the sun up.”
“Mom, I just transformed from Batman to Superman.”
“Dad, can I transform?”
“Which grandma? The one that speaks English?” (Both grandmas speak English, my mom just has a Korean accent.)
“Dad threw away my old toys and that’s so rude. You should buy me this new toy.”
“You’re not my best friend, dad is. Okay, you can be my best friend.”
“But I want to snuggle with a real human being.”
“What desert can I have after breakfast?”
“I want a sister then a brother then a sister and then a brother.”
“Four-year-old’s know everything.”

In hindsight the time at home was great, but I felt desolate and about two years later I graduated and I was desperate to become June again.

I was desperate because I need to work. I am a workaholic. I love to interact, engage, be bossy. I love to read, to learn, to teach. I needed to be in the professional world, especially because I took out student loans and need to pay them back. And now I have two jobs. One as an instructor at a local community college and the other as a social media strategist.

At my job in the world of web marketing, inbound marketing, SEO, SEM…or whatever other name it goes by I am specifically focused in all things social.

I am always involved on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google+ and even Tumblr. I do have a WordPress blog out there, too. I do it for my company, I do it for our clients, I do it for our country…okay that is a little dramatic, but you get it.

Because of my obsession, er, passion, I mean job, my son knows how to work a Droid, Iphone, Ipad, computer, laptop. He knows what Facebook and Twitter are. (Although he calls it Tweeter.) And he is familiar with being videotaped and stalked as though I am the paparazzi and he is my celebrity muse.

I am happy when I work. My son and my husband are happy because I can truly be a good mom and wife when I am fulfilled.

I love my family, but I also crave for my career. And so here I am on this journey of motherhood all the while focused on my career.

Please wish me luck, once we have an addition to this family I can only hope that my career will still live on.

Then I got a mother’s day card from my mom:

And I figured out what I really wanted to say.

Maybe it’s the stage I’m in as a parent (with two nuggets under the age of 5). Or maybe it’s the fact that I also run a company in a very demanding industry. But mostly, I think that being a mom is just hard.

I’ll be honest. Some days I really don’t like being a mom. But some days I don’t like being an entrepreneur either. Both require constant attention and carry a great deal of responsibility and work that some days just feels like this huge load that I’m going to become crushed under. Squashed like a little grape.

There are a lot of days where it’s all I can do to keep my head above water. “Balancing” both work and kids and marriage and life. These days I just want a lounge chair. In the sun. By a pool. And a cocktail. All by myself.

But.

When I stop comparing myself to what I think a mom should be, I start to gain some clarity about what I know to be true for me:

I love the shit out of my kids. I love that I have two (and only two). And I love that I have a boy and a girl. My heart melts when I watch Ryan and Easton play together. I love how wonderful Ryan is to her little brother and how amazingly cute Easton is (even though he is a pain in my ass).

I have an amazing husband who is so incredibly supportive, understanding, and helpful. He’s a trooper because he takes a back seat to the kids, and the business, and the alone time Mack wishes she had. And that’s why I married him. Because he loves me and he’s in no matter what.

I love Mack Web. I love what we do. I love our team. I love that we’re funny. I love that we are having success. And this is the stuff I have to remember when I don’t want to work on another stinking process for our company.

It’s not that I don’t love being a mom, I just don’t love it 100% of the time. But for all those days that I want to go mental, there actually are moments that are precious (like when Ryan is crunching her potato chips in her tiny little mouth, or when Easton lays his soft cheek on my shoulder). I just have to remind myself to hang on to those moments for dear life because right now they tend to be few and far between.

I find myself choked up thinking about how big Ry and E are and how it’s all going by so fast (even though I wish away so many moments).

Some day soon I won’t have any diapers to change or butts to wipe and I will be sad thinking about when they were babies. But I’m taking it in. Appreciating and finding the joy in as many moments as possible. Taking it one day at a time. And longing for my lounge chair and cocktail.

This year, NCBR took a different route with the way they honored those who made the list. NCBR placed companies in five tiers based off on their percentage growth and profit. Mack Web Solutions was placed at number 16 in the fifth tier.

“It is great to watch Northern Colorado companies prosper in the wake of an economic recession. For the past two years Mack Web Solutions has been fortunate enough to experience continued growth. It is an honor to be recognized among companies like Otterbox,” said Mackenzie Fogelson, owner of Mack Web Solutions.

The web industry has experienced quite a boom with Facebook going public, SEOmoz receiving 18 million dollars in venture capital from the Foundry Group in Boulder, and Facebook buying Instagram for $1 Billion dollars.

Mack Web is thrilled to be honored among three other web and agency related companies on the Mercury 100 list this year including Madwire Media, Toolbox Creative and Claypot Creative.

Not coincidentally, our hero Rand Fishkin (of SEOMoz fame) has been focusing on this topic recently. What we have here is our take on the whole deal (by which we mean, the big list of optimization no-nos).

If you’re worried that your site may be at risk for being hit by this recent update (or if your website has already experienced a loss in traffic), here are some of the possible reasons (P.S. that means that if you ARE currently doing these things, we would highly recommend making some revisions….and fast):

Don’t Stuff Your Page Titles
One of the easiest ways to alert Google to over-optimization is through your page titles. What is the page actually about? That’s what your page title should reflect. Sure, if there’s an opportunity to use a keyword in there, use ONE. Don’t stuff. You want the engines to know what the page is about, but it’s important that your users understand what they’re clicking on (this helps to boost conversion).

Don’t Spam Your In-Text Links
Too many in-text links stuffed with keywords are going to throw red flags. The pages on your website should talk to each other, but in an organic (not-forced) way. For example, when you’re on a services page and there is another related page on your website that would be useful to the user, you should provide a link to that page where it naturally fits in the text. See this example:

As shown, this link can include one of your keywords (we call that anchor text), but it needs to be a natural fit. Don’t keep using the same anchor text over and over throughout the site. Make a natural variation on the theme and you’ll be in good shape.

Don’t Abuse the Footer
The engines see links on a website in a hierarchy, and so do your users. Anything that you put at the bottom of your website, in the footer, clearly hold less importance than the links in your main nav. Don’t stuff your keywords into the footer with links to the pages you optimized with those keywords. Put links in your footer that your users expect to find like Policy info or other quick links.

Don’t Write Crappy Content
This one is a no brainer, but it must be said again. Your content has to be valuable, useful, and meaningful. You have to have content that is serving the needs of your target audience, NOT just a bunch of crappy content that you’re paying someone who knows nothing about your business to write so that you have new content for the engines. Your content needs to be well written and when it includes your keywords, they need to be incorporated in a natural, organic matter.

What you’re really working towards is developing as much universal content (images, info graphics, video, etc.) as possible. This enhances user experience, which helps engagement, which makes people want to share your stuff and link to you, which helps your rankings.

Get Rid of the Spammy Backlinks, Inbound Links, or Poor Link Building Practices
If you’re noticing a drop in rankings, this is most likely the cause. If you have been spamming for links to raise your domain authority (and rankings), you’re going to be in trouble. Google has been shutting down link networks and also handing out warnings to all of the websites who were affiliated.

In terms of link building, here are the things to stay away from:

• Paying for or getting links from link networks
• Spamming for comments and reviews
• Reciprocal links
• Article marketing sites (or any sites that make a point to say, “we can help you rank higher!”)
• SEO focused directories (directories that talk about how they will help your rankings)

Don’t Optimize More than One Page for the Same Thing
Instead of optimizing more than one page on your site for the same keyword, dedicate your time and effort to consolidating and making the most of one page. Write some quality content for it, create some images or info-graphics to compliment, maybe even develop a video. Go for a stellar user experience on one page so that you are providing value and attracting quality links.

Our Soap Box
Here’s the bottom line: there is no way to get desirable, long term rankings by doing shady things (like paying for links and poor quality content).

If you want sustainable rankings and relationships that you can benefit from in more ways than just a link, you have to do the work:

• You have to build the value (good content, info graphics, video, etc.).
• You have to provide a good user experience.
• You have to create a website that people want to visit, re-visit, engage with, and share with their friends.
• You have to build relationships with people (yes, real people) and let them know that you are doing good things that they should take a look at (and yes, they will want to share and link to you!)

In the end, good SEO is all about building value in your business that also shows your customers that you are awesome. That’s the trick (which isn’t a trick at all, get it?).

BTW, SEOMoz has the complete low down on this in an awesome video that you can watch here:

But here’s our new revelation about Twitter: it is an amazing tool not because of its abbreviated format and air of nervous expectation, but because of the people who engage on it (a.k.a. a whole lotta thought leaders). Every minute, all over the world people are tweeting valuable information, throwing out offhand gems of wisdom that it’s up to us to glean. And, if you were on Twitter, you too could be one of these casual sages.

If you have something to say, why not tweet it?

If you do decide to give Twitter a chance, you may need to know how to speak Twitter. We don’t want you getting on there and making a fool of yourself. Fear not, we’ve got your back. Here are some terms Mack Web thinks you may find useful while tweeting.

Twitter Lingo

Hashtag (#)
In the Twitter verse, the lowly symbol once known as the number sign has become instead the infamous “hashtag”. The use of this single character indicates an instant and succinct summary and categorization of what they’re tweeting about. It is also a way for people (both you-type people and other-type people) to find the topic through search. It’s the Twitter equivalent to a keyword, organizing all posts on the same subject under a single heading. You can generate your own hashtags as a brand for your company, you dream them up on a whim to see how others will respond, or you can follow a string someone else has started as a method of engagement.

Trending
This is a topic that many people are discussing on Twitter. It usually has to deal with things that are pop culturesque. On your Twitter account you can choose the region to keep a watch on what is trending. Feel free to use a trending topic if it’s something you know a lot about or find fun to engage in.

For instance, #WelcometoColorado was trending and Mack Web tweeted this statement and received 2 Retweets.

Direct Message
A DM is a function that allows you to send a private message to users whom you follow and only if they follow you, too.

RT
This is the abbreviation for ReTweet. Twitter gives you the ability to share someone else’s Tweet (with your own commentary before or after it, at your discretion).  A retweet displays “RT:” before the post. Be sure, when you add commentary, to differentiate between your comments and the original Tweet.

MT
Modified Tweet is sometimes necessary. If someone tweets and it’s too long or you only want to respond to an excerpt, you can modify it, but be sure to give props to the owner of the tweet via @them. Then you change the RT to MT.

#FF
Every Friday is #followfriday on Twitter. This is when people have a chance to feature their endorsements of others on a well-followed Twitter hashtag. The idea is about you drawing the attention of your followers to those you find interesting, funny, or influential. All you do is type the name, Twitterstyle (@relevantTwitterhandle), and then #ff. Congratulations, you have joined in on Follow Friday.  Be interesting and suitably awesome and maybe you’ll even make someone else’s list.

#LI
This is the official abbreviation used to reference LinkedIn. When you’re referring to information from LinkedIn (an article, your profile, a group), you should tag it thus: #LI. In the  following video, the founders of LinkedIn and Twitter discuss the potential for integrating their platforms if you want to learn more.

The rest you will learn…
Or you can tweet us and we can help you out.

Intra Office Mack Web Use
We thought it would also be helpful if we shared some “not so common” lingo that Mack Web uses. Perhaps you can use (Eh, on second thought, you should probably never use) on Twitter:

vlg- very large grin
kyinf- kick you in the face
SnOL- snicker out loud
SmIS- smirk in silence
swt- sweet
awsm- awesome
urfrd- you are fired
atd- alas the day
4rls- foreals
ccyctwyb?- courtness can you courtnify this with your brain?
ru8?- you have the puerile sense of humor most commonly found in boys children between the ages of 7 and 9

Ok, enough fun with the Twitter talk. Let’s get down to business. There are rules of etiquette when it comes to all forms of communication, right? Well, why would Twitter be any different? But never fear! You shall not commit an egregious tweeting faux pas when you’ve got us to guide you.

How to watch your Twitter P’s and Q’s

Show your face
If you have a photo rather than a logo, make sure it’s a photo that is friendly and inviting and of good quality. Remember, you want people to follow you, not unfollow in fear and horror.

Make sure it fits
If you are using a logo, make sure the image measurements fits properly. The standard dimension size for a Twitter profile picture is 73 by 73 pixels,  also make sure it is a .jpeg or .gif.

Don’t blast
There are some people who share valuable content but sometimes they do too much, too often. Once they start blasting out information at a high frequency, it’s enormously tempting for people to click unfollow. Make sure you tweet throughout the week, even up to a couple of times a day, but don’t overdo it.

Retweet
When you come across a helpful article or an inspirational tweet, don’t be afraid to retweet. It’s your way of giving props to a person for the work they’ve done. Maybe they’ll acknowledge you, maybe they don’t. But they are aware that you appreciated them and people rarely forget that.

Interact
If someone tweets you, respond to them. If someone has added their own commentary to a tweet you’ve sent out, feel free to retweet them if you find their contribution valuable or clever. Otherwise, you can just reply with a “Thanks!” Don’t feel obligated to respond to every retweet.

Be original
Take our word for it: you are an interesting person. Be yourself. If you still don’t believe us about your level of interestingness, have someone else tweet for your company. Remember to find the balance between informative and genuine.

Be professional
If you find that your audience is bringing their customer service queries to Twitter, be sure to respond quickly, and be courteous, not defensive. There are many eyes watching the Twitterverse. The way you respond to a complaint can mean the beginning or the end of a relationship with a customer/potential customer.

However you decide to use Twitter, make sure you add value, that you’re contributing something to the greater good of the universe.

Don’t make us come after you with an “ru8?”

You wouldn’t like that much.

We’ll make sure of it. (Mwah ha ha, etc.)

That said, feel free to connect with us on Twitter. If you’re super lucky, we may even follow you back! And we never unfollow someone who’s making their tweets count.

So you should do that.

Make them count, we mean.

Just to clarify.

It’s kind of embarrassing to say that I spent years toiling in the darkness that only a Twitter skeptic can know. I’ve been in the SEO industry for 10 years and until last week, I completely failed to take full advantage of the power of the people who are engaging on this social media outlet.

And I didn’t even know it. Tragic, isn’t it?

For those of you who are self-proclaimed Twitter cynics, I have taken it upon myself to change your mind. So suck it up and read on.

Behold…I have become the Twitter evangelist.

The Numbers
I’m going to start with the data (because numbers make me look like I know what I’m talking about. Just…pretend to be impressed. Please? For me?).

Twitter launched in 2006, but didn’t really take off until 2007. And what a take-off it was. Let’s take a look at the demographics on Twitter:

1. Twitter has 127 million active users (that’s a lot of peeps)
2. 13% of Internet users also use Twitter.
3. 67% of Twitter users are under the age of 45.
4. 54% of Twitter users use Twitter on their mobile devices.
5. 36% of Twitter users tweet at least once a day.
6. The average visit on Twitter lasts for 14 minutes.
7. 59% of Twitter users are female (and therefore, 41% male).

Remember way back in 2009 when they said Twitter was just a fad? Ha.

Back to the point.

The feedback we often get from our clients is that they’re wary of Twitter because they don’t think it’s likely that any of those 127 million active users are their target customers. Which is, of course, a possibility.

But you know who just might be?

The thought leaders in your industry.

You may not use Twitter to reach your target market, but it is an incredibly valuable place for you to become part of the conversation in your industry’s online community.

What I’m trying to say is this (I know, I know, make a point, Mack):

Twitter is more than just a place to waste time at work talking to your friends. Use it for knowledge, people!

A little story
June, Mack Web’s social media strategist, has been telling me for months that I need to think of Twitter in a different way.

And finally, thanks to a little adventure of my own, I have seen the light. I have had a revelation. I have drunk (drinked?) of the Twitter Kool-aid.

I am a Tweeter. (Twitterer?)

So, here’s the story:

Last week when I was at Link Love, as I was waiting for the speakers to begin their presentations, I could hear June’s voice in my head: “You must tweet when you’re at Link Love!”

So, I opened up a doc for note taking and a window for Twitter so that I could tweet during the presentations.

And then something interesting happened:

1. I was looking through the program booklet at each of the speakers’ bios. I thought, hmmm, it might be a good idea to follow these amazing thought leaders on Twitter. So I did.
2. The presentations began. As I took notes on my laptop, I would simultaneously post updates to Twitter. Good stuff that the speakers were saying. I was an animal, I tell you. Note-taking here, tweeting there. It was epic.
3. What I didn’t realize at first was that while the speakers were working their magic on stage, there was this parallel universe happening on Twitter, in the Twitterverse. The speakers who weren’t speaking were tweeting. Their followers were tweeting and retweeting. I was getting retweeted (which was super exciting even for a Twitter cynic, because, let’s face it: everybody likes a little attention. Even me).

I was connecting with people and getting new followers. I was hooked.

Okay, good story, right? Discovery of alternate universe overlaying our own reality. Hooray for quantum physicists, right?

But…who goes to a conference everyday? How does that help me the other 364 (or, this year, 365) days of the year?

Wait for it…
When I returned home from Link Love, June was incredibly proud of my tweeting.

I was beside myself with excitement because I was tweeting with the actual people in our industry (i.e. Rand Fishkin, my hero).

Now, at Mack Web Solutions, we preach online relationship building (no, not the eHarmony kind). We’ve got a couple of reasons for this. The first is oddly technical for such an interpersonal activity: it’s the best way to build your web presence and, eventually, dominate the search engines. Connecting to the right people and earning their trust and respect is a great way to gather links and referrals to your website and content.

But human relationships are also a vital part of human thought. Put a bunch of brains together and we become more than the sum of our parts. We bounce ideas off each other, benefit from wisdom and experience we didn’t have to be there to gain. Standing on the shoulders of giants and all (speaking of physicists, take that Sir Isaac Newton).

And Twitter is a great, immediate way to facilitate an ongoing meeting of the minds.

And at Link Love, boy, there were minds a-meetin’. I had started relationships, made some connections. I was running with the cool kids and I didn’t want to lose my edge. I wanted to stay in the loop, get all of the most current knowledge in our industry, maybe get some of those thought leaders we rave about to notice the great work that we do at Mack Web (because we totally know what we’re doing and, remember…attention). So I decided to change my game.

Here’s my new routine:

1. I get on Twitter
When I get to work every day, I don’t get on my favorite blogs or read my email. The first thing I do is check Twitter.

2. I review Tweets
I look through all of the tweets that have populated since the last time I was there.

3. I look for patterns
At first I was pretty overwhelmed with all of the info that was being passed around. Then I realized that many of the people I follow feature or retweet the same articles. They are also generating their own content, but not every day (that was a relief).

4. I try to get in the game
Many days, I’ve got nothin’. I am in awe of the level of knowledge (and I thought I knew a lot about SEO). But every now and again (and I’m just a week or so into it) I see an opportunity to engage. And sometimes I say something that gets retweeted (woo hoo!)

5. I have to work harder (great, more work)
Every day Mack Web digests the industry knowledge and translates it for our end user: our client, the guys who don’t know what SERPS are. (No, it’s not a disease. But keep on guessing, you’ll get there). We love doing this, but after Link Love, I realized that this wasn’t enough.

Although it is incredibly important to be a knowledge center for our clients, I don’t want to neglect our industry audience. We need to be part of that group too. We now know that Mack Web needs to generate content for both audiences: our clients and our colleagues.

So, give Twitter another shot
Long story short, you really should give Twitter another try. It has become one of the most powerful tools I use.

Plus, it’s free! And who doesn’t love free stuff? (Let she who has never absconded with the hotel shower cap throw the first stone).

Wanna give it a try? Here’s how:

1. Identify your thought leaders
Think of the lead people in your industry. The people you respect. The thought leaders. The people who are working to change the world (sounds beautiful, doesn’t it?)

2. Get on Twitter
Find those people (you know, the thought leaders) and follow them.

3. Do some stalking

Go to the follower list of each person and look for people on their lists that you might want to follow (June gave me this tip and it’s backed up by @Wil Reynolds). Follow some of those people too.

4. Engage
Don’t try too hard or push it too quickly. Remember, you’re relationship building here so you don’t want to freak people out by being too aggressive. Look for opportunities to reply to a post, or just retweet. After you get in your groove, generate some of your own content and push it out. Slowly but surely you’ll make a name for yourself. And have fun in the process.

5. Be selective

If you follow too many people, it’s going to be like drinking from a fire-hose (I know, painful). Stick to a short list. Over time if you can handle that, add some more.

6. Time yourself

Trust me, if you don’t make it a point to get off of Twitter, you never will. Choose some times during the day and limit how long you’re on there.

Let us know how this worked out for ya. If you want to follow my twittering tweets @mackfogelson. You can also engage with my team of amazing tweeters @mackwebteam.

For our client audience, we will be putting together a guide on Twitter language and etiquette. Stay tuned.

Here’s why:

The people are, well, human
The people at Link Love restored my faith in humanity. They were genuine and real. There were hundreds of people who attended (delegates as they called us) who actually engaged and became friends. People were talking to each other with excitement and energy. You could honestly tell that everyone felt pretty lucky to be there.

Even the speakers were approachable (and friendly) and actually spent time with the delegates. I had a great chat with Justin Briggs from Big Fish Games about his passions and career path. I spoke at length with several team members from Distilled about the structure of their organization and how they effectively manage their workload (they don’t mess around).

Before the conference I had emailed Distilled to ask some questions regarding the growth of Mack Web. Will Critchlow (who just so happens to be the founder of Distilled), was kind enough to email me himself and offer his time.

He’ll probably never remember it (which is why I have a picture to prove it), but I actually got to shake the hand of Rand Fishkin (I’m not even going to tell you who that is. Look it up people).

Meeting Rand was the highlight of my year (I would say life but that kind of downplays the importance of my marriage and the birth of my two kids). Rand even took a few minutes of his time to chat about how much we love SEOmoz and how it’s changed our business. Truly, he is an amazing man (he is totally worth stalking…I mean following).

It just goes to show you the kind of awesome people who are behind Link Love.

The speakers killed it
No other way to say it. The speakers rocked. Amazing. Awesome. Really, so good. And get this, they were engaging (imagine that). I was probably a little over excited from all of the energy in the room, but seriously, they were funny.

The line up:

Rand Fishkin
Justin Briggs
Ross Hudgens
Rhea Drysdale
Wil Reynolds
John Doherty
Adam Audette
Colby Almond
Tom Critchlow

The best part about the speakers is that they didn’t sugar coat stuff. They just came right out and said look, what we do in SEO is hard work. It takes a lot of effort, time, creativity and patience to do it right (and ethically). So suck it up and just do it (they used a couple of choice adjectives in there but I’m trying to keep this post clean).

We got some s@#! done
Because this was my first Link Love conference, I didn’t know what to expect from the schedule. I thought that there would be a hundred different presentations offered and that I’d be running from room to room with no chance of getting in to hear the big guys speak. I was pleasantly surprised.

The speaker line up (all rockstars if you didn’t quite catch that) consisted only of the top talent. The content they presented was valuable, balanced and inspiring. We got more done in one day than most people do in a month. They didn’t waste any time and the event never ran behind. It was flawless (except for the part when Rand couldn’t log in to SEOMoz. Now that was funny).

I kind of felt like I was on vacation
I probably will not be able to go to another conference that is not held by Distilled or SEOMoz. Hands down it was one of the most professional events that I have ever attended. Instead of walking the mile or so from the hotel to the conference center, there was a luxury shuttle bus that provided the group with a ride (to the Conference Center at Harvard Medical School no less).

And they fed us. All day (with snacks and everything). Right when you walked into the venue there white linen-lined tables with Starbucks coffee, fresh squeezed orange juice, muffins and scones (they’re from London). For lunch each person could select from several types of individually packaged lunch sacks. There were never ending beverages and they even put out a dessert table at afternoon break (but since I was so ecstatic about my encounter with Rand, I was way too excited to eat ice cream).

And that’s not all. After the day was done, we were shuttled to a local pub where we were treated to appetizers, an open bar and all around good times with our new Link Love friends.

I learned a lot (for reals)
One word sums up Link Love: value. There were people who worked for big companies, small companies or who even owned their own companies. The information delivered at Link Love appealed to everyone in the room. I took home ideas that will change our processes, systems and approach (because I’m a freak about those things). And of course I can’t wait to deliver more value to our clients.

Hands down, what I respect most about Link Love is that none of the speakers tried to pass off what we work so hard to do for our clients every day as easy work. There were brilliant ideas, tools, and strategies, but no one ever said that there was a quick and easy way to deliver good SEO.

You should go
The Link Love conference completely exceeded my expectations (and I set those suckers high). If you are an SEO, or want to get a feel for the best in our industry, go to a Distilled or SEOMoz conference. You won’t be sorry.

Distilled has an SEO conference called Search Love going on in San Fran in June.

I’ll be at MozCon in Seattle in July. Maybe I’ll see you there.

People may be reluctant to be a part of yet another flash-in-the-pan social network or to participate in what they think is just another step in Google’s attempt to take over the world. Here at Mack Web we’re pretty sure it’s not going anywhere and that people will eventually migrate to it in droves, just like they did with Twitter. That being said, here’s a little background so you know what you’re getting into and a few reasons why you too should make your way over to Google+.

The Numbers: Google+ vs. Facebook
When Google+ first hit the scene in 2011, it was in Beta stage and accessible by invitation only. After 12 weeks of testing, it was open to the public. Immediately the fight between Facebook and Google was on.

Currently (based on this sweet info-graphic revealing the social media usage statistics for 2012), here’s where the stats stand:

Facebook
1. Facebook has 845 million active users.
2. The average Facebook user has 130 friends.
3. The average Facebook visit lasts 23 minutes.
4. 46% of Facebook users are over the age of 45.
5. 57% of Facebook users are female (43% male).
6. 57% of Facebook users report having been to “some college” (24% bachelors or graduate degree).
7. 47% of Facebook users report making between $50,000 – $99,000 annually (33% between $25,000 – $49,999).

Google+
1. Google+ has had 90 million unique visitors.
2. The majority of Google+ users are male (71%).
3. The most common occupation of a Google+ user is an engineer.
4. 44% of Google+ users are “single”.

Doesn’t really sound all that inspiring does it?

How Google+ Trumps Facebook
But here’s the fact that you’re missing: Facebook and Google+ are two entirely different social media outlets. They are intended to be. Their approaches, demographics, and benefits are deliberately dissimilar.

We could list all those out for you, but there’s one major differentiator and it has a ton of implications: Google+ is an open network and Facebook is not.

Here’s a few ways that plays out in real life:

1. Content Indexes in Seconds
The rate at which content gets indexed from Google+ is unparalleled (we’re talking seconds). What this means is that the minute you post content to Google+ it is instantly crawled and placed into Google’s index, as opposed to the days or even weeks it can take other content to populate.

2. Google+ Provides Integrated Results
Because Google+ integrates content from the Google+ network into its search results, posting your content to Google+ offers an additional opportunity for your content to be featured on a search results page.



Bonus opportunity: If someone clicks on the “+1” for your result (similar to a “like” on Facebook), it may start to rank higher in Google than other results without those +1 votes.

Boosting Your Rankings

And another note on how Google+ helps your search engine presence: Increasingly social signals are being used to determine the level of authority, trust, and relevance a website should be accorded. Engagement on both Facebook and Google+ will ultimately help your rankings (work for “shares” on Facebook and “+1s” on Google+) as it will help to raise your domain authority.

But, and here’s the kicker on the open vs. closed thing: posts to Facebook are only visible within the Facebook network. Whereas the content that you post to your Google+ account is public and can be (what was that again?) returned in a search result. The more valuable content that Google knows you have, the more Google likes and trusts you. The more Google likes and trusts you, the better you do in the search engines.

Ta da!

Getting Started on Google+

We here at Mack Web challenge you to open your mind, business plan, social media strategist, and other internal resources to this “new” social network. And just because we like you, we’ve put together are some guidelines on getting started:

1. Create a Personal Google+ Account. 

Before you can create a company Google+ page, you’ll need to create a personal Google+ account (we’ll use June’s account as an example). Keep in mind that whoever creates this account will be the administrator. 

Make sure that you upload a personal photo for the thumbnail photo in your profile, not a logo (32 x 32 pixels). Once you create your company Google+ page, you will have the opportunity to upload your logo and brand that page as your business.
One note on social media etiquette here: Just because June can assign the content she posts to specific circles in her Google+ account (friends vs. business associates, for example) doesn’t mean that she should ignore the fact that Mack Web’s company page is attached to her personal account. It would be prudent of her to post content that is appropriate to all audiences that may come across it (we’ve already talked to her about nights out in Old Town and spring break photos; she’s working on keeping it clean).

2. Create Your Business Google+ Account

Once you’ve created your personal Google+ account, you are ready to create your Google+ business page. Just click on the “Create a Google+” page to the right of your personal page and choose the type of page you want to create based on the type of your business.

3. Optimize Your Company Page
One of the best ways to capitalize on your Google+ efforts is to complete each of the areas in the About section. Here’s what you’ll need: an introduction, hours, website address (URL), contact information, photos, and videos. Make sure you take advantage of the recommended link section as this is a great place to showcase the other social networks that your company is a part of.

4. Add Businesses to Your Circles

Once your company page is complete and you have completed it 100%, you can start adding other businesses to your circles. You can do this by conducting a search in the “Search Google+” field (type a business name or keywords into the field). One item to note here is that Google+ does not currently allow businesses to add actual people (the individual has to initiate the contact by adding your business to one of their circles). Only after the person has added your business to their circles, can you, as your business, connect with them and “Say hello”.

Whoever is administering your Google+ company page can also take advantage of the “spread the word” tool.

This allows a post to go out to all of their circles. The tool is located at the right of the screen on the home page of your company.

Organize your Circles
One of the perks of Google+ is that it allows you to select who will receive the information that you are sending through the circles feature. Be thoughtful about how you want to organize your circles as your connections grow.

Post Some Stuff

Once your page is ready and you’ve got some businesses in your circle, start posting content on a regular basis (and make it valuable). Share articles, images, and videos you find useful. Google+ is easy to use which, in turn, makes it easy to leverage your articles and blog content.

Make Some Friends
In the current social climate on Google+, people are open to interaction so feel free to comment on posts. Get in there and engage and start building some relationships. If you’re posting good content, it will be easy to build relationships (people will really, really like you, trust us).

Have Fun

One of Mack Web Solution’s favorite parts of Google+ is the all-in-oneness. Despite its more professional demeanor, there is a lot of potential for fun, too. The ease of putting people into circles means that you can wear your work and personal hats in the same network, the easy access to YouTube videos means you can post both fun and serious multimedia, and there are secret emoticons you can use in chat. Oh, and one other awesome thing…if you download the Google+ application on your phone, all of the photos you take from your phone will automatically populate to your Google+ page. You can then choose which ones you want to share and which ones you want to keep private. No matter what, your phone will have a backup for all the photos taken from the moment you download the app. Ah, simplicity.

See? Nothing to be afraid of and lots of possibilities to explore and make use of.

And then, once you’ve got Google+ down, we’ve got some other great ways to make the most of your social media:

You could optimize your LinkedIn account as well (that is, if you haven’t already).
You could build some company culture with Pinterest (Pinterest? What’s that?)
You could figure out why it’s so dang hard to earn your rankings in Google these days.

There’s a lot more where that came from, but this will keep you busy for a little while. Good luck. May the force be with you.

No, not Kurt Schilling. Not Tom Brady, either.

No, Mack’s headed out to LinkLove Boston to meet some of the giants of our industry and, y’know, learn some stuff.

“LinkLove Boston?” we hear you say. “What’s that?”

That’s best explained in a manner reminiscent of the SAT. Thus:

LinkLove: SEO enthusiasts :: Star Trek convention: people with their own Spock ears and homemade tricorders.

We’re pretty excited to send Mack off to this experiential bonanza because she’s going to get a chance to bask in the presence of people like Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz and Will Crichtlow of Distilled.

These guys are our professional idols and they set the standards for everything Mack Web believes and practices about web marketing (or “inbound marketing” or “search engine marketing” or whatever the kids are calling it these days). They provide much of the inspiration behind our philosophy of sustainable results.

Please note, this trip has nothing to do with the fact that we are starry-eyed fangirls.

‘Cuz it doesn’t. ‘Cuz we’re not.

No, really. We aren’t.

In all seriousness, we’re really excited for this opportunity not only because it’s going to be a chance to meet our heroes and learn directly from them, but because LinkLove is the embodiment of one of our core values.

Namely, that at Mack Web Solutions, we never stop learning. Here’s more on that…

The Never Ending Quest
An insatiable hunger for more knowledge is an entirely reasonable response to the web world.

And really, the world in general.

Everything changes. Nothing is static.

Philosophical, we know. But hey, we’re deep like that.
Jokes aside, the web is always in flux. Every single day there’s something new: the search engines change their algorithms, social media platforms are created, mobile technology emerges, programming capabilities evolve.

Every. Single. Day.

At Mack Web we don’t rest on our laurels. We’re canny enough to realize that it’s impossible to know everything.

That doesn’t mean we aren’t going to try.

Rootling (yes, it’s a word. sorta).
In fact, we have devoted quite a lot of time making sure that we are as knowledgeable as we can be. We, like badgers or moles or other things that rootle, have rootled out the best sources of information on our industry and made a point of familiarizing ourselves with them.

We, collectively, spend hours every week researching, reading, connecting, and engaging in our online community. (This should sound familiar to those of you who have worked with us in the past since this is pretty much what we recommend you guys do too. What’s good for the goose, etc).

Feel free to check up on our bona fides and let us know if you spot anything we miss or run across questions you hadn’t thought to ask yet. Here’s a few of our favorite sources of industry information:

SEOMoz
Distilled
Search Engine Land
Social Media Examiner
LinkedIn (personalized industry updates)
.Net
Designrfix

“Broaden your minds: Have a beer. Have two.” (bonus points: identify this quote)
We have also managed to figure out that often the best learning comes from unexpected places and experiences.

Which is why every Friday, the Mack Web team dedicates 5 hours to working on us. We call ‘em Innovation Fridays and we spend the latter half of the day focused on strategy, vision, and goals for the company. We visit other companies, read, laugh, vent our frustrations.

We take the time out to treat ourselves like people with lives and emotions and curiosities. We let loose our creativity and sense of play (not that it’s all that restrained during the rest of the week) and we find the joy in the job.

Also, we eat lunch.

One of the ideas that came out of our Innovation Fridays was to start a Mack Web library. (To be fair, credit for this idea goes to Tony Hsieh of Zappos.com).

Funnily enough, for a web-based company, all of our members are pretty enamored of actual, physical books. And Mack actively encourages us all to indulge. Every quarter, each employee selects a book that we want to read (we try to keep it at least somewhat industry related).

Then, shockingly enough, we read those books.

The only catch is that we have to leave some notes behind so that the next person to read that book can see what we thought and maybe build on those ideas.

The idea is to stay rooted in bigger ideas, as well as expand our knowledge base.

Here’s some of the books we’re reading now:

Good to Great: Jim Collins

Rework: Jason Fried & David Heine

Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics: Brian Clifton

Creative Workshop: 80 Challenges to Sharpen your Design Skills David Sherwin

Pretty cool, right? The overachiever ethic is alive and well in Mack Web Solutions.

Cause and effect (like cats and sneezing)
So, when you are always learning more stuff about your ever changing industry, there is a certain natural and logical outcome.

More change. Alas.

This is even true internally here at Mack Web. The more we get to know about what is going on, the more we have to evolve our own systems and processes to keep up and take full advantage of all the cool stuff that’s happening on the great information super highway.

Mack has built our company around the practice of working smarter and never settling for being anything less than our best. Mediocrity makes us uncomfortable, both professionally and personally. When Google changes its methods or we discover innovations in the world of local search, we act quickly to adapt.

This, of course, means that our services and packages are always adapting and and updating as well.

Occasionally frustrating as it may be, this is also the only way we know to provide stellar service to our clients.

And, like we said, we don’t settle for anything less.

Case in point: the recent expansion of our social media department.

As it became ever more obvious that social media is influencing our clients’ search engine rankings, we realized that part of our job was to properly integrate this piece into their web marketing strategy.

So we got ourselves a social media strategist to take over and revolutionize what had previously been more of an afterthought.

Which, of course, meant that we had to totally alter our internal dynamics and processes, our service packages, our perspective on the industry, and our sugar intake. (Long story. Don’t ask).

But it’s all been worth it, because we are now able to offer better value and service to our clients.

Plus, we like June. She brings cookies and dances at her desk.

Thus endeth the object lesson.

We aced kindergarten
Beyond just attaining and hoarding knowledge like Smaug’s gold, Mack Web believes in sharing. We want to apply our knowledge to the benefit of our clients, yes. But we also want to help others learn. (We’re nice like that).

To that end, every week we study up and try to put out at least one relevant and meaningful blog post.

There’s a couple reasons we do this. Sometimes the act of writing the post itself helps us work out our ideas. Sometimes we like to back up our claims of expertise with a small display of our actual knowledge. (C’mon, be honest now. Who doesn’t show off just a little bit when the opportunity presents itself?). And sometimes, we want to give our audience an awareness into why we do and recommend the stuff we do. That we’re not arbitrarily making suggestions to you because we were bored one day.

But mostly, we want you guys to know this stuff, too. We typically try to post on changes and developments that have some practical application to your lives and businesses. Things you should be aware of, things that may affect you, things that you can do for yourselves.

And because we want to hear what you have to say. Like we said pointed out earlier: knowledge and wisdom can come from the most unexpected places. We want to hear your perspective and benefit from your insight, too.

‘Cuz we like learning stuff. (See how that works out?)

And it all comes back to knowledge. Like a circle or a wheel. Or something else that goes around.

In the end, this is what we see as the biggest bonus to Mack’s upcoming fieldtrip: she’s going to get to learn so much. Participating in a conference like LinkLove gives us the opportunity to get a new perspective, new ideas, and new practices that can benefit our clients.

She gets to hang out with other people who are as excited about this stuff as we are. Absorb their energy like actual real people. We spend so much time working digitally (emailing, texting, tweeting, posting, pinning…other virtual things that end in “ing”) that sometimes we forget what human interaction is like. (Which is no good, since the fundamental belief that people are people is another core value of ours).

But, above all else, we’re excited because Mack (and through her us, and through us you) gets a chance to be on the leading edge of our ever-changing industry. Which is pretty darn awesome.

(Also, the rest of us are having a two-day party at the office. You can come if you bring cookies).