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Apple’s New iPad: It’s All About Content Domination

January 28, 2010 By 5 Comments

In case you hadn’t noticed, Apple introduced a new product yesterday, the iPad. All kidding aside, it’s a tablet computer that has an iPhone-esque user interface.

There are many people who can tell you a lot more about the device than I can so I’m not going to waste time on that. Instead, I’m more interested in the market movement it’ll create.

Apple already has a strong position in digital music sales and that market is expected to only grow in the next few years. The company also offers more than 100,000 apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch in its App Store.

E-books and e-publications are the next big thing. The iPad gives Apple a form factor through which to sell more electronic content and the availability of wi-fi and 3G connectivity testify to that. Moreover, the screen is not e-ink (which is a downer for e-books) but it does allow the iPad to be a suitable video carrier/streamer.

In sum, the iPad is not Apple’s “most advanced technology in a magical & revolutionary device at an unbelievable price”. It is, however, a clever play to carve out a larger share in the content distribution market.

iLeave the comments to you.

Filed Under: Musings Tagged With: , , , ,

The Difference Is Linkability

September 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Earlier this year, I experimented with a series of articles for SEO (search engine optimization) purposes on certain keywords, including my own name. I have to say that this experiment was wildly successful with highlights being:

  • Ranking higher than a feature with a similar title on the New York Times website
  • Increasing traffic up to 30-fold with a 30 day run-up

The key part of this experiment was to create content that will receive a decent number of inbound links (other sites linking to my website/article) which leads to better search engine rankings.

I’ve buried the experiment now, but I’ll share some of my findings with you here.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Summer Of Search – Part 2: 5 Quick Tips To Help Your SEO

August 17, 2008 By

In part 1, I posted about the main difference between white hat SEO and black hat SEO. I also mentioned that simple white hat SEO tactics are capable of producing profound results. Here in part 2, I’d like to elaborate on that by providing some simple (white hat) pointers to help you improve your search rankings. These pointers that are related to the various elements of a webpage are:

  • Title: This is the text that you see in the top bar of your browser and represents the title of the particular webpage you’re visiting. I tend to cringe whenever I see “Untitled Document” or “New Page” as the title because this is a missed opportunity. The title is the #1 ranking factor for Google and should contain at least your company/website name and keywords related to the page.
  • Headings: Your content should be clear and easy to read and using headings is an easy way to separate the content. But headings also contribute to SEO, especially the H1 heading. If that contains relevant keywords, it will help improve your search rankings.
  • URL: The webpage’s address (URL) is also a critical factor for SEO. I often see pages that have the URL www.yourwebsite.com/page1.html and this is a missed opportunity as well. By including relevant keywords in your URL is another step you can take to optimize your website for search engines.
  • Meta Tags: There are two types of meta tags, meta description and meta keywords. The former is more important than the latter because the description is what appears under the page title in search results. Therefore, it is more important to have relevant keywords in the meta description than it is to include these keywords in the meta keywords.
  • Relevance: I used the word “relevant” in relation to keywords because the relation between the keywords and the actual content is also an important search ranking factor. Using the keywords “Britney Spears” while your website is about refrigerators will NOT help your search rankings!

Look at your website critically and see where you can apply these quick wins to boost your search rankings.

Filed Under: Fundamentals Tagged With: , , , , ,

Hello, Is There Anybody Out There?

April 20, 2008 By

When you’re broadcasting messages to people, do they listen? Do they respond to your ads, do they click on your links, do read your newsletters, et cetera? If the results are underwhelming, try some of these approaches:

  • Content: Rewrite the content to be more about them than about you. While messages should cover what you’re promoting, they should also emphasize the benefits to users. Scrutinize your content and check whether its relevance is high enough for your audience.
  • Form: Experiment with different types of headlines to different audiences. The headline of a press release should catch the attention of a journalist, but at the same time, it might not be enticing enough for a consumer. Play with the layout and the use of images to make your message more attractive or reader-friendly. Make use of consumer (eye-tracking) studies to see what areas should be focused.

Don’t be afraid to throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks.

Filed Under: Musings Tagged With: , , , ,

The Evolution of Content

January 20, 2008 By

We’ve come a long way in how content is being presented. Whereas content used to be published by predominantly professionals, consumers are now able to publish content themselves. The form of content has also evolved from a more broadcasting-oriented form to a more dialogue-oriented form.

Traditional media, such as TV stations and print publishers, are seeing consumption decline as consumers choose consume their content from a more diverse set of channels. Traditional media agencies, such as advertising agencies and PR agencies, are scrambling to keep up and justify their value/existence/involvement. Sometimes, the old business models won’t work in this new day and age, sometimes the talent isn’t available to deal with new media forms or the current regime is reluctant to change or in denial about the consequences. None of these are good reasons to continue “business as usual”. The world is changing and it requires a new approach.

Start preparing yourself to cope with the evolution of content.

Filed Under: Musings Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,