Do you have a hermit crab? Maybe you’ve had one in the past? Maybe you had one in the future? Well, have you ever raced your crab against dozens of other crabs in the dark confines of a retro bar?

Probably not, but I’m sure you’ve had dreams of that exact scenario. Well friends, I’m here to tell you that you can now turn your crustaceanous dreams into a crabby reality! All you have to do is drop by Exile on Thursday, or Local Bar on Mondays. These lesser know bars in the Short North and Weinland Park areas are the perfect spots for competitive seafood tournaments. Kris, the overlord of crab races, has worked out deals with the business owners — he’ll set up shop and run the races, and the bar benefits from all the traffic that the spectacle brings.

It’s free to participate, but you’ll want to get in there earlier to choose a sportier-looking crab-lete (crab + athlete…but you already knew that). You get to name your crab, so naturally I bestowed mine with the moniker of “Crabtain Jack Sparrow.” Other creative names that I heard from the floor were Crab Rangoon, Brutus Crab Cakes and One-Eyed Willie the Swash-Buckling Terror. Just kidding, I just made those up.

Once all the humans have chosen and named their crabs, the racers are placed into a bucket until race time. The battleground is a large square table, elevated to about 4 feet off the ground. On this table, a large yellow circle is drawn. The crabs are placed in the center of the circle and covered with a big clear bowl. As the race begins, the bowl is lifted and the competition is on! The first crab to cross the yellow line is the winner of that heat! Cast your eyes to the image below, Homo Sapien!

To assist the crabs in their pursuit, Kris will spray them with sulfuric acid from a small water bottle. No, it’s just water. And before you get all up in arms about animal cruelty, apparently hermit crabs enjoy being sprayed by room temperature water. Plus, this is a great way for them to exercise.

Anyways, there are a few stipulations, which we as the bipedal spectators must follow. First, you cannot bang or push on the race table. This will startle the crabs and prevent them from racing. Secondly, you can’t point at the crabs, or put your arms over the table at all. The second criteria is not to be trifled with. If violated, Kris will spray the perpetrator in the face with aci-… water, to remind you of the rules.

The Crabbalicious winner of each heat will be entered into the final race. The first time I went, Kris was giving out a few scratch off lottery tickets to the winner of each heat (I won a heat, and also won $25 from the scratch offs – I was delighted). This time, however, he had foregone the tickets. Times is tough!

Once the qualification heats are over, there is an intermission as they prepare the table for the final race. The first time I went, my crab made it to the finals and the mood was jovial. The rules for the championship were the same, but it was winner take all. The prize – a $25 gift card from the Rossi (this week when I went, it was a $25 gift card to Jeni’s).

I sipped my brewsky in anticipation of the final race. Palms were sweaty, there’s vomit on his sweater already, mom’s spaghetti. The crabs were all crabbing out under the clear bowl, clamoring for victory. As the bowl lifted, they were off! My crab had a slow start. In fact, I think he was sleeping inside his shell as the larger crabs darted towards the finish line. I felt my stomach sink as the agony of defeat peaked its ugly head into my life. But suddenly, as if struck by lightning, Crabtain Jack sprung to life! He darted to the finish line like a bat out of hell. As the larger crabs began to crush under the weight of their shells, my miniscule marathon man was closing on the finish line. 10 inches. 8 inches. 5 inches. 1 inch from sweet sweet victory! Then, as if doused with sweet ambrosia at the site of the finish line, Crabtain Jack….fell asleep on the finish line. Remember, you only win if your crab crosses.

In my excitement, I began to point at him, in hopes of shaming him into awakening. Kris was quick with the acid, which hit my left eye and forced me to permanently be rockin’ this eye patch.

But with a look that said, “Just kidding silly human,” Crabtain Jack re-mobilized and won the race. I threw my beer at Kris’ eye in my mad elation! I was the proud recipient of a $25 Rossi gift card, and the winner of my first crab race. If anyone out there has had dreams of going against all odds, and pulling off a miracle, then crab racing is for you.

Seriously though, it’s a great time, plus the drinks are cheap.

More Reviews From The Social Firm

• The Social Firm Reviews: Michael’s Goody Boy Diner
• Cooking at the table: KaYa Korean BBQ/Sushi Review
• To Watch or Not to Watch: Iron Man 3 Preview (No Spoilers)
• The Short North’s First Beer Garden – The Pint House Review
• TEDxOhioStateUniversity 2013: Life in Motion – Overview

Today, we caught up with 2 of our team members to get some insight into their day-to-day grind. We also ask them a few personal questions!

Andrea - Social Team

1.) What is your role at the Social Firm?

I am a social media extraordinaire Or so I would like to think.

2.) What is your favorite social media tool?

Definitely HootSuite. I use it to make sure I tweet important content and optimize my time to interact with audiences.

3.) What do you love most about social media?

I love the connection aspect. You can find the most interesting people on social media!

4.) What is your current favorite TV show?

I don’t watch that much T.V anymore, and I have only kept up with Grey’s Anatomy, which is my guilty pleasure, the show keeps getting worse but I still watch it, it is a consistency thing. I do love the show Touch, highly recommend it.

5.) What is one skill people don’t know you have?

I have mad Paint skills. I was quite upset when Windows changed the format, but I managed.

Alex - Search Team

1.) What is your role at the social firm?

I am the Search Marketing Intern. I handle the technical aspects of optimizing client’s sites, analytics and reporting, managing paid search campaigns, link building, basic WordPress development, keyword research, and I write an occasional blog or two.

2.) What is your favorite SEO tool?

My favorite SEO tool would be a combination of Google Analytics and Google Adwords. Just being able to look at that type of data about a website given by those tools is really interesting to me; seeing how many visits, where they came from, how long they were there, what keywords they searched to find your site etc. It provides the opportunity for in-depth analysis to really figure out how people behave on a website. It’s something that, until I started working in SEO, I never really thought about even though I was on the internet all the time. From a business standpoint, taking this information to a client and applying it to benefit their business is pretty awesome too.

3.) What do you love most about SEO?

There are many things that I love about SEO but there are a few that tie for the top spot. I love the change of pace. Things are constantly changing so it forces you to stay nimble and constantly self educate on the breaking news in the industry. That leads into the next thing I love, the industry. Everyone is on twitter, blogging, interacting etc. Lowly interns can interact on Twitter with high level directors that speak at conferences and have thousands and thousands of followers. It’s as if everyone is really out there helping everyone else. Because there is no text book (it would be outdated in about a week) the internet is where everyone goes to find breaking news, information, the latest strategies etc. Plus it seems like everyone thinks they are Don Draper (myself included I guess), so it definitely has a Mad Men feel which makes it a pretty cool industry to work in.

4.) If you could be any pro athlete, who would you be and why?

I’m going to have to go with Rickie Fowler. I have always said that pro golfers have the best job on earth. They are always where the weather is nice, and getting paid lots of money to play golf. Dude’s gotta be living the life.

5.) Are you going on any vacations this summer? Where to?

I am going to Topsail Island, NC with my family here in a few weeks, which is exciting. I havent been to a beach in a while so it will definitely be a nice respite. Also hoping to make it up to Milwaukee for the 4th Annual Milwaukee Brewfest. One of my best friends from OSU moved up there and a few of my friends went up last year and said it was a blast.

Every Monday, a different Social Firm team member will guide you through the major news stories from the previous week. This way, you can kick-start your week the right way by catching up on everything important in the digital world. Think of it as a morning cup of coffee for your brain.

Off  to another week! Get up to speed with some of last week’s digital headlines, including the new Pinterest-style news feed changes to Google+,  how social media is impacting Search, what Linkedin’s content-based changes will mean for the social network and how you can move rankings up on your old, but quality content. Just for fun, you can even check out more on a recent study conducted on the effects of “digital dumping” and 9 management lessons we’ve all learned from The Office’s Michael Scott!

Happy Monday and happy reading!

-Jill

Search

 How is Social Media Changing Search Marketing? via Search Engine Journal

Search Engine Journal looks at how social media is impacting the way people search by asking content creators to share their insight on how the two pieces work together.  The experts offered insight on how things such as social searching, author ranking, building your brand through social communities, Facebook Graph Search and maximizing Google+ all play a role in how social media is changing the way people search.

How to Move Rankings Up On Older, Existing Content via SEOmoz

Older pages with quality content and decent keyword rankings can miss the boat for the number one spot in Search.  So SEOmoz’s CEO, Rand Fishkin, lays out some strategies page owners can implement to move the rankings up on their older, existing content. Through tactics such as pointing more external links to your existing URL and increasing your click-through rate, you can reinvigorate your quality pages.

5 Keys To Success In Search Retargeting via Search Engine Land

Search retargeting is a powerful marketing tool when approached accurately. “True search retargeting can identify, bid, and optimize every keyword searched behind every impression. It can identify which keywords are driving the conversions and report this with transparency,” says Search Engine Land contributor, James More.  Find out what 5 steps you can take to make your retargeting solutions profitable.

Google’s Author Rank: Credit Where Credit is Due via SEO-News.com

Google’s updated Author Rank system now enables content on pages tied to authors that have a high reputation score and strong Author Rank in Google to have a better search position. To develop or improve your own Author Rank, this article provides 3 steps  you can take to help you build your credibility.

How to Be a Badass Link Builder via Search Engine Watch

The success of SEO now involves actually thinking like a human being and not a robot.  So to make the most of your link-building, this article explains the two main keys for link-building success,

Social

9 Social Media Tricks You Must Know via Men’s Health

Balancing your various social media channels while maintaining a real life can feel like a daunting task sometimes– so Men’s Health talked to five social media experts to get the scoop on how you can stay up to speed with your accounts by honing your tactics and maximizing your technology.

Mobile Marketing in 2013: Stats and Figures via socialmedia today

While many companies have started incorporating social strategies into their marketing endeavors, the mobile forefront is still largely unchartered with only 25 percent of brands developing mobile plans for their company. Uberflip’s most recent infographic examines the ins and outs of mobile marketing, how brands are leveraging it (or not) and how app marketing and mobile ad spending factor in.

LinkedIn at 10: Identity Crisis? Via ClickZ

Since Linkedin introduced content-based services and other API and ad functions as a way of driving ad revenues, some onlookers wonder if copying Facebook’s strategy will inhibit the value of the professional networking channel. In a push toward a more content-publishing platform, are users getting confused? According to Kassidi Warnock, the digital content strategist at GrowthWeaver, “LinkedIn needs to find a way to convince its user base that it still is that professional, valuable network. The reason you go is to be in a professional space.”

Facebook Tells Court ‘Like’ Feature Vital to Free Speech via Bloomberg

The intricacies of social media and how it is impacting litigation and court cases is still a relatively new chapter in the law books.  This article looks at questions surrounding the Facebook “Like” feature and the lengths of its free-speech protection under the U.S. Constitution.

Google+’s stream gets Pinterest-like makeover at I/O via C/net

Last week, you may have noticed some changes to the Google+ layout that have both a Facebook and Pinterest-like feel.  The new redesign to the social media platform gives the news stream a more graphic element with a three column layout, and also adds relevant hashtags to certain posts based on content. C/net looks at the details of the new look.

Just For Fun

Is digital dumping more difficult? via Mail Online

If you’re having a hard time getting over a recent relationship, Facebook may be partly to blame. The world’s first study researching “digital dumping” picks apart how Facebook has affected the way people break up—finding that “a third of people can’t bring themselves to delete photos on social networks, and this prolongs the pain because digital photos and messages act as a ‘constant reminder’ that people can’t escape from.”

9 Management Lessons We Learned From Michael Scott via Mashable

With last week’s series finale of The Office, let’s take a moment to nod to some of the lessons we’ve learned from Michael Scott over the years.

7 Health Problems Fixed by Food via ABCNews

Bypass common health ailments with these simple cures found right in your own kitchen. “Real, whole, fresh food is the most powerful drug on the planet,” says Mark Hyman, MD, author of The Blood Sugar Solution.

Diners are one of my favorite types of restaurants. Every town has one — a local place with regular customers, good service and classic American food. I try to go to as many different diners as I can, being that breakfast is probably my favorite meal to eat out and they really tend to tell you a lot about the community. Give me a cup of coffee, eggs, bacon, home fries, and toast and I’m a happy camper.

I have lived only a few blocks up from Michael’s Goody Boy Diner for the past five years. I was never sure if it was actually open or shut down or what, but it always looked closed. Then one time as I was driving by, there was construction going on inside. The original classic sign out front was being restored. They moved the parking lot to the back and made the front into a big patio. It re-opened and every time I would go by, I kept saying  that I have to try this place.

It’s right on High St. and 4^th. They have a huge patio outside and the classic sign looks like it came straight out of the 1950’s. Finally, on one beautiful Saturday morning, a friend and I decided to try it for some breakfast. Walking in, you see the bar right away, so we sat there. The service was great. I ordered the classic breakfast and it was just OK. Not bad by any means, but I could have cooked something just as good, if not better, at home. It’s not terribly expensive and the drinks are pretty cheap as well. My buddy got a Panini that looked really good, and he enjoyed it. I was luke warm about the place — not sure if I would go again. But the fact that it is close and the price is right pulled my friends and I back.

Since, I’ve been back quite a few times. Each time I was happier with the place. Their menu is huge. They have everything from burgers, sandwiches, gyros and other Greek food, breakfast etc. I have had a few different things but my favorite is the fried bologna sandwich.

The patio out front is great. You are right on High St. so it’s perfect for taking in the sites of the city, or people watching. And with 2$ Yuengling drafts, it’s hard to beat on a nice sunny day.

It is under the same ownership as Jimmy V’s pub and a few other restaurants around the area. One cool thing that they do is that their menu has a couple signature items from each of the other restaurants they own. It also hasn’t ever been crowded when we’re there. Every time I have gone, I have been able to sit wherever with no wait.

I guess I am a mixed bag on this place. My expectations were for a local, small town type diner. It’s definitely not that. But I really enjoy this place. It’s close, quick and convenient. The food and service are good, the drinks are cheap and the bar and dining room are very nice. I wouldn’t drive a half hour just to eat here but it’s definitely a worthwhile stop if you are in the area. And the bartender makes a killer bloody mary….so there’s that.

More Reviews From The Social Firm

• Cooking at the table: KaYa Korean BBQ/Sushi Review
• To Watch or Not to Watch: Iron Man 3 Preview (No Spoilers)
• The Short North’s First Beer Garden – The Pint House Review
• TEDxOhioStateUniversity 2013: Life in Motion – Overview
• Music for a Cause: Kendrick Lamar and Steve Aoki Concert Review

If SEOs were NFL figures, Matt Cutts (head of Google’s Web Spam Team) would be Roger Goodell. Both parties are powerful icons in their industry, but differ in their skill sets. On Monday, May 13^th, Matt did something he has never done before. Not only did he confirm the upcoming refresh of the Penguin update via Twitter, he also released a video briefly explaining what SEO’s should be on the lookout for this summer. Matt is easily one of the most influential people in the industry. When he talks, people listen. He must have lost some sort of bet, because he is wearing a Firefox t-shirt in the video. Not sure how the people working on Chrome felt about that.

Like most stuff from Matt, the video was full of caveats and disclaimers. He advises to take it all with a grain of salt as things tend to change quite often. Matt outlines ten distinct areas that they are looking to improve this summer. He goes into more details on some topics than others, but one thing is for sure — BIG changes are coming this summer that are going to affect quite a bit of sites. Below is a summary of each topic. The full video can be found at the end of the post.

1) Comprehensive Penguin Update

Early Monday morning on Twitter, Cutts confirmed an upcoming update to Penguin which he called Penguin 2.0. The first release of Penguin was launched in April of 2012, and was subsequently followed by two refreshes. So if you are counting at home (or with Danny Sullivan), this would make it Panda 4.0. Cutts joked that you can call it what you want, but internally it is referred to as 2.0.

Penguin is dedicated to identifying and targeting all different kinds of black hat spam. He said that this update will be more comprehensive, have a larger impact and delve deeper into the black hat spam problem. The exact launch date is still unknown, but when it does, we will surely know. It is going to impact such a large amount of sites that the online SEO community will blow up with outcry. So I think it will be quite obvious when that day comes.

2) Attacking Advertorials

Advertorials (also referred to as Native Advertising) is another area Google will address this summer. Cutts was clear to mention that there isn’t anything innately wrong with this type of advertising, but if not done correctly, it violates Google’s quality guidelines. These are articles made to look like editorials or typical articles, but are actually just big ads for a business. The differences may be subtle and hard to find. He stressed that if you are using advertorials, they should not flow PageRank. The goal is to make sure that they are not being used for link juice or to pass on PageRank to the sites that are linked in the copy. Cutts says that there should be “clear and conspicuous disclosure” when using advertorials.

3) Typically Spammy Queries

Queries that tend to be spammy have not usually been an area where Google has focused its efforts…until now. He specifically mentions “payday loans” in .co.uk, but also says that things like pornographic queries are at risk as well. He mentions that he’s excited that they have been working to clear up more general queries and addressing these trouble areas. He also mentions that a lot of good feedback is coming from outside Google, so this may be something that is a result of that.

4) “Upstream” Link Spammers

Earlier in the year, Google announced that it had attacked numerous different link networks with serious penalties. In this video, Cutts specifically talks about wanting to “go upstream” to prevent this type of link spam. He did not go into much detail about logistics, but it would only make sense that more link networks are in danger this summer.

5) More Sophisticated Link Analysis

Cutts briefly mentions that they are in the early stages of developing a more sophisticated link analysis system. Ultimately, Google wants to be able to validate the content, quality and relevance of a site as a real live person would. A more sophisticated analysis of a websites link profile will help to curb link spam as well as better identify and reward quality sites.

6) Hacked Sites

Matt says Google is continuing to work on hacked sites in a couple of different ways. First, they are working on methods to better detect hacked sites. Second, he wants to improve communication and available resources for webmasters whose sites have been hacked. He describes a “one stop shop” for webmasters of hacked sites to educate themselves on the best way to handle the situation.

7) Identify/Reward Authority Sources

Another way that Google wants to improve the quality of search results is to better identify sites that have authority in a specific space or field, and reward the  with higher rankings. This has been something that Google has been trying to do since the beginning. The better that they can identify authoritative sources, then the more valuable will search results become to the user.

8) More Clarity with Panda

While he did not mention a refresh of the Panda update, Matt did say that Google understands that many of the sites affected by Panda were “borderline cases.” They are looking for ways to make Panda less impactful on those sites in the grey area. They are doing this by analyzing other different quality metrics to help identify those sites and soften the effect of the Panda update.

9) Clusters of Results from a Single Domain

In order to clean up the all-important “page 1” of search results, Cutts says that clusters of “same domain” results showing up first page will lessen this year. As you dig deeper into the search pages, you still will see clusters from the same domain. However, they are working to make the page 1 results as diverse as possible.

10) Improved Overall Webmaster Communication 

Ultimately Google wants to improve communication and transparency with Webmasters. They are going to do it through improving the Google Webmaster Tools notifications. Matt says that they want to allow webmasters more detailed information about their site, more concrete details, more example URLs to look at, etc. to help them figure out where their site is at, and how best to diagnose and fix any problems that may arise.

At the end of the video, he explains the overall goal of Penguin to reduce the amount of webmasters out there using black hat tactics. One approach that is somewhat new from Google is that, in addition to deterring black hat and spam tactics, they are working to better identify smaller businesses and websites that are doing things the right way, then rewarding them by improving their rankings.

This revelation of updates this summer could most certainly change as Cutts points out many times throughout the video. These updates only solidify the huge shift going on in search marketing recently. Black hat and even grey hat tactics will be more easily identified and penalized. As webmasters, we need to be aware of the state of our sites. There is no magic eraser for the web. It is important to know what your site’s link profile looks like. If your domain name is old, work that was done years ago (and consistent with the tactics of the day) could still leave you open to a penalty. Luckily, Google is working hard to make sure that we have all the tools possible to take care of issues if/when they arise.

Here is the full video. You can find Matt’s personal blog post about this on his blog.

More SEO Articles From The Social Firm

• Business Owners: Revise Your Search for SEO/SEM Services
• 7 Essential Roles in a Digital Marketing Agency
• Link Analysis Time Saver – The Social Firm’s Link Analysis Template
• SEO Web Development
• Thoughts on SMB SEO in Central Ohio

Among many announcements at today’s Google I/O conference, we’ve received word that you will now be able to send money via Gmail.

Google users can click the new dollar sign Gmail attachments, which will allow them to transfer funds via Google Wallet. You may also pay with your credit or debit card for a 2.9% transaction fee (minimum $0.20). The recipient does not need a Gmail address to accept money.

Transactions will be monitored for fraud, encrypted and stored on secure servers. Google Wallet will provide 100% coverage for “eligible unauthorized transactions.”

Google is banking on the beast that is Gmail to drive the momentum of Google Wallet, which has been around since 2011. They state that the slow reception is due to customer resistance to mobile transactions, lack of awareness and retail deployment.

What do you think? Will you embrace the new Gmail function? This video from Google goes into more depth on the new functions.

More News From The Social Firm

• Android Fans Rejoice: Samsung Announces Galaxy S4 in the U.S.
• How to Deal With the Death of Google Reader?
• Sony Releases First Batch of Official PS4 Info
• The Social Firm Earns Esteemed 2012 Angie’s List Super Service Award
• Gangnam Style Singer’s Anti-American Rap Controversy

Every Monday, a different Social Firm team member will guide you through the major news stories from the previous week. This way, you can kick-start your week the right way by catching up on everything important in the digital world. Think of it as a morning cup of coffee for your brain.

Happy Monday ladies and gents! Another busy week here at The Social Firm, but we still haven’t forgotten you guys. This weeks Shark Bites has some incredible information that you may have missed from last week. There were some big stories in Search and Social from last week. This week’s just for fun has a little Columbus spin as well as some cool stuff I really enjoyed from last week, and think you will too! So let’s buckle down and get ready for a killer week started off with Shark Bites, giving you the knowledge and power you need to accomplish anything (well….almost anything. Results vary from person to person).

-Alex (Twitter: @koontzycub)

Search

More Proof Google Counts Press Release Links, Using Matt Cutt’s Own Blog via Search Engine Land

Matt Cutts, head of Google’s Webspam team, has made it pretty clear through previous statements that links in press releases don’t matter, and should not be used as a tactic to boost rankings. However, a guy named Daniel Tan seemed to refute this, even using Cutt’s own blog as an example. He released a press release linking to the blog with a very obscure anchor text. Check out this article to see what happened. Ryan Jones, of Team Detroit, offered his rebuttal to the significance of this on his site DotCult.com.

93% Of Local SEOs Expect To Grow Their Business In 2013 via Search Engine Land

This article looks at the results of the BrightLocal Local SEO Industry Survey for 2013. The survey took place between January 20th and February 20th of 2013. The 1,409 respondents answered questions covering 5 major areas of SEO.

Downloadable Link Removal Guide – When to Remove Links via Silicon Beach Training

Silicon Beach Training is a UK based company that specializes in providing public and private training for companies in web marketing related topics. They created a simple, downloadable PDF file taking you through a series of questions to figure out whether or not to try and remove a link that could cause a penalty or hurt your site by a Google update.

Where Google Search is Going via Time

This article takes a look at the future of Google in both theory and action. Imagine a future where Google is your trusted friend, constantly delivering information to you based on what it thinks is best for you. This Star Trek-esque vision is not too far away. Google Now is a function that allows the interface to become an anticipatory tool, rather than reactionary. This sophisticated level of A.I. is expected to mature in a few years, making way for the futuristic assistant of sci-fi lore.

Social

Facebook Is Going To Ruin Your News Feed With Auto-Playing Video Ads via Business Insider

The Financial Times reports (pay-wall) that Facebook is set to launch a new type of advertising, videos embedded into your news feed that start playing automatically when scrolled over. Videos will not play any of the sound when starting but users will be given the option to toggle the audio on, which then restarts the video. Is this tactic too “in your face” for the users?

Kickstarter Responds to Critics of Zach Braff’s Campaign via Mashable

Zach Braff has come under recent fire for using Kickstarter, a crowd funding social network, to finance his upcoming sequel to Garden State. Most known for playing JD, one of the main characters of the acclaimed TV show Scrubs, Braff shot back earlier this week. Kickstarter also released a statement backing allowing celebrities (or anyone wanting to crowd fund a project and build a community around it). Do you think celebrities using Kickstarter are taking away from real, “more important” projects?

YouTube Launches (Ad-free) Paid Subscription Channels via Marketing Land

YouTube announced the launch of paid subscription channels, by releasing 53 paid channels starting as low as $0.99. YouTube says they will begin allowing it as “a self-service feature for qualifying partners.” Some marquee channels out right now are UFC, National Geographic Kids, Comedy.TV, and Jim Henson Family TV. Will people be ok with paying, or find the content through other sources? Will the partners be ok with the revenue split between them and YouTube? Much is left to be seen.

How Brands Brace for #Crisis in the Social Media Age: The Playbook via Search@Ogilvy

Rachel Caggiano, Sr. VP of Client Services at Ogilvy, outlines best practices for dealing with crisis in the Social Media age. With the recent hacks at the AP, Bloomberg, and others it is more important than ever that crises like these are dealt with in the best way possible to prevent damage to your brand.

Just For Fun

How Seinfeld Made Something Out Of Nothing via WHATCULTURE!

Anyone who knows me knows that Seinfeld is my favorite show of all time. In my opinion it is the best show that has been, or will ever be on TV. Nearly a quarter of a century after it started on the air it is still one of the most iconic and well known TV shows, even amongst today’s popular new shows. This article is one of the most in-depth, scientific analysis of the show I have ever read. It talks about how it has influenced most of the popular shows throughout the past couple decades and why it’s humor is so everlasting.

EA Sports NHL14 Cover Vote via EA Sports

I have to shout out the guy who put my Columbus Blue Jackets right in the playoff race this year, goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky! BOBS was a stone wall between the pipes this year, and should be goalie of the year no questions. Go and vote for him to be on the cover of NHL’14 by EA Sports, he deserves it! BTW, you can vote daily so keep on it people!

FA Cup Final: Ben Watson Scores Shocking Winner for Wigan vs. City (GIF & Video) via Bleacher Report

Sports announcer Gus Johnson, who’s well known excitement and antics are typically reserved for basketball and football season, goes absolutely insane in the call when Wigan scores the late winner. Granted it is a pretty good story, Wigan being relegated from the Premier League after this year and still managing to win a trophy and upset second ranked Manchester City, but anyone who has heard Gus call a game before knows his style when things get a little crazy.

Awesome Alert: Ray Ray’s to start slinging chicken wings six days a week at Ace of Cups via Columbus Alive

This is for all my Cap City people out there. If you haven’t tried Ray Ray’s Hoggy Pit yet it is a must. The renowned food truck has announced that they are going to start selling their chicken wings six days a week at Ace of Cups, the bar where their food truck sits at Friday through Sunday. Their wings are smoked then fried, and have many sauce choices including an award winning buffalo, habanero BBQ, and many others. I love Ray Ray’s and can’t wait to try their wings, especially since I’m no longer limited to Friday through Sunday.

Stepping into the restaurant, it has all the atmosphere of a family owned business. Only a few employees (the owner’s family and some staff) run the entire operation. The central dining area is very open-air, but not overwhelming. For the patrons preferring privacy, there are some booths along the side of the central area. There are also a few private rooms in the back for larger parties.

The menu has a nice variety of Korean and Korean-American dishes like soups, rice dishes and BBQ. We ordered a little bit of everything to share. My favorite part of the Korean dining experience is the side dishes. Not to be confused with appetizers (which they have plenty to choose from), these are bite-sized dishes that accompany the entrees. They usually bring these out first, and they can change from week to week depending on the chef’s mood. You will usually get about 3-8 dishes per entree at the nicer places.

We definitely had to try the BBQ. An order consists of some raw meats as well as some vegetables. The best part is that you get to grill the food at your own table. You can remove the center cover of tables that are equipped with a grill. Once the flame is ignited, you can cook at your own discretion. I like this feature since everyone can cook their food how they like it- if anything doesn’t come out tasting good, it’s your own fault!

We BBQ’d some beef, onions and peppers. They had a nice, sweet sauce that wasn’t overbearing. We also ordered some soups. Korean soup broth is very light and clear, but they load it up with meats and veggies. Our Kimchi Jigae was spicy, and the Kal Bi Tang was savory.

They brought us a few rounds of side dishes at our request. This was very nice of them. We didn’t order any sushi on this visit, but I have been there for their half-priced sushi nights in the past. Every Tuesday night, they offer a chance to get double your money’s worth.

Overall, I really enjoyed our dinner at Ka Ya. It is a little bit more expensive (about $20-$25 per person for BBQ), but it’s worth the money. Their food is traditional Korean fare, but is Americanized enough to appeal to most people. If you like sushi, definitely visit them for their half-priced sushi night. When you go, ask for an extra round of side dishes. You’ll be glad you did!

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We all know that SEO/SEM is constantly changing. While there are a myriad of different ways to approach SEO, the overall goal is the same. This means that the competitive advantage for agencies manifests itself in the approach, the processes and the plan. Recently, the industry has shifted directions. In the past, SEO has been rooted in the technical aspects of a website. Everything was based around the structure of a site –links, backlinks etc. It was more of a numbers game; things like number of links, domain and page authority, PageRank and other metrics dominated the conversation. After Google’s Panda and Penguin updates, they now wish to view and validate a site’s content as a person would, as opposed to the old metrics. Content is the name of the game. There has been a tremendous rise in the importance of blogging, guest posting, social influence closely tying SEO/SEM to Social Media, as well as other aspects of digital marketing. Inbound marketing is the umbrella term for this new approach to digital marketing.

While people in the industry are well aware of this shift, the majority of business owners who are looking for SEO/SEM services still want to hear things in terms of number of links, rankings and authority. Many agencies still pitch their services like this as well, which doesn’t help the problem. And you can’t blame them – it makes it easy for clients to see what they are paying for, which is what most clients are asking for after all. The problem with this is that these metrics have little direct connection to the goals of the business. Rand Fishkin, founder of SEOmoz, has addressed these topics both from a metric standpoint as well as looking at the overall shift in the industry in SEOmoz’s popular video blog series Whiteboard Friday. His insight is great, and the posts came out right about as I sat down to write this. The images below are from his whiteboard talks. The approach needs to start with the goals of the client’s business and website. If the goal is to generate a certain amount of traffic, or to reach a certain level of online sales, it allows the marketer more efficiency in developing a strategy to meet these goals.  Results are actionable and the success of the campaign is directly tied with the success of the business. If the goal is to get X amount of links, or to rank number one for target keywords, meeting those goals doesn’t necessarily mean success for the client’s business.

Credit to SEOmoz, Rank Fishkin, Whiteboard Friday

This problem stems from the client’s lack of knowledge about SEO in general. From the beginning until just recently, the focus of SEO was viewed as something completely outside of marketing and advertising. It was very technically rooted and closely tied to web development. The approach was very different from traditional marketing and advertising efforts. Clients now associate “SEO” with those old school tactics. They understand the need for it, and understand that things like links and domain authority are important, but they don’t know why. They just know they need them.

Credit to SEOmoz, Rand Fishkin, Whiteboard Friday

To clarify, I am not saying that these metrics and more traditional tactics aren’t important, because they are. But they are more of a vehicle for the overall marketing strategy. Gaining quality links through link building will help with rankings and boost traffic. It is an important piece in the toolbox, but at the end of the day, it is just a tool. If you were building a tree house  you wouldn’t determine the success of the project by how many swings of the hammer it took. The hammer is important part of the building process, but the overall goal is to build a functional and safe tree house. Strategy development shouldn’t be about simply meeting SEO metrics. It should be about using those metrics as tools to meet the goals or key performance indicators of the business.

The answer is in the approach. Agencies will be most successful if they define the clients’ business goals, and then designate the best tactics and tools to accomplish them. Clients will not only have a better understanding of what is going on, they will know that the agency is closely invested in the success of their business. This allows the agency to foster personal relationships with clients as opposed to just cashing their checks and sending reports.

There are some telltale signs that business owners can look for when shopping around for agencies. Following these rules of thumb will make sure that they get the most out of their marketing budget. First and foremost, you want to find an agency that utilizes a personal approach, not the “fix-it-and-forget-it” approach. You also want the conversation to start with your business needs; not what the agency is offering. Any guarantees about rankings, number of links, etc. is something you should stay away from. When you start thinking in terms of strictly numbers, it opens the door for the use of black hat or spammy tactics. This could potentially put your site in danger of penalty. If you think you’ve paid for work like this in the past, you should absolutely go through your backlink list. There is no magic eraser when it comes to websites, so even if the spammy link building was done a long time ago by someone else, you could still be penalized by the search engines.

Agencies utilizing SEO as a part of their overall marketing plan are ahead of the curve

While many in the industry have embraced this switch, there’s still a sizable portion that have not. It’s up to the business owners to understand what they are paying for when they are shopping around for SEO/SEM services. There are so many agencies out there that are client focused, who work directly with the businesses to provide a personalized service. These are agencies that are personally invested in your success. Put your business and marketing budgets in the best hands possible by doing your research. Talk to people, like other business owners. They will be your best gauge. Most importantly, talk with the agencies themselves. The people pitching you their services should be able to tell you what kind of approach they are offering.

Through client education and a more personalized approach, agencies can put themselves at the forefront of this industry shift. By focusing on directly tying the goals of the campaign to the overall goals of the business, agencies are best suited to get the most out of their client’s budget. Being more involved in the client’s business makes many of the new processes much easier, such as blogging and content creation. You will also refine the processes of compiling keyword portfolios that most accurately describe the business, writing ad copy for Facebook and Google paid ads that better targets the consumer and creating a new site structure optimized for user experience among many others. Most importantly, there are agencies out there embracing this shift the right way. They’re doing their part in helping to move the industry into a new era; traditional SEO as we knew it has become just a piece of the inbound marketing puzzle. If you are a business owner shopping around for SEO/SEM services, it is important that you ask the right questions and find an agency that is on the right side of this change.

More SEO Articles From The Social Firm

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Every Monday, a different Social Firm team member will guide you through the major news stories from the previous week. This way, you can kick-start your week the right way by catching up on everything important in the digital world. Think of it as a morning cup of coffee for your brain.

Spring has finally sprung for good. The sunshine, birds and comfortable breeze have hopefully already added some pep to your Monday morning routine. Take a quick peruse through the best of the best updates to the digital marketing world from this past week to help decide how to focus your extra energy this week. From Instagram, to WordPress and Vine, this week’s edition of Shark Bites contains some juicy new features, tips & tricks for your enjoyment!

-Jenna

Search

How to Create SEO Friendly WordPress Themes via Design Resource Box

Content is king in the digital marketing world. If you’re going to put so much time and dedication into maintaining a blog for your company, organization, or cause, make sure you skim this article and set up your WordPress blog theme to be completely SEO-friendly. You should already be writing about the things you’d like to rank for, so make sure you’re not missing the boat by leaving these important items out of your blog theme.

Why SEO Is Like an RTS Game (And Why You Should Care) via SEOMoz

Are you familiar with RTS (real-time strategy) video games? Whether you are or not, thinking of your search engine optimization efforts as a game, with steps and tools similar to that of an RTS game, can help you to master the SEO battlefield and have some fun at the same time.

Study: How to Design Your Ad Copy to Improve CTR via Bing Ads 

Dr. Vivian Li and SEO expert John Gagnon studied 250,000 travel-related search ads on the Yahoo! Bing network. This article is a quick read and provides 2 key takeaways they uncovered to help improve the click-through rate (CTR) of search ads.

When Google Gets it Wrong By Changing the Titles of Web Pages via Search Engine Land

“Google has long operated under the assumption that despite whatever the official title of a page is, Google knows better about how to describe that page. To be fair, there are good reasons for this. Sometimes people fail to properly indicate titles for their pages, so the rewriting can be useful.” However, Google can, and does, make mistakes. Make sure you double check your search listings, and file an error report with the Google team if they’ve incorrectly titled your listings.

Social

Instagram Adds people Tagging to Photos via Mashable 

Instagram unveiled a big update to their social network this past week. Similar to Facebook, users can now choose to “tag” others in their photos. This also means the introduction of a new section on the Instagram platform called “Photos of You”. Prior to this update, the only way to associate a photo with other Instagram users was to use an @ mention. This article outlines some details about the new function.

5 Tips on How to Integrate the Vine App into Your Branding Efforts via The Social Firm

Vine is one of the newest social networks making a splash for both traditional social media use, and social media marketing. Before you join Vine, and begin haphazardly throwing videos out there to try and promote your brand, make sure you first take the time to understand the network and to create a strategy for incorporating it into your social networking plan.

Facebook EdgeRank [Infographics] via Social Media Today

What’s the value of a Facebook fan? How can you best reach your fans and inspire their engagement with your Facebook posts? This article provides 2 fantastic infographs to help you understand the breakdown of a fan’s various activity on Facebook and to understand Facebook EdgeRank, the network’s algorithm for determining when and what will show in the newsfeed of users. Understanding these two items will help you to better capitalize on your brand’s Facebook efforts.

What Marketers Need to Know About the New FTC Disclosures via Social Media Examiner 

 The FTC released the first update to the .com Disclosures Guide in March of this year. Originally written in 2000 to maintain consumer protection laws, this has several effects on your social media activities. This article discusses some of the nuances of the update, so that you may better understand how it affects your abilities as a marketer.

Just For Fun

Meet Vine’s Most Creative Stop-Animation Animator via Mashable 

When you think of Vine, amateur snippets of everyday life probably comes to mind. Not if you’re watching one from Khoa Phan. The 23 year old Vine-animator has really embraced the new app, and has pioneered new techniques in producing his 6-second pieces of art. Check them out in this article.

10 Off-The-Wall Survival Tricks and Tools via ListVerse

If it came down to it, would you be able to survive in the case of a mass societal collapse? Probably not. Along with most of the population, we could be lost without the daily necessities that we take for granted everyday. Well, never fear. Here is a list of the top 10 uncommon survival tricks and tools that will give you a better chance to survive the harsh realities of a post-civilized world.

Sharpen Those Pitchforks: Nearly 2,000 Titles Will Disappear from Netflix Tomorrow via BroBible 

Last week, Netflix announced the imminent removal of 1,794 titles from their database. These flicks and TV shows will be moved to Warner Archive Instant, Warner Bros own version of a streaming service. This piggybacks another Netflix announcement that they will soon be cracking down on freeloaders of their service.