I just read a really short article on Seth Godwin's blog called "Chasing the cool kids" where he talks about building your own online real estate instead of running to the newest social platform:
https://seths.blog/2021/02/chasing-the-cool-kids/

A side point in the article is about the value of RSS.

Quote:What’s the alternative?Publish. Consistently. With patience. Own your assets. Don’t let a middleman be your landlord. Yell at Google for blocking your emails and hope it’ll work eventually. Continually push for RSS and an open web. With patience.

Quote:In defense of RSSRSS is the best way to consume content online. It always has been, and it still is.Not gated, not filtered, no ads, just want you want.

Quote:[2021 update: I wrote this ten years ago. Since then, Google has tried to kill blogs, one social network after another has come along to entice people who want to write (and read) and figured out how to steal the permission that writers have worked so hard to earn. And yet, RSS, free, open, easy to use RSS persists. If you’re not the customer, you’re the product.]

The trend is Mobile – #1 Priority Today (title in 2016 and valid for 2021)
So let’s get something straight. 2016 – a major shift with Search engines (specifically Google) caused many websites to loose rankings and visibility, even big companies did not count on the impact this caused on their "established Big Company website"

Since February 23, 2016, Google made several announcement that any website should use responsive design. Most websites using responsive design deal with slow load times which inherently have negative SEO consequences meaning your ranking is negatively impacted.

To make matters worse there is a site speed penalty for websites in the works per an announcement mid May by Google’s Matt Cutts. So, it seems like Google is changing the landscape of websites in that they are trying to put the mobile user first as many businesses should be doing. Common site delays are due to external JavaScript and CSS, extra coding on Websites to make them Mobile friendly/responsive.

Past websites are built on static platforms which means that they do not adjust to different screen sizes. Responsive websites are usually built using WordPress, Joomla, html and others, and require additional coding to adjust to mobile screen sizes. However due to the constant updating requirements of those platforms, their functionality can be compromised which can cause certain parts of those website to be hidden.

Let's fast forward, 2021
Shortly after I wrote the previous, then came AMP.
AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages and emphasis is being placed on websites being Mobile "FAST" loading.

Remember, when searching for a site, a message warned visitors: "This site is not secure".
It became the http = bad site craze, and SSL certificate provider got an extra short term boost. Thanks to "Let's Encrypt", which by now many hosting companies provide as a free service in their plans, we all got a break.

We are not finished yet.
You wanted to get better ranking for your site? The words Citation management and Reputation Management became new money grabbing services for us Internet Marketers, and businesses paid for that service (many overpaid,) but that's another story. Many newbies who called themselves Webdesigner or Experts in this and that, jumped on the wagon, and made it more difficult for businesses to separate good from bad providers.

There is also Videos (newest now is vertical style), and all the Social Media must have (or not), and endless more...

All these changes had a huge impact on Business websites, and who knows, what will be the next issue we have to tackle, when Search Engine come out with new algorithm adjustments.

I know, there is so much more we could discuss. But looking back just 5 years, and thinking about my first computer with MS-Dos, and dot-matrix printer, last century in a different universe.. and NO Covid, we were free. 

It was fun to activate some retired brain cells.Hope you enjoy.
Holger

An Introduction to Schema Markup for SEO

Here’s a good into for schema, which is essential for SEO. “In its simplest form, schema markup is a form of structured data that helps Google gain a better understanding of a webpage’s content. When a search engine understands content better, it can reward you with rich snippets and help return more relevant search results.”


http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/conversat...or-seo.htm

I haven't used Youtube much lately other than uploading (hosting) videos. When they changed the minimum requirements for their monetization it hurt my YouTube strategy quite a bit. I had multiple niche channels. In total they far surpassed YouTube's minimal requirements and they all used the same Google Adsense account, so Google knew they were all me.

And they seemed to make a shift to wanting "stars". I don't want to be onscreen, let alone a "star". I just want to make helpful and interesting videos...and have some benefit for doing so. Their ranking algo also seemed to favor longer videos.

But YouTube's recent addition of Shorts has me motivated to focus more on YouTube again. Shorts fit my own personality better and I like making quick, short videos. I'm not sure how it will go, but I'm excited about this new format.

Here's some free vertical videos with public domain licenses that you can use any way you want from Pexels and Pixabay. Most videos you find are wide screen, 16x9, but short content for mobile generally prefers vertical videos which are 9x16. Check out these resources to find stock videos formatted for mobile short content.

Pexels Verticals
https://www.pexels.com/search/videos/vertical/

Pexels has a category just for vertical video. It isn't organized very well but once you get to the vertical page above do a search for your keyword while keeping "vertical" in the search box too.

vertical dog
vertical funny
vertical ocean
vertical rain

How to Get My Exclusive Vertical Video Cover

Pexels doesn't have a category for vertical videos, so I converted a bunch (151) of the best ones by hand. These are full screen videos on mobile and aren't just "shrunken" 16x9 videos so they fit.

Generally, these videos are a lot better for backgrounds than the ones you'll find at Pexels. Check out a few samples in this video:
 


There are three separate downloads with 50, 50 and 51 videos in each for a total of 151 vertical videos.

• To get a link to one download make a helpful, funny or interesting post on this thread. Surely you've found a good resource or joke you can share.
  
• Each time you make a post I'll PM a link to one of the downloads
  
• Make each contribution in a separate post.
  

Good stuff...the basic SEO advice that applies to just about every platform (keywords in your profile name, pins, boards, etc). Also includes a couple of really good tips, like creating duplicate pins where you change a single element to see which gets the most engagement.
 
 
8 Pinterest SEO Hacks For More Clicks, Traffic, & Sales
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY7vkhaMZyM

LinkedIn has launched LinkedIn Stories to compete in the short content arena. Here's what you need to know to get started.

Intro Videos:
 
LinkedIn Stories | What You Need To Know
 

 

LINKEDIN STORIES TUTORIAL - Quick and easy!
 


 
LinkedIn Stories – How to take advantage of LinkedIn's new content type in 2021


Makes a suggestion of creating 30 questions and answering them. Best if you upload once a day or at least once a week.

Story Pins are Pinterest's new venture into short form content.

Quick notes:

• You can link up to 20 pages per Story Pin
  
• Not time limited
  
• Content hosted on Pinterest unlike regular pins which are shared content.
  

Pinnacle Studio 24 Ultimate is a professional video editing software that normally sells for $109.95. Humble Bundle has a deal where you can get a 100% legal and legit license for just $1.

Check out Pinnacle Studio here but DO NOT BUY it from this page:
https://www.pinnaclesys.com/en/products/.../ultimate/

Instead get it here for $1:
https://www.humblebundle.com/software/de...e-software

There are other bundles available, including one with Corel Painter, but the $1 offer for Pinnacle is too good to pass up. Even if you already have video editing software there's probably a cool feature or filter that you'll appreciate.

• Set up a WordPress blog with some special plugins and secret strategies I put together for you.
  
  
• Add some RSS feeds to provide you with evergreen, constantly updating sources of content. I've provided you huge lists of feeds for some of the most profitable niches on the Net and tell you how to do it.
  
  
• As the content updates, select the content items you want, then quickly edit them to make them unique if you wish. I'll show you some tricks.
  
  
• Select where you want them published.
  
  
• We'll use IFTTT to automate publishing the content across your Frontier properties. You'll discover all sorts of cool things you can do to automate and expand your business.
  

• Facebook
  
• Twitter
  
• Tumblr
  
• Pinterest
  
• YouTube
  
• LinkedIn
  
• Instagram
  
• Blogger - (for Google indexing)
  
• plus many others...
  

• They are the sites that get the most traffic on the Net that also let you create accounts and post content.
  
• They let you build audiences through friends and followers.
  
• Not only that, but they can be automated using RSS and IFTTT (plus the free version of Zapier).
  

• How can you get lots of content fast?
  
• Where should you put it?
  
• What content should you build links to?
  
• Where should you post PLR content and why?
  
• How do you get traffic to these pages?
  
• What are camouflage pages and when should you use them?
  

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