websense

So, of course the FCC passed this thing. The only thing we can hope is that the new Congress, with a Republican (believers in Free Enterprise) House, can do something to stop it from being implemented. Net Neutrality has already been taken to court by Comcast, and ruled unconstitutional. The FCC had no authority to do this, so hopefully this will be undone, overturned, and shelved.

But, what if it’s not? That’s a prime question, isn’t it? If it’s not overtuned I see a lot of fallout for Web based commerce. These new rules, and there are a bunch of ‘em apparently, will make doing business on the Web harder. Over regulation always does. So far, things have run smoothly, for the most part. People have been able to find a market for products that was otherwise unavailable to them – just check out Ebay and Etsy. Do you really think the big Ebay sellers would have had as much success without the Web? And as for Etsy, most of those products are handmade and so niche that finding a market for them took a pretty broad spectrum of shoppers. You’re not gonna find that at your average flea market, craft show, or what have you. Even if you did well, you couldn’t touch what was possible through Etsy, while doing business from your home. The FCC is going to make this type of enterprise really difficult. The regulations are going to be expensive, and time consuming. There is no need for any of this, so the FCC will spend a lot of time trying to legitimize it’s own existence. Part our job, as Web developers, will be to know how to work with and around the FCC regs and still help our clients make as much money as possible.

I’ll reiterate what I’ve heard so many times already – this is a solution looking for a problem, because there is no problem. This is a power grab by the current administration. No one knows, yet, what exactly the rules are going to be, as they are being decided on. What we do know is that the FCC has decided that they can police the Web. This is going to go far beyond regulating ISPs and SEs. The FCC will go for control over commerce and content – just watch. It’s about to get real interesting.

So, I really want to hear from you. What are you seeing as potential fallout from the Net Neutrality vote? How will it affect you, or your customers?

Very cool – at least for Pittsburgh. Google has opened an office on this side of the country. Pittsburgh is a great town, and a beautiful city, and I think it makes a unique choice for a Google office. Pittsburgh is not an overly huge city, but offers a variety of talent coming out of Carnegie Mellon, Pitt, and the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh is the ultimate melting pot, with people from every corner of the world, thus, a lot of ethnic food (makes you want a beer and pierogies, doesn’t it?), plenty of culture and all the historical significance you could ever want. And it’s got the Steelers!

A Google office (which is hiring, by the way) is a nice boon to a really great area. I like the statement from Google saying they want to provide an unlimited number of “very interesting and significant jobs” to entice people to either stay in Pittsburgh or return.

Check out the very cool office space pics provided by Google.

Located in Baker’s Square, if you are at all familiar with Pittsburgh. Wonder if they’ll give fellow geeks a tour? Time for a field trip!

Now here is an application for Twitter that had not even occurred to me, and I’m not sure it’ll be effective. Seattle’s police department, according to Mike Sachoff over at WebProNews, is integrating a program whereby the police station will Tweet pertinent information about a stolen car, such as make, model, color, year and plate number. If someone sees the car they can call 911, and help the owner get their vehicle back that much sooner (hopefully before it gets trashed).

While I don’t know how well this would work in our area, at least until more folks get around to using Twitter, a Web and tech savvy area such as Seattle might be the perfect place for pilot program like this. It’s a pretty good idea, really. Amber Alerts should be done the same way – any missing persons reports, actually. I think I might have started with that and worked my way down to cars and what have you.

Law enforcement is stating that criminals are using social media to set up, scope out crimes and actually brag about them afterward. The police feel they need to use social media to stay a step ahead of the criminals. I think we’ll continue to be amazed at the ways people use the Web. 2011 should be pretty interesting, don’t ya think? I think I see social media and web experts becoming full time members of the police forces across the country…

If you’d like to get the lowdown, read more about it over at The Seattle Times.

Yeah, you read that right. The FCC is rearing it’s “net neutrality” head again. It was rejected once by Congress, and yet the head of the FCC (FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski) has decided that it doesn’t really matter, he’s already gone ahead and set a vote for it on December 21.

Net Neutrality is being sold to the American public (at least those who are paying attention to this stuff) as a safeguard, a protection against who knows what – I guess a bias by ISPs in traffic to certain sites, depending on what the ISPs want to enhance or encourage in the search traffic- in my opinion it’s a power grab. This guy, Genachowski thinks he can get away with it legally, so he’s going to try. If he is successful, it will have some significant impact on the Web.

1. Sites will be required to change the way they perform link building. For example, if you include a link to a conservative site, you will now have to offering one with an opposing viewpoint.
2. ISPs will be monitored to ensure that they are not prohibiting traffic to any sites – as in, they are not as the Washington Post put it:”favoring or discriminating against any traffic that goes over their networks.” In other words, ISPs will not be free to run their businesses as they see fit, they will have more governmental mandates and policies to follow.
3. Net Neutrality is a sneaky way of getting the Fairness Doctrine sneaked in under our noses. They want to be able to tell Web users, whether they be searchers or site owners/content providers, how to conduct themselves on the Web.

Interestingly, others of high position in the FCC don’t agree with the chairman and have released their response to the action the chairman is taking and their intentions for the meeting to be held on December 21. I think now is the time to place some calls to Congress people, and even the FCC itself to let them know how you feel about this issue. I personally am tired of government agencies deciding to regulate something that works quite well on it’s own. Commissioner McDowell and Commissioner Baker both feel that it’s not within the FCC’s authority to enforce the Net Neutrality policy, so it’ll be interesting to see how this all pans out. Their statements can be read on the FCC site.

So what do you think about this whole thing? Have you given it any thought? How will it impact your business, your presence on the Web?

A few years back the coolest thing about the Web was that anyone, anywhere could purchase products from anyplace in the world, and have that product in a few short days. SEO was all about making sure that those customers found what you had to offer, no matter where in the world they were. It was very cool (still is very cool), very fresh. Ebay was king! Now, the coolest thing about the Web is that you can Google for the closest ice cream shop open past midnight on a Tuesday and get directions to take you right to the doorstep. Now the shop around the corner, where you can have “it” now! is king. Local Search is here folks, and it’s not going anyway anytime soon – awesome!

If you read this blog, or any other on search engine marketing, you know that local search is big. Local search has been talked about for a long time, and even implemented to a certain extent, but recent improvements in mobile technology have really made it relevant. So many different aspects of mobile web and regular usage of the web are driving this trend. Google Maps and Places, Facebook Places, mobile networks, just to take off the tip of the ice burg. Because of this, the already very important aspects of local search have come to light in a way that has most people in the search industry standing up and paying attention. Google and Bing have both included location into their rankings algorithms.

I know that I usually shoot down whatever people are saying is the next big thing in search, but not when it is just common sense. (Which is really all SEO and SEM really are.) It just makes sense that search would turn local. Anytime you search for anything you need locally, a doctor, dentist, garbage company, tree trimmer or Chinese take-out, the locality is of utmost importance. Therefore, anything YOU sell, make or do for your area must be represented on your site as a local product or service. These things need to be optimized with your locality. You need to be using all the tools in your arsenal to make sure your business is easily located and your customers know what you have available. Social media, mobile networks, downloadable discounts, all these things play into how your customers find you, buy what you have or do, and how you will be ranked or reviewed, and believe me, you will be, especially if the customer is not satisfied. Never before in history has the slogan “the customer is always right” been so relevant. If they are not happy, they will take to Twitter, Facebook, and the like and tell all their friends and followers about their experience. Unfortunately, you probably have to go above and beyond to get a whole lot out of people on the positive end without pursuing a “like” or review yourself.

In the end of all of this, this new and exciting world is getting smaller by the day. Localized search is making it possible for someone to find you, Google you for directions and arrive at your place of business in a matter of minutes. If you want to be the business they find, you had better make sure you have all of your marketing ducks in a row. Shoot us an email if you need a hand with that, we’d be happy to help you out.

For those of you who just have to know more:
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2010/10/21/using-social-and-local-search-for-your-business
http://searchenginewatch.com/3641506