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Reclaimed from GPlus #1

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I came to a realization that I haven't posted nearly as much to my blog as I have to G+ in shares, comments and posts of my own. I've decided to go back through my GPlus profile and create a series of blog posts of the best content and call it "Reclaimed from GPlus".


The Brutally Honest Truth about Ghostwriting on Squawk by Demian Farnworth

Shared by AJ Kohn: A really in-depth look at ghostwriting, both offline and online and how it connects with social and SEO. I have my own opinions on the topic (which are referenced by +Demian Farnworth in this piece)...


The Duel: A fantastic use of a #gif  to create a clever cartoon of two very inaccurate duelists. Shared by Fungole.




My Daily Phrase German: Learn German by listening to it being spoken "day by day, week by week, phrase by phrase" in a lovely Scottish accent. Yes, that's right. A Scottish rolling Scottish brogue applied to the German language is actually pretty enchanting listening!


Who's there? Time Lord. Time Lord who? Knock Knock Knock Knock.

#doctorwho  

"Toronto-based designer Tyler Adam created a parody book cover design project called 100 Books that SHOULD be written. There are books that for one reason or another do not exist, but certainly should..."


"Over the last few weeks I have been spending a lot of time thinking about content strategy. What is it that makes people want to share? Is it humor, pop culture, wisdom or inspiration?

The answer is kind of complicated. There is no magic formula or secret sauce. The only thing you can do is be true to yourself and your brand.

In order to create something worth sharing, you need to be honest and know your audience. If the people that interact with you or your brand enjoy things on the lighter side, keep your content on the lighter side. If you know what is important to people, talk about it.

The easiest way to lose your audience is to bombard them with things that are unnatural, out of context and totally irrelevant. Don't try to change who you or your brand are to entice your audience. The best way to engage people is to be true to your colors.

If you want to create something worth sharing, create something genuine." -Peter Mcdermott

Stretch Your Content with Steven Shattuck

A pledge to comment ON the blog posts I read.

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I, Jeremy Rivera, being of sound SEO and marketing practices,
do solemnly swear,
to comment and participate,
on the blog posts I read,
with relevance and detail,
in follow and no-follow,
disqus, livfyre, or G+ blogger,
for as long as I do SEO

Do you take this oath to post comments to the blog s you read?

I DO

You may now share your post


New Google Webmaster Tools Navigation

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Webmaster Tools Notice
If you log into your Google Webmaster Tools account you'll see they have shuffled the elements around a little bit.

It doesn't seem like they've added anything at first glance...but this does make more sense for your average webmaster/user. The help card for "Search appearance" might be of some use though...



A Fresh Start at Caddis Interactive in Franklin

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I just got hired at Caddis!

Caddis Interactive - Franklin TN
I'm super excited that my job hunt lasted less than a month after amicably having to leave Raven Tools (Seriously, they still rock though).

I've just accepted a job offer from Caddis Interactive in Franklin TN!  They have a lot of outdoor clients  that sell broadheads, buggies and hunting property but have some other interesting clients too. I look forward to working as their SEO Specialist and taking on the challenges of working at an interactive marketing agency.

Thank you all for your support!

To everyone who sent me job leads, endorsed me on Linkedin, gave me recommendations or referrals I want to say thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!


Be the Octopus

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Social media is a fantastic medium for reaching your target audience in a manner that may increase brand awareness while also creating opportunity for conversions or sales.” – Jeremy Rivera
I recently had the opportunity to present a little bit of my opinion on social media and branding to Ross Jone's Art Institute marketing class. I was really surprised when they messaged me with an article on social media and branding they posted to a site they created as a class project that included some of my thoughts that I'd shared with them!

Getting a GIF as your thumbnail in G+

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Get a GIF as your thumbnail on G+

I was parusing Gplus and noticed that a linked article had an animated GIF as it's thumbnail, and it struck me that this new feature seemed to have snuck past me. So here's my blog post to see if I can get it to work, so you can duplicate it for yourself.

Edit: It's as easy as making your first image a GIF and sharing it on G+ apparently.

Custom Urls for Google Plus

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Dear Google,

I never thought this would happen to me! I was surfing G+ and making a post about John Williams returning to do the score for the recently announced Episode 7 of Starwars and up popped a banner. A magical banner offering a custom URL for my GPlus Profile. I've never been so excited about a URL since I first got my url from Angelfire.com for my jr. high comic book website in 1999.

Thanks
A Long Time GPlus User.

P.s. If you want to reach me you can do so at http://www.google.com/+JeremyRivera

That's so Raven...Tools

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This screenshot is from 2010. Going way back: In 2004, Sitening begins developing tools for its own SEOs to use. In 2005, Sitening begins developing tools for its own SEOs to use. In 2006 I was given a free t-shirt that introduced me to the tools.In 2008, Raven SEO Tools comes out of beta. In 2010, the software rebrands from Raven SEO Tools to Raven Internet Marketing Tools.



In August 2011, Raven releases a Google AdWords tool for PPC campaign management and reporting. In November 2011, Raven launches Research Central, a single tool that mashes up multiple data sources for in-depth SEO analysis. June 2012 I went to work for Raven Tools.


In February 2013, Raven releases Site Auditor, a web-based website crawler for improving site performance. In August 2013, Raven releases the new Raven, which reorganizes all tools into a clean, simple design. Among other improvements, Raven launches a ranking tool that uses your Google and Bing Webmaster Tools data to display accurate ranking information for your website’s keywords. They even introduced a ChangeLog so you can keep up with updates.

If you haven't given it a chance, I strongly recommend taking a 30 day trial of Raven Tools for free, yo!



Dear Realtors You Have to Choose One City

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Dear Realtors,

Sorry. I am really sorry but I have to tell you a hard truth. You may not want to hear this, so I understand if you click away, or stop reading. 

You have to pick one city as your primary marketing target online. I know you actually do service multiple cities. I know you want to reach customers in your entire area. But the hard truth is that it is not possible in our online marketing world.

Here's why:
  • The competition is to thick with every city boasting it's own cadre of professionals, each building a local footprint greater than yours can possibly be.
  • Google's mapping for local search is very sensitive to your actual location, so ranking further from your business listing address is more and more difficult.
  • You just might actually be the best choice for a client 70 miles away from your office.
So embrace your city. Build local content and be the most badass resource for your city possible and you just might find your reach extending further organically overtime as you gain referrals and build credibility.

Where to start in the Local SEO Ecosystem

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David Mihm of Moz and his Local Search Ecosystem: http://moz.com/blog/2013-local-search-ecosystems

It's a Jungle Out There

Every expedition started in the drawing room, with a map. The reality is that getting your local business visible is a challenge that is generally too daunting for most small business owners, but is also a high reward activity when done correctly. Each listing doubles as an advertisement on those specific sites while also boosting your signal to Google, Yahoo and Bing about your business's actual location which is key to driving local prospects. 

Order in the Chaos

As insane as that image looks, when you get down to it there are 4 major data providers that funnel information to the majority of the web. Getting in here is key. Unfortunately, these data vendors make it really difficult to actually find where and how to submit/correct your business listing. After some research I found the direct sign up pages for these vendors as a shortcut. There may be cost associated with some of them, but most of them "seem" to be free. 

GOOD LUCK

Localeze: http://www.neustarlocaleze.biz/directory/index.aspx
Acxiom https://mybusinesslistingmanager.myacxiom.com/
InfoGroup: http://www.expressupdateusa.com/
Factual: http://developer.factual.com/contribute-or-correct-data/

Emma's Amazing Style of Marketing

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My one weakness: Free t-shirts

Okay, so I have a weakness. I can't help it, but I just love getting free t-shirts! So when Emma, a Nashville based email service, was offering a free t-shirt for answering a question in a recent social media recap on their email marketing blog  I jumped at the chance, and won handily!

 If You're Gonna Do It, Do It Right


Here's the shipping container Emma used: Awesome!
So after time passes, and the haze of victory faded I was very excited when I opened my mailbox to find a mailing cylinder personally branded by Emma.
Me, excited for my T-shirt
The shirt is comfy, and from American apparrel so they didn't scrimp on quality. But what they did extremely well was take their branding to an even higher level.


I appreciate not only the extra time they spent on adding the branded tag, but they actually expressed their brand's sense of humor and took it beyond just adding a logo on a tag. Well done, Emma!



Mea Culpa - Raven Tools Pulls It Out Of The Fire

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I checked my email to see this message:

Uh Oh - That Looks Bad


Matthew Woodward is a pretty well know affiliate marketer, so the fact that his post was titled "Why Raven Tools Must Not Be Trusted" struck me with a prickle of anxiety. I used to work my self for Raven Tools the online marketing suite and handled the SEO as well as the affiliate marketing for them in my role there as product marketing manager.

I started reading. Alternately through my fingers, with my hand on my forehead, on the edge of my seat and eventually slumped with with a sigh relief.

What Happened Here?

I encourage you to read his post but here's a short summary: Matthew wrote a review of backlink tools that didn't leave the best impression of Raven Tools. As the affiliate manager at the time, I reached out to Matthew to see if he'd be interested in reviewing some of the new tools we'd released in the hopes that a direct review of the tool would be a better reflection. Unfortunately, since I'd moved on to be the Senior SEO at Caddis Interactive I wasn't there to follow up when he was finally ready to do the review.

Instead, his affiliate account was cancelled!

YIKES


Matthew followed up to this with a very fair 10 point question response, that unfortunately went un-responded for several weeks. Getting frustrated Matthew decied to go live with his post. 

Predictably it was a very appropriately bad response from the SEO community as you can see on Inbound.
obviously they did a terrible job handling this situation. This is definitely not how you are supposed to treat people. This really looks bad from a PR perspective. - Blake Acheson

If It Ended There It'd Be Bad For Raven

She won't answer the helm! We're locked into the moon's gravitation pull. What do we do?!
Lord Kril:  We die.
Thankfully it didn't end there. Jon Henshaw of Raven Tools took up the burden he'd built up and dealt with it masterfully.
Matthew, after reading your post I have a much better idea of why you’re upset. I don’t think any of this would have happened if it wasn’t for me. I was having a bad day, saw your post and did something stupid. It’s easy to be passionate about something that is basically your baby.
I personally screwed up several times. First, I cancelled your affiliate account without having a dialogue with you first. (I just fixed that mistake by restoring your account, and I hope to talk to you person-to-person soon.) Second, I sent you a reply that was not professional. Third, I had communicated internally at the office that I was monitoring and communicating with you, so my team assumed that I had seen your followup messages that you sent to the affiliate email account. I didn’t see those until yesterday.
This really isn’t a Raven thing, it’s a Jon thing. Unfortunately, my actions are also connected to the company, so I also let down the amazing people who work here, along with my partners.
I want to publicly apologize to you and my company for how poorly I handled the situation. As you stated in your post, it’s an example of when a co-founder gets in the way of a good company trying to do good things.

Well Done. 


I love it because:
  • It addressed all the pain points
  • It was honest
  • It was personal
Good work, Jon.

You Can Change the Trajectory

Of course, if it we avoided in the first place that would have been ideal. But that didn't happen. If you wind up in this type of negative PR situation, take a queue from Raven Tools and face the problem directly, honestly and personally.



PS I think it goes without saying that I think Matthew handled it like a SIR and updated his post to reflect the update, and handled the situation fairly.

Why You Won't Find Raven Tools Coupons Anywhere

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Sorry. You Won't Find Raven Tools Coupon Codes. Period.

When I worked at Raven Tools, it was pretty obvious that people were searching for coupon codes, discounts and freebies for the toolset. We could see it in the number of searches in analytics, in the Google suggestions and in the questions that occasionally peeped out in social media and in the support forums. Sorry friend, your search is in vain.
"Does Raven offer coupon, promotion or discount codes? No. This is another reason that we’re able to keep our base monthly prices low. If you see an article or review online that includes a Raven coupon, promotion or discount code, that information is out of date." - Arienne Holland of Raven Tools


A Measure Of Consolation


The truth is if you're looking for a coupon or a discount and won't choose them if you don't find one then you're not ready for Raven Tools. It's not really just Raven Tools, but really any paid suite of tools. 

Don't be offended! It's Not Like That.

SEO software that comes with a price tag like $99 a month, also comes with quite a bit of utility to justify it's cost to users. >Insert spiel here about the values of Raven Tools..<- Okay, so no spiel. It's worth the money after you look at everything they offer or it's not. So, if it (or any paid SEO tool) is worth it then let's take a look at the top motivations of "needing" a coupon code.
  • You can't afford it and you really need the coupon to make it affordable: Then you don't have a steady enough cashflow for a monthly SEO business expense and you should use free tools until you have enough steady cashflow.
  • You want to try it out: Easy peasy -->> AFFILIATE LINK YO!-->> They've got a 30 day trial.  (NON AFF LINK: https://raventools.com/create-account/) If you're not able to find value in the toolset in 30 days then you're not going to magically learn something on day 60.
  • You're cheap: Don't be ashamed! It's good business and practice to look up codes and discounts as well as reviews before you buy, just there's no discount here.   
So. Now that you know there's no discount out there you can make a straightforward choice. Is it worth it to you or not?

Adventure Time GIFs I've Made

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Adventure Time - Phil Face- Put that bag back on
"You’re beautiful girl! You live in the forest, so why don’t you just let it hang out?"
Adventure Time: Gunter Love
Gunter Love.

























What Is Raven Tools Video

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What is Raven Tools Video Is Pretty Cool

Good work Raven Tools! I really like that you built out a video that isn't powered by screenshots.

Energize: Beam Us Up SEO Crawler Review

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When you're exploring the vast reaches of the internet and need to determine if you should send an away team to repair the damage to a floating derelict of a website that you're auditing or if you should just launch a few photon torpedos and start over it helps to have the right sensors to detect exactly what the problems are on site.

Beam Us Up : A Web Crawler

It's too tempting to avoid the cliched overuse of trek metaphors, so please forgive me if they end up sprinkled generously in this top to bottom overview of the web crawler Beam Us Up. I have already looked at quite a few other other web crawlers so let's see how this one stacks up.
Beam Us Up
What is a SEO Web Crawler? It's a program that mimics spidering programs used by Google, Yahoo, Bing and others to discover content and pages. You can use it to uncover issues on your site that should be fixed so you can give the highest level of access to those programs and improve your organic search results.
Beam Us Up is a Java based program, so look for the .JAR file

Error Detection

Error Detection - Beam Us Up
Error Detection in an overview list
Glaring errors show up in a clickable list, which updates the main biew section with those errors. These range from duplicate meta, page, and tiles to header and status errors.
Error Details in Beam Us Up
Unfortunately the link wasn't clickable on Mac or PC
The error detail link isn't working which isn't to large a problem because the error status names are pretty clear, but it is a small bug on both versions.

Crawl depth

There is now a crawl limit of 2.5k on the most recent version, but that should be more than enough depth for all but the larger ecommerce sites. The good news on crawl depth is that the "new version will be out in the new year allowing for more."

Output

There's 3 ways to export the contents, which is handy if you just are looking for a list of URLS vs a full list of everything found.
Export URLS - Beam Us Up
All files export is .CSV by default
Here's an export of my crawl of the Caddis website: URLs All

OS Compatability

The Mac and Linux version are still downloadable in a .ZIP file that expands into a
Windows specific version just released
Mac <- Download link (Mac specific DMG version coming soon)
Linux<-Download link

Be aware: You will get a warning on PC that the source is not trusted, as it's not digitally signed.

Summary

I've done a few reviews of other web crawlers, and I'd say that Beam Us Up is beyond Xenu and on it's way to be on par with Screaming Frog. In this arena, there are some basics a crawler needs to do to be useful and Beam Us Up has that but as of yet not too much more. I look forward to seeing what unique abilites will be added in future versions given how useful the HTAccess wizard tool listed on the site was for me, perhaps a client friendly report output that only Raven Tools site auditor has so far in the seo crawler world.

What do you think is missing from these crawling tools currently that would make them stand out from the crowd?

Thanks for the Free T: Unbounce

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Too often, we don't take time to say a proper thank you. I wanted to do that, stop and take the time to put up a short post saying thank you to Unbounce for sending me a free t-shirt in return for sending them a silly photo with the #unstockable hashtag.



Making Bacon Pancakes with Jake in 3D

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The Original GIF of Jake makin' and tossing his famous Bacon Pancakes was made by http://kurtsnyder.com and it's AWESOME.

Makin' 3d Bacon Pancakes

I took the original GIF of Jake from Adventure Time flippin' his bacon pancakes and threw it into photoshop. Being a newbie it took forever to add the layers, and edit the white lines so Jake was over them and the pancake going in front then behind it to give a feeling of depth like other "3d GIF"s I've seen.
This GIF inspired me to try my hand at 3d GIFs.
So what do you think? I had to obviously flip the white lines to horizontal...did that limit the effect?

Joe Hall - SEO AMA on Reddit

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