The long tail search

In trying to explain things, I find it best to do it using analogies. This is a technique I learned from public speaking when I was still doing them several years back. It worked really well for me because my audience can easily understand what I'm saying plus it gave them an impression that I really know what I'm talking about and not just reading the lines projected on the wall from the Powerpoint slide. I remember several years back when I was invited as a resource speaker for a bunch of non-IT senior managers. The talk was about leveraging on the Internet and websites. And I remember comparing the client-server architecture to a customer going to a restaurant, looking at the menu, ordering a meal, and the waiter getting the order, serving, etc. etc. Everybody could relate to this and it made my work that day easier. And since then I developed a habit of making analogies, technical or not.

A couple of days ago, somebody asked me what is the long tail search? And for a brief second or two, I found myself browsing through my drawer of analogies in my head. No luck. For fear of losing my credibility to her, I gave her the jargon treatment; pausing only every time she would nod that probably meant "I wish you would stop now my ears are bleeding". I swear if I went on for another 5 minutes of technical terms other people in the room hearing me would think I was speaking in tongues. I feel sad I wasn't able to answer her the right way. I wish to redeem myself but the thought of being asked again about it is like Web 3.0. It can happen, but not yet.

I'm taking the initiative to put into writing my explanation, using analogies, of the long tail search. Maybe she'll stumble upon my blog and finally give me my redemption.

Say you need to buy a particular pair of shoes. You already know which brand and style you want. So, off you go to the mall. Inside the mall you see the sign "Shoes for sale" placed on top of a number of shops. And you see each shop packed to the brim with shoppers like you. You battle your way inside to find every brand and style except the one you want. It's almost closing hours when you finally found the pair want, after so many shops. Now you think, if only the sign on top of the last shop said "Green Celine Shoes for sale", the whole ordeal would have been easier.

The shoe sale may not be the best example and really it's not my field of expertise but please bear with me for a while. The key points here are: You're already sure of what you want to buy and you're already ready to buy it. Keep that in mind for a second.

In Search Engine Optimization and Search Marketing, the long tail search focuses on the keywords or key-phrases that are not popular or highly targeted but will most likely to convert. For example, I have a website about online dating. There are probably millions of websites about online dating and maybe a thousand of them are considered my tight competitor. Naturally, all of us would be trying to optimize our website for the key phrase "online dating". So that if someone inputs those words in Google, all I have to do is hope that my website appear at least on the top ten list. If that doesn't happen, chances are I'm losing customers to competition.

Now applying the concept of the long tail search, I can shift my focus on key phrases that may not be as popular as my first choice but would still be effective for me. For example, I focus on the phrase "meet Asian singles online" or "single white cancer-ian female". This narrows down the choices. Remember the shoe sale analogy? The idea is, "I know what I want, and I want it now". It makes sense to consider the long tail search strategy in SEO as consumers who are led to your website through these keywords/phrases are those who are most likely to buy your product or service or whatever conversion goals you have set.

I learned about the concept of the long tail search from my step dad. It will surprise you to know that he's not an SEO professional nor a marketing guru. I'm not even sure if he knows what the acronym HTML stands for. My step dad is a professional river guide. And here's the story.

One autumn day, I showed him the things I do; a lot about the Internet and websites. And I guess he thought it was a great idea, he can add them on his list of "things to do in winter". I made a website for him without really thinking of the impact it would create to his profession. Eventually he learned more than one would expect. Stuff like how his website would appear on search engines and how customers are led to him. He then told me one day something like, maybe if we re-word the content that would say something like "I am a professional river guide from Eugene, Oregon.", it will help my potential customers find me. And that idea stuck to me! From the words of my step dad, "it's like a sick cat laying down a hot rock". It's smart and it felt good. We continued working on his website. Optimizing page after page. And true enough, inquiries started piling up. Not just from across the state, but from Europe and other parts of the world as well. These inquiries are coming from people who want to take fly fishing vacation or catching river run salmon or fathers and grandfathers who needs somebody to teach their boy how to fly fish, or people who want a fishing hole found only by maneuvering through the perilous rapids . And since Oregon is a popular destination for this leisure/sport activity, all we needed to do was to capture those who were or willing to stay within his radius.

They know what they want, and they're ready to get it. This is the underlying concept that the long tail search is leveraging on. Here's a another explanation of the long tail search.

Business cards for high tech firms

"We're a high-tech firm...we shouldn't even be printing business cards". This is a line from a man whom I had the uncomfortable acquaintance today. I usually start my day at 7 am. Thanks to my river guide step dad, I got the habit of starting my day early. Boy, do I miss fishing with him. At 7 am, there's not much people around so it's quieter and more convenient for me to work. A couple of hours after, it's like being in a movie house and the people behind are murmuring. It's not loud but it can be annoying. Although I have developed a skill of blocking out external noise when working, sometimes my defenses would collapse from new adversaries and it would take a while before they get straightened out again. For example, a sudden renovation in the adjacent office. My ears have to get used to the noise the hammers and electric drills are making before being able to block them off. I think all people can do this. I always say that if a body, part of it or itself, would always adapt to its environment given enough time. Like in bodybuilding, a beginner may find a 100lb-bench-press exercise difficult. But overtime, his muscles will adapt and would be able to do the routine with ease. In the office, my ears are already accustomed to the noise of phone rings, office chit-chat & laughing, fax machine, printers, the steady deep humming of the air-conditioner; the typical office noise. But today was different. A few hours after I stepped in, a man came in and got everybody stirred up. The fiasco penetrated my barrier and I was distracted from my work. He started broadcasting about his recent activities and accomplishments like they're something that would pale Magellan's feat in comparison. Then he started talking about websites and marketing. The very core of my profession. Needless to say this got my attention for a while. In the course of his unsolicited public speech he mentioned "...we shouldn't even be printing our calling cards".

While he was making love to his own noise, and I couldn't focus working anymore, I decided to do something else productive, I blog. Being the open minded person that I am I paused for a minute and tried to qualify all angles. "We're a high tech company, we shouldn't even be printing our business cards" said the gabby guy. Did I oversleep and missed the new trend in marketing that went "business cards not needed for high-tech firms anymore"? And if that's the case, how high tech a company must be to do away with business cards? Call me traditional, but I don't think I'm prepared to do business with anyone, high-tech or otherwise who cannot provide me a business card. Regardless of the setting; conventions, seminars, formal or informal business meetings, business card exchange is a critical event. Sales and marketing people know this by heart. Failing to exchange cards is like missing out the communion in a catholic mass.

Imagine this scenario,

Client: "Well thank you for taking the time to visit us and present your services. I think there's future for us. Here's my business card. Would you mind if I ask for yours?"
Gabby Guy: "Well Mr. Client as you know we are a high tech company and we don't really print our business cards. How bout grabbing a pen and a notepad and write down my contact information. Or you can log into our state-of-the-art website. There's a secured online form there that goes directly to my email. You can Google our high-tech company name so you can find our URL. If I'm going to fast, I can email everything I just said to the address printed on your card".

Rude isn't it?

I think people who are serious in doing their business have (or must have) business cards whether it's in paper, cd, papyrus or stone. Consider the infamous, or famous as my hacker comrades see him, Kevin Mitnick. I think he has the baddest bad-ass business card I've seen in my life so far. It's a die-cast lock-picking kit. Nothing could be more appropriate for the super-hacker turned security consultant. And I would like to believe that his company is a high tech firm.



Talk about creating an impression. And I think that's how business cards should be. It's more than just a small piece of paper where contact information is scribbled. It's an impression. It is given to make the recipient remember the first handshake, the first ice breaker, the colorful slide-show presentation or just the pleasure of the acquaintance. And this is what Mr. high-tech failed to see and cannot understand.

I remember not so long ago, when the Internet bubble was at its peek, there was an idea that was called "paperless". It didn't take long before companies disregarded that idea. The term "less-paper" would've been the more appropriate and acceptable term. I think this is true with business cards. It's evolving but I don't think it will become obsolete. But then again, who knows. Maybe Mr. high tech is also Mr. Nostradamus. Maybe it's like the new Google or Web 3.0. If it is, I'm prepared to accept it. Why not. But not just yet.

Wiki for Me

I think I've finally found a way to keep everybody in the family updated with what's going on about everybody else and more. News about anything concerning any family member are usually days old if not weeks. We use email to keep tabs on everyone, then there's also instant messaging, Yahoo Messenger in particular. But these two do not provide collaboration and group decision is very hard.

Enter Wiki.

Wiki is a website application that provides collaboration. Plain and simple. Watch this video created by CommonCraft.

Click To Play

I found the vid via Dave Noble BTW.

Anyways, I found this free wiki application and I'm giving it a try. I've been adding topics as they pop in my head. And what's cool about it is I don't have to be politically correct on the topics and I can be as trivial as I want to be.

Installing Ruby on Rails on Mac OSX

I'm in the early stages of studying Ruby on Rails and I'm already in the part where I'm installing it on my mac. I have a MAC OSX Tiger and zero knowledge RoR. There are tons of press release about how easy RoR is but I failed to find the one about how easy it is to install on a mac. But being the never-bows-down-to-a-challenge dude that I am, I raised the bar a notch by sipping from a tall glass of strong beer every time I would get to a dead end from a thanks-for-nothing installation tutorial and proceed to install.

Ok, to document everything and maybe help mac users who wants to install RoR, you can get any installer on the Net. Since I'm a newbie, instinctively, I got one of those "one-click-install" type (fortunately or not). It's pretty forward, until the part where you need to install rails. In mac terminal, when you type:

gem install

or

sudo gem install

and you get the error:

Could not find rails (>0) in any repository

you need to delete the source_cache. First you need to find it. To do that, do this:

gem env

then you do this:

sudo rm -f /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/source_cache

use sudo because chances are, like me, you're the admin user on your mac; that means you don't have permission to delete source_cache which is owned by the system(super admin)

then try doing:

gem install

or

sudo gem install

if this still doesn't work, do this:

gem update

then again, do:

sudo gem install

After doing the above line, my installation went through.

My tall glass is now dry, eyes heavy and head numb. Tomorrow is another day.

Firebug - The bug you'll surely love

Rarely do bugs get the right respect or love from most humans. We don't like them anywhere near our food, bed, skin and not the least, inside our computers. But I find it amazing how every now and then, somewhere, someone would come up with a brilliant idea and name it after something rather odd. For example,

Yahoo, which was probably named after a violent beast-like creature from a 1726 novel.
Beatles, the most successful musical artists in the history of mankind, and the beetle car, probably the coolest automobile of the flower-power era, both named after an insect.

When I first used Firebug, I told myself here's another invention with a peculiar name that will be loved by many - web developers at least ;)

I'm a relatively new user of Firebug (a couple of weeks). I got the bug inside my computer(lol) just a couple of weeks ago and in my short hot experience with the pyromaniac(lol), design time became shorter and more accurate.

I will be blogging more about this nifty tool soon. For now, to my fellow web craftsmen, here's an insect you wouldn't want to squash.

Some Valid Reasons to hate IE

More reasons why IE is making web designers' life more difficult. Check out this url using IE...Some Valid Reasons to hate IE. Then see it again using either Firefox, Opera or Safari latest versions.

What really sucks it that all web designers who truly understand the business of doing websites, must highly consider first and foremost how their website will look in IE. Why? Because majority of your business'/company's online customers would be using IE.

It's like building cars for a country with right-hand traffic streets but left-hand traffic highways.

Body Building Tips

I recently found a photo taken 2 years ago. It maybe improbable for any of my new friends now to believe that during those times, I looked like this:

And did it in less than two monts. How? Below was my routine.

• Heavy breakfast
• Light snack after three hours.
• Lunch after three hours ( medium carbo-load, lot's of vegies, chicken/beef/fish)
• Light snack after three hours (usually fruits)
• Dinner after three hours (low or zero carbs, vegies only)
• Hit the gym...1 hour a day, 4 days a week.
  
• Compound exercises=quickly build muscles(e.g. bench press, squat, dead-lift)
• Heavy weights=build mass
• Light weights but higher reps=muscle definition
• 8 or more glasses of water everyday.
• No sugar, minimal salt
• Brown rice and wheat bread = highly recommended
• Avoid egg yolks
  
• 8 hours of sleep. VERY IMPORTANT

I never used supplements ( or steroids ). What I did gave me the body I wanted...back then. It may not be the result everybody wants, but it's about having a goal, making a plan, finding out what works and sticking to it.

And yes, back then I have a regular job like you. I was a project manager and worked for more than 8 hours a day. It's about priorities and time management. It can be done.

Wrong IT specs: How it can happen fast

I was asked by a very good friend to help in coming up with a proposal/presentation for a website project. Time is of the essence but being someone who's unlikely to say NO to a good friend, I accommodated the request.

Project backgrounder

Unfortunately(fortunately, now that I think about it)I was not present at the kick-off meeting where the project was described and the parameters where laid down. I was told that there were about 4-5 IT people who gave the rules/guidelines. But the project itself was discussed only in general terms if you know what I mean. I can imagine it already, 80% of the time was wasted on technical jargons and their verbal display of business ignorance.

The guidelines were(among others):

1. xhtml 1.0-strict validated
2. must be able to accommodate dial-up users
3. ability to manage content(CMS)
4. ability to view via mobile phone (WAP)

If someone who's into doing website for a long time, this is really not a big deal. The only real challenge is to come up with something in 2 days! Long story short, I was able to come up with a mock-up design. An acceptable presentation: 7-page website, cms, xhtml-strict compliant...etc, all following the parameters they(IT) wanted.

Presentation day

Despite only 8 hours of sleep(for 2 days) I was up to face the IT people and answer any technical questions they have. Lo and behold, only 3 people were in the audience. And none of them are geeky looking. From their smart-ass comments and level of arrogance, one can easily say that Moe, Curly and Larry probably belong to marketing, PR or one of those prove-your-worth departments. We have not gone beyond our first slide when Curly said he didn't like it, because it's bland, very static and does not create "user-experience"(maybe he heard that from his wife last night in bed). Duhhhhh! xhtml-strict? Dial up connection users? what kind of experience does he wants? Blinking text, marquee messages and animated welcome gifs?

As it turned out, what they really wanted was a media-web 2-point-oh website type, branding(e.g. I googled you, or check myspace, or see me on youtube) kindda stuff. I don't blame them. I think that's good. I would certainly want to do that kind of a project. Many times, me and my friend were tempted to shout "Your IT people gave us the wrong specs!"

We finished our presentation(thank God) keeping our heads high and being firm to our battle cry..."customized development using open-source technology". I know, it was pointless.

Conclusion

The whole 45 minutes was a waste of time, for us and them. Moe, Curly and Larry have all the right to express their disappointments. They want something, have the money to pay for it whether or not it'll give any value to the public, it doesn't matter.

It also doesn't matter how standardized the codes are or how stable the back-end system is - they don't really give a rat's ass to these. In the end, no guidelines I mentioned will be followed. To the 3 stooges, it doesn't matter, as long as it works. I don't have any problems with that. My only qualm is why on earth did they let IT set rules on something they don't understand? Oh well, just one of those experiences I want to bury along with "My first public speech" and "I forgot to dress-down on Friday".

Even heroes need to sleep

While everybody else is relaxing, having fun, just enjoying the good weather on a Sunday, I was working on a new project; hoping to finish it by tomorrow. I was not too certain I will be able to finish something acceptable though. I knew the odds were against me around lunch time, five hours after I started my day. It is now 2 am(yeah..Monday!). I'm calling it quits. There's just not enough time.

The project is a Content Management System, the basics plus podcasting and WAP version, and the website should be an xhtml-strict validated document. But for the record, I was able to pass the validation for the mock-up home page I made. Now I don't know if I can sing-and-dance during the presentation later(in 10 hours) with just a w3c validated page. Or maybe I can paint them a picture of the CMS-WML editor-FAQ Management-et al application they require. Bring out the snake-oil!

Meantime ZZZZZzzzzzzz....

We are BLESSED

For the record, I'm one of the people who really hate spam emails. But once in a while I would get some unsolicited messages that would shake my soul and in the end be thankful for taking the time to read it. It's an off-track from what I would usually blog about, but I know it's worth reading.

1. If you woke up this morning with more health than illness,you are more blessed than the million who won't survive the week.
2. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 20 million people around the world.
3. If you attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death,you are more blessed than almost three billion people in the world.
4. If you have food in your refrigerator,clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep,you are richer than 75% of this world.
5. If you have money in the bank,in your wallet, and spare change in a dish some place, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.
6. If your parents are still married and alive, you are very rare, especially in the United States.
7. If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful, you are blessed because the majority can,but most do not.
8. If you can hold someone's hand, hug themor even touch them on the shoulder, you are blessed because you canoffer God's healing touch.
9. If you can read this message,you are more blessed than overtwo billion people in the worldthat cannot read anything at all.
10. You are so blessed in waysyou may never even know. "

Thanks Ma for sharing this.

Shift from Windows to Mac OSX

I’ll be taking my Mac OSX certification exam very soon. I recently finished a 3-day course on the subject and I have no regrets on the investment I just made. I have convinced myself to make the switch from Windows to Mac OSX not so much because of the features of the Mac but because I’ve never been a fan of Windows. And the only reason why I'm using it is I am forced to.

Since high school, Windows was the only operating system available for us. And ever since I never liked it because it’s so linear and predictable. Like you can predict when the screen would suddenly turn blue, hehehe. I would always look for an alternative software application. For example, I would use Netscape Navigator instead of Internet Explorer. Also, in college, when all of the students were using MS Visual Basic as the platform for our software development, I forced myself to study Borland Delphi. Just because I never liked Visual Basic. Modesty aside, I came up with one of the highest grade in the subject. When I started working and everybody was using MS Office, I used Open Office. And so, there was always the urge inside me to breakaway from the Microsoft. There were times when I attempted to shift to Linux but my work just won’t allow me to have the extra hours to study it. In short, I was really stuck with Windows for a long time.

When Mac OSX debuted, I finally found the light. Although it took me sometime to become really aggressive in learning the new OS, I’m happy now that I am now making the shift. Good thing there are companies that offer Mac OSX and Apple training and they're not very expensive at all. In Mac OSX, I have all the office applications I need, from word processing to email. And even the development tools I need can be found in the Mac OSX. No more security issues, viruses and f$@#ing blue screen! As a professional, here’s what I think…INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY. As a consumer, VALUE FOR MONEY!

Tracking Device

I met a Finnish guy who showed me an amazing device used for tracking. Yes, as in, tracking a person. As in spy gadgets. Imagine a device, the size of an average PDA-phone, that gives you the capability to track the whereabouts of a particular person, a group of people or even your assets using your cellphone. Now add this capability..."be able to hear people talking near the device." Instantly, I knew I need this device.

As a parent, I worry so much about the whereabouts of my son all the time, that I do it even when I'm at work. Yes, I am guilty of secretly sending sms messages under the table during corporate meetings, presentations or seminars, asking if he is ok or if he's home already, etc. Forgive me but I just can't stand being un-productive (I hope my boss don't read this). This device has given me an added peace-of-mind in a very convenient way. Here's a scenario, imagine when school is done and that the school bus should be taking him home. It is very convenient for me to easily know where he is. Ofcourse you can do this with a cellphone, but cellphones, as experience taught us, can easily be lost, stolen or damaged because it is frequently used. Unlike this device which you can easily tuck-in a back-pack or a pocket. What are the chances of it getting lost if it's hidden right? Here's another scenario, how bout I implement this as part of company policy, that all staff working on field should carry this device inside their vehicles. Since reports can be easily downloaded to a computer, I would know where they are during office hours. Not a bad idea huh?

After the meeting, it got me thinking, what if my wife has already bought one and have secretly installed it in my car? Oh boy, I guess the line "I'll be playing golf tomorrow" will be over. LOL!