SEO Is...

In the early 1840s, a very wise person coined the phrase “never talk about religion or politics.” Opinions regarding these two things are arguably the most deeply held beliefs among most Americans. We either agree, or we don’t. Vehemently. In either case, it’s best-in polite company-not to discuss these topics and potentially incite a row. We say, add to this list of taboos the topic of search engine optimization. SEO professionals have widely varying opinions as to what’s best when it comes to getting a website seen, and everyone believes his or her method is the best, without question. Well, we’re ogres and we've never been too keen on obeying the rules, walking on eggshells or candy-coating the truth. As such, we’re going to lay a little SEO knowledge out there for you. Pick up what you can use.

In the early days of the Web, back in the 90s, search engines cataloged websites. Their “spiders” would then download the page and crawl the content looking for links and topics. In August of 1997, John Audette of Multimedia Marketing Group documented the phrase “search engine optimization.”

I searched teacup poodle; why am I seeing results for oolong and earl grey?

Initially, the search engines’ algorithms relied on webmasters to provide information letting the engine know the content of the site via keyword meta tags and index files. It didn’t take long for programmers to start looking for ways to game the system, coming up higher in end-users’ search results. Eventually, a simple Web search would return links to sites that had nothing to do with the actual query. Webmasters were stuffing meta tags with anything they could remotely associate with the product or information actually being displayed.

An old internet marketing joke goes (something) like this: 

A SEO expert walks into a bar, bars, pub, Irish pub, tavern, watering hole, beer, wine, whiskey, whisky, shot, shotgun, rifle, pistol, bandolero, tequila… You get the idea.

Search engines adapted. Traditional methods of utilizing keyword density, inbound links and link farming used to get businesses a spot on page one of Google. Now, those practices may get your site flagged for spamming.

Wait, so SEO is dead?

We didn't say that.  There are still lots and lots of companies out there willing to sell you a $500+/month SEO package of blogging, link building and general Internet voodoo. Some of the old practices are still very valid in modern marketing. More important, however, are things like quality/original content, frequent updates, social sharing and well written code utilizing embedded keywords, heading tags and alt image tags.

The old SEO methods of telling people you had something (keyword stuffing) and then not delivering on content are dead. Search engines are getting better at showing us what we’re truly looking for. Thank you, search engines.

Sound off!

Do you have any SEO experiences – positive or negative – or is there anything you’d like us to blog about? Get in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter or via email. 

Ogre Shawn Knows the Key Code: It’s F#m

Alright, listen up. If this is your first time here, look around a little. This is the final installment in our Clever Ogre “What are the ogres listening to?” blog series. We’ve talked about all kinds of different music, from Christopher’s old school jams to Nora’s punk bluegrass (Punkgrass? Blunk?) across to Dadant’s reggae and Dan’s jam bands. We finally had a chance to catch up with ogre Shawn and get his take on the listen.

When we found him, Shawn Grimes was sitting in a dark cubicle in the corner of the basement. It smelled like a coffee shop in a cave. He was wearing headphones and typing away like a crazy person. Shawn is Clever Ogre’s front-end web developer. He doesn’t work in words or images, instead he uses special characters, acronyms, and abbreviations to do his work. In other words, he’s free to rock his music loud and constantly.

So, loud and constant it is. If Shawn is streaming music he’s either using rdio or Pandora. He cranks his headphones to drown out all external sounds allowing him to dive deep into codeland. When coding, he turns to his favorite band, 311, for good tunes. Alternately, if he’s in the mood for mostly lyric free music, he’ll listen to Deadmau5, Skrillex, or some other dubstep-electronic grooves.

If Shawn finds himself cleaning the house or doing other non-web related work, he listens to a wide variety of music. Of course, 311 makes a return, but he also likes to throw in Mumford & Sons, Jimmy Eat World, Sufjan Stevens, Sublime (even with Rome), Avenged Sevenfold, Disturbed, and pretty much any 90s alternative including Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Stone Temple Pilots. Old habits die hard, indeed.

On the off-chance he finds himself with little to do other than relax, he puts on some Pink Floyd or Adele. The melodies of Adele and lingering instrumentals of Pink Floyd allow his mind to rest. It’s tough when a person thinks in <html dir=”top”> <head> all the time. A little decompression is important for everyone, but for a programmer it’s kind of like when a daycare worker is finally able to be around adults and have actual adult conversation.

Phew. That’s 100% of the ogres. Do you think you’ve gotten some good tunes out of this series of blogs? There certainly has been a wide variety of artists in these posts. If you dig or hate any of the bands mentioned, let us know. We’re all over the place and ready to hear from you.

You’re already clicking around the internet. Click here to check us out on Facebook and here to Tweet us. Oh, don’t forget to click here to go to our website.

Music is My Literature – the writing ogre listens

If you’ve been waiting for our next ogre music blog, your wait is over. If you haven’t, hopefully you’ll be waiting for the last one – which will be out after this one.

By now, we hope to have turned you on to at least one really good band or artist. Have we succeeded? We can’t hear you or read your thoughts, so please nod at your webcam. Cool. Speaking of music, we recently told you Christopher listens to a lot of really good, but obscure, music; Chris Dadant likes his music melodic, driving, and jammin’; and Nora likes a little punk in her bluegrass. What about Dan?

Dan Fugate is Clever Ogre’s writer and social media manager; sometimes he even does graphic design. Writing doesn’t afford the same listening freedom as social media and design, so he has a couple of listening trends. This has been bittersweet for the one-time loud singing jam band enthusiast.

Being a writer, you might expect Dan to be a voracious reader. Well, he’s not. He goes after and gets into music the way other writers devour books. He often says “Music is my literature.” We believe him. When he’s writing, music generally leans toward instrumental stuff. Widespread Panic, the Grateful Dead, Phish, the London Symphony Orchestra, and Deadmau5 are where he turns for lyric free tunes.

Behind the social media and design wheels, Dan likes to add the lyrics back into his listening. The same jam bands from before are present, but also folks like: Mumford & Sons, MGMT, Keller Willaims (who he’s going to see at Vinyl in May), the Black Keys, and Ok Go.

Dan also has a soft spot for female singers. The emotion that comes through is “so powerful”, he says. When he’s in the mood for lady listening, he turns on: the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, Feist, Mates of State, Tori Amos, Regina Spektor, and Sugarland. Melt and swoon.

He will listen to most anything once and he’s found he has no place in his heart for rap, r&b, or the heavier rock/metal stuff. They have too much anger and screaming for his liking. Dan has a bit of music snobbery in him too. He’s of the belief if a band can’t perform as well on stage as they can in the studio, they’re not worth his time. He says he’s just about stopped listening to Modest Mouse after seeing them live.

Alright, readers, that’s 80% of the ogres down. Now, if we can track down Shawn Grimes we’ll feature his preferences next time to round out this musical exposé series.

Let us know how we’re doing. Have we turned you on to any new music? Sound off on Facebook or Twitter.

No, I Can’t Hear You. My Music’s too Loud.

Once again we’re here to tell you about an ogre’s music preferences. If you’ll recall, Christopher is a music snob with a broad, eclectic musical taste (except for reggae) and Nora listens to everything she can cram in her ears. This time around, we’ll talk about Chris Dadant’s ear candy.

Chris is Clever Ogre’s chief designer. As a result, he is in the best position to use music as an IV drip. When other ogres have to stop listening so they can take a phone call, concentrate on a series of words, or focus on lines and lines of code; Chris can keep the music pumping and draw inspiration from the rhythm.

When he’s designing, which is pretty much all the time, he listens to music that drives him – moves his thoughts from point to point. He listens loud. Music, to Dadant, serves to activate the mind and remove external distractions. The Black Keys, MGMT, Phoenix, Wolfmother, these are the bands that drive the broad strokes of Chris’ designs.

When it comes to concentration, he mellows out the sounds a little. The same music Chris uses for concentration is what he chooses when it’s time to relax. John Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen, Eric Lindell, Blackberry Smoke, and Bob Marley are just the right mix of dip, drive, and dance.

Chris’ preferences sway with the weather as well. In the summertime, his mood is high, and his musical tastes reflect this with an extra injection of reggae. Once the temperature starts to drop and the grill gets warm, the music gets a twang and the Illinois country boy comes out with some George Strait and Eric Church.

The only genre Chris tends to shy away from is screamo. In his own words, he’s “hard of hearing as it is” and can’t tolerate a lot of screaming and yelling in his music. Understandable.

As for live music, Chris, like all of the ogres has an addiction. He can often be found listening to James Adkins, one of his favorite local musical talents, wherever he’s playing. He recently saw Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers at the Blue Nile in New Orleans. Also, he never misses a chance to see his pals Boukou Groove play. Usually, however, this requires a trip to Destin or South Walton but he says “It’s well worth it to hear some real New Orleans Funk.”

Alright, three ogres worth of listening.

Are you finding any new bands or artists to check out? We hope so. Get in touch with us on Facebook or Twitter to let us know.

Thanks for reading.

In the Box and On the Fence

"It's easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to get permission" 

– Grace Hopper

We’ve all heard, and are likely tired of hearing about, “thinking outside the box” and “pushing the envelope”. These one-time buzz words are now the standard. Folks just think outside the box now. Very few people are still inside the box or folded neatly and tucked in the envelope. To be innovative now, it’s best to get back inside the box and see what can be done in there that hasn’t been done before. Outside the box and pushing the envelope used to mean something. Now, they’re just cliché.

Enter forgiveness and permission. Once we’ve made our way back into the box we find there are things to be done…but these things haven’t been done before because they seemed edgy and questionable. Now is the time to take that edge and slice up what’s questionable. In the box, the quest for new is on and we are all able. The problem is, everything that’s still in the box is in there because we were afraid to take it out. It could be an ugly monster with biting words and design, or it can be a frog-prince. What was once considered risqué is now tame. This means there’s even more in the boxes than we can bring out today. Maybe later.

So, where does this leave us? Well, sometimes it leaves us asking forgiveness. Several companies have launched ad campaigns, only to be on the receiving end of negative publicity. Below are two examples.

Sony, in anticipation of the launch of the new white PSP, launched a campaign pitting a white model versus a black model. Whether or not the campaign had intended racial overtones can be debated. At their simplest, the ads predictably use black and white. Will the newer, white PSP overtake the black one in sales? Fortunately, Sony was able to save face by pulling the ads and apologizing. Black versus white should probably stay in the box for a while longer.

Another advertising faux pas was committed by Spirit Airlines. In June of 2010 they launched a campaign promoting travel to Ft. Lauderdale, Cancun, and Puerto Rico touting the slogan “Check out the oil on our beaches”. The ads featured a bikini clad woman, drenched in spf50. Seeking to take advantage of the 2010 BP oil spill’s devastation of the north Florida coast, Spirit missed the mark. What could have been an interesting campaign, pitting beach against beach in a battle for tourism dollars, ended with the removal of the ads and a small base of angry potential customers.

There are plenty of cases where a great campaign came from what could have been a bad idea. Many of your favorite ads could have been sink or swim. A wrong first impression and even the most well thought work can be cast aside.

Are there any hits or misses that come to your mind? Let us know about them here, on our website, or on Facebook, or Twitter. We’d love to hear from you.