Vice: We're Getting Rid of Comments on VICE.com

Submitted by Sam Moore on Thu, 12/22/2016 - 11:05

As we all know, the comments section of many sites is simply an open sewer.
 

We don't have the time or desire to continue monitoring that crap moving forward. Besides, there are plenty of other ways for you to publicly discuss our work and the personal worth of our staff. We'll still be reading your thoughts on Twitter and Facebook, and we legitimately do enjoy getting IRL mail (no bombs) sent to our offices in Brooklyn.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/were-getting-rid-of-comments-on-vice

Krebs: $3-5M in Ad Fraud Daily from ‘Methbot’

Submitted by Sam Moore on Thu, 12/22/2016 - 10:57

As usual, Krebs has a much more detailed exigesis of how this thing actually works.

New research suggests that an elaborate cybercrime ring is responsible for stealing between $3 million and $5 million worth of revenue from online publishers and video advertising networks each day. Experts say the scam relies on a vast network of cloaked Internet addresses, rented data centers, phony Web sites and fake users made to look like real people watching short ad segments online.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2016/12/report-3-5m-in-ad-fraud-daily-from-methbot/

AdWeek: Ikea Renamed Products After Frequently Googled Problems That Those Products Solve

Submitted by Sam Moore on Fri, 12/16/2016 - 09:30

Anyone doing Search Engine optimization will appreciate Ikea's clever play here - when someone searches for a relationship problem ("My partner is annoying"), their product pops up on the SERP.
Apparently only in Sweden, but still...

Conveniently, ...searches for terms like "He can't say he loves me" will lift Ikea's product ads to the top of the Google Adwords pile—a visibility coup so maniacally clever that it's hard to hold a grudge. 

http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/ikea-renamed-products-after-frequently-googled-problems-those-products-solve-175005

Search Engine Land: Finally going mobile-friendly, but on a collision course with Google’s mobile-first index [Case Study]

Submitted by Sam Moore on Thu, 12/15/2016 - 20:30

Here's a case study on some of the issues that can arise in a mobile-first world, which we're now entering.
tl;dr - make sure your mobile visitors are seeing the full monty, because that's what Google is going to index.

Google has clearly explained that site owners should make sure their mobile URLs contain the same content as the desktop pages. Those mobile URLs will be the ones used for ranking purposes and to understand structured data.

http://searchengineland.com/finally-going-mobile-friendly-collision-course-googles-mobile-first-index-case-study-265227

Seth Godin: Omotenashi and the service split

Submitted by Sam Moore on Thu, 12/15/2016 - 11:02

In the age of self-service website building, design and marketing, how do professionals add value?

…offer human service that's even better than the customer could provide for herself.

By doing so we can show our clients that they will gain more by working with a professional than by cutting corners with DIY tech.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2016/12/omotenashi-and-the-service-split.html

Wordable: 12 Expert Quotes About Being An Expert At Giving Quotes

Submitted by Sam Moore on Thu, 12/15/2016 - 10:50

Sometimes internet marketing notices the self-involved nature of noticing its own self-involved nature.
Also, reposting a roundup article is even easier than writing one.

Roundup posts are all the rage right now because they’re so much easier to write than actually spending time thinking of genuinely useful content.

But even better than doing roundups is being featured in them. You get links, fame, and glory, all for giving a 2 sentence quote about a topic you may or may not have any experience in.

https://blog.wordable.io/12-expert-quotes-expert-giving-quotes/

Hacker News: Yahoo Admits 1 Billion Accounts Compromised in Newly Discovered Data Breach

Submitted by Sam Moore on Thu, 12/15/2016 - 10:41

And in other news, Yahoo is still in business...
Seriously, who has a Yahoo account?

 

The data breach officially disclosed on Wednesday actually occurred in 2013 and, just like the one in 2014, allowed the cyber crooks to obtain personal information of its users but not credit card details.

 

http://thehackernews.com/2016/12/yahoo-data-breach-billion.html

Backlinko: KEYWORD RESEARCH FOR SEO

Submitted by Sam Moore on Wed, 12/14/2016 - 15:35

Brian Dean is best known as the backlink guy, but his SEO and keyword research info is well worth a read. here's the update for 2017.

If you can master the art of finding awesome keywords for your business — you’ll not only benefit from more search engine traffic – but you’ll also know your customers better than your competition.

http://backlinko.com/keyword-research

Krebs: New Critical Fixes for Flash, MS Windows

Submitted by Sam Moore on Wed, 12/14/2016 - 15:27

Please please please for the love of all that's good, stop using Flash.
And don't get me started on Windows.

According to analysis released this month by Recorded Future, Adobe Flash vulnerabilities provided six of the top 10 vulnerabilities used by exploit kits in 2016. Exploit kits are automated tools that criminals stitch into the fabric of hacked or malicious Web sites, so that visitors who visit one of these sites with an outdated version of Flash in their browser can have malware silently installed. 

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2016/12/new-critical-fixes-for-flash-ms-windows/

Convince & Convert: 80 Percent of B2B Buyers Expect Real-Time Interaction

Submitted by Sam Moore on Tue, 12/13/2016 - 22:56

The amount of time business buyers are willing to wait for a response varies by channel. It may surprise you that 67 percent of business buyers expect a response via email within one hour, and 15 percent of those actually expect an immediate reply.

http://www.convinceandconvert.com/customer-experience/buyers-expect-real-time-interaction/