Is this (still) interesting? Or have we all decided digital currencies aren't worth the electrons? Here's a personalized link to contrib.com, which seems to aim to encourage tech cooperation/collaboration by rewarding contributions in their own new currency: https://bit.ly/3My0Zq2. If you join through this link, I get 5 contrib coins. We shall see. I won't argue with anyone who thinks bitcoin and doge are pyramid schemes, but I'm beginning to accept the idea that digital currencies might be useful in narrow barter-based communities. Several towns and cities tried local exchange token systems as a way to keep money circulating within rather than having big percentages streaming out (to national and multinational corporations), never to return.

A Picture is Worth 1/1000 of a Word

Maybe it's the amazing cameras in our smartphones? The powerful trend in web design recently has been glorious photographs filling your screen. Beautiful, yes, but!

Google (and Bing) search depends on words.

Alexa, Siri, "Mrs. Google" (as my wife refers to her) -- all respond to words

Look at a search results page. It's hard to find the organic search results, not only because of the ads, but now there are all these new boxes that Google uses to try to answer your question without you ever leaving the page. (Read about the new boxes at SearchEngineLand.)

Q. What's the key word in that paragraph?

A. "question"

So: add a Q&A box on your home page, clearly written and labeled as Q and A. You will have a much better chance of people choosing your site.

People! Use your words.

Biannual reminder to self: post more often!

See below for details.

Eating my own dog food -- 7 ways to post to your blog more often than once every two years.

"It only takes 5 minutes." "Just make it a permanent part of your schedule or to-do list." "Use a tool that delivers outside, relevant content automatically." "Assign the task to someone who (still) wakes up enthusiastic every day." "Make a post out of what you did today." "No dessert until you eat your brussels sprouts." "Do what I say, not what I do." Do any of those ideas work for you? I've recommended them all to clients, with varying success -- from "kill the blog" to multiple times a day. And do you have to guess which end of the spectrum has the most positive effect on profit? Even as the early ripples of content marketing turned into an overwhelming tsunami that no one can swallow, the tactic continues to work -- because the people most interested in a topic do continue to respond to information that arrives in a timely fashion (when they're interested), in a form that is appropriate to the medium (generally, but surprisingly not always short), and with just the right action step indicated. (Usually not "buy now" but "learn more" or "see a case study" or "get a free analysis", etc.) So I'm back on the case.

Finally! Good Google news for small local businesses

Or so reports former Wall St. Journal reporter and current writer/editor/content strategist Kelly Spors, from Minneapolis, drawing our attention to a Search Engine Journal story:

Before Pigeon, there was a strong chance that searching for pizza restaurants in Boise will return listings for major brands such as Domino’s and Pizza Hut towards the top of the [search engine results page or SERP]. In the post-Pigeon era, search results that are authoritatively local will be more prominently featured … and they will be enhanced with relevant content. Pizza restaurants in Boise that have a verified presence on Google’s own social network, Google Plus (G+), will benefit from having their menus, reviews and photographs shown on the SERP. To this end, local business owners will definitely want to ensure that they are doing their share of content marketing and social media engagement on G+.

(Pigeon is the nickname given to the latest Google update of its search algorithm.) This welcome change supports the business case for services such as Yext and boomtime (the one I endorse and represent), that help local businesses with so-called identity marketing.

How are YOU doin'?

Yes, that's me quoting Joey from the long-gone show "Friends" -- and as revived more recently in a very funny cable show called "Episodes," where Matt LeBlanc plays himself, more or less -- and can't get any of the "Friends" to take his calls. And just why am I quoting him? Well, we all want to know how we're doing, and online, swimming in the foggy soup of things that can be tweaked and measured, it's easy to lose sight of goals. But it's not enough simply to look for more sales or even profit, because it takes doing all the steps of the process well, to achieve the end result. Hence, milestones, and measuring tools. Here's a list from one of the providers of their own, and many other free tools to see how well you rank against others as well as how well you're progressing against your own goals: http://j.mp/freewebgrades

Have you filled this position in your startup: "Full-stack marketer"?

Just as you likely have (if it isn't you) a full-stack developer, who can set up a server, plan the database, write the code, link the APIs, integrate a shopping cart and sketch out the HTML, Wilson Peng argues that you need one person on your startup team who can do everything required on the marketing (and sales) side: A/B tests, publicity, SEO, blog content, email copy and maybe even lay out a brochure: http://entrepreneursky.com/startup-needs-full-stack-marketer/ Oh, by the way, I'm that guy, if you're ready to hire!