Interesting Stuff
What You See NOT What You Get
August 21, 2008 
After the non-interest by the Legacy Media (that’s old things like TV and newspapers) in the posting about Jim Risch’s senate campaign site popping up on the official Bannock County site, we did a little checking– we used to to call that “investigative reporting.”
Looks like they way to sell Fords for instance is to put “Chevy, Dodge, and Toyota” in your keyword list. It is all done for the money of course.
We searched the net for “MCCAIN.org” and got the following chance to pay $63,000 for the site name. Whatever or whomever you’re selling, the secret is to include all the competition in the keywords to be searched.
Seems the internet players understand the value of keywords and the incestuous relationships between all the search engines and sponsors, etc. Knowing that many of you are at work and the boss is on vacation, we would love any insight from you techie nerds.
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Comments & Discussion
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Aug 21, 2008, 2:02 pm
Hah! Does that make you a “legacy” blogger?
EDITOR NOTE–A recent “expert” wrote that Bloggers are now “MAINSTREAM” and the old fashioned paper or TV outlets are “Traditional or Legacy.”
Aug 21, 2008, 4:48 pm
I would think that anyone savvy enough to use a computer, and a search, would also know what a google ad is, and understand they are targeted for politics. This looks like trying to scare up a conspiracy, when there is just a coincidence.
Aug 21, 2008, 7:25 pm
Google offers beaucoup resources regarding optimization, etc…
They know that if your campaigns (as in, ad) are unsuccessful, you won’t come back and spend more.
Visit “Google Analytics”, “Google App’s” and explore the possibilities of Google Sponsored ad’s for a free “introductory course” to manipulating the internet.
Also, search “optimization”.
Beware of sites that sell “10,000 Hits for” x amount of dollars. Those are “junk hits” that do more harm than good, and that Google, Yahoo, etc., wised-up to years ago (but look impressive when unscrupulous webmasters sell ad space to unknowing merchants – Ooo… 100,000 hits a month!).
In 3 Short Weeks, The Boise Picayune has garnered nearly 1,000 “quality hits” from people in 4 nations, 78 cities, 6 Fortune 500 companies and various Local, State and National agencies, departments, news outlets and universities.
I can tell you what network, browser and operating system they were using, what pages they visited, and how long they visited them.
And I’ve accomplished this all without spending One Red Cent (aside from $10 per Year for a url that has little to no bearing on this matter).
—
There is little in the way of an “incestuous relationship” at work.
Merely a case of “Knowledge is Power”.
—
Here endeth the lesson…
; )
Aug 21, 2008, 7:27 pm
You ain’t a-kiddin’ about getting lotsa things on a site so Google or whatever will pick it up.
I once was reading something on a Web site (I don’t remember what), when, down about a page and a half
was a break in the type (like a space between paragraphs) and then a paragraph that said something like:
You don’t need to read any farther. All the rest of the words from here on down are just that — words — so that no matter what you type into a search engine, you’re likely to find this site among the ones it calls up.
And, sure enough, in skimming down for the next several pages, it was just apparently random words, everything from aardvark to zoo, it seemed.
Lotsa ways to skin a cat, eh?
Aug 21, 2008, 8:56 pm
It is a very simple game. The candidates try to buy every conceivable domain name in an effort to control the web traffic. The ideas is to arrange it so that no matter what anyone types, they go to a web site favoring their own candidate. candidate.
The competitors and detractors also try to buy every conceivable domain name so that no matter what address you type, you get directed to the opponent, or to a site that posts embarrassing, or even false, information.
Then, such as the site you discovered, there are the speculators. These people simple by as many domain names as possible in an effort to make a buck by selling domain names to the two preceding categories.
Aug 22, 2008, 11:42 am
Mr. Guardian, the inner-workings of the search engines are very closely-held secrets. Google’s was very different from the ones that were already on the scene (Yahoo, AltaVista, Webcrawler, etc.) when it emerged, and arguably superior.
In theory, the perfect search engine will give you the desired results, right at the top of the list. Which will keep you coming back. Of course, they’re all in it for the money, and you can buy a spot at the top, too. (In the interest of full disclosure, they SHOULD somehow distinguish the paying customers.)
On a somewhat related note…
One of the local “legacy media” radio stations is doing a lot of advertising for “Five-Eight-OH, Kay-Eye-Dee-Oh.” And the corresponding website, “Five-Eight-OH, Kay-Eye-Dee-Oh Dot Com.”
Now I’ve always had a pet peeve about interchaning your “ohs” and your “zeros.” (They are NOT interchangeable!) So I went and checked to see if there was a http://www.58okido.com as advertised.
There was not.
But there is now!
It’s my new “Media and Culture in Boise and Beyond” website.
Sweeet, huh? And the radio station is giving me free advertising!
I’d encourage you and Guardian readers to check it out. And come back from time to time – it’s brand new so I’ve not yet put too much meaningful content out there. But I aim to.