MappingTheWeb //

Only in the past couple weeks has Tumblr come to my attention. Web 2.0 naming jokes aside, this new start-up has already made a phenomenal run since launching a mere 4 months ago . Banking off the hype of the “Twitter” space, Tumblr has propelled itself from an unknown to an Alexa rank of less than 5,000. I should have had Tumblr on my list of the the hottest web 2.0 start-ups of 2007, but they eluded me. In any case, they’ve accomplished a remarkable feat in such a short period of time.

Can the growth of the company be attributed to the actual service itself or the recent hype of the space? In other words, does Tumblr have a sustainable business model or is it just a fad?

The onslaught of micro-blogging start-ups and platforms has my mind spinning. Tumblr brought together the interface of Wordpress and the concept of Twitter to create new-ish service. Having said that however, the concept of micro-blogging is so dead simple that unless players in the space can differentiate with killer features, the market is going to get over-staturated and crowded very, very quickly. Furthermore, monetization has been an issue that has not been addressed. These start-ups are going to have to find a way to incorporate ads, charge for a premium service, or face certain death.

Don’t get me wrong - I love simple designs, simple concepts, and simple apps. But if everyone is making the same thing, I don’t feel very inspired. So I dare Tumblr and the rest of the micro-blogging start-ups out there to inspire me and show me something I haven’t seen. Trust me, I know what all my friends are doing RIGHT NOW.

It’s amazing when such a simple application comes along and re-invents the wheel. This was the case earlier this year with Twitter. Now the same can be said for Pownce. Though still in private BETA and inaccessible to most, the features and functionality have amazed thus far. Actually, what is most amazing is the simple concept and implementation. Kevin Rose has struck gold again. His most heralded start-up to date, Digg, was developed from a simple idea. Pownce is no different - and it is poised to take the Internet by storm.

I know I am hyping this pre-launch service without even trying it or giving it any adoption time (although I have seen a demo and some screenshots). But from my point-of-view, I see this as a service people need and will use. The basis is very simple. Pownce operates using the tagline:

“Send stuff to your friends.”

They list four possible items that you can share: messages, links, files, and events. In addition, you have the flexibility to share these items with one person, a group, or your whole list. There is a web-based version, as well as a small, downloadable app.

Primary competitors include IM clients (i.e. AIM, GTalk, Skype), as well as e-mail clients, both desktop- and web-based. These include Outlook, Hotmail, GMail, and Yahoo Mail among others. Secondary competition comes from P2P and private file-sharing programs, include KaZaa, Limewire, Pando, and AllPeers to name a few.

There are many problems when sharing using IM, e-mail, or P2P. Some of the problems that Pownce attempts to solve include:

• Control - Pownce gives you the flexibility to decide who you want to share with.
• Documentation - Pownce provides visual documentation of your sharing history in chronological order.
• Disorder - Pownce provides a centralized area where all discussions, links, file transfers, and events can be managed.

In other words, this product is tailored for sharing things. Unlike IMs, e-mail, and file-sharing programs, Pownce enables an individual to share numerous items using only one service, saving time and hassle. Add to that the fact that Pownce leverages a clean, simple interface with AJAX functionality, creating an intuitive service that is quick and easy to navigate.

Monetization will come in the form of advertising with the web-based version or downloadable app. A premium subscription ($20/year) will eliminate all ads and provide added functionality, including larger file transfer sizes.

I am REALLY looking forward to the launch. I am even more excited to see the response. Sign up for an invitation on the Pownce homepage. I have no doubt in my mind that this ‘little’ app will change the way we share things on the net.

NOTE: Here is a good video review of Pownce by Allen Stern of Center Networks. Here is another favourable Pownce review from Mashable.

Days before the official launch, iPhone euphoria has reached a feverish pitch. It seems that any daily news summary or wrap-up is riddled with numerous iPhone articles. Everything ranging from pricing information, to detailed features, to early reviews have surfaced. The online world is currently being overrun by an iPhone frenzy. You really gotta hand it to Steve Jobs and his ability to create such a stir around a launch. The majority of companies beg for PR folk to show up. Jobs is forced to beat them back with a stick. This is definitely rare in our day and age, but it is a true testament to the culture and loyalty that Apple has created.

Having said that, let’s take a look at some of the online craziness that the iPhone has caused:

Digg: While perusing Digg yesterday, I noticed that nearly half the front page stories were iPhone-related. Talk about hype. Obviously, Apple has a huge presence on Digg due to its loyal following, but this is ridiculous. Today, the frenzy must have died down a bit as I only counted two iPhone-related articles on the front page. In any case, it seems that everyone and their dog is interested in the iPhone in some form or another.

Online searches: Today, Hitwise launched a report containing some striking information with respect to recent iPhone searches. The report claims:

• iPhone searches rose 583% for the four-week period ended June 23; it was also the 131st most frequently searched term for this period as well.
• Queries focused mostly on price, reviews, news, and released date; price queries accounted for almost 5% of total queries.
• The official iPhone website grabbed 54.44% of all “iPhone” related search traffic.

My feed reader: Every time I open my feed reader, I am staring a crop of new iPhone-related articles and posts. Every single time. The relentless onslaught of news and reviews has hit strastospheric levels. My hope is that the launch will dampen some of the euphoria and allow the online media world to move onto other topics.

The iPhone launch certainly ranks among the top in recent memory. I can’t think of an event that has caused such madness and rapture. One thing is for certain: as sweet as the phone may be, people are buying into a culture rather than a feature set.

An execellent way to drive free, qualified traffic to your blog is via search engines. Search engine optimization (SEO) has become known as one of the most effective, economical ways to generate prospective traffic. As a blog owner, I undertook an endeavour to optimize my blog for search engines to reap the benefits listed above. After some careful research and due diligence, I came up with a all-encompassing SEO strategy.

Having said that, I have to give many props to Neil Patel and his crew at Pronet Advertising. His post on blog optimization is second-to-none. I am simply hoping to add on a few bits and provide an analysis in my own words.

Title - For simplicity sake, ensure that the title of your homepage is the same as your blog name. This works well for branding purposes. A tagline or catch-phrase can be used, but I would argue against doing so, as it decreases the prominence and importance of the blog name.

With respect to post title, I would completely eliminate branding and focus on the content at hand. Unless you are a big gun in the blogosphere, no-one knows who you are or cares for that matter. Focus on the content. In other words, the post title should be the same as the page title, thus ensuring consistent keyword theming throughout the page.

Neil has posted both Wordpress and Movable Type hacks for this in the article above.

URL - Make certain that individual posts follow a specific format:

www.domain/post-title

By default, many blog platform number individual posts or provide IDs. These options can be changed in options section, at least for Wordpress. Another tip is to provide a descriptive “post slug” if the post title does not contain any keywords relating to the article or provides a poor description of the material. Post slug customization is easy in Wordpress, but I am not unfamiliar of the process with respect to other platforms.

As a side note, it is recommended to use dashes in the URL to separate keywords, rather than underscores.

META Tags - META keywords are lame. No-one cares. Leave them alone.

META descriptions, on the other hand, are very important. By default, Wordpress simply grabs the homepage META description and inserts it into every given post. This does not provide a very good description of the content. Furthermore, search engines index each post as having the same META description, which shouldn’t be the case.

Once again, Neil has provided hacks for Wordpress and Movable Type to ensure that each individual post has its own META description. These hacks pull the first 25 words of the given post and automatically generate a META description via this content. Very useful and much more effective.

Headings - Post titles are very important, on-page aspects of SEO. The content should in theory be tailored to the material contained within the post. In addition, the use of H1 tags, as well as h2, h3, etc… is highly recommended to put it mildly.

Categories or “Tags” - As is the case with most blog platform, one is able to categorize a post or “tag” it. These descriptive markers not only make your content easier for readers to find (if necessary), but also provide a much needed internal linking structure to ensure that all posts get crawled and indexed by the search engines.

ALT and Title tags - In this case, ‘title’ tag refers to the description given to a link. An ALT provides a description of a photo or image. These are both essential to any basic SEO strategy.

General Rules and Guidelines

• Ensure that keywords and content themes remain consistent through a post (i.e. in the page title, URL, META description, heading, paragraph content, ALT tags, etc…)
• External linking is a huge part of SEO. Network with other bloggers and trade blogroll links. These external links not only provide valuable SEO juice, but also direct traffic.
• A blog will get crawled more often if content is dynamic (i.e. the fresher the content, the more often the blog gets crawled). So, post often if possible.

Follow these tips and do your own research. Let’s hope that we can all increase our search engine traffic and provide quality content to those looking for it. Let me know how your conquest goes and if, indeed, you are able to climb the search engine ranks. 

As you can see, I am very biased to Wordpress as it is my blog platform of choice. I apologize for any confusion or ambiguity created for anyone using Movable Type, TypePad, or any other blogging platform.

A limited number of first-time entrepreneurs hit it big and sell their company for millions. Some might call this luck. Less frequently is an entrepreneur able to replicate this feat and sell a second company for a considerable amount. Almost never is one able to do this for a third time. At this point, luck cannot be taken into consideration - a formula has been established.

Niklas Zennstrom co-founded both KaZaA and Skype, two wildly popular Internet successes. He’s on his way to a third success - maybe his biggest yet - with Joost.

A great article was published by BBC the other day. It profiled the mindset and thought process of Zennstrom. This Swedish genius is THE disrupter among disruptive technology disrupters. He identifies an industry with problems and short-comings, then launches a company in an all-out attack. In particular, he has a keen interest in the Internet communication and media areas, as all of his disrupters have spawned from these realms. Here is a simple breakdown:

• Music - KaZaA
• Telephone - Skype
• TV - Joost

What’s next? Something in the radio industry - along the lines of Last.fm or Pandora?

On a side note, his luck with five-letter company names is almost uncanny. Superstition? Strategy? Coincidence? Only Zennstrom really knows.

One thing is for sure. Zennstrom likes being in a position of power. He likes disrupting. Some might call him the shit-disturber of the online world. He is quoted as saying:

“For me, a disruptive technology is only worthwhile if it gives people something they didn’t have or couldn’t do before.”

His motivation and determination are inspirational. He conquers one area, then moves on to another - methodically and systematically. His quest to make things “faster, lighter, or cheaper” is a main driver and source of energy. His never-ending search for the next ‘big thing’ has never been centered around a given product or area, but rather a mentality. Simply put, he wants to give regular consumers a better way of doing something they’re already doing. Thus, he is not looking to re-invent the wheel - just expand upon it.