More than ever before I am using FaceBook, this is mainly due to the large amount of FaceBook friend requests I have been receiving over the last few weeks. I am really starting to like FaceBook and from my perspective here are the top 5 FaceBook Features:

• FaceBook’s most intuitive photo upload tool, in seconds I was able to upload an album containing pictures from my recent Chicago Trip.
• The ease at which you can find and add contacts by browsing through your friends’ lists
• News Feed Management, get as much or as little updates from the topics that you choose. I really like the innovative ‘slider’ interface too.
• The ‘Posted Items‘ is a very cool feature. Someone with an extensive friends list could really capitalize on traffic by posting a useful link (let the viral marketing flood gates open)
• Wall Posts – A quick way to see what a friend is up to. FaceBook instantly sends an email update when someone posts on your wall.

If you are interested in connecting with me, here is my profile: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=577260359

HitTail has been collecting keyword data from my blog for a few months now and I believe there is sufficient data to test out their suggested keywords in future blog posts. Looking at my HitTail data reveals that my blog is already well on its way to leveraging the long tail of natural search.

HitTail reveals in real-time the least utilized, most promising keywords hidden in the Long Tail of your natural search results. We present these terms to you as suggestions that when acted on can boost the natural search results of your site. It’s that simple.

HitTail reveals that from 2079 keywords, the top 10 comprise 11.8% of my traffic while the remaining keywords make up 88.2%

Top 10 Keywords for Web Analytics World:

Blog Promotion
WebTrends
Web Analytics
ActionSource
Manoj Jasra
Omniture ActionSource
iPhone June
Myspace Virus
VisiStat
dis

HitTail Suggested Keywords to Write about:

omniture blog
web analytics. pros and cons
web analytics
future web analytics
flash web analytics
hbx tracking across domains
excel kpi indicators free
google analytics v other software
web analytics
google analytics funnel abandonment
web analytics
yahoo analytics
web analytics
flash tracking
new ipod phone june 2007
measuring it performance
block google analytics tracking
using kpi in it
google different search results
careers web analytics
google analytics consultants
google behavioral targeting
web analytics
urchin versus google analytics

It appears that as long as I mention any word + ‘analytics’ in my posts/post titles I should receive a decent amount of organic keyword traffic (sounds easy enough). Here’s a quote from Nathan Weinberg from the Inside Google Blog after he used HitTail’s suggestions:

HitTail looks at what keywords have been successful for you in the past and compiles a list of suggested keywords for future success. I tried it out on a few posts, not writing posts for HitTail, but rather specifically wording them to match the suggestion (good SEO, in my mind), and it worked out perfectly. I wound up with a weirdly worded title, but a new #1 search referral that is more than double my #2 (about 125% higher). You cant ask for better results than that.

The SEM Industry is rapidly changing, this includes the search engines (their SERP algorithms and spiders), SEO Tactics, and SEM Strategies. Off the top of my head I have come up with 5 things that WILL NOT matter in SEM in the future and 5 things that marketers should stay on top of.

Things that WILL NOT matter:

• Meta Tags: Meta Tags, especially the keywords version, are already losing their importance. Meta Description is still often used to distinguish site pages but I believe both types of Meta Tags will continually lose their SEO value.
• Page Size: The majority of Internet users are already using high speed connections and this number will continually increase, therefore to some extent page size won’t matter.
• JavaScript Code: Very often SEOs will recommend externalizing JavaScript or removing it from a site’s main navigation, however with search spiders continually getting smarter I feel spiders will eventually be able to comprehend various types of complex JavaScript code.
• Location of Content: The higher up the content (within the page code) the better search engines and their spiders will like your site, correct? Maybe, but as I mentioned before spiders will get smarter and as long as you have good content, location won’t matter anymore.
• Search Engine Ranking: With the introduction of personalized search are the days of ranking software numbered?….It’s very possible. I have always felt that this metric is useless without traffic and conversion numbers attached to it.

Things that WILL matter:

• Website Messaging: As personalized search becomes more prominent it’s the messaging of websites that will compel users to click through and remain on a given website. Website owners will really have work hard to build the perfect personas for their target market so they can lure visitors with the right messaging.
• Competitive landscape: Knowing your competition is always important but in the future it will be even more imperative. As visitors are presented with the results they prefer to see, website owners need to make sure their messaging and offerings are comparable to their competitors.
• Rich Media: Audio, Video, Podcasts, Flash and AJAX are continually getting more popular, I believe this trend will continue to rise and this type of content will eventually all be spiderable by search engines.
• Usability: Things like focus groups, A/B testing, Eye Tracking will be normal practices for all marketing professionals. If your site doesn’t cut it, visitors will simply move to the next one.
• Widgets: Almost every website offers some type of widget because everyone loves widgets (they’re great for link bait too). We’ll see more interactivity with widgets and more widgets from Google, Yahoo and MSN.