Joe Levi presents Greener Living through Technology

Many of you may already know, I’m involved with SEM (including SEO & SEP) with my employer.

First off, let me give you some background and define terms:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

What is SEO?

• This term is almost universally used incorrectly.
• Most SEO Strategists or “purists” call this “on-page” SEO; in other words, SEO is optimizing your sites, your pages, and your content in such a way that search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo!, et. al., ad nauseum) can easily “see” your content.
• More specifically, they “see” the content that you want them to see in the order that you want them to see it.
• SEO involves the proper use of language, grammar, and keywords (including keyword density).
• SEO involves the proper use of valid markup and styling languages (html/xhtml, CSS, etc.).
• SEO involves the proper use of meta-data to further (and accurately) describe your content (including, but not limited to; the title, description, and (although not used often these days) keywords meta tags; the values of the title attribute on anchor (hyperlink) elements; the values of the alternate (“alt”) attribute on image (“img”) elements; etc.
• SEO involves the proper use of  hyperlinks: intra-page links, intra-site links, and inter-site links (links from one of your sites to another of your sites).
• SEO involves the use of “alternate presentations” of the data (sitemap.xml files, rss/atom feeds, etc.).
• In short, SEO is entirely within your control and relies on absolutely no one else.

What isn’t SEO?

• SEO doesn’t mean how high a given page ranks in any particular search engine for any particular term
• SEO doesn’t involve anything external to what you have complete control over.
• SEO is not getting incoming links from other sites.
• SEO is not not submitting your pages to search engines or directories.
• In short, SEO is not any kind of advertising or marketing.

Be forewarned, although to you and I the above statements may be factual and correct, to your boss or your client, SEO (incorrectly) means “ranking well in search engines.”

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

What’s SEM? That’s the topic for the next article in the series…

Congressman Mike Rogers looks at ObamaCare and tells us in no uncertain terms what it’s all about.

Whichever side of the debate you’re on you owe it to yourself to watch this video, it’s the best 3:39 you’ll spend today.

First the Obama administration asked us to report report each other for sending emails about his Health Care Reform project – emails they referred to as “fishy”.

If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

Now, apparently, Obama wants to be able to “turn off” the internet, or limit the content available on it to only government endorsed propaganda (dare I say “misinformation”).

“The [bill] would allow the president to ‘declare a cybersecurity emergency’ relating to ‘non-governmental’ computer networks and do what’s necessary to respond to the threat. Other sections of the proposal include a federal certification program for ‘cybersecurity professionals’, and a requirement that certain computer systems and networks in the private sector be managed by people who have been awarded that license.”

On the surface, this would allow the President to unilaterally “turn off” civilian access to the internet to respond to a cyber-attack against the government, military, or even Wall Street.

But the bill doesn’t define what a “cybersecurity emergency” is. Perhaps it’s people sending “fishy” emails that expose the truths buried in bills that Obama wants to pass? Maybe it’s people posting Tea Party pictures and agenda’s on Facebook?

Oh, and it’s not just the internet, “’Cyber’ is defined as anything having to do with the Internet, telecommunications, computers, or computer networks”, which includes your telephones, too .

“Probably the most controversial language begins in Section 201, which permits the president to ‘direct the national response to the cyber threat’ if necessary for ‘the national defense and security.’ The White House is supposed to engage in ‘periodic mapping’ of private networks deemed to be critical, and those companies ‘shall share’ requested information with the federal government.”

So, your ISP and their backbone provider(s) MUST share the details of their networks and connectivity, maybe even requiring them to give up subscriber information and IP/MAC addresses, no warrant needed.

And, if the President decides to do so (no oversight) he can “direct national response” which is to say that he can deploy the military to come and “neutralize the threat” if it’s necessary for “the national defense and security”.

Contact your Senators and Representative NOW and tell them you oppose Sen Rockefeller’s bill, S.773 Cybersecurity Act of 2009.