Making Easy Money

Wednesday, nearly eleven years after Tim Westergen and his colleagues started Pandora, it began trading on the public markets. I posted a blog post on the news, and suddenly was overcome by emotion, tearing up a little as I thought about Westergen who has been through hell and back as the founder of this company. His story is no different from any entrepreneur who dares to try to capture lightning in a bottle – but it is one with a happy ending.

There are two ways of looking at Pandora. You could look at through the lens of a life-long skeptical reporter who cannot reconcile the valuation of the company with its business reality — and there are many who are doing exactly that. The other extreme view is to look at it from the point of view of a startup founder, one who has been through his or her own ups and downs. I will let the skeptic take the day off for today. To me, Pandora’s story is about hope.

A Savage Beast

I remember meeting the Pandora team days after my former Red Herring colleague Alex Gove, then at Walden VC, introduced me to Larry Marcus (partner at WaldenVC and an investor in Pandora)  and Westergen. The company was at that time called The Savage Beast and was building a music-genome project. Being a reporter who normally focused on the nuts and bolts of the Internet, I didn’t much care for the company, but I liked Westergen.

Over the years, he and I stayed in touch. The boom turned to bust and what was an idealistic quest turned into a journey over burning coals, with constant rejections and a test of faith. He has bobbed, he has weaved, he has pivoted –- and he has survived.

After all these years, and many rounds of funding, Westergen is not making billions of dollars, as many would assume – in fact, he owns a miniscule share of the company: 2.39 percent, which is worth just over $60 million at the closing price of $2.8 billion, a fraction of the money his investors are making. Something isn’t right about that, but that is the way of the world.

Can’t Buy Me Love

I know Westergen and I don’t think he started Savage Beast/Pandora for money anyway. All these years, he has been the same guy. A pair of jeans, a simple t-shirt, plain old sneakers and a bag slung across his shoulders –- and more importantly, an easy smile and willingness to believe that things will get better, if only he could fight for one more day. He did Pandora for one reason: love.

He loved the idea of building a music genome. Eventually the company figured out what the business model would be — and the team there will figure out profits as well. Most startups come from love, not a desire to make pots of money.

These days, it is commonplace to lionize the amount of money a start-up snags from venture-capital investments or billion-dollar valuations some investors place on a company and the insanity of the public markets. Nothing annoys me more than “money” defining one’s convictions. The world unfortunately tends to focus on the destination, not the journey undertaken. And raising money or the public markets are those destinations.

I often joke with my friends that startups are like climbing sheer rock without any support, always slipping a few feet, and then gaining an inch. It is that inch you climb that brings immense joy, even if it is short-lived. The rest is just fighting to stay alive, trying to get ahead and just getting it down.

Rejection shapes us as much as the positive news. Just ask Tim! Or Reid Hoffman! Ask them about how many times venture capitalists rejected their quest for investment dollars. Just because twenty investors reject the idea of a social network for professionals doesn’t mean that it is a bad idea or it is wrong -– it is just an idea that the world doesn’t quite understand yet.

Being a real entrepreneur is a long, lonely road as Tim’s journey tells us. Creating something that is lasting — something you love — takes time. Often a very long time! But in the end, the journey is worth it.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req’d):

• Infrastructure Q1: IaaS Comes Down to Earth; Big Data Takes Flight
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Caughtonset.com carried several pictures of the 19-year-old Filipino international singing sensation and her co-stars on the set of “Here Comes The Boom.”

The photos were shot outside Faneuil Hall in downtown Boston where the cast members shot scenes on May 13, the website said.

“Here Comes The Boom” is Charice’s second Hollywood film.

In the film, the “Pyramid” singer will play Malia.

Charice was part of 20th Century Fox’s live-action animation film “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.”

Directed by Frank Coraci (“Click” and “The Wedding Singer”), “Here Comes The Boom” tells the story of a music teacher who will do everything to keep the school music program running.

The film will be screened in 2012, reports said.

In her previous interview, Charice, dubbed as the rising Asian pop star, said she yearns to appear in a horror film.

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Alt Attribute & Search engine optimization

SEO Optimization images is becoming more and more essential in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for websites. The ALT attribute is really a critical step that is often overlooked. This is often a lost opportunity for better rankings.

In Google's webmaster guidelines, they advise using alternative text for the images in your site:

Images:. Make use of the alt attribute to supply descriptive text. Additionally, we recommend using a human-readable caption and descriptive text around the image.

Why would they ask us to achieve that? The answer is easy, really; search engines have the same problem as blind users. They cannot begin to see the images.

Many webmasters and inexperienced or unethical SEOs abuse the use of this attribute, trying to stuff it with keywords, looking to achieve a certain keyword density, which isn't as relevant for rankings now as it was previously.

On the other hand, high keyword density can, on some search engines, trigger spam filters, which might create a penalty for the site's ranking. Even without such a penalty, your site's rankings won't benefit from this plan.
This method also puts persons who use screen readers at a greater disadvantage. Screen readers are software-based tools that actually read aloud the contents of what's shown on the screen. In browsing the net, the alt attributes of images are read aloud too.

Imagine listening to a paragraph of text that is then repetitions of many keywords. The page would be not even close to accessible, and, to put it mildly, would be found quite annoying.
What exactly is an Alt attribute?

An ALT attribute should not be used like a description or perhaps a label for an image, though lots of people utilize it for the reason that fashion. Though it may appear natural to assume that alternate text is really a label or perhaps a description, it's not!

What used within an image's alt attribute should be its text equivalent and convey exactly the same information or serve the same purpose the image would.

The goal would be to supply the same functional information that the visual user would see. The alt attribute text should be the "stand in" when the look is not available. Think about this: Should you replace the image using the text, would most users receive the same basic information, and would it create the same response?
Some examples:

 

Some SEO Optimization Tips

If a search button is a magnifying glass or binoculars its alt text ought to be 'search' or 'find' not 'magnifying glass' or 'binoculars'.

If the image is supposed to convey the literal items in the image, then a description is appropriate.

If it is designed to convey data, then that information is what is appropriate.

If it is designed to convey using a function, then your function is what ought to be used.

Some Alt Attribute Guidelines:

Always add alt attributes to images. Alt is mandatory for accessibility and for valid XHTML.

For images that play merely a decorative role in the page, make use of an empty alt (i.e. alt="") or perhaps a CSS background image to ensure that reading browsers don't bother users by uttering such things as "spacer image".

Remember that it is the function from the image we are attempting to convey. For example; any button images shouldn't include the word "button" within the alt text. They should emphasize the action performed through the button.

Alt text ought to be based on context. The same image inside a different context may require drastically different alt text.

Try to flow alt text with the remainder from the text because that's the way it will be read with adaptive technologies like screen readers. Someone hearing your page should hardly be aware that a graphic image is there.
Please remember that utilizing an alt attribute for every image is needed to meet the minimum WAI requirements, which are used as the benchmark for accessibility laws in UK and the remainder of Europe. They are also necessary to meet "Section 508" accessibility requirements in the US.

It is useful to categorize non-text content into three levels:

Eye-Candy
Mood-Setting
Content and Function

I. Eye-Candy

Eye-Candy are things that serve no purpose apart from to make a site visually appealing/attractive and (in many cases) satisfy the marketing departments. There is no content value (though there may be value to a sighted user).

Never alt-ify eye-candy unless there's something there that will enhance the usability of the site for somebody utilizing a non-visual user agent. Use a null alt attribute or background images in CSS for eye-candy.

II. Mood-Setting

This is the middle layer of graphics which may serve to set the atmosphere or set the stage so to speak. These graphics are not direct content and may 't be considered essential, but they are important in they help frame what is going on.

Try to alt-ify the 2nd group as is sensible and is relevant. There might be times when doing so might be annoying or detrimental to other users. Then avoid it.

For instance; Alt text that is identical to adjacent text is unnecessary, and an irritant to screen reader users. I recommend alt="" or background CSS images in such cases. But sometimes, it's vital that you get this content inside for all users.

Usually this will depend on context. Exactly the same image inside a different context may require drastically different alt text. Obviously, content ought to always be fully available. The way you go in this case is a judgment call.

III. Content and Function

This is when the look is the actual content. Always alt-ify content and functional images. Title and long description attributes may also be so as.
The reason many authors can't understand why their alt text isn't working is they don't know why the images are there. You have to determined precisely what function a picture serves. Consider what it's about the image that's important to the page's intended audience.

Every graphic has a reason behind standing on that page: since it either enhances the theme/ mood/ atmosphere or it is critical to what are the page is attempting to explain. Knowing what the look is perfect for makes alt text easier to write. And exercise writing them definitely helps.
A way to look into the usefulness of alternative text would be to imagine reading the page on the phone to someone. An amount you say when encountering a particular image to make the page understandable to the listener?

Aside from the alt attribute you've got a couple more tools at your disposal for images.
First, in degree of descriptiveness title is within between alt and longdesc. It adds useful information and can add flavor. The title attribute is optionally rendered by the user agent. Remember they are invisible and not shown like a "tooltip" when focus is received via the keyboard. (So much for device independence). So make use of the title attribute only for advisory information.
Second, the longdesc attribute points towards the Link to a full description of an image. If the information found in a picture is essential towards the meaning of the page (i.e. some important content will be lost if the image was removed), an extended description than the "alt" attribute can reasonably display ought to be used. It may offer rich, expressive documentation of the visual image.

It ought to be used when alt and title are insufficient to embody the visual qualities of an image. As Clark [1] states, "A longdesc is really a long description of the image...The goal is to use any length of description essential to impart the facts from the graphic.

It would not be remiss to hope that the long description conjures a picture - the image - within the mind's eye, an analogy that holds true even for that totally blind."

Even though alt attribute is mandatory for web accessibility and for valid (X)HTML, not every images need alternative text, long descriptions, or titles.

Oftentimes, you're best just going with your gut instinct -- if it's not necessary to incorporate it, and if you don't have a strong urge to do it, don't add that longdesc.

However, if it's necessary for the entire page to operate, then you have to include the alt text (or title or longdesc).

What's necessary and what's not depends a lot about the function of the image and its context on the page.

The same image may need alt text (or title or longdesc) in one spot, although not in another. If the image provides simply no content or functional information alt="" or background CSS images might be appropriate to make use of. However, if the image provides content or adds functional information an alt will be required and perhaps a long description would be in order. In many cases this type of thing is a judgement call.

Image Search Engine Optimization Tips

Listed below are key stages in optimizing images:

Select a logical file name that reinforces the keywords. You should use hyphens within the file name to isolate the keyword, but avoid to exceeding two hyphens. Stay away from underscores like a word separator, such as "brilliant-diamonds.jpg";

Label the file extension. For instance, if the image internet search engine sees a ".jpg" (JPEG) file extension, it's going to assume that the file is a photo, and if it sees a ".gif" (GIF) file extension, it's going to assume that it is graphic;

Make sure that the text at the image that is relevant to that image.
Again, don't lose an excellent chance to help your website together with your images in search engines. Begin using these steps to position better on all of the engines and drive more traffic to your site TODAY.

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine marketers and usability engineers want to understand why we go to websites and what we do after we arrive at a search results page. They ask questions like:

• Are we satisfied with where we landed?


• Did the engine provide accurate results listings?


• Was our click choice a positive one?


• Did we stay on the site or leave?


• If we left, what search result better matched what we wanted to find?


• Was it the search results or did we have a bad experience with the web page we landed on?

Both search engines and human factors related fields study our intent.

Author Matt Bailey points to the depth of the importance of intent in his new book, Internet Marketing: An Hour a Day.

“Search engines are integrating more multimedia and allowing deeper access to documents and media earlier in the search process. They are attempting to determine the intent of the searcher and deliver results accordingly.”

What is our intent? Why do we visit the Internet? Why do we use search sites such as Google and Youtube?

In a 2009 ComScore study (comScore, 2009), they found that “Nearly one out of every ten minutes a person spends online around the world is spent on a Google site.” This includes the search engine itself, Youtube, which they own, Google books, email, Google reader and more.

Clearly, marketers want to be sure their clients’ websites perform well in Google’s web properties. Not doing so can wreck the success of a business.

Search Behavior = People Who Search

Shortly after search engines and information sites appeared on the Internet, case studies zeroed in to understand why, who, where, when, where and how humans use them. Hot on the trail, too, were analysts interested in learning about site traffic, popularity, rank and how to make money from it.

Many of you were guinea pigs during the 1990’s when web page backgrounds were gray with black text, and animation, 3D images, scrolling text boxes, rotating banners and blinking images were all part of a typical user interface.

As fun as all those things were to create (I loved animating images), web designers had to buckle to user preferences.

Search engines learned what we really come to the Internet for. Perhaps search engine sites are not suitable for certain subject types when it comes to information searches. In order to improve search engine design and SEO marketing efforts, we try to understand user intent and goals for searching.

It’s been well established at this point that search engines are used by us to find information. What kinds of information are most popular?

A recent study from Australia on who uses search engines found that half of search engine queries were looking for a particular website, while the other 50% were split between ecommerce and popular culture searches.

The study also pointed to what is referred to as “leisure searches”. The findings present the idea of search sites not only for information gathering or shortcuts to web sites, but they’re also sources for leisure, with one in six of all searches estimated as being leisure searches.

The Australian study offered some surprising details for anyone wondering what we’re searching for, by subject. Adult site searches fell into the middle, with ecommerce being second, edged under a tad by popular culture topics. Health, weather, contemporary affairs and government are the least popular searches.

The study stood out from others because it included and factored in the lifestyle of their participants. This is different than user testing labs or Eye tracking tests. To their surprise, lifestyle choices had no measurable impact on the type of search queries. In fact, new questions were raised on user –searcher behavior.

For example, do Internet users tend to go to particular trusted web sites for information on healthcare, computing and contemporary affairs, rather than use search engines? Does the distribution of the most ranked subjects searched for represent user interests or the suitability of search engines for looking up certain types of topics?

Another study (Broder, 2002) narrows search engine user behavior as informational, navigational, transactional and leisure. Half the searches in the study were navigational and one-third, transactional. Half of all searchers know where they want to go.

What Does This Mean To Search Marketers?

The most obvious is that it’s time to accept usability studies into marketing strategy. And, user experience professionals can no longer devalue the role of search marketers. Both camps provide essential skills and expertise needed for web site projects.

A lot of what’s happening on the Internet is relationship building. The global community wants this so badly they invented social networking sites and social marketing to drive interest and generate revenue from these new site sources.

Emotional web design is no accident. We’re emotional beings. Empathy makes us connect with others.

“In life and business, focus on creating win-win situations. Look beyond the immediate sale in order to connect with customers as people.” – Steve Harper, The Ripple Effect.

Despite our developing mental models and creating user personas, we remain on the edge of understanding who uses our stuff. Wouldn’t it be grand if stakeholders got out of their offices and actually interacted with the people who use their websites?

I’ve often wished I could video people who multi-task at home, with one hand on a laundry basket, an ear to the cell phone and a hand reaching for the laptop nearby. What does that busy person search for and how? Can we make their experience less stressful?

Division between marketing and user experience will dissolve as both approaches discover they need each others’ data to do a better job for their clients.

There’s no question that a passion for usability and search engine marketing leads to their fascinating cousins, like information architecture, findability, captology, analytics and neurology. There’s also no question that money can be made by optimizing for and advertising in search engines.

Studying user behavior is a win-win for search engine technology, search marketing and website usability and human factors.

Cited Resources:

Broder 2002; A Taxonomy of Web Search (PDF)

Waller, Vivienne 2010; Not Just Information: Who Searches for What on the Search Engine Google?

Opinions expressed in the article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.

Related Topics: Just Behave

Search engine marketers and usability engineers want to understand why we go to websites and what we do after we arrive at a search results page. They ask questions like:

• Are we satisfied with where we landed?


• Did the engine provide accurate results listings?


• Was our click choice a positive one?


• Did we stay on the site or leave?


• If we left, what search result better matched what we wanted to find?


• Was it the search results or did we have a bad experience with the web page we landed on?

Both search engines and human factors related fields study our intent.

Author Matt Bailey points to the depth of the importance of intent in his new book, Internet Marketing: An Hour a Day.

“Search engines are integrating more multimedia and allowing deeper access to documents and media earlier in the search process. They are attempting to determine the intent of the searcher and deliver results accordingly.”

What is our intent? Why do we visit the Internet? Why do we use search sites such as Google and Youtube?

In a 2009 ComScore study (comScore, 2009), they found that “Nearly one out of every ten minutes a person spends online around the world is spent on a Google site.” This includes the search engine itself, Youtube, which they own, Google books, email, Google reader and more.

Clearly, marketers want to be sure their clients’ websites perform well in Google’s web properties. Not doing so can wreck the success of a business.

Search Behavior = People Who Search

Shortly after search engines and information sites appeared on the Internet, case studies zeroed in to understand why, who, where, when, where and how humans use them. Hot on the trail, too, were analysts interested in learning about site traffic, popularity, rank and how to make money from it.

Many of you were guinea pigs during the 1990’s when web page backgrounds were gray with black text, and animation, 3D images, scrolling text boxes, rotating banners and blinking images were all part of a typical user interface.

As fun as all those things were to create (I loved animating images), web designers had to buckle to user preferences.

Search engines learned what we really come to the Internet for. Perhaps search engine sites are not suitable for certain subject types when it comes to information searches. In order to improve search engine design and SEO marketing efforts, we try to understand user intent and goals for searching.

It’s been well established at this point that search engines are used by us to find information. What kinds of information are most popular?

A recent study from Australia on who uses search engines found that half of search engine queries were looking for a particular website, while the other 50% were split between ecommerce and popular culture searches.

The study also pointed to what is referred to as “leisure searches”. The findings present the idea of search sites not only for information gathering or shortcuts to web sites, but they’re also sources for leisure, with one in six of all searches estimated as being leisure searches.

The Australian study offered some surprising details for anyone wondering what we’re searching for, by subject. Adult site searches fell into the middle, with ecommerce being second, edged under a tad by popular culture topics. Health, weather, contemporary affairs and government are the least popular searches.

The study stood out from others because it included and factored in the lifestyle of their participants. This is different than user testing labs or Eye tracking tests. To their surprise, lifestyle choices had no measurable impact on the type of search queries. In fact, new questions were raised on user –searcher behavior.

For example, do Internet users tend to go to particular trusted web sites for information on healthcare, computing and contemporary affairs, rather than use search engines? Does the distribution of the most ranked subjects searched for represent user interests or the suitability of search engines for looking up certain types of topics?

Another study (Broder, 2002) narrows search engine user behavior as informational, navigational, transactional and leisure. Half the searches in the study were navigational and one-third, transactional. Half of all searchers know where they want to go.

What Does This Mean To Search Marketers?

The most obvious is that it’s time to accept usability studies into marketing strategy. And, user experience professionals can no longer devalue the role of search marketers. Both camps provide essential skills and expertise needed for web site projects.

A lot of what’s happening on the Internet is relationship building. The global community wants this so badly they invented social networking sites and social marketing to drive interest and generate revenue from these new site sources.

Emotional web design is no accident. We’re emotional beings. Empathy makes us connect with others.

“In life and business, focus on creating win-win situations. Look beyond the immediate sale in order to connect with customers as people.” – Steve Harper, The Ripple Effect.

Despite our developing mental models and creating user personas, we remain on the edge of understanding who uses our stuff. Wouldn’t it be grand if stakeholders got out of their offices and actually interacted with the people who use their websites?

I’ve often wished I could video people who multi-task at home, with one hand on a laundry basket, an ear to the cell phone and a hand reaching for the laptop nearby. What does that busy person search for and how? Can we make their experience less stressful?

Division between marketing and user experience will dissolve as both approaches discover they need each others’ data to do a better job for their clients.

There’s no question that a passion for usability and search engine marketing leads to their fascinating cousins, like information architecture, findability, captology, analytics and neurology. There’s also no question that money can be made by optimizing for and advertising in search engines.

Studying user behavior is a win-win for search engine technology, search marketing and website usability and human factors.

Cited Resources:

Broder 2002; A Taxonomy of Web Search (PDF)

Waller, Vivienne 2010; Not Just Information: Who Searches for What on the Search Engine Google?

Opinions expressed in the article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.

Related Topics: Just Behave

seo optimization services

adverse credit remortgages and bech craft company

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Generate (the trait of being remarkably determined, the act of applying force to propel anything.)

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So what's the

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items some of the most important while in the market place.
The golf programs that bench craft company will work in concert with, get companies and services at no value. bench craft company gross sales group right funds this system for every golf course by obtaining sponsors for every merchandise. Regional vendors and gamers in the neighborhood obtain sponsorship priority and golf program management operates closely with Bench Craft to acknowledge prospective sponsors. Bench Craft’s hugely

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