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<title>Sphinn / planetc1 / Commented News</title>
<link>http://sphinn.com</link>
<description>Sphinn</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:10:33 -0700</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[10 Link Bait Tips for Small Business Marketing]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/73896</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/73896</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:10:33 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Social Media</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/73896</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Dev Basu writes... Sometimes it can be pretty hard to come up with creative social media link bait ideas for otherwise un-interesting small businesses. After brainstorming for a bit, I think I've come up with some ideas that can be applied to almost any SMB regardless of what they do.<br/><br/>53 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Happy 1st Birthday Sphinn]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/58302</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/58302</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:39:04 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Sphinn Zone</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/58302</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Happy Birthday Sphinn! It was one year ago today (actually July 11, 2007 but I'm traveling) that Danny notified beta testing SEOs: &quot;We're now open to the public. Thank you everyone for all your help -- it's deeply appreciated.&quot;Sphinn has been a hugely valuable resource to me and I'm thankful to have meet so many great people as a result of activity here.Thanks Sphinn. Here is to many more birthdays!<br/><br/>8 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[SEO Caffeine and Alcohol Drink Buying Guide]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/50777</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/50777</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 04 Jun 2008 12:20:17 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Water Cooler</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/50777</guid>
<description><![CDATA[After attending only a few SEO events and conferences, it becomes apparent that search marketers like two things just about as much as they like links. Those two things are caffeine and alcohol, something you'll typically find in great abundance at your next search marketing event.<br/><br/>18 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[8 Arguments Against Sculpting PageRank with Nofollow]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/50534</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/50534</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:56:46 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Search Marketing</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/50534</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Adam writes... This post will explore several arguments against using nofollow for internal PageRanka4 sculpting. It is based on a presentation I did at SMX Advanced. You can view my presentation slides here, however the deck is very brief since I only had about 10 minutes to present my position. The bulk of the discussion is treated in this post.<br/><br/>60 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[Baby Girl Born on Twitter!]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/46784</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/46784</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 16 May 2008 23:29:51 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Social Media</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/46784</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Internet marketing strategy guy and family man extraordinaire (who also really likes beer), Adam Audette, posted to twitter about 15 hours ago with a tweet that read... We're having our baby today. Heading to the hospital at 12 noon to induce. I'll post with updates along the way!I (and many others) followed his tweets throughout the day and I thought it would be great to share them all in one place. See comments for the remainder of this beautiful story.Congratulations to Adam and Sally Audette on the birth of their baby girl!<br/><br/>48 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[How to Create Printer Friendly Pages Without Creating Duplicate Content]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/46393</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/46393</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 15 May 2008 08:02:45 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>SEO</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/46393</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Stoney deGeyter writes... When it comes to issues of duplicate content, one of the most frequent offenders is the &quot;printer friendly&quot; page. Just about any kind of site can benefit from creating printer friendly versions of their pages, but improper implementation of these pages can wreak duplicate content havoc on your site.<br/><br/>5 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[Summize Gains Local Twitter Search Option]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/46161</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/46161</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 14 May 2008 07:05:21 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Social Media</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/46161</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Danny Sullivan writes... Summize has already turned into my preferred tool to search for what people are saying on Twitter. Now it's gained a way to see what people are twittering about near a local area.<br/><br/>14 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[How to Get More Twitter Followers]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/46036</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/46036</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 13 May 2008 17:46:16 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Social Media</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/46036</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Maki writes... Darren Rowse recently wrote a series of posts about increasing your Twitter presence, in which he mainly talks about how to use Twitter by adding value in order to increase your Twitter following. While Darren made several good points, I want to give you my perspective on it, which is somewhat different.<br/><br/>66 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[What Google Knows About Spam]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/45609</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/45609</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 11 May 2008 22:47:39 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Google</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/45609</guid>
<description><![CDATA[What Google Knows About Spam: A video presentation by Matt Cutts (recorded recently at a Web 2.0 conference).<br/><br/>52 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[Live Twittering A Conference? Try Live Twitting!]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/45324</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/45324</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 09 May 2008 10:57:16 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Social Media</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/45324</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Danny Sullivan writes... I recently had a go at live twittering a conference and what a pain! First, I was flooding my followers with constant updates. Second, trying to recreate what I live twittered into a blog post was a nightmare, with me literally having to cut-and-paste newer twits above the older ones to reconstruct the proper chronology<br/><br/>19 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[The Elevator Pitch Is Dead. Introducing The Twitpitch]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/44679</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/44679</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 06 May 2008 15:59:02 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Social Media</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/44679</guid>
<description><![CDATA[MSaleem writes... The landscape of corporate public relations is changing fast. First the press release died and we told you how to write a press release for the social media audience. Now the elevator pitch is dead and here's how to adapt.<br/><br/>45 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Muhammad Saleem on the Importance of Community]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/43070</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/43070</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:56:13 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Social Media</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/43070</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Muhammad Saleem writes... To ensure the success of any social media marketing campaign, it is important to have a strong network of friends who support you. When you build up connections and friendships online, you establish credibility as a user.<br/><br/>41 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Twitter hasn't yet taken the journalist community by storm]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/39128</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/39128</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:02:23 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Social Media</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/39128</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Charles Cooper writes: Out of curiosity, I drew up a list of 55 technology journalists to find out how many use Twitter, arguably one of the most important social-media technologies on the scene. I included names of some online reporters--including colleagues from CNET as well as TechCrunch--but in the main, the list is comprised of people employed by A-list newspapers and periodicals.<br/><br/>20 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[SMX West: Most Popular Guy at the Bar?]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/30720</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/30720</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 24 Feb 2008 12:14:08 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Water Cooler</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/30720</guid>
<description><![CDATA[An evil green plot to get someone to buy you beer? You be the judge.I was checking out the SMX Connect pages (very cool) for the SMX West conference that is starting this Tuesday.I found the tags really interesting, and I found myself browsing through tags for what people listen to, what people watch, what companies they work for, and what search related topics they are most interested in.Besides the main event, there are luncheon topics for Video, PPC, Local, Branding, and others. But there's one topic not being discussed on the conference floor or the lunches. I suspect if you want to learn more about it, be prepared to belly up to the bar, and get connected with the guy that has the goods.See my comments (with screenshot link) below. If this is indeed a tactic to get people to buy you beer, it should be on someone's Marketing Tips list. Could make good Beer Bait. :)<br/><br/>35 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[Google News' New Local Angle]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/27323</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/27323</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 07 Feb 2008 07:04:46 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Google</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/27323</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Greg Sterling writes... Just as Ask is introducing &quot;BigNews,&quot; Google is offering local news. The Google New Blog says that the new capabilities allow users to &quot;create a local section for any city, state or country in the world.&quot; As the Google News Blog admits, Google isn't the first to do this. Topix.com was. And Topix powers local news feeds for sites like CNN (scroll for local).<br/><br/>20 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[SEOs Fight Fat For Charity]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/26067</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/26067</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:48:26 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>SEM Industry</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/26067</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Wondering what this is all about? Well, a few SEOs needed to lose some weight, so they got together and decided to make it a public event. We are sharing our weight loss attempts right here for the whole world to see, and in the process, we hope to make some money for charity.<br/><br/>56 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[Going Local in StumbleUpon]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/24672</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/24672</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 23 Jan 2008 08:45:18 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Social Media</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/24672</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Jake Matthews says... I am becoming a big fan of the organic approach to StumbleUpon (SU) and the ways you can connect with members finding like minded users in demographic and interest areas.The StumbleUpon social tool was built for discovering webpages that are recommended by your network of friends. The site allows for networking and the toolbar allows for finding and discovering new great content on the web. This is a powerful combination of Internet function and social web.<br/><br/>37 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Catchy Linkbait Is Worthless Without Really Good Content]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/24522</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/24522</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:46:25 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Link Building</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/24522</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Cameron Olthuis says... Getting your linkbait post, widget or other content featured on the front page of Digg is one thing-a good thing, as this can drive a spike in traffic. Getting a whole bunch of links to that contant, however, is entirely another matter. After all, the purpose of linkbait should be to attract links, not just short-term traffic. However, it seems that a lot of people measure success soley based on whether of not content becomes popular and the total number of Diggs it ends up with.<br/><br/>37 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<item>
<title><![CDATA[Social Media Can Be a Great Way to Stretch Your Ad Budget]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/24483</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/24483</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 22 Jan 2008 11:34:48 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Social Media</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/24483</guid>
<description><![CDATA[From Jennifer Laycock... Word is out that 30 second spots during this year's SuperBowl are going for a cool $3 million. That's unattainable cash for most small businesses. Even still, I have to wonder if it's a worthwhile investment for the companies that CAN afford it. Surely there's a better way to leverage $3 million to deliver a solid return and ongoing return.<br/><br/>37 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[When Small Businesses Shouldn't Act Like A Small Business]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/22488</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/22488</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:54:39 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Online Marketing</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/22488</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Stoney deGeyter says... I think one of the most significant problems small businesses have when it comes to growth is that they maintain a small business mindset. Now if you're one of those that likes being &quot;mom and pop&quot; then this article isn't for you. On the other hand, if you're a small business owner that has big dreams and big goals there is no better time than now than to start getting out of the small business, mom and pop mindset and start thinking like the business you want to grow into. And the first place to start is with your online marketing campaigns.<br/><br/>44 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[10 Simple Steps To Social Media Success In 2008]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/21986</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/21986</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:50:56 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Social Media</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/21986</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Chris Winfield of 10e20 with 10 simple steps... It's no secret that social media should be an integral part of your online marketing strategy. Creating viral content and promoting it is only a fraction of the equation. You must also strengthen your online footprint and become part of the network. Trying to figure out where to start can be daunting.<br/><br/>59 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Live Search Returning Google AdWords in Natural Search Results]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/19368</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/19368</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:13:12 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Microsoft</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/19368</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Live Search is offering a new way for AdWords customers to get click-throughs - their own natural SERPs. They appear to be indexing AdWords ads from Google's own SERPs. Doing a search on Live for colorations paint (at the time of this writing) will give you AdWords ads in the third and fourth natural result.<br/><br/>39 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Matt Cutts 3 step process to building up a really good site]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/17961</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/17961</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 09 Dec 2007 21:29:04 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Blogging</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/17961</guid>
<description><![CDATA[This post is a combination of transcribed content from video recorded at a PubCon 2007 evening session that featured Matt Cutts, my organization of that content, and related resource links for websites or articles Matt spoke about during his presentation. The discussion was moderated by special guest host Guy Kawasaki, who was a keynote speaker at PubCon 2006.<br/><br/>41 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google's Matt Cutts On Cloaking & Search Snippets]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/16082</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/16082</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 28 Nov 2007 07:04:13 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Google</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/16082</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Barry Schwartz and his report on Matt Cutts On Cloaking &amp; Search Snippets.Video included.<br/><br/>40 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Sphinn Specific List for Pubcon 2007]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/15770</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/15770</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 26 Nov 2007 13:09:56 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Sphinn Zone</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/15770</guid>
<description><![CDATA[I noticed a significant number of active users here on Sphinn were speaking at next week's Pubcon in Las Vegas. I've put together a profiled list that focuses on those members of this community, so other active participants on Sphinn would have it as a resource when wanting to meet those speakers.Allow me to be the first comment so I can include the list...<br/><br/>34 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Robert Cialdini and the Powerful Art of Persuasion]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/15574</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/15574</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 25 Nov 2007 10:27:24 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Social Media</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/15574</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Maki and his weekend report on Robert Cialdini.&quot;Robert Cialdini is an influential social psychologist who is an expert in the systematic study of persuasion, compliance and negotiation.&quot;<br/><br/>27 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Thanksgiving Search Tips from Danny Sullivan]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/15122</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/15122</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 21 Nov 2007 10:02:32 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Search Marketing</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/15122</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Lot's of gems in Danny's piece... With the US about to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow, how are the major search engines gearing up to support an onslaught of Thanksgiving queries? Let's take a look at how you can use them, ranging from flight tracking tools to special &quot;shortcut&quot; or &quot;smart answer&quot; boxes leading to related information.<br/><br/>28 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[7 Ways to Impress a Social Media Marketer]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/14709</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/14709</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 19 Nov 2007 12:30:51 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Social Media</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/14709</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Met a guy while having breakfast (in a hotel) the other day and it turns out we knew each other from Digg. There are seven things he did (Cialdini principles of influence) in his follow-up that motivated me to reciprocate. He's now a member of Sphinn (profile: ThinkingSerious).<br/><br/>36 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Sphinn at Pubcon Vegas 2007]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/12732</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/12732</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 06 Nov 2007 11:38:56 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Sphinn Zone</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/12732</guid>
<description><![CDATA[In my experience, one of the little used features on Sphinn is the calendar. ( http://sphinn.com/calendar.php )Pubcon in Las Vegas is less than 30 days away and there are only five attendees currently listed (on the calendar) from Sphinn. I'd really like to see all people from Sphinn that are attending this event (especially speakers) to include your user profile on the list.It would be great to get face-to-face with other Sphinn members while in Las Vegas.What you say?<br/><br/>15 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[The 1 Second Film and Marketing Social Media]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/12427</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/12427</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 04 Nov 2007 15:50:43 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Social Media</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/12427</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Besides Internet Marketing News, I've got imagine most people on Sphinn love stories about successful guerrilla and viral marketing efforts. If you haven't heard about The 1 Second Film, this article has some details.I believe there are lots of neat ideas and inspirations to be gotten from this film project.From the article... With taglines that read Produce a movie with the Stars for $1, The 1 Second Film project has all the ingredients of a brilliant social media and viral marketing effort.<br/><br/>29 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google Gets New Choose Your Country Feature]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/11762</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/11762</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 30 Oct 2007 20:49:19 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Google SEO</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/11762</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Great post by Vanessa Fox and her thoughts on &quot;the most awesomest feature ever of Google's Webmaster Tools&quot; being that you can now tell them geographic data for your site.I'm loving everything Google and others are doing to improve local search, and I'm surprised so few are as excited about it as I am.<br/><br/>41 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Breaking News: Sphinn Has PageRank]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/11268</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/11268</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 26 Oct 2007 22:01:15 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Sphinn Zone</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/11268</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Breaking News: Sphinn Has PageRank!!!I don't wanna look like the only person around here that doesn't know anything about PageRank (I know the bar is green) and I'm sure you're all tired of hearing PR related news, but it's Friday night, and my Google toolbar is showing green on lots of Sphinn pages.Here's a current breakdown...http://sphinn.com/ (PR6)Network page is a PR5.Profile pages are coming in at PR4 (at least those I checked, such as mine, and other avatars I recognized).Add this to your list of PageRank related exciting topics for the week of October 26, 2007. I'm going to have a beer (Oktoberfest Spaten in a green bottle) in Sphinns honor.<br/><br/>42 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Differentiate (Your Avatar) or Die]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/11238</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/11238</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 26 Oct 2007 13:22:14 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Social Media</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/11238</guid>
<description><![CDATA[There's been a few discussions related to avatars on Sphinn since the site launched in July. Among them were...http://sphinn.com/story/4824Avatar Optimisation in the Social Media Sphereshttp://sphinn.com/story/5697Sphinn Avatars: 2 Reasons to Clean 'Em Uphttp://sphinn.com/story/3609Stealing Avatars: Identify Theft 2.0The past few weeks I've noticed an increased number of submissions receiving sphinns from users utilizing the generic avatar and while this isn't news to the webteam and moderators at Sphinn, there are some interesting patterns that I felt made for a good SphinnCentric topic.No doubt there's more to one's avatar than some people are paying attention to. I'll dip into my own head (since I don't have access to yours) and will share some of what goes on in my mind when scanning pages on Sphinn.My Brain on SphinnAvatars I recognize: Trust, Familiarity, FriendshipI scan, I sphinn, I read. Some users have never let me down and continue to post topics I benefit from reading. A few have slipped in topics which resulted in my brain moving out of default and into a scan, read, sphinn mode.Avatars I don't recognize: New User, Less Active User, New Avatar of existing userAt some point everyone fell into this category which requires more work for my brain. I can tell you my brain has enough work to do. It doesn't need distractions such as those brought about by avatars that have it wondering things like... is that a satanic symbol? What kind of animal is that? Is that really you?On these posts, my eyeballs spend more time scanning, if they even get my attention. I check how many sphinns already, posted by, jump to (URL), and comments. Often I go to comments first. If a trusted avatar is in comments I find myself typically checking the post further with greater interest. I've also found myself recently checking &quot;sphunn by&quot; to see patterns of what groups (if any) are sphinning up particular posts.Generic Green Avatars: Spam, Questionable Activity, Lack of TrustI sense that my brain is not alone when it comes to the generic green avatars. I've gone to check on user profiles of those with generic avatars and I've noticed trusted sphinners recently doing the same. Activity on Sphinn is actually quite transparent if you take the time to utilize the various tools that are available.Here is what two active top participants have to say about generic avatars...&quot;Get an avatar. The green badge just doesn't cut it.&quot; - Tamar&quot;I don't think I have ever voted on a submit with no avatar.&quot; - LyndonAccorded to some of the research I did, the words of these two, represent the thoughts of many in the community. I did find one story that received a sphinn from Lyndon. For those counting, that's one out of 1215 current sphinns.Making the HomepageUsers lacking a unique avatar have historically been rarely seen on the Sphinn homepage. If I calculated correctly, there are 25 topics listed per page. Of the past 500 topics to make it to the homepage, 12 were posted by someone using a generic avatar. Of those 12, 3 posts were from the same individual, mvandemar, who I suspect is a more recognized user than anyone else using the generic avatar. I'm lead to that conclusion by checking the Network page, mvandemar is the only &quot;popular&quot; sphinner using a generic avatar, to make it to the 1st page. I even reached a point where my brain associates generic avatar posts with the user mvandemar and I began checking &quot;posted by:&quot; to differentiate others from him.Including mvandemar that is a homepage &quot;Hot Topics&quot; rate of .24%Remove posts from mvandemar and the number drops to .18%I believe we have established that using a generic avatar to submit sphinns is not the best of approaches if you're wanting your topic to be on the homepage.But what about users with generic avatars sphinning up stories? While it's possible to have been completely innocent, there are more than a few posts that have made the homepage featuring 5 or more sphinns coming from users with generic avatars. To gauge this I took a look at a number of homepage posts, from earlier this week, of users that have been active in the sphinn community for 2+ months.Some recent posts from the homepage...chriswinfieldat time of this post had 21 sphinns (.00%)0 generic avatars when checking &quot;Who Sphunn This?&quot;jeffquipp  at time of this post had 39 sphinns (.29%)1 generic avatars when checking &quot;Who Sphunn This?&quot; (it was mvandemar)0thelisa  at time of this post had 54 sphinns (.55%)3 generic avatars when checking &quot;Who Sphunn This?&quot;qwerty  at time of this post had 43 sphinns (.46%)2 generic avatars when checking &quot;Who Sphunn This?&quot; (1 was mvandemar)Lyndonat time of this post had 46 sphinns (.65%)3 generic avatars when checking &quot;Who Sphunn This?&quot;graywolfat time of this post had 40 sphinns (.75%)3 generic avatars when checking &quot;Who Sphunn This?&quot;nowsourcing  at time of this post had 36 sphinns (.55%)2 generic avatars when checking &quot;Who Sphunn This?&quot;After checking dozens of posts, the pattern is similar in that there is an average of less than .5% related to users sphinning popular posts that utilize generic avatars. Try it for yourself, check some random posts that made it to the homepage and see how many users that have sphinned posts have generic avatars.I'm going through some now...3 out of 325 out of 562 out of 362 out of 414 out of 373 out of 40Can we agree a pattern has developed?&quot;What do you do to undermine trust on social media like Sphinn? You use or create 10 new users some of with 0 votes and all of them with no avatars to vote your story up...&quot; A comment by Sphinn user onreact regarding a post that hit the homepage which had 11 generic avatar sphinns.To see if there are any identifiable patterns, I checked about a hundred different Sphinn profiles. I was impressed after checking nearly every profile on the network list, as nearly every profile followed a similar pattern. There was a randomness of sphinns by each user, for other users on the network. To view this for yourself, check any users profile on the network page and click on the sphinns tab. Typically you'll see an assortmant of posts submitted by various users that have been sphunn. Check some profiles of users with generic avatars and you'll likely see the same, except in a few cases. One particular pattern that stood out was as follows...generic avatarno info on userno submitsno comments39 sphinns (33 for a single sphinn user)Based on my findings, and the quotes I've read from others, it's likely in your best interests to differentiate yourself and create a unique avatar, rather than rely on the generic green badge. Not only will you improve your reputation on Sphinn thus increasing your odds of getting your stories on the homepage, you may also potentially improve the reputation of others, whose posts you are sphinning.Now excuse me while I go learn about PageRank. :)<br/><br/>45 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[A Universal Search Success Story]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/10718</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/10718</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 23 Oct 2007 22:05:09 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Google</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/10718</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Patrick Schaber does an excellent job on an article about universal search and how it can be utilized by those in small businesses. Honestly, I was halfway through the post before I recognized I was part of the article.Many thanks to Patrick and Jennifer.<br/><br/>36 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Mapping The Southern California Fires]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/10670</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/10670</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 23 Oct 2007 12:50:44 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Water Cooler</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/10670</guid>
<description><![CDATA[An example of SEOs that never stop working... Southern California reporter, Danny Sullivan, comes to the rescue with map information regarding the Southern California fires.<br/><br/>13 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Pics From Inside Digg Labs]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/9367</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/9367</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 12 Oct 2007 09:54:55 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Water Cooler</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/9367</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Danny Sullivan takes us behind the scenes for exclusive insider photos at Digg Labs. Friday Fun!<br/><br/>14 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Optimize Google Listings with Meta Description Makeovers]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/7713</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/7713</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 01 Oct 2007 07:40:21 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Google</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/7713</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Loren Baker and his Monday Morning Tips for better Meta Descriptions.<br/><br/>6 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Sphinn Profile Updates: who, what, when, where, how?]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/7656</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/7656</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 30 Sep 2007 11:30:42 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Sphinn Zone</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/7656</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Greetings Sphinners,First of all I've got to say that I love the Sphinn Live button. It's interesting to see who's currently on the site and what they're up to. I've been finding myself visiting profiles to check up on your blogs, learn more about you, and to get in touch.There are quite a few people that don't have very complete profiles. I can understand privacy concerns but I'd like to encourage everyone to complete a bit more business information about themselves.Primary reason why is I don't offer SEO services, but I love talking it. I'm in this for my own personal interests and I live the stuff with a passion. Having the knowledge and interests that I do, I often become the &quot;go to&quot; guy when the topic of SEO/SEM comes up in my business communities.Sphinn has provided a great platform for me to locate the right people for the right contacts, but with some I've had a hard time discovering what it is you do. Don't let the idea that everyone in SEO knows who you are, limit your potential for developing new business.I think it would benefit the whole community if you would visit your profile page and update anything you feel may help us to get to know you better.<br/><br/>38 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Happy 42nd Birthday Danny Sullivan!]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/6602</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/6602</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 23 Sep 2007 09:46:12 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Sphinn Zone</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/6602</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The first Sphinn Avatar Birthday Card. Happy birthday Danny, from all your Sphinn friends and stalkers!!!<br/><br/>128 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Why Local SEO Beats Print Yellow Pages: Case Study]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/5848</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/5848</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 17 Sep 2007 13:36:54 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Local &amp; Maps</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/5848</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Early this morning I was commenting on a post appearing on Sphinn related to local business searches and yellow page advertising. Moments after I finished my comment I received a phone call I'd like to believe came as a result of optimized local SEO. In hopes of us all learning from it, I thought I'd share that information with you today.If you have specific questions feel free to discuss them here...<br/><br/>4 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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