Mike Mueller

""Does Marissa Mayer read AreWeConnected.com?" She should! :)" - Mike Mueller

"John - I had to look up the definition of pithy just because the tone of your comment sounded a little harsh. I used 'rank' in the same meaning of SERP (Search Engine Results Page) but did so specifically because I wanted to keep this in plain english. No ambiguity intended. My thought is that this statement should be easily understood by the newest of site owners. "your position in the SERPs is your site's character and of utmost importance" - I can totally agree with! Master? Boy, I really hope you are not referring to me. If so, please get to know me better." - Mike Mueller

"Bill you are right on! It is a constantly moving target Best line: "... the research on key words, phrases and other (ever) changing gizmos" is spot on. :)" - Mike Mueller

"Not harsh at all. That's actually based in reality! There's no shortage of SEO Snakeoil salesman out there. A very long time ago I created / completed a pinterest board http://pinterest.com/mikemuell... It's intentionally blank. I don't think anyone ever got that. Unfortunately, one of the problems is that snake oil will use the same words as someone who may know better. Without "Tools and Techniques" a site is just a site. Currently, your site has over 47,000 pages indexed by Google. That's the direct result of a tool. Proper alt tags, links out and in, anchor text, and other stuff falls under the technique side. Which you are doing just fine in. The snake oil people will take your money (like you say), set you up in a link farm, write spammy guest posts and call it all their proprietary "Tools and Techniques" Hey, as far as your addition: "...higher rank for keywords your target audience is using to search for what you're offering.." That's absolutely true. If you are just making up..." - Mike Mueller

"You are welcome!" - Mike Mueller

"http://areweconnected.com/face... :)" - Mike Mueller

"Good question Eric - I reverted to writing posts the old fashioned way on the Wordpress Dashboard. That said, with the new ability to write 'distraction free' I'm a little happier. http://en.support.wordpress.co... Mars Edit just wasn't what Livewriter was (or is). I still fire up LiveWriter on the PC ever now and then. :)" - Mike Mueller

"I used to have an accordion plugin! That's another great option for styling a long page. Behind the scenes it still loaded the page completely - just hid the stuff you wanted. I used a script to do the same thing for a Facebook App that had tons of content ( http://www.facebook.com/CruWin... ). Load times are going to be the same - it's just condensing the content to make it more visually appealing sometimes." - Mike Mueller

"Exactly Ken. To your question, (and a great question too!) - it doesn't effect mobile, or shouldn't. I use WP Touch which delivers a small version of the thumbnail, the title and the snippet with it's own version read more. When the mobile user clicks the read more, they should see an mobile optimized version of the same post in it's entirety. So in short - the mobile viewer is delivered a slightly different but at the same time, similar experience." - Mike Mueller

"Exactly that Ken - it's not up to me to determine the channel at which you and I communicate, it's up to the Client (or prospective client) to choose the method that suits them. On a related note... I hear bunches about how millennials want to receive text updates from their agent. That's their method of communication. I remember back a few years when trying to get an agent to text would have been next to pulling teeth - not so much today, eh? The same goes for Twitter today. I don't get twitter. I don't use twitter. If your next client is a twitter freak and they start the conversation there - what happens then? You better at least be listening on twitter." - Mike Mueller

"I really like the idea of starting a blogger on a free service. Before you spend gobs of money designing a 'dream blog' you'll abandon after 3 posts, see if you have the blogging gene in you first. After 30 days of free blogging, if you are still as excited about it, let's build that 'dream blog' and I can import all your existing posts magically to the new site. :) That said, I do have a few Tumblrs with http://newslettersofshame.tumb... being one of my Fav's. There's also FREE wordpress.com sites. Which bring up a thought... Assuming the new blogger will eventually switch to a 'big boy blog' (Wordpress.org) would it be better to get them used to the similar WP dashboard - or does that even matter?" - Mike Mueller

"To play devils advocate with my own position - I can see value in social media as a broadcast media. I really can. I can also see it for the curators of information. Me? I choose (and that fits right in with your gravatar today) to be open. As open as I can be and that's my choice. Conversely I'm just as happy with the way you choose to use social media! See how I tied that all in? ;) Seriously, thanks for the comment!" - Mike Mueller

"Will do - Thanks Josh! You Rock! :)" - Mike Mueller

"LOL! It surprises me sometimes. I go along writing and writing thinking few are reading and then out of the blue someone pops up and says something like "I've been reading your posts for years!" My inside response is always, "Really?" followed by tears of joy but on the outside I mask it and usually manage to say something techy like, "Yeah I know, I watch my analytics pretty close". ;)" - Mike Mueller

"T - I saw a webinar once on how to get 1,000 comments. They told me to write a post about comments. I'm just following directions. ;)" - Mike Mueller

"Thanks Tamara! You know I use your posts in all my workshops, right? Teaching people how to do it right. <<hugs!!>></hugs!!>" - Mike Mueller

"Truth be told Ken, I'm always experimenting. Rarely do I write solely for SEO but it's always in the back of my mind. The other thought is to write for SEO but set the site up for lead capture. Expect no comments and no shares but aggressively go after the leads. That's not my style, and I don't think it's yours either. I don't mind the comments on FB, especially if they are connected to me (so I know about the conversation). The funny ones are the comments that happen there from people who never read the post. The answer to that of course is to enable the FB commenting system. Then everything that happens on FB also happens on the blog and visa versa. The drawback with FB Comments is that it slows down site load times. I guess you can't have everything :(" - Mike Mueller

"OOOOOOH! I love the new word! I'm a 'Greader' too! Let me know what you come up with Ken." - Mike Mueller

"What I should say is that I skim 200+ posts a day. Typically there are 400 or so new posts. I use the Scoble Method. (see http://www.fourhourworkweek.co...:8080/blog...) Tim Ferriss is another one in my Feed Reader. They go to the smart cookie folder. :)" - Mike Mueller

"Mike, I'm right there with you. For me the morning consists of check email, check social media, read 200+ posts in Feed Reader - all before starting my day. I guess besides being uninformed now, I'll have a little more time. Maybe I'll take up Yoga? #NOT Don't call me - I'm soon to be uninformed. ;)" - Mike Mueller

"Upon Request? Who does that anymore? I Love ya, Mike! You rock! :)" - Mike Mueller

"I love ya! And not only for leaving comments, but opinionated comments! True - most of the posts I see don't call for a comment. Funny thing is, they are written for SEO. Market Data Reports and the like. I once wrote a post on activerain How to Comment and with tongue firmly in cheek, I listed 50 of the most mind numbing lines people there used. Strangely enough, it wasn't featured - LOL! My challenge is going to be just that, a challenge. I won't even try to manufacture opportunities to comment BUT... if and when I see real place to comment, I will. Speaking of which, one thing leads to another. I saw you connect with Julie McCoy over on G+, followed along to her profile and am now reading her blog. We have cars in common - fast ones with R8 in the title. You can bet I'm leaving her a comment (just to start the conversation)! :)" - Mike Mueller

"That's a bummer! Although I haven't shopped there I'm a big advocate of the local bike shops. All my bikes and all my parts come from local shops. Local shops encourage and build the cycling community with workshops and groups rides. Do you think it had to do with the limited parking at that location?" - Mike Mueller

"Logical / Illogical... I sooo want to figure a way to use my favorite Spock quote somewhere in here "in an insane society the sane man must appear insane" - Mr. Spock Seriously, you are spot on buddy, as always! * How about, "In an insane business economy, the sane business must appear insane"? oh well." - Mike Mueller

"LOL! _ Michael did you notice how many times I used the words "Bounce Rate" in the beginning? I'm so glad you noticed! ;) Technically speaking though, a Squeeze Page should always have a very high bounce rate, right? They either take action or leave. Depending on the take action, that might count as a bounce in GA eyes." - Mike Mueller

"LOL! _ Michael did you notice how many times I used the words "Bounce Rate" in the beginning? I'm so glad you noticed! ;) Technically speaking though, a Squeeze Page should always have a very high bounce rate, right? They either take action or leave. Depending on the take action, that might count as a bounce in GA eyes." - Mike Mueller