Mark Carey - Internet Marketing & Web Presence Strategies

Switching to RunKeeper after 4,000km with Nike Plus

2013-02-19T19:58:21Z

After using Nike Plus for several years, totaling almost 4,000km, I recently decided to switch to RunKeeper. I would have done it sooner, but one major feature of Nike Plus was holding me back: accelerometer-based tracking -- a feature that it not available with RunKeeper. I used Nike Plus with my iPod Touch, which doesn't have GPS, and RunKeeper needs GPS to work. After I received my iPhone 5, that all changed and I could finally give RunKeeper a try.

What is Wrong with Nike Plus

Nike Plus is full of bugs and each new version introduces new bugs. The old bugs sometimes get fixed, but many persists through several updates. One of the big problems is that it is very easy to tell that they don't beta test the app with actual runners. One example is that at the end of each run, and "ERROR" message appears saying that I am not connected to the Internet. As mentioned, I used an iPod touch and its pretty rare that when a runner stops running that they will be connected to WiFi at that location -- I tend to stop my runs before I enter my home. And this error prompt shows up three times, not once, in a row. First of all the lack of an Internet connection is not an error at all -- yes, I understand that the app wants to sync with Nike Plus servers, and the runner may want that as well -- but its not an error, its something that can easily wait until the next time the app connects. Over 80 million iPod Touches are out there, and Nike Plus knows that they are used with their app. Clearly they don't have anyone testing it. New Features also make it clear that the product design is not be directed by actual runners, like the change where the app suddenly switched from announcing "current pace" to "average pace" -- with average pace being the simple calculation of you average pace since you started your run -- so you can forget using it for interval training or any other run where you intentionally change your pace for different segments of your run -- gone was the ability to learn what your current pace was. I could go on...

RunKeeper Impressions

RunKeeper is better is just about every respect. Apart from an initial bug connecting to my new Wahoo Blue HR heart rate monitor (now fixed), I haven't encountered any bugs. Features clearly make a lot more sense and you can tell they stem form actual runners experiences and training needs. There are a ton of options for what types of audio cues you will receive when running, including either or both "current pace" and "average pace". The Web UI is also better than Nike Plus, and while I currently have few "friends" on RunKeeper, the social features seem decent (btw, I can be found on RunKeeper at http://runkeeper.com/user/markcarey/). And of course the GPS mapping of runs is pretty cool -- Nike Plus has this feature as well but never used it as I couldn't with my iPod Touch. The one key feature missing from RunKeeper is accelerometer-based tracking -- if they added that feature I bet they would get a lot of new users from among those 80+ million iPod Touches out there (plus I could use it for treadmill runs).

Facebook SEO

2013-01-18T18:08:34Z

With the recent announcement of Facebook Graph Search, the practice of Facebook SEO may be right around the corner.

But how would Facebook Graph Search Engine Optimization (FGSEO?) work? Rather than ranking web sites, business will strive to have their Facebook "Pages" ranking high for relevant queries. It remains to be seen how Facebook will rank such search results. Of course, "on-page" keywords will play a part, with Pages having search keywords in various profile fields, and perhaps even in post content.

Social Scoring

Facebook being Facebook, we can expect that social actions will play large part in the scoring and ranking of results. Convention web page search engines like Google place most weight on links pointing to a page, but I think Facebook won't bother trying to tally links to Facebook Pages (nor to the external web sites associated with those Pages). They will almost certainly consider the number of likes, shares, and comments that a pages and its posts get, and perhaps weighing some recent actions more than those in the distant past.

How to do Facebook SEO

Given this, what how should companies and SEOs approach the task of Facebook SEO? The answer to this question will take some in coming. Of course, boosting Likes to a Facebook Page is certainly one way, but there's nothing new about that approach. The interesting question for me is whether -- and how -- will managing Facebook Pages change when Facebook SEO becomes part of the goal?

Warren Buffet explains how cash is way riskier than stocks http://bit.ly/AcXVgm

2012-02-12T16:10:03Z

Inside Instagram: How Slowing Its Roll Put the Little Startup in the Fast Lane http://gizmo.do/zr0BPU

2012-02-08T03:23:28Z

Siri Is Only The Beginning http://tcrn.ch/zNyQNO

2012-02-08T00:40:49Z

Guide to Finding Link Building Targets on Social Media Sites http://selnd.com/wyIcXy

2012-02-07T19:10:21Z

Rogers and BCE Already Have the Apple iTV in Their Labs, Controlled with Siri and Hand Gestures http://bit.ly/xUzq2p

2012-02-07T12:51:59Z

Interesting post about prioritizing web and mobile development Web Second, Mobile First http://bit.ly/x4nylj

2012-01-30T17:49:25Z

Giant Tortoise May Not be Extinct After All

2012-01-10T02:04:52Z

Genetic traces of a supposedly extinct giant tortoise species have been found in living hybrids on the Galapagos island of Isabela.

Source: Wired.com

iOS auto-renewable subscriptions cannot be used by web services http://bit.ly/yRPnYe

2012-01-07T00:35:16Z

Great new feature for Instagram: Share Bigger Photos to Your Facebook Album http://bit.ly/xFe4nH

2012-01-06T03:19:03Z

Conceptually, at least, new Share app from BitTorrent sounds good: free unlimited personal P2P file sharing http://bit.ly/zUGEJo

2012-01-06T03:11:47Z

Thank You and Congrats to ReadWriteWeb

2012-01-05T08:43:49Z

Last month marked the end of one of my longest-running consulting engagements, with popular technology blog ReadWriteWeb. Founder Richard McManus announced last month that ReadWriteWeb is being acquired by Say Media, a company formed by the combination of VideoEgg and Six Apart (formerly the maker of Movable Type). Congratulations to Richard and the rest of the RWW team on this exciting next step!

ReadWriteWeb will soon be migrating from Movable Type to a proprietary SAY platform, which, based on publicized rumors (I have no inside knowledge), may be based on the TypePad platform that came with the Six Apart acquisition (which in turn, many moons ago, was based on Movable Type).

During the fours years that I worked with ReadWriteWeb, most of the services I provided were Movable Type management, maintenance, optimization, and custom development. Projects included at least one major re-design integration and a hosting migration from one provider to another. I also helped RWW integrate social media services through several of my Movable Type plugins including FriendFeed Comments, Twitter Commenters, and Twitter Tools. My Visitor Stats plugin helped provide real-time stats about traffic to RWW stories and show which posts were most popular.

Once again, congratulations to ReadWriteWeb and thank you for 4 years of interesting projects. I wish them all the best in future.

iOS App Development - Coming Soon

2012-01-04T17:50:02Z

In 2011, I stared learning how to create iPhone and iPad apps. In 2012 I will start offering iOS app development services, in addition to Movable Type development, SEO, PPC advertising, and other internet marketing services.

I have one iOS app that is a work-in-progress, which I plan to finish soon. I had to put it hold due to higher priorities but hope to jump back into that project very soon. I also have another idea for a "fun" app that mixes photography, art, and social networking -- this one remains at the idea stage, but hope to start work on it soon.

After one (or both) of these projects launch, I will begin to offer iOS app development services. Stay tuned for more details.

100 Million Page Views

2012-01-03T17:30:42Z

One of my sites sites received almost 100 million page views last month. Fantastic, but not as much as you might think. I made approximately zero dollars from this. One of the things on my 2012 todo list is to do something about this. I am still not sure what, but i gotta do something. It is not conventional traffic, so its complicated. But even a CPM of $0.10 would be very nice. Hmmmm...