Content Management Strategies Conference 2006

January 31st, 2006 - 

Conference Sessions: April 3, 4, and 5, 2006
Workshops: April 5, 2006

Mmmmm, what a nice picture of Golden Gate Bridge. I can’t help it, even though I wanted to read about the conference, my eyes keep focussing on that nice picture on the front page.

Once again, The Center for Information Developement Management hosts a conference on Content Management. So if you’re one of the lucky people to be in the neighbourhood of San Francisco in April, you should consider dropping by. I’m afraid it’s 10.000 kilometres away from me, so I won’t be there :( Prominent companies attend, and great tracks are available in those April days.

About the Content Management Strategies Conference 2006:

Are you

  • rolling out an enterprise-wide content management system?
  • reusing content to decrease the costs of global product deployment?
    considering a move to DITA?
  • managing content in an operations environment?
  • producing multiple media from a single source of content?
  • wondering how you are ever going to find enough time to do everything that needs to be done
  • in your publications organization?

Join colleagues who are leading the move to component information management at the 8th Annual Content Management Strategies conference. Learn the practical ins and outs of moving into content management. Take control of selecting the best tools for your working environment. Learn about the best practices that have made others successful.

CMS 2006 brings you three essential tracks—management, technical, and DITA, plus a new user- and vendor-coordinated demo track. Find out how Autodesk, AwwaRF, Siemens, Salesforce.com, IBM, IXIASOFT, Information Builders, Unisys, HP, Microsoft, Lucent, Cisco, Kohler, Lexmark, and others have actually planned and implemented XML-authoring and content management systems. Learn from key strategists in content management at XyEnterprise, Arbortext, Blast Radius, Vasont Systems, Percussion Software, Idiom Technologies, Quadralay Corporation, AuthorIT, Trisoft, and Innodata Isogen. At CMS, you’ll find a returning community of information developers and publishers who value building and managing core content as much as its presentation and delivery.

http://www.cm-strategies.com/

Podcasting CMS advise – pod content management CMS

January 30th, 2006 - 

Podcasting is growing. One day your content may even be automatically converted to Pods, converted from text to mp3 in your own voice. Lisa Welchman runs CMSAdvisor, and publishes in Pods. A nice feature when you have time to spare, traveltime or the like, and your Ipod or MP3 is in your hand.

I’ve enjoyed several of Lisas interviews, many with very prominent persons in the field of CMS – Content management, among others Bob Boiko.

I think you should try out Lisa :) (Welchman Consulting)…. Her Pods are well made, quality sound, great subjects and interviews.

Unfortunately, Lisa Welchmans RSS feeds show no news, eventhough they’re there. So Lisa, make your feeds work.

Give her a visit at CMSadvisor.com.

BY THE WAY, just received a call from CMforum.dk, Lisa is in Copenhagen just now, a day-seminar on “The 4 dimensions of web contentmanagement”. Have a look Lisa Welchman in Copenhagen (invitation-pdf).
(Thx Flemming)

Cashing In With Content – a new book by David Meerman Scott

January 16th, 2006 - 
David Meerman Scott, Cashing In With Content
This new book sounds really interesting, If I had more time, I’d read it. I suggest you do and give me a review. After that I’d like to borrow the book from you :) If you have it to give away, you are more than welcome to send it to me.

In short the book deals with innovative ways of using online content to build loyalty, increase revenue, educate, inform the reader and so on.

You can have a peek of one of the chapters here (pdf)… or get it from Amazon !

SEO Good pratices – does and don’ts

January 4th, 2006 - 

Michael Murray does some good articles on SEO, here is his latest. Be sure to check his other articles here.

How Lousy SEO Smothers Good Practices
How Lousy SEO Smothers Good Practices

From keyword spamming and bloated page density issues, over-the-top search engine optimization practices can ruin good META and content techniques.

Online marketers may have the best of intentions with their natural search engine optimization programs. Yet, they drop the ball with their impatience and eagerness to try the latest tricks and fads.

For example, you may know that choosing the right keywords and blending them with the visible text is a critical step. Even if you do this well you may still squelch your effort by going overboard in other ways. Here are five areas where you should tread lightly with SEO:

1. Long Page Titles

Stick with one, two or three search terms with 70 or so characters as your cap. Don’t make the mistake of cramming in a ton of words here.

2. META Descriptions

Strive for 12-15 words. If you go over, it won’t hurt. You will counteract your other optimization efforts by creating a META description monstrosity loaded with too many keywords.

3. Image Alt Tags

Don’t have a field day with alt tags. Often, a web site has many graphics and each could feature an alt tag. Stay away from the temptation to keep repeating your keywords and search phrases in the image source code.

4. Link Title Attribute

Desperate for any edge they can get, some online marketers have discovered ways to pack too many keywords in the source code. Yes, you can identify a link (the words appear when you hover over the link), but what can you really expect to achieve by filling up the link title attribute tag?

5. Domain, Folder and Page Names

Yes, including a keyword in a domain, folder name and page name can help. But it can also look like spam to the search engines and leave the wrong impression on visitors. Do you really want a hideous URL with three hyphens in the domain name, several more in the folder name and three others in the page name?

Your best bet is to stick with the basics – effective page titles and META descriptions (and maybe a few keywords in the keyword META tag). Besides that, focus on good content with search terms spread throughout the page (with some keywords linked to related content on the site). Finally, support these efforts with a robust link building program (getting links to your site from quality web sites).

Slow down. Pace yourself. And be careful what you read in the forums and hear from your friends. Before you do anything off the normal SEO path, you need to be very confident about your choices and their implications.

If you go at a steady pace and test your rankings as you try proven techniques, you’ll increase your odds of success.

SEO GUIDE