It’s now been one year since the Facebook IPO, and you probably would have been better off investing your money in some Iraqi Dinar or Bitcoins instead.

A $10,000 investment in Facebook fared much worse than the same amount invested in Apple, Google, the S&P, and the Nasdaq. I don’t think anybody is scratching their head about this one.

Please don’t act surprised

In 2010 Zucks was saying things like this.

“At this point in the company’s evolution, I don’t see a huge need for the company to be throwing off a huge amount of profit. What’s the point?”

- Inside Facebook

Then in the fall of 2012 (after the IPO) Mark was still saying things like this.

“I suppose there could be short-term things that we could do, but we’re not going to focus on those; we’re going to focus on the long-term stuff.”

- Forbes

So Many Advertisements, So Little Value

But they aren’t really focused on long term growth when over the last 6 months they’ve inundated my Facebook news feed with mobile ads. This is how my news feed experience works now on my iPhone.

1. Open the app
2. Click on my news feed, already prepared to be disappointed
3. Scroll past the first ad for Jack threads (never heard of them)
4. Skip a viral but predictable top ranked “organic” picture of my friends baby doing something cute
5. Scroll past another ad for Salesforce or Marketo (targeted based on my interests but still highly irrelevant to my Facebook habits)
6. Now I’m scrolling in hyperdrive mode, desperately seeking something intelligent or out of the ordinary to catch my vision.
7. Close the app

Please Make it Stop

This issue is that I’ve never bought anything on Facebook, and unless there is a radical change probably never will. I don’t go on Facebook to purchase, or with intent to purchase, I’m in a completely different mindset than a shopper.

Can Facebook Turn it Around?

Facebook’s revenue is largely dependent on a US/Canadian user base that doesn’t hold any alliances. In the last 12 months 46% of Facebook’s revenue came from North America.

The issue now is whether Facebook can squeeze even more money out of the American’s who can’t even seem to remember the last online ad they saw.

It was an extremely competitve search for “apartments for rent“, a query with 4,000,000 broad match monthly searches. At the very top of Google was forrent.com, with a woman (Kaitlin Doud) displayed as the rich snippet.

Ignore the purple highlight, this was an uncookied, logged out of Google search…and I tried with several different browsers and one off rank checkers.

Now surely Kaitlin can’t be credited with Google+ authorship for a directory of apartments for rent with 12,000,000+ of pages of content can she?

Surely she can’t be the one who wrote all the code, collected the content, setup the database, and bought the domain right?

Especially given the fact that Kaitlin hasn’t even posted anything on her Google+ profile yet

The entire basis of authorship was to connect content you created with YOUR Google+ profile. Yet it just turns out it’s another way to manipulate the system, or for Google to screw up the SERPs once more.

I find it really interesting that the rich snippets testing tool previews forrent.com as having a completely different authorship account.

Yet Google has decided to show Caitlin instead, maybe it’s testing to see what gets the best click through rate? I’m guessing compared to the boring for rent logo, Caitlin won that A/B test.

Maybe somebody can make sense of this for me? Although she is listed a contributor to a subdomain yoursolutions.forrent.com, I can’t see any reason why Google would show her as the author for the TLD like that.

Perhaps there are still bugs Google is working out in their attribution algorithm, or issues with authorship for large websites with millions of different pages of content tied to multiple authors. Whatever this case, it’s definitely food for thought.

Update: Since this post was published there has been a lot of buzz recently from high profile folks at RKG and SEland regarding authorship. Definitely worth checking out.

In this world we are the few creators filling needs created by the vast majority of consumers in the US and around the world.

We don’t just use Facebook, we understand how the XHTML, PHP, and SQL work together. We don’t just perform mindless Google searches, we are trying to reverse engineer algorithms for fun and profit.

Don’t take my word for it though, listen to billionaires like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. They put together this great video that says it better than I ever could.

I love to read lists of the best companies to work for each year, because it’s no secret what separates the good places to work from the great places to work. You don’t need a degree in HR to understand that the companies with strong cultures, led by level 5 leaders, are usually at the top of the list year after year.

“Happiness is really just about four things: perceived control, perceived progress, connectedness (number and depth of your relationships), and vision/meaning (being part of something bigger than yourself).” ― Tony Hsieh

Instead of working for a company, why not work for a culture? Instead of trying to build a company, why not birth a culture? So what if you go down swinging, in the long run we need more thriving corporate cultures not mediocre companies.

How do you define a thriving company culture? It’s group of people with not only the same behaviors and ideals, but the same core beliefs. These are fiercely competitive human beings who don’t mind battling side by side each day in the trenches. They work hard, they play hard.

When you create an organization based on shallow peripherals like work performance and contextual knowledge, you aren’t ensuring there is also a cultural fit. I love the Zappos interview process. One person interviews the candidate for technical savvy, the other for culture fit. If the candidate doesn’t ace both interviews, they don’t hire them, period.

A culture is formed by bringing together those with very similar core beliefs like passion, curiosity, trust, reciprocity, courage, dedication, integrity, and humility. There are already enough obstacles to overcome in the competitive free market, why should your culture be another challenge to overcome?

In late 2011 a bitcoin was worth $2, last week it was $180, at times reaches as high $218 per bitcoin. Now there is more than a billion dollars of bitcoins in circulation, and the number keeps growing. The chart below shows the market value (in USD) of a bitcoin over the last 12 months.

There are even stories of freshly minted bitcoin millionaires, who turned 5 grand into more than a million dollars riding the wave of distrust in traditional fiat money.

Sure it’s a bubble that might soon pop, but the more I learn about unregulated international currency like Bitcoin, Ripple, etc., the more fascinated I get with the whole concept of a system of exchange that lives outside government.

Really it’s all psychological. Do people trust the government anymore? No, and that’s because the government has a face to distrust. A computer program holding all our money is sterilized. We can be just like Dorthy and trust in the invisible Wizard of Oz behind the curtain.

The more the US economy gets into debt, the more Eurozone countries fall into bankruptcy, the stronger these movements will grow.

If you are a nerd Google this stuff it’s super kewl, if you care for your family at least research it. Over your head? Too much for you? Alright here’s a cute puppy I KNOW you can relate to.

Bing data now shows that adding site links or “deep links” can help you capture more than 75% of the clicks for a given query term.

We’ve all seen the old charts that show the #1 organic result captures around 35% of the clicks for a given term, then it’s down to 10% for #2, and so on. Honestly I don’t really want a percentage of the click distribution for my branded terms, I want ALL the clicks.

Maybe I’m just greedy, but I feel like if you create that impression volume you alone should reap the rewards for it.

Don’t Settle For A Piece, Get The Whole Pie

Why settle for 35% or even 50% of the clicks, when you can capture almost 80% of the impressions for a search term combining paid and organic site links? It’s a no brainer.

I pulled a screen grab of a SERP for Salesforce below to see exactly what I’m talking about, everything above the fold is controlled by the brand. There’s no room for your competition to siphon off your customers or your customers to bash you with negative reviews above the fold.

This new Bing data shows that if you aren’t taking advantage of site links for both SEO and PPC you are leaving a lot on the table.

Your branded terms are created by you, and they should be enjoyed by you. They are also the terms which are furthest down the conversion funnel, meaning it will cost you far less to convert those leads into sales over time.

This Is The Lowest Of The Low Hanging Fruit

If you are already run paid search campaigns, adding site links is very straightforward. If you aren’t running PPC for your branded terms, you are losing out on conversions for pennies on the dollar, and leaving room for your competition to steal customers, enough said.

When it comes to organic site links, you’ll need to make sure you’ve established to Google that you have a brand, and that they are displaying the appropriate site links for your website. You can then use Google webmaster tools to demote and manipulate organic site links to your delight.

If you aren’t seeing organic site links for your most popular branded search terms, than it means you aren’t targeting your brands heavy enough with basic on-page and off page SEO.

Go back and add more of your brand terms to titles, metas, images, etc. throughout your website and give Google about 30 days to chew on it.

What Are You Waiting For?

Let’s just save everyone some time reading blog post after blog post after agonizing blog post. Seeing lists like these on Search Engine Land just make me want to bang my head against a wall.

For more than a decade the SEO industry could easily spam our way to the top of the SERPs using basic techniques that were widely circulated and widely accepted.

So really what it all comes down to is the immutable truth that SEO has just gotten more difficult. If it’s a technique that’s been around for more than a few years, either one of two things are true about it: either it doesn’t work anymore, or everyone has exploited it and it’s no longer gives your website a competitive edge in the SERPs.

Now we are back at square one, where those testing and proving their theories are at the top of Google. It’s going to take a few years for us to crank out new theories, and for the industry as a whole to trust us again. But then again wouldn’t you rather be on the leading edge anyways?

SEO isn’t dead, it’s just not THAT easy anymore.

Recently, Cisco released a study about what young professionals want in a work environment. They studied more than 2,800 young people from 14 different countries around the world. They asked them questions about what they are looking for in a company, and what kinds of perks would sweeten the deal. They also asked about deal breakers, or things that might cause them to look elsewhere.

News flash: You don’t need to pay big for young talent right now, just let them check their Facebook account every once and awhile…

After looking at the numbers, the most important thing for attracting young talent was the use of social media, device freedom, and the ability to work remotely. 45% said they would actually take a lower paying job if they had more of these freedoms in the workplace.

Rule #1: Salary isn’t as important as the freedom to communicate.

30% of college students said that they would consider the following things ABOVE salary when weighing potential job offers.

1. Social Media Freedom
2. Device Flexibility
3. Work Mobility

Rule #2: The line between personal time and work time is vanishing right before our eyes.

56% of college students globally say they would either turn down a job that banned access to social media, or find a way to circumvent corporate policy. That’s making a pretty strong statement if you ask me.

It’s not just students and prospective hires making these demands, companies are adopting this attitude to attract top talent. 40% of  employees said they’ve come across companies that marketed a flexible social media policy during the interview process.

Rule #3: Company-issued devices aren’t just for ‘company business’ anymore.

The days of one mobile device are over. 77% of young employees have multiple devices, and 33% use at least three devices while they are work. To my previous point, the line between work and personal communication is becoming increasingly hard to find.

Some folks might be shocked by this one, but i’m not. When asked about company-issued devices, an overwhelming 71% of college students believe that company-issued devices should be approved for personal and business use.

Rule #4: Freedom to use, means the freedom to choose.

It’s not just about using preferred devices, it’s becoming more and more about choosing the device. 81% of students surveyed said they want to be able to choose their own device for work. It’s all about the connection, as young adults suggested a desire for their company to “stay empathetic of their need to be connected via social media and personal websites“.

Rule #5: You don’t have to come to work anymore to have a job.

Amazingly, almost a third of college students (29%), believe that once they start working for a company, it’s their right and not a privilege – to be able to work remotely on their own flexible schedule.

The majority of them, around 70%, believe it’s not necessary to work in the office on a regular basis, barring any meetings of course. Sounds like a data security nightmare, or a growing market depending on your point of view.

Rule #6: Young talent demands you support their lifestyle.

At first glance, it seems like young adults and college students have major entitlement issues. But in reality it’s just about supporting the things at the office that make up their life out of the office. The lines aren’t just blurring, they are vanishing altogether.

Be prepared, college students expect to get compensated for the following…

1. Surfing the web
2. Checking their Facebook account
3. Watching YouTube videos
4. Making personal calls
5. Texting
6. Not being in the office
7. Accessing sensitive corporate data remotely
8. Using work devices for personal use

Conclusion and closing thoughts

Related articles from the Web

• Social media and your employees – building a policy
• How to build a crappy workforce
• 4 Reasons I Answer College Students’ Emails
• A must-read for college students and professors
• Be social: Recruiting using social media
• Half Of Young Professionals Value Facebook Access
• Collaboration: The Cure for a Rollercoaster Economy
• Young People Think The Internet Is As Important As Breathing

Usually new years resolutions seem pretty daunting to me, partially because I know that a year is an awfully long time to break a resolution.

Enter the Matt Cutts 30 day challenge. This year I’m going to see if I can have more success with a monthly approach to tackling new things.

Below I’ve outline a 30 day challenge for each month of 2013, comprised of everything I’m passionate about: self-improvement, public speaking, music, philanthropy, etc.

If you are a competitive person you naturally want to get better with each passing day, month, and year. I think publishing your goals is a great way to hold yourself accountable.

So without further ado, here’s what I hope to accomplish in 2013.

January: Get More Sleep

Be in bed by 10pm, get 8 hours of sleep each night. This is the foundation for everything else, so I figured it should be first.

February: Guest Speaking

Apply to a different place to guest speak each day. This can be a college, high school, or local event. Always love sharing my passion and experience with others, hopefully I can get some good appointments booked throughout 2013 early on in the year.

March: Daily Letters

Write a hand written letter each day to a different person in my life either past, present, or future. While I can appreciate technology, I still feel like there is something great about getting a hand written letter. Although my handwriting may be so hideous I will quickly regret this decision.

April: Write a Book

Write 2,000 words each night, 60,000 by the end of the month. Haven’t decided on a topic or title yet, thinking about something related to business, personal growth, or possibly psychology.

May: Reading Blast

Read 10 books in 30 days. When it comes to bucket list type goals, I’d prefer to shoot for something crazy and end up missing the mark (which would still be quite an accomplishment).

June: TED Talks

Watch a different TED talk each evening after work. After all, Matt Cutts TED talk led directly to this entire idea of 30 day challenges for 2013.

July: Mas Espanol Por Favor

Listen to Spanish in the car, read Spanish books, work on Rosetta Stone, and practice it daily. I have a good foundation, but get lazy and forget to build on it with each passing year.

August: Sheet Music

Teach myself how to read sheet music, this will help with both the guitar and piano (on my bucket list). By this point hopefully I have a decent guitar and have taken several months of voice lessons.

September: Lynda Tutorials

Watch at least 30 minutes of Lynda.com tutorials each night. I’d like to move beyond online marketing, and watch a few on Project Management, Design, Photography, etc.

October: Guitar Time

Learn a different song each night. Doesn’t have to be perfect, but it’s pretty easy to look up new tabs and strum a different chord progression.

November: Sign Language

Learn the standard signs per ASL accepted practices. I think it would be really great to be able to volunteer working with the deaf.

December: Give Back

Each weekend plan to volunteer at a local shelter, food bank, or something similar. There are so many who need so much, let’s spread the love.

Tonight I got around to making some updates to one of the smaller websites I manage. It’s mainly more of an SEO playground that I use for testing new theories, ya know one of those builds that was made to be broken. I rarely check the source code, and usually just tweak content and watch analytics and monitor rankings.

However tonight I got into the code a bit to change things up. While editing my header file I found an interesting snippet of HTML with some JavaScript below it. Of course at first it didn’t make sense because I had never seen that text displayed on the global header, until I saw the div id=’hideMe’.

I can’t even get mad, it’s genius if you think about it. Most WordPress sites are set it and forget it type installs, especially for lower traffic websites. For me this site is a subdomain of a larger website, just something I set up to run 20 pages or so of e-commerce that I silo’d out for SEO purposes.

All that to say just because you don’t see VISIBLE links all over your site to shady neighborhoods, doesn’t mean they aren’t still there. Just a good reminder to add a clean sweep of the source code as part of your monthly routines.

Hidden HTML I Found in My header.php File

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This Javascript Was Also There

<script type=’text/javascript’>if(document.getElementById(‘hideMe’) != null){document.getElementById(‘hideMe’).style.visibility = ‘hidden’;document.getElementById(‘hideMe’).style.display = ‘none’;}</script>