How ASU Should Make It Up To Obama

Arizona State Snubs Obama

If you’re unaware, the ASU commencement speaker for the Spring class of 2009 was graced by guest speaker President Barack Obama.  It was an amazing speech, and I was lucky enough to attend.

Yet, even though he was tapped to speak, the President did not receive the typical honorary degree granted to most commencement speakers.  Yes, this is old news by now, and has been rung out online and on the airwaves (see Daily Show clip above.)

So, why am I writing about something that has already seen its day in the sun.  Well, as many ASU students, graduates, and professors, I would like to see our institution make up for its stupidity.  What’s more, I have a plan.

Google Business Cards — Received

I received my free Google Business cards today, and I couldn’t be happier.  First of all they’re free so who can complain about that.  Secondly, they have my Name and my profile ID right there, something highly necessary for a guy named “Mark Miller.”

Oh, and finally I’m ranking somewhere on the front page of the Google SERPs for my name.  I need to change my profile pic (and I’ll probably go do that right now) but still I rank!

If you haven’t yet created a profile, I strongly suggest doing so.  The steps to do so are pretty simple.

Website Wednesday: Picking The Right Domain Name

Picking the right domain name isn’t necessarily as important as you may think.  Unless you’re Coke, or Nintendo, or the American Broadcasting Corporation (and I think they all have theirs locked down by now) your domain name can really be anything.

Of course it is wise to have something that has to do with your industry and keyword rich, so if you can (and if it’s available) get something like that.  A good domain name should have something to do with your industry — like design for me — and something to set you apart from your competition — like start page.  Here are some good examples of good domain names:

1. Bakespace.com — a MySpace clone for chefs and cooks.
2. TempeCarWash.com — a local car wash company.

Now the next question is whether to go .com, .net, .biz, or what.  Here’s my personal opinion on that:  ALWAYS GET THE .COM!!!  If it’s available that is.  Most people using the web automatically think your domain name will end in a .com if they ever get confused or forget, so make sure you own it if you can.  You don’t want to be sending money to your compitors or to some adlink site, like the ones I mentioned on Monday.

That said, if you can bet the .net, .biz, .org, .info, .us, .mobi, etc., etc., etc., and you have the budget to get them, do so.  If you point them all to your main page, and rewrite the URL to the .com, you’re going to increase your rank and authority.

Another suggestion would be to buy the .net, .org, etc. of your competitors domain names.  Of course you probably shouldn’t do this if your competition is using a copyright, and even if they’re not, I’d point those domain names to the adlink sites (Sedo.com is great) instead of pointing them to your own site.  You don’t want to get into a costly legal battle over a $10 domain name.

So there are my 2¢ for the week.  Now go buy some domain names.

Marketing Tip Monday: Renew Your Domain Name

There’s a problem in the web industry.  People only buy their domain names for a year at a time.  Why is it a problem?  Well there are a number of reasons, and I’ll delve into those throughout the week, but for today, I’ll stick with some of the Marketing implications.

First things first.  You never (never, never, never, never, never) want your domain name to go past due.  When your domain name goes past due it is usually (depending on your registrar) pointed to a parked page.  You’ve seen these pages on other sites, I’m sure.  They’re the ones with a group of adlinks to “similar services.”

The reasons for not wanting this to happen should be relatively obvious.  You don’t get any business from a website that is down.  On top of that, you also lose reliability instantly.  Additionally, anyone coming to your site and seeing that will probably never come back, or worse yet, they might click on one of those adlinks and go to a competitor.

Another reason to renew your domain name for as long as possible is to assist with your rankings within the search engines.  That said, Google and Yahoo have never officially said that a domain name that is only registered for a year will have a lower ranking.  However, you have to believe that they will see a domain name that has a longer registration more reliable as the business plans to be around longer and isn’t holding on year to year.

Website Wednesday: Learn A Language

This post is going to be a fast and easy, no frill, Southwest Airlines type of post.  Future Website Wednesday posts will be longer and more intense, and probably a lot better written, but for now, here’s this weeks tip.

Learn a website coding language.  I personally began with HTML because I wanted to pimp my MySpace profile.  (Yes, somewhere out there I still have a MySpace profile.)  Back then I had to search around and Google most of what I was doing.

Luckily my search eventually lead me to w3schools.com and the tutorials there.  I don’t care if you’re just starting in web design, or want to learn a new language, I recommend going there and checking out what they have.

So that’s it for today.  Like I said, short, sweet, and simple.

I’m Stupid

I’d like to talk to you today about a problem I’ve experieced recently.  I seem to be suffering from, what I hope is only a passing case, of Stupid American Syndrome.

For those who have never heard of Stupid American Syndrome (SAS*) I’m not surprised.  For, while it’s been estimated that nearly 95% of all United States citizens suffer from this horrid and contagious disease, very little research has been done to combat its spread or cure those who suffer from its effect.

SAS is a vigorous contagion spread by casual social contact.  Symptoms include: