Week 11: Amplifying content for SEO - MKTG 348

Pictures are a great way to grab a readers attention. I highly suggest you include at least one picture for any kind of post you are creating. A great place to get high quality pictures for free is www.pixbay.com. The picture below is a picture from the website.

Why add photos? When looking at a post on social media a picture could be the first thing the reader sees. If the reader liked what they see, then they might click on your post. Boom a win win situation. Research shows that we visual learners. We are more likely to remember a picture we saw, rather than read it. 

Lets take a minute to think. When you go on Facebook and scroll through your feed the things that catch your eye are videos and pictures, and lets be honest I'm sure most of the time you like or share those pictures or videos. This exactly how the world is interacting with content, this is why visual content is key.

Week 10: AI commercial - MKTG 348

Microsoft came out with an Artificial Intelligence commercial that I just saw on t.v. The commercial is empowering. It talks about how we have incredible technology at our fingertips, such as AI. In my opinion this video shows that we are not taking full advantage of all the tools we have access to.

It is important to embrace the growing AI technology. The tools are not useful unless we take advantage of them. The technology cannot continue to grow unless we use these current tools to find ways to make improvements. If you have not watch this video already I suggest you do. 

Link to the commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tucY7Jhhs4

Week 10: Content - MKTG 348

I have made a few posts in the past about creating good content. Today I would like to dig a little deeper into that. There are many things to consider when creating content. I have came up with a little list that I like to use before posting blogs.

1. Create a structure of what you'd like your audience to see. Will there be pictures? How long will it be? How willI get the readers to come back and continue to read my blog?
2. Think before you write. Creating a rough draft will make it easier to take out or add any information you think is necessary.   
3. Optimize the length of the post you're writing. Most people do not want to spend more than a few minutes reading a blog.
4. Have someone read over your post before publishing. Ask the person going over your post if they understand the main ideas. Also have them check for any typos.
5. Add links to other articles you may be referring to in your post. 
6. Post as much as you can. The more good content you post the more your blog will grow.

Take this list and add more to it or take things out of it if you please. Or use it as stepping stones to create your own blogs. Heck maybe even try creating a mock blog post. Get you feet wet. You never know, you could end up being a famous blogger in the future. 

Week 9: Benefits and Risks of AI - MKTG 348

Artificial intelligence is progressing rapidly. We have not spent very much time on the risks of AI. With every creation there is some sort of risk. It is important to research AI safety. There are two scenarios reachers are worries about.

1: AI become programmed to do something devastating.

2: AI is programmed to do something to benefit us, but instead develops a destructive method for achieving it's goal.

According to Max Tegmark, President of the Future of Life Institute, "Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates, and many other big names in science and technology have recently expressed concern in the media and via open letters about the risks posed by AI, joined by many leading AI researchers."

Yes, it is cool to see all the advancements AI is making, but we must look at both sides. (Benefits and Risks). Anything is possible when it comes to the world of AI. It's time to do some serious research about the risks associated with AI. If people like Bill Gates and Elon Musk are concerned about it, maybe we should be too.

Link to Max Tegmark's article: https://futureoflife.org/background/benefits-risks-of-artificial-intelligence/

Week 9: Keeping up with the changes - MKTG 348

Chapter 8 of Introduction to Search Engine Optimization discusses keeping up with the constant changes of SEO. A great way to keep up with the changes is to sign up for SearchEngineNews.com. This is a great place to go to get reliable information.

They put out new data at the beginning of every month. For only $7 you can try all three membership plans. This site also offers two SEO books. These's books are free and are also updated at the first of every month. The first book offered is The Unfair Advantage Book Winning the Search Engine Wars. 

Staying updated with the chapters they post would be a great idea, and they are free. This book has 12 chapters and are easy reads. There a pictures, diagrams and even a few step-by-step how to's! If you are a college student like myself the free book is the way to go. The book comes directly from the website. Feel free to check it out!

Link to the free book: https://searchenginebook.com

Week 8: Surfing The Tsunami - MKTG 348

Chapter 8 of Surfing The Tsunami discusses people and perspectives. There are many people in this world that are in the artificial intelligence community. One man in particular stood out to me and that is Geoffrey Hinton from the University of Toronto.

Geoffrey Hinton has a PhD in artificial intelligene and works for Google. Todd Kelsey was able to to ask Hinton, "What inspired you originally to pursue artificial intelligence? What fuels your ongoing interest?". What really stood out to me was Hinton's reply. "I want to know how the brain works. I believe that the best way to understand it is to try to build one". (Surfing The Tsunami) 

That quote is very important, well I'm my opinion. My interpretation of this quote is, the best way to understand AI is to try play around with it. I know I've mentioned this in previous posts, but it is important to read articles and research people in the AI community. Honestly, at first AI is hard to understand but the deeper you dig the more and more you'll learn. 

Week 8: SEO internship opportunity - MKTG 348

While studying SEO as well as reading Introduction to Search Engine Optimization I thought it would be a good idea to look up jobs/internships that deal with my studies. The results I found were amazing. One of the positions I came across was this one:

Yes, I am aware that this job description has nothing to do with SEO. But I continued to read through and found something awesome.

Under Preferred Qualifications the last bullet point states, "Experience with Google Analytics, SEO social media marketing and web development". All of which are now qualifications I have. Last semester I studied social media marketing and became certified in Hootsuite. For the past two semester I have looked into and got my feet wet with Google Analytics. It's really awesome to see that the things I am studying will benefit my future. This job that I found is something that I would 110% apply for. I love helping students and I am a big fan of social media marketing. In this case this job goes hand and hand with the things I am interested in. I'm excited to continue to dive head first into SEO as well ask social media marketing.