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Sunday, February 13, 2011

Session ID query parameters: A quick list


Session ID make your URLs look like this:


mysite.com?sessionid=ASDOFAnasdf;lawe0r9823049812-30481349745087


They're bad:

They're ugly, and discourage clicks.They prevent your server from caching pages properly, because they cause thousands of duplicate pages.They kill you in organic search, because search engines find 'em and then can't figure out which page is real. And because people link to them, splitting your link 'votes'. Read my posts on canonicalization to learn more about that.

And, they're just tacky. So, here's a list of session ID variables and chunks of session ID variables you should look for. Cut it, paste it, use it to search client sites and root out the evils of session IDs everywhere:


This list is case-insensitive. Also, it has some vars in it that, while I found them used as session ids, they may sometimes be used for other stuff, too. An example would be 'id', which could be page id, product id, or session id. And, any mayhem you wreak with this list is your problem, not mine. Use it to make sites work better, ok?
aspsession-idaspsessionidc-idcfidcftokencidcust-idhidididentityidkeyj-sessionidj-sidjidjsessidjsessionidjsession_idjsidj_idkeykeyidkidksesksidlidp-sidphpsessidphpsession-idphpsessionidpidprocidproc_idpsidp_sidridsecsecidsecuresecure-idsecureidseskeysessidsession-idsession-keysessionidsessionkeysession_idsidsidentityskeyssidss_ids_idthe-idtidtranidtransiduecuencuiduniqueidx-idxidx_idzid

Portent has a crawler we've used for years to track down issues like duplicate content. I went through a huge list of duplicate content issues we'd found, took a look, and then used those to build the list.


If you have some I haven't included, send 'em on! I'll add them right away.


Join the SID Elimination Front!!!



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Soul searching and a sanity pledge


Last week, I went to Tokyo to speak at ad:tech. 20 hours of air travel so I could be there for about 48 hours. I worked on the plane, both ways. Everyone around me sneezed and phlegmed like there was no tomorrow. I was exhausted while in Tokyo, exhausted when I got back on Saturday, and, as it turned out, got badly dehydrated.


Sunday morning I started having pain in my right side. Within about 30 minutes, it went from 'ouch' to me curled up in a ball on the bed, unable to move. After another 2 hours of that, my wife drove me to the emergency room. Diagnosis? Kidney stone (likely due to dehydration).


By the way, on the pain scale, a kidney stone hurts about 2x worse than a ruptured spinal disk, 8x worst than a torn ligament, and at least 100000x worse then a slap in the face. It's like having an Alien tunneling out of you, but you don't die. It just keeps going. I don't recommend it.

I literally worked myself sick. Not achoo sick, but run-to-the-ER, IV-in-arm, time-for-a-CAT-scan sick.


Yikes.


Three days later, I'm somewhat mobile, eating again and feeling basically OK, but pretty far from 'fine'. I can only work about a 2/3 day before getting tired or starting to hurt again.


I've also gotten sick at 2 of the last 4 conferences I've gone to.


OK. I can take a hint.


Professionally, I juggle a lot of stuff: This blog, the Fat Free Guide, e-book writing and, of course, Portent - my company. That last takes up 90% of my time.


Personally, I juggle a lot, too: I do my best to not be one of those CEO parents the kids never see.


But burning the candle at 6 ends at once only gets you so far. And the most successful folks I know don't work 90 hour weeks. They work 50 hour weeks. Otherwise they don't last.


Clearly, my approach isn't working. So, what to do?

I'm not going to give any stuff up. I enjoy it all immensely.I am going to recruit my fellow Portent-ites to write on Conversation Marketing, and for the Fat Free Guide, so I'm under less pressure there.As Chris Brogan said last week, I'm going to pay myself first.I'm going to start projects I can finish, and not start ones that will hang over me.I'm going to focus more on teaching and less on doing. No smart-ass remarks, please. This is about personal scalability. If I can get 10 people around me to handle 10% of my job, I'm way better off.From now on, if you want me to fly more than 7 hours to speak at a conference, you'll be pitching in on a business-class ticket. Sounds spoiled, but I have to sleep/rest somewhere.I'll be focusing on task management. I already do zero inbox and the like, but only sporadically.I'll be taking more advantage of my great staff, and all the ways they can help me get more done.Oh, yeah: I'll be drinking 8-10 glasses of water a day, in hopes of drowning any kidney stones.

I'm cynical and sarcastic, and I poke fun at myself. But I'm not a huge fan of putting personal drama on display. So this post pushes things a bit farther than usual for me. I'm not fishing for sympathy or anything else. I am pretty sure that, by publishing this, I'll ensure that I hold myself to it, 'cause if I don't, someone's going to probably yell at me.


Back to normal tomorrow...



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Speaking at ad:tech Tokyo


I'm off to ad:tech Tokyo to participate in the "Search Marketing Strategies: Local vs. Global" panel. I'm very excited - it's my first ad:tech, and my first time headed to Japan.


I may miss a few blog posts here and there, but will try to Tweet/blog sessions as I attend.




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Stupid, or evil? Facebook manages both with new privacy breach


We spend all our time hand-wringing over Google and Microsoft's intrusions into our private lives. We freak out over the Patriot Act.


Well, they're all pikers compared to Facebook.


Facebook has allowed companies like Rapleaf to match up our Facebook user IDs with web browsing histories. Yep. They can now match up your browsing habits with your Facebook account.


Nifty.


I won't bother going into the details here. You can read about it in PCWorld's explanation.


Facebook seems to be claiming that they didn't actually do this. They say their biggest game developers - including the Farmville folks, Zynga - built their games in such a way that advertisers could grab our IDs.


That's not their fault, Facebook claims. It's not even the developers' fault. It's those mean, mean advertisers.


Yeah. OK...


Except the developers who sent the information to the advertisers violated your terms of service, you idiot balls of belly button lint. You just ignored their violations because you didn't want to stop Joe American from harvesting his latest batch of artichokes in Farmville.


Grrrr.


If Google had done something like this (and gotten caught) we'd be carpet-bombing Mountainview. Politicians would be lining up to claim their outrage.


If I'd done something this slack-jawed to my clients, I'd be out of business and in court for the rest of my life.


But it's Facebook, and the breach is too complicated: It requires, like, five minutes of non-stop concentration to understand what happened.


So the herd goes back to playing games.


OK, let's get real. No one's going to delete their Facebook account. As a marketer, I can't afford to. As someone totally unaware of what's going on, the average user won't care to.


What you can do, for now, is avoid installing any third party apps.


I'm waiting to see what Zuckerberg does to fix this latest PR nightmare. Although, at this rate, he won't have to do anything, except count his money.



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The 10 Stupidest Marketing Mistakes I've Ever Made


This may surprise you, but I tend to dwell on the negative. Here are the ten cringe-inducers I spend the most time pondering. In chronological order, no less:

1990. I went to law school. OK, it wasn't a marketing mistake, but it cost me several layers of stomach lining. Law school also nearly killed my ability to write.1995. I decide to start Portent Interactive, but name it The Written Word. For the next 5 years, people ask me if I print bibles (I was going for Shakespeare).1995. I test my first web crawler on the network of a client (with their permission). I crash the network and earn myself the title "Bringer of Death" from the head of IT.1998. I aim Portent at client service, instead of affiliate marketing, thinking the search engines will kill the whole spam thing within a year. I think I had a head injury.1999. For reasons I still don't understand, I sell my company. The next 8 months include a bout of pneumonia, total professional melt-down and at least one instance where I witnessed one of my new fellow employee groping a receptionist in the hallway. I don't know either.2000. Back on my own again, with zero confidence, I sell my services for something under $30/hour, and can't figure out why I can't make a living.2000. I decide pay per click is a flash in the pan (really) and advise 3 clients to skip it before one of my staff slaps me so hard my eyes rattle against the back of my skull.2004. A company offers us cash plus stock to do a project. I accept it. I still have the stock certificate as a placemat.2007. Thinking I can Be The Hero, I take on an entire development project on my own. The result resembles three spastic ferrets in a blender. My staff bails me out.2010. I lose my temper with a client. Justified? I dunno. But the fallout is personally and professionally excruciating. We're only human, but the lesson, as always, is to take a walk before you talk. We've since begun working together again.

And yet, Portent's going well (knock wood) and we're all still here. I think there's a lesson there...



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The best marketing 'trick'? Cultural memory.


Everyone wants marketing 'tricks'.


The best marketing trick? Write an e-book. Write a title that guarantees cool marketing tricks inside. Sell the e-book for $2000. If you sell 2 copies, you make $4000. That's a cool trick.


OK, seriously now...


There are no marketing 'tricks'. The best marketing, internet or otherwise, springs out of some form of cultural memory. It's not based on a new flash of insight that comes from the blue. It comes from studying your subjects—tricky monkeys that they are—and figuring out what has always made us tick.


Look at any facet of marketing and it holds true:


In SEO, you can chase the algorithms and try to trick your way up the rankings. That works for a short time. Or, you can deliver what people and search engines want: Visibility; authority; efficiency.


In print marketing, you can put up scantily clad models to sell your toothpaste. Or, you can figure out what people really look for in a toothpaste (OK, bad example—I look for a cool label).


In all marketing, tell a story and pull your audience into it. Those that come along for the ride are great potential customers. Those that don't shouldn't be there anyway.


Man, I'm preachy this week. Tomorrow I'll go for something all technical. You know - some tricks :)



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