google and posts

[greenoak]

question.....i see some of my posts on here are picked up by google and on our places page.... i know nothing on here is really private but i dont really want it on my places page either..... can i change a setting on here to stop the connections?
i dont really see much need of having my web on here....im not trying to sell to you all...
should i , can i , just take my website off my sig?
i assume i cant erase anything? right?
thanks
ann

[Steve B]

That's why I removed my website from my signature a long time ago.

[Spider]

OTOH, I think it helps the conversations here if we all know who the other people are and what they do. That basic information gives a foundation to everything you say and puts your opinions and ideas into proper context. Would it work to keep your business name and description in your signature and remove the link?

[greenoak]

spider, i like to see the links too,,,,but youve all seen mine if interested.... i wonder if my facebook would be a better choice for a sig?
steve!!! why didnt you tell us? ha ha...i never thought about it..
thanks , i took it off...not a very used link anyway....
i agree with spider.but not if it shows me me griping about every little thing on my nice review page..i have 4 really good reviews on there, totally un asked for...i didnt even know they were out there....

[Spider]

spider, i like to see the links too,,,,but youve all seen mine if interested.... i wonder if my facebook would be a better choice for a sig?
steve!!! why didnt you tell us? ha ha...i never thought about it..
thanks , i took it off...not a very used link anyway....
i agree with spider.but not if it shows me me griping about every little thing on my nice review page..i have 4 really good reviews on there, totally un asked for...i didnt even know they were out there....Ann, I think you missed my point. I am suggesting leaving the signature as it was but simply remove the link (the 'http' part.) As you have it now, your comments and ideas will lose effectiveness as we slowly begin to forget that you are a successful antique and home furnishings person. We have so many Steves on this board that without a point of reference in the signature, we don't always know which one is 'talking.'

For example, if we don't remember, your comments and advice about antiques will hold as much or as little weight as Steve B's, and his comments and advice about dog containment will appear to be no better than yours.

I would like to encourage everyone to put their name, business name, business description and location in their signature, to be more easily and more readily understood. Whether they make it a hot-link or not is a different decision.

[Steve B]

Google will find the name of your company - even it it's not listed as a link.

I wouldn't want my potential customers reading some of my posts.

If you ever forget what kind of business I have - just ask.

[vangogh]

Honestly if you don't want your customers reading something here then it's something you shouldn't be saying here. Instead of worrying about what people might think of something you say, you can take advantage of the fact that this forum does well in search engines and use it as another marketing tool. Not to directly pitch your products or site, but by simply representing your brand. That's really how marketing on the web works.

If you place it online your customers can potentially find it, regardless of whether or not you use a link in your signature or where it is. The reality is you can't hide anything you place in a public space online. Obviously you can remove your signature line if you want. There's never going to be a rule that you need to have one. However I'd suggest you end up losing more than you gain. The better thing to do would simply be not saying things in public you don't want other people to read.

The only way to prevent what you say here from being found by search engines or others would be if I make parts of the forum private.

[Business Attorney]

Honestly if you don't want your customers reading something here then it's something you shouldn't be saying here.

Steve, I don't think this is the right answer for everyone. That is the philosophy I use, but it means that I don't talk about some of my marketing and business issues the way, say, huggytree does. We know who Dave is but his posts are not likely to turn up on his Google Places page or even on the first several pages of search engine results. It's not that they are big secrets, just not something you necessarily want a client or customer to be reading. You want your client or customer to be reading things that help your branding and marketing, not ones that discuss your strategy.

I participate on some forums and websites where I don't use my real name and I don't link to my website. Those sites are generally not related to business or the law. I see no need for someone searching my name to find posts I have written about hobbies or travel or politics. The posts aren't private or particularly problematic; I just want to be free to make them as myself and not be worried about how they would look if they were appearing right under the search results for my website.

[vangogh]

Actually your posts here will turn up. Perhaps not always in Google Places, but threads and posts on this forum do show up in results. In fact analytics proves it since the forum often gets traffic for queries on the names of both members and their business here. That's simply reality. As this forum grows and I put more effort into marketing it posts and threads are going to show up more in the results. Again that's just reality.

No one here has to link back to their sites and like you do with other forums people can sign up with anonymous usernames and hide their identities a little more. However even then you're probably not as invisible as you think. Search engines do track a lot of things and it's really not that hard for them to connect the dots.

Again everyone is free to remove any details of their business, but why pass up on the opportunity. Your signature link is going to contribute to how well your site ranks. By no means is a link from a forum the greatest link you'll ever get, but it does contribute and it doesn't take any effort to get. Real people also click those links. Is your business going to succeed or fail based on a link in this forum? Of course not. Those links will contribute though.

The best way not to have this forum outrank your site is to practice seo. If your seo is good your site should always outrank this forum for any query related to you. That would include links from this forum back to your site.

[greenoak]

...i dont have any big secrets on here either, but i dont share all this shop talk with my customers either...i hardly ever get anyone linking from here to my site ....im not trying t market from here, so there probably wont be a downside for me....
anyway i dont want them to see all this...altho i know its possible if they really want to track me...
maybe i will take spiders advice and put it back on without the http....i wouldnt want you to forget me in case you met someone who needed my stuff....

[Steve B]

In a perfect world we might always say and write things that we would be proud to be read by anyone, but let's be realistic here. When we "speak" to our customers we often have material reviewed, possibly written by experts, and the words carefully chosen. On this forum, some of us use terrible spelling and grammar and, on occasion get into silly discussions or arguments. Think about all the things that HT has written about his customers over the years. If he knew his posts were being viewed by his potential customers we'd miss out on a lot of interesting conversations.

[Business Attorney]

Actually your posts here will turn up. Perhaps not always in Google Places, but threads and posts on this forum do show up in results.

I know the posts turn up in searches. That's why I am careful about what I post. I'll bet some posts from this forum even turn up for terms like "Wa*kesha Pl*mbing" (not this post, though!) but I checked and there were no posts from this forum in the in the first 50 Google search results for huggy's business name.

My point was that a member of the forum can make it less likely that someone looking for basic information on his or her business will end up with forum posts turning high on searches for their business name if they don't use their business name in the posts (including the signature).

For example, if I just use "David" as my user name and never once mention my last name, someone searching for my full name is not likely to ever see those posts in the search results. That doesn't mean that the posts won't turn up on a lot of other searches, or even that they couldn't tie the posts to me if they really tried. It just means that the posts won't show up high in the search results for searches on my name.

[vangogh]

I made my previous post in a hurry as I was rushing out of my house to meet a friend. Let me try to clarifying my thinking here.

1. If you put something online in a public place like this forum you have to accept that it can be found. I think we all agree on that. Just know that I am interested in seeing this forum be more and more visible in search engines and so be prepared that the things you say here are going to be more visible in time.

2. If you want to be anonymous as possible then you need to really be anonymous. Steve when I search your company name at the top of page 2 in Google's results I see a forum thread you started asking for a review on an ad. Ann you're using your company name as a username. When I search your company name I find a handful of forum posts a few pages back. If I search with green and oak as one word the forum represents half of page 2 of the results.

It's not that hard to connect any of us to our businesses. There's nothing wrong with that of course. The point is it takes a lot of effort to be truly anonymous online. I think it takes just as much work to remain anonymous as it does to be proud of the things you say. If anything it should be easier to say things you're proud of saying.

If you don't want people to make the connection between your business and this forum then use Bill as a role model. Benson is not his real name and he's never once mentioned the name of his business. In fact I don't even think he's ever mentioned the name of his product.

3. Marketing isn't easy. It takes a lot of work to market your business. A forum like this gives you an opportunity to do it for free so why not take advantage of it. You certainly don't have to. There's never going to be a policy here forcing anyone to use a signature or constantly mention your business by name. None of us want to see this forum become something where every post is an ad. At the same time if you simply do add a signature link and interact respectfully with the community it's good marketing.

People like seeing the companies they deal with as human beings. People are also willing to forgive mistakes we make. I don't think anyone will hold a typo against you. If every one of your posts is an endless string of typos then sure they might judge you, but in general no one is going hold an occasional typo here against you.

I agree none of us is going to have 100% perfectly crafted posts. So what. It's more about how the majority of your posts read and I don't think it's too hard to post here in a way that leaves a good image of yourself. If you're going to spend your time posting here why not let the posts help your business. I think the good you get from placing a link back to your site in your signature outweighs any possible downside, especially when you consider you're not nearly as anonymous as you think by not using one.

David I completely agree with everything you're saying. My bad if I implied you can't be anonymous or mostly anonymous. I do think people can put in the effort to remain mostly anonymous. It's an effort though. Removing your signature isn't going to do it. You have to be conscious of what you say. It only takes a few words to establish the connection and once that connection is there it's there.

I think it takes less effort to create posts that leave a good impression than it does to ensure your anonymity.

[Steve B]

Steve when I search your company name at the top of page 2 in Google's results I see a forum thread you started asking for a review on an ad.

Yes, and that was back when I had my business name in my signature. I did exactly what you did - found that exact post - and decided to take my name off my signature. I haven't had any other posts show up since. Thanks for helping me demonstrate why it's important to take your business name off your signature if you don't want the average customer reading the posts from this forum.

I think for some of you guys it's a great marketing tool. Many of you are always careful about what you say and stay out of the silly discussions that go on from time to time. But, I know I'm not always that careful and might write some things that I wouldn't want easily associated with my business (Steve - note the word "easily" - I know everything can be tied together by an expert like you, but I'm not worried about the experts).

[vangogh]

That the post still ranks clearly shows it wasn't your signature causing it to rank. My point is signature or not anyone can easily connect your forum profile to your business. I didn't have to be an expert to make the connection. I searched for you by your company name. I hardly consider that an expert search.

I'm not saying you have to add a signature link. That's totally up to you. But it clearly isn't preventing anyone from connecting your business and your profile when a search for your business names leads people here.

[greenoak]

vg...my posts are mostly gone now on the first pageor 2 of google... now that i changed my signature link...you must have looked before i changed it......gee, i had no idea that a half page of posts would be there...ikkk... and i think my posts are mostly pretty good...its not that...ha ha...
..my posts on here arent aimed at customers.... and i think a lot of potential customers would be reading them as they went thru our google places page..so im really glad i realized how visible it all was and glad i stopped it....
the posts would just be a mish mash way out of context and not at all what i would want out there...
i like this place a lot....but its not part of my marketing plot.....
like you said there are ways to be anonymous, im not trying for that ...

[Spider]

...I think it takes just as much work to remain anonymous as it does to be proud of the things you say. If anything it should be easier to say things you're proud of saying. ....Quite right! And whether it is easier or not, saying things you can be proud of is far more desirable and worth some extra effort..

[vangogh]

Ann I looked after you changed it. I doubt though if anything you changed today will completely take effect so quickly. We won't really know what the overall effect of changing your signature is for a few days at least and more realistically a few weeks. Google will need to come back and crawl every page of the forum they had indexes where your signature was present and that won't happen right away. Maybe next weekend or the weekend after we search again and see.

I think it's completely your decision whether or not you want to have a link in your signature. All I'm saying is if your goal is to disconnect what you say on this forum with your business I don't think removing your signature is going to be as effective as you think. Your username here is half your business name. Any post where you've used words like antique, antiques, or similar will probably continue to show up in search results when people search for your business name.

[Steve B]

That post you are referring to was titled "Advertising Review D$erby$s P@t Fenc#". I no longer refer to my business name in my posts just because of that particular post. It was at the same time I changed my signature. Of course, it doesn't matter if it's in the signature, the title of the post, or the body of the text - if your company name is somewhere in the post Google can find it.

[vangogh]

Frederick we were posting at the same time and you beat me to the submit. :)

Steve so if it's easy for anyone to find you here by searching for your company name how effective was removing your signature? My point is it doesn't do what you want it to do, but it does keep your site from ranking better in general. In the end you hurt how visible your site is in search engines without making it any more difficult for someone to connect your business and your forum profile. Where exactly is the gain?

[greenoak]

all i know is i saw several posts from here a couple of days ago and now i dont see any at all...only ones where g.oak was mentioned IN the post...and i looked at the first couple of google pages...in several ways....so i dont follow.... ...
not wanting my posts FROM here on my store page doesnt mean im ashamed of my posts....isnt looking at it like that that kind of missing all MY reasons ?
my marketing right now is about my web, facebook, my emails, making the store wow worthy, and some really targeted mailings....its not about my posts on here...this place is so interesting and worthwhile but it doesnt feel like a part of my marketing effort....in a way i dont think it would be worth the effort... as compared to, for example, working on how well i communicate on facebook.... .
also im on the first page of google for indiana antiques ...somehow...

[Steve B]

I'm totally missing your point or vice versa. The only post from this forum that I've ever seen listed in Google was when either I mentioned the name of my business in the post, the title line, or in my signature. I've NEVER seen a post from this forum since I stopped using the name of my company in either the signature, the title line or the post itself. It's been well over a year since I stopped doing that and not a single post since then seems to show up. I check my site's rankings on the important terms that get me serious phone calls and they have pretty much been the same for the last 5 years.

What do I gain? I don't have to worry about customers or potential customers reading my posts where I might write something I wouldn't want them to see. That seems pretty valuable to at least Ann and I.

[J from Michigan]

also im on the first page of google for indiana antiques ...somehow...
Partially with the help of previous posts on forums that maybe are old enough that they don't show up near the top anymore-

victorianmag
businessleader
Ienjoyinc
smallbuisinesscomputing
startup nation
etc...
It's kind of a "hand that feeds" kind of thing... you've benefited from these posts, but it's a little spooky to see them out in the open. If you use anchored text instead of simply the URL of the site, it seems to drop posts into the mix more. (I have no idea why, but...)

I understand what you guys are saying. When I first came here, there was a certain member who was going off about his customers to the point where I was afraid to post because I didn't want to be near anything that was said. (guilt by association)
...but in general, I think the things I say wouldn't really harm my reputation as an honest, hardworking business operator. :)

[vangogh]

doesnt mean im ashamed of my posts

I never said or suggested you were ashamed of your posts. I have no idea where you're getting that from.


I'm totally missing your point

You don't want people to be able to connect you here on the forum to the business you run and you're claiming that removing your forum signature has made this possible. However if I search for your company name in Google posts from this forum show up in the results on page 2. You clearly haven't prevented anyone from connecting you the forum member from the business you run. Removing your signature hasn't stopped pages on this from from being visible when searching your company name.

It's irrelevant if no new posts rank well since it only takes one post to make the connection between you the forum member and your business.

To my question of what have you gained you say


I don't have to worry about customers or potential customers reading my posts where I might write something I wouldn't want them to see.

All your customers have to do is search for your business name and they can easily find everything you've ever written here. Removing your signature has done absolutely nothing to prevent them from finding your posts. That's why I'm suggesting you've gained nothing. Before you removed your signature your customers could find your posts. After you removed your signature your customers can still find your posts.

[greenoak]

womens intuition..lol..sorry vg, i just cant get it across ..i just dont want them easily seeing these posts...im sure removing my signature has made my posts a lot less likely to be found....ive looked and proved it to myself .....
j.I hear you, ..ive been on lots of places where my web being on was a big benefit, or possible benefit...places where others in my busness meet up....and maybe full of potential customers.... thats been a good thing...and on purpose, .and part of my marketing .and like you said maybe it has helped our web ranking.. im keeping my web on those places for sure....altho it never totally sunk in that the posts would also show up...but thats ok, probably mostly a plus...unless grossly out of context.... .
but here is kind of free of the marketing pressure in my mind, , im not trying to get you to come to the store, , meaning here to me is more about behind the scenes of running a business, not the out front part.......i hardly ever get any links from here and none that became buyers... there arent any potential buyers on here for me , that i can see...im good with that...
j...its a small world...lots of our coolest stuff comes from your state.... we buy archetectural stuff from the salvagers up there in the devestated parts of detroit... they are trying to get me to come up there and go to the shops in the roughest areas..... i blogged about it...such a wild idea but
im not doing it....
j.. i dont know what anchored text is..caN YOU EXPLAIN? ...we have grown in a very organic way apparantly...since i dont usually know the webmaster terms at all....

[vangogh]

Ann you definitely don't have to have a signature and if you don't want these posts to be found and connected with your business that's fine too. What I'm saying though is those posts weren't found because of the link. They were found because you were using your company name as the anchor text (the clickable words that are the link). People will still be able to find you now because you're using part of your business name as your username and you still show it in your signature.

Right now if I search for your business name I see a group of forum posts showing up around page 4 of Google's results. It's possible those results will move up to page 3 and page 2 and possibly even page 1 over time. If you really want to keep things here separate from your business I would suggest changing your username. I can do that for you if you let me know what you want it changed to.

You could also have a signature and have the link read something like "Antiques in Indiana" That would give your site the benefit of improved rankings for the phrase antiques in indiana. However if you want to make sure the there's as little connection as possible you probably don't want to add the link either.

Personally I think it's a missed opportunity. I don't think you have to actively market yourself here, but just using your current username and having a link with any clickable text you want will help your site show up in search results for the words you use as the clickable text (the anchor text). You could even link to your Facebook page and help promote that as well. I also don't think you've ever said anything here that would cause your customers to think poorly of yourself. I think it would just help customers get to know you better, which I think is a good thing.

With the Google Places page I never saw forum posts on your page as they were already gone when I looked at your page. I'm guessing (since I don't know where the posts were showing) that a few more reviews would have kept them from showing up anyway. I think you could have benefited from what you do here on the forum and we could have still found a way to keep the forum from showing up on your Places page. I think there were other options to keep the forum from showing up there while still giving you any benefit you were gaining by having the link.

Sorry if I implied anything about your posts or how you felt about your posts here.

[Spider]

I can understand the logic of keeping certain things in their respective pidgeonholes. One can be ethical, respectable, etc. - a "goodguy" - when speaking with business associates about one's customers and also when speaking TO one's customers, but certain logic says, it's best the customers are not party to the business conversation.

In the past, using the above as an example, it was thought that if customers learned how one went about advertising to them, the advertising would be less effective. (Example situation, and example topic.) I think, in today's world, this logic does not fly anymore.

Maybe advertising used to be akin to trickery and it is certainly best not to let one's customers find out how they are being tricked. Today, there is so much analysis going on, coupled with complete transparency (any customer can find out whatever they want to know about advertising techniques) that anything akin to trickery doesn't work. Successful advertising is now about teaching and informing. Customers know this, can feel this, so being part of the business conversation about advertising is no longer detrimental - in fact, I think it can be quite beneficial.

Times have changed and some of the old business logic is no longer valid.

[Harold Mansfield]

I am fully aware that everything I post online under my name "Harold Mansfield" or my screen name "Eborg9" is indexed and searchable via Google. I don't post anything that I would hate for a client not to read. Even when I gripe, I want the gripes to be indexed.
The con is that you have to be aware that the internet is a public index.
The pro is the more productive content you have online, the easier it is for people to not just find you, but contact you based on that content.

I don't have any numbers to show how many people disagreed with any statements and decided not to contact me for services, but quite a few have found something with my name on it in Google (including forum posts) and followed that to my website and contacted me. So it's worth the trade off.