I first heard of the search engine this past January and immediately became intrigued by what it promised to do. However, given the previous great Cuil failure, I approached Wolfram Alpha’s release with a bit of trepidation, fearing that the hype would lead to a major disappointment. I’m happy to report that Wolfram doesn’t disappoint, in fact I think it’ll supplement Google search in the minds of many web users.

My Review, Just A Preview

Just to let you know, I have yet to spend endless hours on Wolfram so my review is from a “first look” perspective. Over an extended period of time I’ll gradually examine what Wolfram has to offer before offering up a full review, meanwhile I’m sure you’ll be reading a lot about this search engine elsewhere over the coming days.

For hardcore search engine geeks — that would be anyone who long ago embraced Google search as their default search engine of choice — the question that comes up with Wolfram is why do we need a new search engine? Well, we don’t but I’m a firm believer in competition and I also think  that there is room for improvement/refinement with all of our favorite online tools including Google search.  Google Squared was just released which, from what I’ve heard, will provide similar results as Wolfram.

Your Computational Search Engine

Wolfram approaches search differently from basic Google search in that if you enter a term you aren’t going to be served up an endless number of pages which may or may or may not have anything to do with what you’re looking for. Nor will you be subjected to endless contextual ads at least not initially.

For example, when I entered the term “New York” in the search bar, the results served up were for New York City, listing the city’s population, the population of the metropolitan area, a map of the 48 contiguous United States pinpointing New York’s location, local time, current temperature and elevation. Click on a couple links and you can see satellite imagery of the city and retrieve coordinates. And, if you really meant New York State instead of the city, one additional click can bring you information about the state.

Keep Your Queries Simple!

In short, Wolfram Alpha is a computational knowledge engine, one that serves up math based answers. So far I’ve discovered the simpler the query submitted, the better for getting spot on answers.

For example, if your question is, “How many miles from New York to Miami?”  you’ll get “Wolfram|Alpha isn’t sure what to do with your input” as your answer. However, if you make your query simple such as “distance New York Miami” you’ll get an answer. So, keep it simple and Wolfram will be able to serve up the correct answer.

If you’re looking for additional takes on Wolfram Alpha, then I suggest you start with Wolfram Alpha, Google ‘rival’, launches or Wolfram Alpha: Wikipedia Killer? for some good reads.

Last week, I gained double the satisfaction when learning that one of my customer’s blogs had been accepted by Google for inclusion in their Google News service while also hearing that one of his closely related web sites had a remarkable SERP surge for an important key word. Although I didn’t take complete credit for the latter, I later remembered that I pulled out a couple of “SEO tricks” which likely helped fuel the change.

Going Above And Beyond

As a freelance writer, I like to give my customers a bonus — if I manage their blog, they’ll get well written, interesting, and concise articles, but I don’t leave them with just that. As a bonus, I’ll provide some SEO tools (e.g., link baiting) to bring in traffic. So far, I like my results and my customers are happy.

I don’t offer the name recognition that an A-lister like Danny Sullivan can offer or the breadth and depth of service that a search marketing firm such as aimClear can provide, but I have a niche and I am happy with it.

To that end, I have repurposed and renamed the blog that bears my name and am calling it MatthewKeegan | SEO. No, the SEO mavens need not fear that I’ll be encroaching on their territory, rather my customers will see it as a clear signal for what I already am offering to them — very good writing with an SEO bonus to boot.

Your Freebie For Stopping By

Of course, if you visit that ”other” blog at any time over the next few days, I have a freebie waiting there just for you. It is a limited time offer, one that might have already  expired by the time that you read this. So, please hurry on over right now and thanks for keeping tabs on me through this blog.

What does this mean? Well, on surface you won’t see many changes as I’m not going to be adding scads of articles to this site in a bid to drive in traffic or to fetch new customers. I’m already managing ten other blogs and working very hard to help them rank high in the SERPs, pull in traffic, and convert customers. I’m a white hat kind of SEO guy, but if there are some gray areas to exploit, I might explore those as well.

Link baiting is, of course, the main way I help bring links in and this is only done through writing excellent content. To that end, I’ve been overhauling a few sites, taking a couple of others up one level, and using photographs and better layouts to help touch up some other pages. I’m not going to reveal all of my secrets, but I can tell you that as I track some of the changes I’ve made, the search engines love them.

So, join with me and link to this blog and if you are a customer needing some SEO assistance, then please consider me for your project. I can best be reached at matt AT thearticlewriter. com — to your success!

Update: Before I forget, anyone who leaves a comment to this thread with a link to a page they want stumbled, I’ll be stumbling that page for them to mark this blog’s transition. This offer expires at 5 p.m. ET, on March 7, 2008.

Ditching StumbleUpon For Facebook?

As horrible as the thought is, facts seem to be supporting what Marty has discovered: his online marketing contacts appear to be using Facebook much more than they are using Stumbleupon.

Specifically, Marty notes:

All of us only have SO much time each day and tend to focus on sending and receiving communications from email + one or 2 communities. I used to get 6-10 emails a day in SU. Now those same good friends communicate with me through Facebook.

50 Million Users v. 4 Million Users

I haven’t noticed the change myself, mostly because I have a minimal presence on Facebook. I still get plenty of stumble requests from my contacts and my list of friends continues to expand.

Yes, I know that Facebook is “where its at” but I prefer a more intimate setting then the 50 million user Facebook. With just 4 million registered users, StumbleUpon (SU) is a much more comfortable fit for the way that I work.

Although the 200 member limit on SU is kind of a pain, at least SU isn’t silly like MySpace where everyone wants to be your girlfriend. On the other hand, I’ve been bothered by Facebook’s web-monitoring feature which I find to be highly intrusive. I understand that this has been scaled back recently, but it still bugs me that they even pushed such nonsense.

A Call To Arms

Despite its faults, I’ll likely be stepping up my Facebook presence after the new year, but I have no intention of ditching SU. I also like LinkedIn as I have made some fabulous contacts through this business social networking community.

Like people concerned about Google’s huge growth (and resultant PageRank craziness) I don’t want any one company dominating social media nor do I want one search engine to rule. Therefore, consider this as my personal appeal to all stumblers out there to keep on stumbling even you use Facebook.

I can’t imagine online life without StumbleUpon, one of the best information and marketing tools available to web surfers.

8 Highly Annoying Habits
Choking Out The Blogosphere

I have taken up a personal mission to fix what is wrong with the blogosphere. The job ain’t easy but, hey, someone has to do it!

I Am A Super Chick Blogger — How quaint! That shocking pink widget hurts my eyes — please remove it at once. We know that you spent half the day paying forward the reward to every gal blogger you can think of. What?! Okay, I am secretly jealous that us guys didn’t think of that one first. Attention: we are now forming the Dynamic Dudes Blogging group — can someone make a navy widget up for me, please?

Memes/Tagging — In May 2007, I declared war on the meme movement; apparently, some of you missed my admonishment. Please, can we all go back to posting original content? After all, there is a reason why the word meme is defined as a mind virus. ‘Nuff said.

How To Blog — Call it a fad or call it a nasty habit, but blogging about blogging is a bunch of nonsense. All that has been said or needs to be said about blogging has been regurgitated 2,497,610,545 times this month alone. If you cannot think of a topic to blog about, then please darken your blog and head back to MySpace where you belong.

Photorama — Pictures on a blog are fine, but must we see every single photo you had taken of yourself over the past 20 years?! Don’t get me started about prominently posting your name in 36pt red font either — your 15 minutes of fame ended more than two weeks ago!

Online Journal — This fad started when blogs were originally known as online journals. For some bloggers, an online diary is more like it. Nobody needs to know all about the intimate details of your life nor is it wise to post very personal photographs of you, your significant other, your kids, your fraternity, etc. The Fad Justice System hasn’t been doing its job curtailing this problem up to this point, so consider yourself warned!

Paid Posts — PPP or Pretty Poor Postings is what you get when you do paid reviews. Okay, I’ve done a few before — lots actually. I’ve made some decent money — lots actually. And I wouldn’t mind doing a few more if the threat of Google terminating this blog’s PageRank wasn’t hanging over my head. Please find another way to make money, preferably non-blog related.

Each of these fads are harmful and must be eradicated like the vermin that they are. If you have openly (or even secretly) been perpetuating one or more of these points, you must cease and desist at once. An election year is coming and a number of new fads are just waiting in the wings for their turn in the sun.