Blog Scraping to Trigger Algorithm Update

So you learn something new everyday and in the cyber world of constant changes and newly coined terms at every corner, today it was the term "blog scraping."

Blog scraping is the process of scanning through a large number of blogs daily looking for content that is copyrighted and reposting that information on other blogs. It's generally done through automated software and is a clear form of copyright infringement. The really bad thing is, not only it's illegal, the scraped posts often show up in RSS feeds on other websites and in subscriber emails.

Then there's the issue of scraped content actually showing up in search ahead of the legitimate, first posting of the information. Now is where we get into Google territory. Today Matt Cutts announced that Google is going to attempt to create an algorithm aimed at stopping scraped content from appearing in the top rankings (if at all).

Naturally this should cause some degree of concern because if your blog is wrongly pegged as being scraped you'll lose whatever high rankings you currently enjoy. Another thing that could happen is that legitimately quoted text from other blogs (when the source is clearly given credit) might trigger the algorithm inadvertently.

As with every good intention, there comes a bit of bad outcome. (Think Panda) Will this be another instance of oops! dinged the wrong website? We shall have to wait and see. In the meantime, if you know of an instance of scraping visit this link and leave your info.

What's the big deal about color anyway?

I came a cross a really cool infographic on Pinterest today, if you haven't tried Pinterest, take a peek. Full of wonderful ideas, insights and the like. Back to the topic - The infographic shows how color affects us - especially when it comes to making a purchase decision. The actual full size,large & legible, image can be found on the Kissmetrics blog but here's a smaller version.

I would guess that most of you haven't even thought about why you shop where you do or why you make certain purchase decisions more quickly than other. Our subconscious brains are doing a lot of thinking for us and strongly influence our decisions based on color 93% of the time.

By the way, Chris' favorite color is Orange, Dan's is Red, and mine is Pink. Wonder what that says about us, they are all in the "reddish hues." Anyway . . .

Most of the time we think of purchasing by color when it has to do with a car, something in our home for decor or clothing. How often does color impact your choice of bank, insurance company, cosmetics, or even what malls you go to?

A short synopsis of the findings:

Red-Orange, Royal Blue & Black work well for impulse shopping decisions. Think of your favorite places that use these colors: McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Burger King, Wendy's, etc. Many fast food restaurants, outlet malls and clearance sales!

Navy blue and teal work well for banks and larger department stores because they give the perception that they are working with budget concious customers: Sears, Wilsons, Allstate Insurance, AIG, Ford, Geico, CitiBank, Travelodge - do you see the correlation?

The colors pink, rose and sky blue make an impact with traditional shoppers and are most frequently seen in use at clothing stores: Mary Kay, Victoria's Secret, Baskin Robbins - I'm sure you can think of many more examples.

These same color factors come into play in how we perceive websites as well, the colors aren't just for aesthetic purposes but to create an emotion or reaction with the site visitor.

So the question is: what do you want to convey? You can change your outward perception with a change of color.

Check out the full infographic and let us know if we can help!