For Ryan's First Solo Outing as Candidate, a Soapbox Appearance at the Iowa State Fair

DES MOINES — Representative Paul D. Ryan is going solo, and for his first outing alone as the Republican vice-presidential candidate he has chosen a particularly exposed high-wire appearance: a political soapbox at the Iowa State Fair.

Mr. Ryan, who parted ways with Mitt Romney in Milwaukee on Sunday evening after two days of joint campaigning, will appear Monday afternoon at a locale famous for unscripted give-and-takes with skeptical voters.

A year ago, Mr. Romney was challenged by the crowd at the Iowa State Fair and blurted out, “Corporations are people, my friend,” a line that came to haunt him.

The soapbox, on the Grand Concourse, is sponsored by The Des Moines Register. By tradition a candidate gets 20 minutes to speak and often takes questions from the crowd. Mr. Ryan, who excels at town-hall-style events in which his mastery of policy is on display, will have the opportunity to show his grace under pressure.

Last year, while still just one of many Republican contenders, Mr. Romney was aggressively challenged on his assertions about Medicare, Social Security and taxes. A heckler shouted a remark about corporations. “Corporations are people, my friend,” Mr. Romney replied. “Of course they are. Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to people.”

The lines achieved YouTube immortality and were repeated by critics to show Mr. Romney’s supposed indifference to the little guy.

It was also one of rare events at which Mr. Romney took questions from an audience not composed of supporters controlled by his campaign.

On Saturday, Gov. Terry E. Branstad of Iowa said he would escort Mr. Ryan around the fair. Most of the state’s Congressional candidates are scheduled to speak on the soapbox this week. Tom Vilsack, the United States agriculture secretary, is to speak on behalf of President Obama on Tuesday morning.

While Mr. Ryan is from a neighboring state, Wisconsin, he is one of the few leading Republican figures who has rarely visited Iowa. When asked last year why he was a stranger, he said he didn’t want to raise suspicions about his own political intentions.

Mr. Obama will also be in Iowa on Monday, beginning a three-day visit that will take him to many communities in the battle ground state – but so far, not to the State Fair soapbox.

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Romney and Ryan to Give First Joint TV Interview on CBS

1:32 p.m. | Updated For their first joint television interview, Mitt Romney and Representative Paul D. Ryan have picked the most popular news program on American television: CBS’s “60 Minutes.”

The interview will be broadcast at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday, just a few hours after it is taped in High Point, N.C., the network said Sunday morning.

At the time of the announcement, the interviewer, Bob Schieffer, had not yet arrived in North Carolina, underscoring the last-minute planning of the segment.

The same-day turnaround is rare for “60 Minutes.” But it’s logical for both the Romney campaign and for CBS. The campaign has an opportunity to reach tens of millions of viewers just one day after announcing the selection of Mr. Ryan as Mr. Romney’s running mate, thereby creating another news peg for its rollout of what it has dubbed “America’s Comeback Team.” And CBS, with “60 Minutes,” has the shelf space for the interview on its schedule.

Jeff Fager, the chairman of CBS News and the executive producer of “60 Minutes,” said the half-hour interview will be pared down to 15 or 16 minutes, as is typical with television interviews. It will be shown at the beginning of Sunday’s program.

“60 Minutes” — which has higher ratings than any other news program on a weekly basis — tends to spend weeks and months crafting each of its segments. But in recent years it has taken on a more timely focus, sometimes entailing last-minute producing and editing.

“We had been talking to the campaign for months about being the first broadcast to interview Gov. Romney’s running mate,” Mr. Fager said in a telephone interview.

The Obama campaign similarly looked to “60 Minutes” as it announced Joe Biden as Mr. Obama’s running mate in 2008. Steve Kroft, a correspondent for the newsmagazine, had the first joint interview with the two men, though that interview was conducted six days after the announcement of Mr. Biden’s selection.

Notably, it’s not Mr. Kroft or another regular “60 Minutes” correspondent doing the interview this time. Instead, it’s Mr. Schieffer, who is most closely associated with Sunday morning programming, not Sunday evening, as the host of “Face the Nation.” Mr. Schieffer, well-respected and affable among TV interviewers, last interviewed Mr. Romney in June.

Mr. Schieffer was not a part of the original pitch this time. The “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley had been the one courting the Romney campaign for the first running mate interview, but when the surprise announcement came on Saturday, Mr. Pelley was out of the country.

The campaign signaled to CBS that it would grant the interview around noon on Saturday, three hours after Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan first appeared together on stage to campaign as a ticket in Virginia. So CBS lined up Mr. Schieffer for Sunday’s interview taping, Mr. Fager explained. (Mr. Pelley is still seeking separate interviews with the two candidates, he added.)

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Look Ma, TV! First broadcast TV phone appears on MetroPCS

TV broadcasters are making their own contribution to the growing mobile video market with Dyle, a service that plucks their programming out of the DTV airwaves and renders it on mobile phones and other small-screened devices. A Samsung Galaxy phone will be the first Dyle device.

Starting now, MetroPCS is in the free-to-air TV business, but the sets it’s selling are rather small, fitting not only into the palm of your hand but within the confines of a smartphone screen. MetroPCS on Friday began selling the Samsung Galaxy S Lightray 4G, the first U.S. smartphone to pluck local broadcasters’ TV signals out of the air.

You’re probably thinking you’ve seen this before in the guise of Qualcomm’s failed FLO TV service. But Qualcomm tried to create an entirely new digital multicast network for mobile phones and devices – and charge premium rates for the service. The Dyle mobile TV service MetroPCS is offering is the brainchild of the Mobile Content Venture, a consortium of local and network broadcasters, who are using their existing DTV airwaves and infrastructure to replicate their regular programming on the small screen.

So this service isn’t so much a new form of mobile TV as it is just regular TV miniaturized for your handset – without all of the bells and whistles such as DVR capabilities and on-demand programming we’ve become accustomed to having at home. Its biggest advantage, however, is price. It’s free – though Phone Scoop is reporting that Metro may start charging in 2013 – and it runs over broadcast frequencies, meaning you can watch as much as you like without incurring data charges.

The Dyle service is available in about 45 markets today, and within those markets only a handful of stations are participating. For instance, in Chicago you can get the Fox, NBC and Telemundo affiliates as well as the Qubo children’s channel, while in Columbus, Ohio, you can receive the signals of ABC and CBS and NBC, but not Fox.

The MCV says its receiver chips and Dyle software will be available on other Android phones and even iOS devices (presumably with external hardware) soon. The venture may be too late to market to have any kind of impact though. Since participating in the Dyle program requires having local TV spectrum, only the networks, their local affiliates and independent broadcasters can participate. Meanwhile, consumers are not only shifting their viewing to paid cable programming, but also looking to new sources of streamed video on the internet, mobile phone and connected TV platforms.

The best thing Dyle has going for it is it’s free. If it’s true that the MCV and its carrier partners actually plan to start charging for programming, then there could be a big backlash from both regulators and consumers. Broadcasters aren’t using any kind of private cable network or mobile broadband spectrum to deliver this content.  They’re using public free-to-air airwaves, handed to them by the FCC.

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Is Android Google's First Step Towards Monopolizing the Mobile Market?

Google appears to dominate every market in which they step foot. For this reason, many believe that Android is the company's first step towards monopolizing the mobile market. And it might be. To really understand the importance of Android to Google, however, you need to determine what mobile market they wish to monopolize. Also, a quick look at the history of Google's moves into various open source projects will shed some light on whether Android is truly its first step towards monopolizing the mobile market.

Traditionally, Google has been a strong supporter of open standards and open source software. The company has used open source code as the base for a number of projects such as the Chrome browser. These projects are important to Google because their open nature ensures that users will be able to access the search giant's content and applications. Google's revenue is largely based on the ads in its various applications. Google depends on people using the search and Google applications to earn money. Android is a clever way for the company to ensure that users continue to use Google products as computing moves to mobile devices. Is this a first step to monopolizing the mobile market? It could be interpreted that way but it seems that Android is definitely Google's first step towards ensuring that it continues to be relevant and earn revenue as computing becomes mobile.

Google has a number of applications that are ad supported such as Gmail. Android is a good way for Google to ensure that their applications will work or be integrated into mobile devices. It would be natural for Google to be concerned that competing applications like Apple's MobileMe would be bundled into the mobile platforms from those companies. Android allows Google to bundle its applications with a mobile device which ensures greater uptake by end users. In this respect, it certainly appears as though Android is the first step to Google's monopolizing the mobile market. By providing an open platform that any hardware manufacturer or carrier can use, the company makes certain that theirs will be numerous devices with Google applications already built in.

Is Android a bid in monopolizing the mobile market for wireless service or is it really a ploy to enter the hardware market? It seems unlikely that Google has much interest in owning market share for wireless services or hardware. In the past, Google participated in wireless spectrum auctions. They got rules adopted that required openness if the bids reached a certain level. Google then bid them to that level and then stopped. That seems to indicate that Google had no real interest in becoming a wireless carrier themselves. In the hardware arena, Google recently introduced the Nexus One phone which is based on Android. However, most indicators are that Google's entry into the hardware arena was intended more to demonstrate to other hardware makers what was possible with Android. Again, the Nexus One is an open system which will allow users to select their carrier of choice. These moves suggest that Android is not Google's first step to monopolizing the mobile market for hardware or wireless.

Google has enjoyed a strong market share of content advertising and search marketing for a long time. However, changes in computing have threatened Google's supremacy. Android is Google's first step to maintaining their market share in the mobile market. Google's recent moves in hardware and in bidding for wireless spectrum strongly suggest that Android is not their first step into monopolizing the mobile market in hardware or wireless. However, Google's business model does require that they continue to gain strong adoption of their search engine and applications. In this regard, Android is definitely a first step of Google's monopolization of the mobile market for advertising and content.

LearnComputer! provides instructor-led Android training courses for individuals, small businesses, and corporations. Please see our computer training catalog for complete details!

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Keywords: The First Step To Recognition

Open Wordtracker [ http://www.wordtracker.com/ ] and you'll see following proclamation by Brent Winters, President, FirstPlace Software, Inc., the makers of award-winning web promotion software, WebPosition Gold [ http://www.webposition.com/ ]:

"Target the wrong keywords and all your efforts will be in vain."

Why are keywords so important? And what indeed is a keyword? To an occasional web visitor, *keyword* wouldn't mean much. But for a practicing webmaster, the term *keyword* is perhaps more dear than anything.

The way we search

The term *search* implicitly suggests that search engines will return the most relevant results corresponding to the search-term used. A search-term or keyword is basically a word or a combination of words - usually latter - surfers like you and me use to get results we're looking for. People, hailing as they do, from diverse backgrounds, have typically individualistic ways to express search-terms, that differ from one another, yet aimed for identical search-result. Evidently therefore, a website wanting to occupy top positions in search-results, needs to *optimize* for varying combinations of keywords. For an idea on how searches are made using keywords, Philip Morris' this page [ [http://www.philipmorrisusa.com/search/search_help.asp] ] provides a handy reference, albeit for their site.

In a press release Feb 2, 2004 [ http://www.onestat.com/html/aboutus_pressbox27.html ], OneStat reports that of all keyword searches on the web, 32.58% uses 2-word phrases, 25.61% 3-word phrases and only 19.02% uses 1-word phrase. According to OneStat [ http://www.onestat.com/html/aboutus_pressbox27.html ], global usage of both 2-word and 3-word phrases has increased over the last year, and that of 1-word phrase has actually declined during the same period.

To give another example, WebSearchWorkshop [ [http://www.websearchworkshop.co.uk/stats.htm] ] quotes an earlier NPD survey to show that out of an online sample of 30000 respondents, *45% search by using multiple keywords or key phrases, 28% use one keyword, 18% search by a pre-defined option (such as browsing through a directory category) and 9% search by typing in a question*.

Since achieving top rank is culmination of many efforts working in tandem, it is all the more necessary that keyword targeting is done in planned manner to remain in reckoning.

Importance of search engines

Notwithstanding growing complaint that search results are steadily loosing relevance, statistics tell us web surfers are increasingly opting for search engines as a main web activity. WebSideStory in a March 12, 2003 press release [ http://www.websidestory.com/pressroom/pressreleases.html?id=181 ] reports that search engines' share in global internet usage has nearly doubled in the past 1 year from 7.1% to 13.4%. If a survey is done today, that figure will undoubtedly be much more impressive.

A birds-eye-view of importance of search engines can be had in this narration at iProspect [ http://www.iprospect.com/web_site_promotion/optimization_analysts.htm ]. Some pertinent points are given below:

A Georgia Institute of Technology study finds 85% of likely web customers prefer search engines to find their choices, and a study by RealNames reveal as much as 75% web surfers use search engines while journeying through the web.



57% of net surfers are recurrent users of search engines -- a popular web activity, next only to emailing.



Convenience is a major factor for many to locate the ideal information resource through search engines.

When seen with Global Reach [ http://glreach.com/globstats/ ] estimate of *online population* reaching 940 million in 2004, it's fairly obvious there'll be continuing surge of internet marketing efforts in order to attain search visibility. Innovative starategies coupled with intelligent marketing will be the hallmark of efforts to achieve prominent search rankings. In this connection, do have a look at Global Reach's invaluable data on "Evolution of Online Linguistic Populations" [ [http://global-reach.biz/globstats/evol.html] ].

Keywords matter most

Though not the only weapon in webmasters' arsenal, using relevant keywords is a must to increase possibility of prominent search rankings. The reason is rather simple. Search engines gather and collate texts in webpages and store them in databases. As a web user searches for a website like yours, it is important that the keyphrase or the keyword he uses to do so appears in your webpages. Otherwise your webpage will not show up in search results.

This underlines the need to know various keyword combinations relevant to your website, and at the same time popular. Which is to say that these are keywords mostly used by web users cutting across geographic locations.

Web searchers' fickleness

Dr. Jim Jansen, an Assistant Professor in Pennsylvania State University’s Information Sciences and Technology (IST) in the article *Impatient web searchers measure web sites' appeal in seconds* [ http://live.psu.edu/story/3364p ] observes "A page has to be well-designed, easy to load and relevant to a searcher's needs." Else, within 3-minute interval, 40% searchers will abandon the website and move over to another. 7Search (link provided under the heading 'Keyword Tools') provides an interesting estimate about percentage of searchers visiting your site vis-a-vis its ranking. It says a first rank is likely to fetch about 7% of search traffic, and a 10th rank just 0.35%.

The estimate above drives home another oft-repeated opinion that mere top ranking won't translate into better sales. For that to happen, a website should be able to invoke sufficient interest among its viewers to make them stay longer.

Nevertheless, as search engine marketing gains popularity compared to other forms of advertisements, it is easy to see why good ranking in major search engines is so vital. But then, search engines bring results based on keywords or keyphrases. Without doubt therefore, the first step for success on the web is the ability to select the most relevant keywords and use them properly to derive maximum advantage.

What emerges

To summarize from the foregoing, we find that:

While internet population is growing tremendously, a majority of web surfers use search engines as starting platform to meet their online needs.



Web searchers do not want to waste time for a website if it fails to meet his expectations, even though it would have ranked high in search results.



A majority of web searchers prefer using multiple keywords to find their choice of websites.

Piecing facts together, what emerges is search engines' popularity is on the rise (if not usefulness; but that's a different story). And so too searchers' preference to use multiple keywords to find their choice of websites.

The way forward

If convinced that keywords are lifeline of your web venture, next comes planning your keyword targeting strategy. The web is now a global phenomenon, and the potential market is no longer confined to a single location or country. That being so, a prudent approach would be to know what would people of other regions/countries look for in search engines if they want to view your site. Fortunately, there are ways to find that out.

To begin with, start querying yourself, your colleagues, friends, relatives and others as to what search-terms would aptly describe your website. Collect thereby a hundred or so keyphrases. Next, arrange at least two brainstorming sessions, spaced over a few days, in which to participate all who suggested those keyphrases. The aim will be to closely watch relative importance of keyphrases chosen and then trim the list by half, leaving out those that appear less important.

Scott Buresh in the article *Search Engine Keyphrases And The Power Of The Modifier* [ http://www.webpronews.com/ebusiness/seo/wpn-4-20040206SearchEngineKeyphrasesandthePoweroftheModifier.html ] suggests using descriptive adjectives, nouns and other suitable modifiers to appeal to wide cross-section of search traffic. And Jayde's *Keyword Selection* [ [http://www.jayde.com/set/keyword.html] ] process lays down certain ground rules in order to bring in more relevancy in your keyword selection exercise.

Work out your keywords

Once your initial keyphrases are ready, comes the most important step. Take help of one or more keyword tools. With a good keyword tool, you can 'weigh' relevance of each of your keyphrases with actual search-terms used. In fact the keyword tool will itself suggest many other popular keyphrases, relevant to your keyphrases, some of which you wouldn't probably have thought of. Since the keyword tools keep track of virtually all searches made on major search engines worldwide, feel assured that you'll get the most relevant search-terms used by aggregate viewers.

Finally, armed with keyword tools' suggestions, you'll be ready to further prune the big list to something you feel comfortable using. Perhaps another group discussion might help to thrash out a shorter list. Remember, it is better not to use more than 4 to 5 keyphrases in one webpage, lest the *weight* per keyword (keyword density) becomes thin and not sufficient to attract search engines' preferred attention.

At this stage, if necessary, take assistance of qualified SEO specialist or content writer to appropriately configure your webpages with selected keyphrases. Be aware that like keyword selection, keyword placement too is equally important, if not more. According to Robin Nobles [ >http://www.seo-news.com/archives/2004/jan/29.html ], search engines like Google is known to pull *snippets* from any one or combination of 9 different areas of webpages in response to search queries.

Keyword tools

Keywords tools come in different hues for different applications. The most important of course are keyword selection tools. My first choice is Wordtracker [ http://www.wordtracker.com/ ], which offers free trial to get a feel of how it operates. Their paid service opens up exciting ways of *discovering* your keywords. While Wordtrackers' is a do-it-yourself service, SEO Research Labs' [ http://www.seoresearchlabs.com/ ] is a package offer for what they say *Keyword Research for Bottom Line Results*. Another fine tool is Web CEO's 'Keyword Popularity Research', which is offered as a part of Web CEO Suite [ [http://www.webceo.com/pricing.htm] ].

Among other keyword selection tools, Good Keywords' [ http://www.goodkeywords.com/products/gkw/ ] is a free software from Softnik Technologies that queries several search engines to enable you find your best choices. Yet other popular sources are Overture Inventory [ http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ ], Google AdWord Keyword Suggestions [ https://adwords.google.com/select/main?cmd=KeywordSandbox ], 7Search [ http://conversion.7search.com/scripts/advertisertools/keywordsuggestion.aspx ], etc. GlobalPromoter [ [http://www.globalpromoter.com/keyword_suggestion_tool.cfm] ] too, among many others, provides free searching of Overture network for your keywords.

Some other useful keyword-related tools and resources are given below:

Marketleap's keyword verification in search results [ http://www.marketleap.com/verify/ ]



KeywordStats toolbar [ [http://www.keywordstats.com] ]



Webjectives' Keyword Density Analyzer [ http://www.webjectives.com/keyword.htm ]

For more resources concerning keyword research and many other web promotion topics, consider owning writer's ebook, *Sure Web Success with 1001+ Top Web Promote Links* [ http://www.ezypost.com/eb/top_web_promote_links.htm ].

Summing up

As with any set-up where there's a close and constant interaction with visitors, it is necessary to keep your website in top-shape, relevant, interesting and inviting. Keyword research is a vital part of website management and a continuous process. It's worth staying glued to happenings around, and keeping track of keyword-usage pattern from your web-logs. For, who knows where you stand tomorrow in search results for your chosen keywords!>

About The Author

For more information on keyword planning and also other web promotion resources, consider owning Partha Bhattacharya's highly informative ebook, Sure Web Success with 1001+ Top Web Promote Links [ http://www.ezypost.com/eb/top_web_promote_links.htm ], that bridges gap between possibility and certainty of your web success. Partha's website, EzyPost, also offers nicely-designed ready templates [ http://www.ezypost.com/web_templates/website_templates_1plus/1plus_1.htm ] for websites.

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