Web Branding

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Welcome to the second Web Branding interview of this 2011 Series.


Today I am happy to be joined by Brian Patterson.

He is a Partner at MangoCo, a design and seo firm based in Northern Virginia, USA. MangoCo deals in Search Engine Optimisation, Reputation Management, and Unique Web Design and has a strong track record for achieving top rankings.



First off, many thanks for agreeing to this interview, and let’s begin with a brief introduction about yourself and MangoCo. 

Thanks for the inviting me to participate in the interview series. My background is a mixed bag of IT consulting, project management, and search engine optimization.  I’ve consulted on projects ranging from an enterprise system roll-out at a Top Secret government agency to building a celebrity gossip blog for a client that showcases the most interesting celeb tweets.  My focus these days is primarily on SEO and Online Reputation Management.

And how long have you been at the SEO game? What’s been the biggest change since you’ve been dealing with Search Engine Optimisation?

I’ve been doing SEO for about four years now.  Compared to some other SEO professionals, I’m just a baby in the industry, and they are right. However, 4 years in an online industry is also an eternity in terms of evolution.  The biggest macro change that has impacted me is the shift by the algorithms towards stronger domains. 

When I first started, it was fairly easy to get content on brand new sites to rank well fairly quickly. However, the updates over time seem to have shifted a lot of trust to ‘authority domains’ – aged domains with strong links that Google can really trust. Often times these domains many not have as good of an article to fulfil the query as a newer site, but Google is ranking them higher because it trusts them more.  This shift has changed the way we go about doing SEO, with almost no focus on ‘quick results’ for any sort of competitive keywords

On a side note, we’ll soon be launching a site with details on how we go about building authority sites/domains, so stay tuned and we’ll be sure to share the details here when its live.


If you had to make 3 predictions about the future of SEO in the coming few years, what changes do you see having most impact on how SEO is carried out?

Prediction 1:   Bing’s market share will continue to grow, and here why:  Facebook is seeping its way into every aspect of our online lives and activities.  From the Like button to Facebook Connect, many of us interact with Facebook on a daily basis OFF of the Facebook website.  Microsoft relationship with Facebook allows Bing to crawl it to see what people are ‘Liking’ on the web.  This gives Bing the unique opportunity to adjust their ranking algorithms based on social activity that Google cannot see.  I can imagine a marketing campaign with Bing touting how they can personalize the search experience just for you. >

Prediction 2:  Brands will focus more on Reputation Management, and Google will find more ways to combat Brands focusing on this; Its typical cat and mouse.  I recently wrote this post over at SEOmoz about how we helped a client combat the issue where Google was recommending their brand name plus the word ‘scam’ in Google Suggest.

Since reputation management is on my mind lately, my prediction is as Google becomes aware that more brands are doing this, they’ll find ways to combat it and surface true user feedback in the algorithm (for branded searches).

Bonus prediction:  I also think the algorithm’s bias towards negative suggestions will decrease as a way to get brands to not spend as much time manipulating the algorithm because of reputation management problems.

Prediction 3:  Content farms aren’t going anywhere!  Everyone is complaining about how Google is just full of spam and junk courtesy of Demand Media and the like, but Matt Cutts just posted today about how the results back then were actually a lot worse, and he has proof.  I think eHow and similar sites will still stay around, because they do have their place.  For quick, short answers, they actually do the trick quite often.


What’s your Business Philosophy?

At MangoCo, our primary focus is on developing recurring revenue streams.  Currently 60% of our income is through client work, while 40% of our income is through web properties and web tools that we develop and monetize.  We have large authority sites like Mac Help site Maciverse, mid-sized but growing community sites like My Five Fingers, and tiny niche sites that we are experimenting with like the Best Hair Straightener Guide.  As you can see, we put our hands in a lot of pots.  Over time, we hope to build our sites and projects to be a larger percentage of our overall portfolio.



What are your top tips for keeping up to date with all the breaking SEO news?

I’m a big RSS guy.  I follow over 60 SEO related blogs, and I hate unread counts, so I generally read everything in my Google Reader account throughout the day.    I think this keeps me fairly up to date, but I also follow a bunch of SEO’s on Twitter to catch any interesting conversations or breaking news.

If you had to choose one process as the single most important aspect of an SEO campaign, what would this do?

Hmmmm…. That’s a tough question because there really are so many critical pieces.  If I had to pick one though, I guess it would be keyword research.  It’s critical to know your targets.

What is your opinion on CMS Website platforms such as Joomla, Drupal, Mambo etc from an SEO point of view?

You left out my favourite – WordPress!  I’ve used all of the others you listed, but I’ve found that WP’s ease-of-use coupled with the ability to tweak everything for SEO makes it hands down my favourite CMS for most websites.  I haven’t used Joomla in a few years, but I remember at the point I was using it that it was terrible for SEO – there was so much duplicate content generated if you wanted to use the pretty URL option.  And, if you didn’t, you had long strings of variables in your URLs.  I didn’t like either of those options!

How do you see Google Realtime Search affecting SEO campaigns and do you think this will rival Twitter Search?



Page load time is always a big challenge when we are brought in after a website is already developed.  It can be a hastle to get large companies to make changes to their website that affect the underlying architecture.  It takes time and effort to identify what the culprit is of a slow loading website and then even more time and effort to develop a plan an execute on it.  While we have done this a bunch, I much prefer link building!

The second problem we seem to hit fairly often is where client doesn’t want to create any new content, and doesn’t want to pay to have it professionally created, either.  This is tough because obviously fresh, interesting content generates links on its own.  Additionally, if we are going out and building a lot of links, we like to hide that spike behind content creation.  Our thought process here is that the search engines won’t see that spike as “ah ha, SEOs are working on this site”, but rather see it as “ah ha, this site is creating lots of new content, and new links are flowing in because of it”.

Are there any gems of SEO wisdom or advice that you would like to share with our readers?

I would say – think creatively!  There are a number of clever and creative ways to get good, strong links.  While the popular methods do work, such as widgets, badges, infographics, etc… there are many other ways to get strong links.  To get your juices flowing, here is one idea we used in the past:

We found a link acquisition target that was a typical blog run by one guy.  We noticed he was sorta vain and liked posting pictures of himself.  So, we hired a caricaturist on oDesk for $15 to do a caricature of him.  We sent it to him along with a way to link back to us.  Easy and unique, right?  When you are going after harder-to-get links, it pays to use your thinking cap.

And lastly if you have any final thoughts/ plugs, please feel free..

Thanks again for the opportunity.  If you’re interested, you can follow me on the Twitter:  @brianpatterson

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Generally when you talk to someone working within the SEO profession, any optimisation strategy that they're following will be heavily focused on acquiring backlinks.

This common issue is generally caused by the misconception that backlinks are the best way of achieving those prestigious number one positions, whereas in actual fact the best way to gain these positions is by addressing numerous factors together.

Yes, backlinks are very important within Google's ranking algorithm, but they cannot achieve positioning on their own. Other important factors include page optimisation, relevant copy, internal linking, the domain name and the following smaller, yet effective techniques:

Page speed...

Google announced last year that year that it's algorithm would now consider the page loading speed of websites, giving optimisers another way of impressing Google when they crawl their website. A website can be optimised to load faster by compressing images, removing unnecessary JavaScript code, optimising the CSS and cleaning up HTML code.

Optimising images...

Similar to page speed, adding alt tags to images might not have as much of an impact as some of key SEO techniques, but it can help to make a difference. By placing alt tags on images, you're effectively telling Google what the images are about, as when crawling, Google is unable to read them.

Creating a blog...

By adding a blog onto your domain you're giving yourself a hugely impactful resource for linking and also generating much more copy. Regular posts from your blog can help to increase the rate that Google crawls your website, provide more linking power to your pages and help to tell Google that you're experts within your field with the additional copy.

These SEO Services are great for giving your website a boost, helping to make it easier for Google to identify what your website is about and increasing your chances of achieving those top search engine positions.



Paul Rogers - Marketing and Web Development Manager of Big Game Hunters, an Oxfordshire-based retailer of Trampolines and Playhouses.

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This is the first Interview in our 2011 Interview Series, I’m happy to be joined by Luke from Vivoo Creative based in Nottingham. They deal in all things creative and online marketing.



First off, thanks for agreeing to this brain picking session!

Please can you give a brief introduction about yourself & your company: When was Vivoo Creative formed and how?

Hi! My name is Luke and I own Vivoo Creative which is generally myself but I employ in-house on a contract basis for larger projects.

Vivoo Creative was formed in March 2010 before this I generally worked in-house at other design and digital agencies, I am self-taught in what I do, I left school with 1 GCSE (in Drama) but at 15 stumbled upon myspace and gained an interest in HTML, through the years I was a Chef so creativity was generally in my blood, while I was working as a Chef thanks to Google and Youtube and my own dedication I taught myself website design and development and have gone on to SEO, UX, Social Media, and email marketing… eventually I left catering to take on Web Design and Development full-time.

How’d the name come about?

Absolut random, I try to be as different and unique as I can be within my designs so I figured why not do the same for the name? Originally it was just Vivoo but I decided to change it to Vivoo Creative so it at least signified something! It’s great when I get enquiries as the first thing that is asked is ‘is it viv-ow or viv-oo’? After discussing the name of the business I think it puts the potential client at ease and they get to know you a little!




I see from your Blog you’re in the process of refurbishing your studio, what’s the key to a great working environment? Any tips for our readers on how you gain that creative inspiration?

I’m glad you asked me this, I have worked at too many agencies which are just too dull and ‘call centre like’, Grey walls and florescent celling lights, what’s that about?

This is the creative industry so surely the environment you work in must be creative too! Full of colour, and fun within a motivated and interesting environment, with Mood boards on the wall or your own work, so you can look up and say… I did that!

Actually I do something called sketch boarding, it’s not only a good way to plan out your website for usability but it also gets you away from the computer I recommend anyone doing this if you are freelance or a team.



Another thing I try to do is my own stock photography, after reading a blog post a few months ago I build a few light tents, this is another thing I think everyone get involved in and have input in a working environment, me personally I do it to get my own shots and get away from the computer, though it can be time consuming!

People get creative inspiration from all sorts of things, above is just my approach, sometimes I wake up at 2am with an idea for a project I’m working on so I think in general inspiration comes from the mind!

What’s your Business Philosophy?

To be a unique input into the creative industry.

It seems you’ve just enjoyed a prosperous 2010, what’s the biggest lesson(s) you learnt about your industry last year?

Usability is a massive key for any project, even for the smallest projects always plan in detail! It’s worth the extra 2/3 days, I’m not a master at UX but I can understand why there is masters in usability.

Also, make sure you client knows who the designer is, I made the mistake once in just saying yes to I can design it like this for you, yes I can do it like that, and that was the last time I let that happen… don’t let them take over, they hire you because you know how to create, for some reason a lot of clients still don’t get this, I’ve lost clients previously because I have stopped them from trying to be the designer but that was my choice. The way I see it you wouldn’t tell a builder how to build a house, you hire them to build it,  just like we are hired to build and design websites!

And this is just a bit of advice to people starting out as I hear of this mistake every week, I have worked with a lot of agencies who outsource to me, sometimes they will ask for concepts (just like some clients do) before any payment is made or even before you even have the project in hand, I tell you now, it doesn’t matter if they are an agency, private client or the queen of England, say no to spec work.



And the biggest challenge of 2010?

Motivation, don’t get me wrong I absolutely love what I do, but working long hours by yourself really can take its toll! To overcome this I used to go out every day and do stuff, generally go for a pint in the evening if I’m honest! Or sometimes If I’m not doing dev or design work I would go and take my laptop some place and do admin stuff. Only having people on Twitter, Facebook and IM doesn’t count and it can take you out of the real world!


With the ever increasing rate of tech advances, what do you find is the most challenging aspect of keeping up with the ever evolving online world?

Dealing with Project Management, Admin, Accounts, Server Management, Clients, Marketing, social media, and of course the initial design and development work is what I have to look after on a day to day basis so trying to keep on top of the current trends and technology is somewhat impossible, I do try my very best to keep in the loop, but with all this other stuff going on and with there be improvements in technology every day it can be very difficult to have time to sit back and read a blog post, watch a video or have a chat about HTML5 or something!


Where do you see the web design industry in the future?

Very little flash…. HTML5, CSS3 and jQuery is the future oh and no internet explorer if we are lucky.


2011 is set to be yet another year of dramatic change in the online world. What do you predict will be really big this coming year?

Hopefully the death of Internet Explorer, but if not we can dream right?

And lastly, a BIG THANKS, if you have any final thoughts/ plugs, please feel free..


Referring to one of my answers Google UX sketch boarding, it’s interesting!

Twitter – www.twitter.com/vivoocreative

Personal twitter - www.twitter.com/himynameislukie (follow at own risk)

Website – www.vivoocreative.co.uk





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2011 - Yet Another Year of High Speed Change Online

Last year saw a remarkable growth in Social Media, the increase in users on the main social network platforms showed no signs of slowing up. SEO Services are constantly changing to keep up with more sophisticated algorithms and Online Media continues to rapidly evolve.

All signs are pointing to the fact that search engines must pay more attention to the vast amount of social data out there. Social signals such as ‘Like’ buttons may become a key factor in determining the relevancy and popularity of the results we see.

At present, popular Tweets are being instantly indexed, a tell tale sign of what’s to come. This revelation will see the new sponsored Tweets become even more valuable to SEO Services. Real-time search will undoubtedly come into its own this year and become more of an established feature on Google results pages.

We may likely see the end of the PageRank and a new hybrid version that can calculate quality and relevancy to determine value. This may even bring about a decline of duplicate and regurgitated content in the name of rank.

With Smart phones and tablets more affordable than ever, this will mean that keeping in touch on the many social forums will continue to grow. 2011 will see a marked increase in mobile search and yet another influx of even more impressive apps. The application boom will not only feature within the mobile market but also web apps will play a key role as HTML 5 is steadily rolled out to the masses.

A sleek and better looking internet will adorn the New Year as the wonders of the new html and CSS3 will finally give HTML 4 a long needed overhaul. Media rich sites no longer need to rely on third party applications. We as the user will see an end to the excessive messages of ‘To view this content download/ update this player’.

Online Video’s have also followed a pattern of expansion with ever more websites favouring this format to inform users about their wares. Better broadband speeds coupled with cheaper video recording devices and ever more user friendly editing software means the future is set in video format.
Get ready to start hearing the term ‘Video SEO’ a whole lot more.

The slow demise of TV as we know it will make way for the rise of Internet TV, with the likes of Google and Apple keen to corner this market.

Search Engine Optimisation is also a changing playing field. The art of optimising your online content has become much more main stream.

A few years ago if you followed the laws of SEO to the book, anyone half computer literate would be able to see noticeable results. The approach of ‘painting by numbers’ may very well be on the way out, as Social Media takes a more prominent position. As Algorithms become more sophisticated in 2011, this will surely ruffle a few feathers within the SEO community. More innovative and creative SEO techniques shall spring up, many echoing the core elements of marketing.

2011 has certainly the makings for yet another year of fast paced technological advances.



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We have now commenced the voting stage of our Website Design Competition.

We didn't receive a great deal of entries in the end, but many thanks for all our entries.
Please see the 4 contenders below for the website prize.

To register your votes please click on your favourite entry at the top right hand side of our blog.

Please feel free to link to this page to get your friends voting for the winner.

We put back the final submission date to the 31st Dec 2010 so now the final deadline for the winner to be decided by will be the 15th Feb.

Best of Luck to all our Entrants


Entry 1



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