What concerns me though, is that the respective bills were not scrapped, just taken out of play for now so that more study can be done. I assure you… this isn’t over by any stretch of the imagination so we must remain vigilant.

Most policy makers are not business oriented; they are career politicians who get their information from aides and lobbyists. Practical, everyday issues escape them simply because they are not involved at that level. Policies therefore, are often skewed to favor special interest groups simply because the groups have complained that certain activities either cause them harm or have the potential to cause them harm. Policy makers don’t hear from the vast majority who are unaffected by these “activities” and so operate with limited information. Thus the broad strokes of law the tie our hands, bind our feet and limit free enterprise.

SOPA and PIPA are classic examples of this truth. Five Hollywood studios, four multinational record labels, and six global publishers lobbied Washington to enact legislation aimed at maximizing their profits (Cory Doctorrow, BoingBoing.net). Does this accurately represent the vast majority of businesses and users who depend on the Internet for their profits? I think not.

We must stay in the process to discover new methods of protecting intellectual property and stopping online piracy because broad stroke policies are not the answer. Instead, we must take into consideration the evolution of how knowledge and content are being disseminated and then prepare thoughtful, prudent and fair safeguards that do what they are supposed to do without such catastrophic collateral damage.

Stay engaged!

We encourage clients to engage the services of a professional who will help them develop a marketing plan that takes into consideration every aspect of their business. Web presence is only one ingredient of the marketing mix that must be considered. Other ingredients include branding, target demographic, and effective business region to name just a few.

TLR Consulting Services provides professional assistance to our clients to help sharpen their web presence in light of their marketing plan. If a client has no marketing plan, we can help there as well. Then, we begin to optimize their site in light of what the client wants to accomplish. Using other venues that compliment their entire web presence we create campaigns that demonstrate results through Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets where the client has a presence.

The results that we deliver are in line with what our clients want to achieve. Their increase in web traffic is due to relevant searches which draw users who will click through and become clients.

SEO is not rocket science. It is deliberate actions designed to bring substantive results that produce new clients.

Try us… You’ll see.

Consider this from Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols writing in ZDNet.com:

…SOPA and PIPA are bad laws. If enacted, a copyright holder could, legally have foreign Web sites shut down by simply accusing them of violating their copyright. These sites would then, from an American perspective, simply vanish. How broad is this? According to Laurence Tribe, a Harvard law professor and author id American Constitutional Law, SOPA is unconstitutional because, “an entire Web site containing tens of thousands of pages could be targeted if only a single page were accused of infringement.”

Tribe also states that it SOPA violates the First Amendment because “it delegates to a private party the power to suppress speech without prior notice and a judicial hearing. This provision of the bill would give complaining parties the power to stop online advertisers and credit card processors from doing business with a website, merely by filing a unilateral notice accusing the site of being ‘dedicated to theft of U.S. property’- -even if no court has actually found any infringement.”

If SOPA, or its Senate twin-brother, PIPA, were made law, it would also require ISPs to monitor customers’ traffic and block Web sites suspected of copyright infringement.

Therefore, Tribe concludes, “Although the problems of online copyright and trademark infringement are genuine, SOPA is an extreme measure that is not narrowly tailored to governmental interests. It is a blunderbuss rather than a properly limited response, and its stiff penalties would significantly endanger legitimate websites and services. Its constitutional defects are not marginal ones that could readily be trimmed in the process of applying and enforcing it in particular cases. Rather, its very existence would dramatically chill protected speech by undermining the openness and free exchange of information at the heart of the Internet. It should not be enacted by Congress.”

Besides simply shutting down Web sites on demand, SOPA would, as Reddit put it in its Blackout Special Edition (PDF Link) “Under SOPA, you could get 5 years for uploading a Michael Jackson song, one year more than the doctor who killed him.”

But, those of you who’ve been following the issue, hasn’t SOPA been stopped? Yes, SOPA appears to be dead in the water in the House. But, acts can reappear in the House and PIPA is alive and well in the Senate. As Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia’s founder and leader tweeted, “Rumors of the death of SOPA may be premature. But Senate version going strong.”

Should our rights be eradicated to avoid “impinging on the ability of five Hollywood studios, four multinational record labels, and six global publishers to maximize their profits”? I think not.

Social interaction and the social information that activity generates can be a powerful tool for creating targeted and more relevant search results.

This reveals one more way that social media and the impact it has on the way we communicate and relate to others on the web may drive what we see. While it is easy to understand the logic of why search results tailored to a person’s social media activities may be more in tune with what that person is looking for, is it true across the board? Google has already changed the landscape of searching more than once. Could this be just another turning of the soil to bring the Internet closer to home?

We here at TLR Consulting Services are very aware of the impact of social media optimization and search engine optimization to help clients glean the most from their online presence. If you are interested in drawing more traffic to your site, we can help you. Our expertise is not simply in what we say, but in demonstrated results that make a difference.

Contact us today by email: info@tlrcs.com; telephone: (828) 419-0765, or by completing the information request form on our Contact Us page.

Tom Gill

TLR Consulting Services (TLRCS) is your one-stop-shop in the Asheville and Black Mountain North Carolina area for web design, support and hosting. Our primary purpose is to help you succeed at your business. We specialize in Information Technology related consulting, including:

• Internet Website Design and Development
• On-going Website Support
• Search Engine Optimization
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We have a network of specialists who work with us to help our clients. If we are unable to solve a problem our extended team will uncover a solution. This backup ensures our clients have the best in the industry working with them to succeed.

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Allow us to join with you to help you fulfill your vision and make your business dreams come true.