Searching for myJambi

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can make a big difference to the success of a young site like ours. We've been looking for ways to increase our own search engine performance, but like many start-ups, we wanted to find an affordable way to do it. Of course, we could always buy help ourselves out by buying key words on Google searches via AdWords, but that can get pricey, particularly as you go for highly competitive keywords, such as "babysitters New York" or "SAT Tutoring." We also didn't want to go the Black Hat SEO route and engage in any frowned-upon search engine tactics: that doesn't seem like an effective long-term solution.

So what can a start-up like myJambi with limited resources do? We identified a few steps to take.

First, at a tech networking event here in New York, we met John Murch of SEODrop. The site is still in stealth mode, but John was kind enough to come to our office and run us through what he does. That initial presentation was very helpful and John has continued to be a valuable resource for the myJambi marketing team along the way. We've also integrated the SEODrop reporting into our weekly metrics update.

As an easy second step, we signed up to Google Webmaster. This allowed us to get a better idea of how Google viewed us and gave us the opportunity to submit a site map. That definitely seems like an easy and obvious step in the quest for search engine domination (yeah, right –- but hey! We're trying).

Inbound links from other websites to ours can be incredibly valuable in improving PageRank and search engine standing, so we've been working on getting listed on various directories. Here, our rookie mistake was to (wrongly) assume that commenting on blogs and forums would count in terms of boosting the number of inbound links Google would recognize. We soon learned that this was not the case - these are known as "no follow" links, and they do not help you page ranking. An apology is in order here to our spectacular intern Daphne for wasting her precious work hours.

We started paying attention to the keywords we use in the meta data section of the major pages on myJambi. Not only did we take a good look at the keywords we're choosing for own site, but we also did a rudimentary analysis of other interesting sites in our space. Simply by clicking View and then View Page Source, we identified keyword patterns, such as whether there was an average number of keywords we should aim for, whether we should worry about misspellings, which words to emphasize. We found that there are no rules -- we saw a whole variety of approaches. Some had many keywords, some were more restricted. Some anticipated visitors typing in the wrong name, some did not. We decided to go for a middle ground - we would include some misspellings in the future and increase the number of keywords.

Another trick we picked up on is that the first keywords always have the most value and that their value diminishes the more keywords you add. So if you have 10 keywords, the first is much more powerful than the last. That means that we tried to figure out ways to move the most important or relevant words for that page to the top of the list. This would involve some restructuring, some of which is still to come, but we think it's probably worth it.

There's some controversy over the extent to which relevant key words in your meta tags influence your search engine standings. (In general, there is a wealth of literature out there on search engine optimization and not seldom does one renowned author contradict another, leaving newcomers somewhat bewildered.) However, it's also pretty widely acknowledged that spending some time on your meta tag keywords won't ever hurt your site and can only help. Yahoo, for instance, is reported to still pay attention to key words.

This is particularly true if key words featured in the meta tags are repeated on the actual web page, which brings us to what we think is going to be our most important SEO initiative by far: relevant landing pages. Currently, myJambi does not have many landing pages that are focused by location and service category – rather, most of our search and browse pages to date are general results pages that are then filtered down by our users according to what they are specifically looking for. However, in the future we will be introducing a number of targeted landing pages for people looking for child care in New York or language tutoring in the Bay Area. It's going to be a good chunk of work, but we think this will help us a lot when it comes to optimizing our site for search engines.

In sum, there is a ton to learn in this field and we have only scratched the surface. However, the golden rules seem to be to have relevant content, choose your keywords carefully, and try and get inbound links from trusted, relevant sites. If you follow these, even broadly, you'll be on the right track. We're not SEO experts, but we know a lot more now than we did when we started.

Explore myJambi in a new way: See what's out there and get inspired

As the year gets started, we're offering our users a new way to explore myJambi.



Click on the explore link in the top nav and you'll get taken to the new standard view of all our listings. This new view will provide you with the basic information (price, location and BIGGER photos which seem to be a #1 request) so you can get an easy feel for all the different opportunities in your area and in your network in a simple and structured way.



Once you've narrowed things down a bit you can then hop over to the advanced view and find the perfect match by taking advantage of the advanced filters; maybe you're looking for a specific price, a user with a certain rating, or you just need to make sure that the person you want to work with can make it on a specific day.



We've also tried to help you out a bit by creating some pages that we hope will inspire you as you try to make the most of myJambi. Are you a parent looking to get some help around the house? Take a look at our 'For parents' page. Need to get a gift for a loved one? Visit our 'Gift Ideas' page. Need a break? Treat yourself to the one of the services on the 'Just for me' page.

As you know, we try to make changes to the myJambi site every week or two to build the site that fits your needs but we can only stick to that promise by getting your honest feedback on a regular basis so be sure to keep it coming.

Happy exploring and happy new year from the entire myJambi team!

Finding help you can trust

As you probably know by now, myJambi helps you tap into your trusted network of friends and colleagues to buy and sell services. We understand that it's hard to find reliable people. If you're like us, you've probably tried using other sites and had some weird experiences. Sometimes that doesn't matter too much - if you're buying a hat from a myJambi service provider and it comes in a slightly different color than you ask for, it's annoying but nobody got hurt. If you hire a babysitter to look after your kids and they don't show up at the right time, it probably will matter quite a lot.

Every week, more of our users get rated by other users. You can read those ratings and see who you can trust. We at the myJambi team also like to keep an eye out to make sure that our users are matched up with each other. If you have something in mind that you'd like to get done or a service you'd like to offer but you haven't found someone appropriate, let us know - we're happy to help you by reaching out on your behalf. You can email us at kristina@myjambi.com.