Thursday, April 30, 2015

I dentifying component specs when label is missing or indiscernible?

2 items that I would love to be able to identify when the label or markings are of no help: 1. Fuses. Is there a way to determine the amp rating...

Tongue and Groove Ceiling question

Hello, I am new to this forum and had a question regarding T&G paneling for a ceiling. Hopefully I am posting this in the best spot. I am looking to put up T&G on my kitchen ceiling. I more than likely will be going with a 1x6 but was also considering a 1x4 but am worried it might look small. The room is about 18'x11'. My main question is regarding the length of boards. Am I risking warping by going with full length boards? 18's or 20's? I would assume it will obviously be a little harder to work with but like the look (and simplicity) of not having joints. I had read somewhere a while back that the longer lengths could be more susceptible to warping, is this true? Any help is greatly appreciated!

Cracks in Chimney Bricks: Repair or Replace?

One of my chimneys was recently repointed. The contractor was supposed to replace any bricks that needed to be replaced down to three courses from the top. When I recently went up on the roof, I discovered that bricks in the second and third courses were not replaced and still have cracks. Photos (with close-up) are below. Contractor is balking at tearing down the courses (and is not a bad guy, did other work on the house at a decent price)--so I'm wondering whether those bricks actually need to be replaced or whether they can just be filled in. Or maybe there's some other solution. Thank you very much for any input you can give. (Not sure if relevant but, the chimney is on an exterior wall. I live in Maryland, so it can get kind of cold and snowy at times.) Attachment 50037 (http://www.doityourself.com/forum/attachments/bricks-masonry-cinder-block-paving-walking-stones-asphalt-concrete/50037-cracks-chimney-bricks-repair-replace-pic-1-1.jpg)

Please help on pressure switch stuck closed

I have a nordyne/fridgidare l1ra 090c-12b furnace. When I turn the heat on the inducer kicks on followed by the igniter which then I hear a clicking noise followed by the igniter turning off and the control board giving me the pressure switch closed error. I have replaced the pressure switch and I am still having the same problem. Once in a while it will fire and heat the house but it very rarely happens? What else could it be other than the pressure switch

Water+Sunshine=Refrigeration

http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/07/smallbusiness/evaptainer-cooler/index.html

Calculating Roof Ventilation for Vaulted Ceilings

I've done a lot of reading on how to calculate proper roof/attic ventilation. All of the calculations start by figuring out the attic floor area required to vent by measuring the attic floor length and width, and multiply to get the area. I've got a 80 year old house with partially vaulted ceilings in two bedrooms upstairs, which means I've got a very small attic floor area above those. My question is, should I be using the full length and width of the roof (i.e. the upstairs floor space) to calculate my ventilation requirements or just my small attic space? I figure that I need the entire floor space. I have open soffits at the base of the roof, and have good space between the roof deck and insulation to get good airflow from the soffits, up the roof deck to the attic. I will be adding ridge-vents across the ridge of the roof, and installing round louvre vents between the rafters at the open soffits. I just need to know the proper attic area to use, so I can figure out how much net free area I need.

Lennox Safety Wiring Question

Hi everyone, so one of my guys installed an AC today on an existing Lennox G60DF-48C-110-10 furnace. The furnace would not come on in heat mode. The...

Pendant Light fix?!

Hi, new to the forum thanks to this reason. About 2 years ago purchased Tom Dixon pendant lights from a seller in Hong Kong, needless to say 2 of the lights stopped working thanks to the cheap plastic that held the bulb. Other than that, they look great. I reached out to a lamp repair place and they want $100 per light to fix (all 3 cost me $100), so before I trash them, I want to see if I can fix'em as I need the light! Here are some shots: Attachment 50028 (http://www.doityourself.com/forum/attachments/lighting-light-fixtures-ceiling-exhaust-fans/50028-pendant-light-fix-image2.jpg)Attachment 50029 (http://www.doityourself.com/forum/attachments/lighting-light-fixtures-ceiling-exhaust-fans/50029-pendant-light-fix-image1.jpg)

Mayor John Tory supports swapping some cops for civilians


Two-tiered policing, with lower-paid civilians used in jobs such as traffic control, may be inevitable to keep costs down, he says.

Just change "A" coil

Hi All, if an AC system is replaced with the same capacity (3 ton) can the "A" coil only be replaced instead of the whole Air handler ,which is in great condition,electric heat has never been used. Thoughts Geo

Urgent……..suction line copper question

Im installing a new condensing unit, had to relocate it outside from under the building.. I bought 30 feet of 1 ⅛ copper for the suction line…Im...

Thermostat says 75*F

Indoor stat says 75*F. Outdoor thermometer says 95*F at 4:30 in the afternoon. Gonna turn on the A/C and set it for 70 then jump in the shower. ...

Dryer Receptacle is RV Use Only?

I'm not sure if I'm missing something here, but I was just checking to see what kind of power cord I needed for a new dryer and saw that the receptacle in the laundry room is labeled "Recreational Vehicle Use Only." It also says 30A 125V. I just purchased this house and had an inspection done previously where this did not come up as an issue in the report. So, as someone who doesn't know a lot about dryer plugs: 1.) Is this the proper receptacle? If not, might there be any issues installing the correct one? There are no other similar receptacles in this laundry room. 2.) What kind of power cord do I need as I understand there are a couple different types. This is for a new Samsung DV42H5200EP Dryer. Thanks in advance for help with this question!

Leveling subfloor - 1/4 ply?

Is there any problem using 1/4" ply to build up an existing plank wood subfloor? The planks are 7-1/2"w x 3/4" set at 45 degrees diagonal to the joists. I want to use 1/4" to make the new floor level with flooring in the adjacent room i.e. want a level transition. Will the thin 1/4" ply create any unforeseen issues, even though I'm relying on it only for leveling? If its Kosher, then how would you attach the ply? 1" fully threaded screws every 6" on the edge and 8-10" in the field? btw: * the new hardwood (going over the planks+1/4 ply) is 3/4" solid hickory. * after reading other posts on the subject of sub-floors, I've decided NOT to use glue between the ply and planks, and NOT to nail the new ply through to the joists.

ice machine super heat

i have a ice machine,charged with 30oz. 404a, suction pressure 25 psi. temp -10. should super heat be around 20 deg. above saturation temp.

Ductless Heating Cooling: Three Separate Single Zone Units Vs One Three-Zone System

For a ductless heating cooling system like the Mitsubishi, can an installer comment on the relative efficiency of having a dedicated single zone...

Fence on a Concrete Grade Beam?

Hi there, new here, so bear with me, hopefully I didn't miss something in my search. What I'm wanting to do is erect a wooden fence on a small concrete wall. I'd only like it to stick up above the ground about 6 inches, and be at least 10-12 inches into the ground (stop a puppy that has a tendency to dig). It would be about 8 inches wide. What I don't know, is the specifics. I live in Saskatchewan, and am unsure about depth, or a footing underneath of it due to frost? Would that affect something like this? Or if I reinforce along the length with rebar would I be okay if built to that 10-12" depth on top of crushed stone? It would obviously have "piers" down 24-36" every 8' at the fence post locations. Thoughts, concerns, ideas?

UPDATED THE WALL OF SHAME

Hi everybody, I added four projects to the Wall of Pride, as shown on CB.com. Check it out!...

Laminate countertop miter seam

Does anyone have an idea of what I can use to fill the seam a little better and make it waterproof. The seam is 2 feet away from the sink. How can I protect it from a spill or when cleaning it with a wet rag. The piece were connected with Titebond 3 which is waterproof however this is a small gap, less than 1/32 of an inch. That is the closest I could get them lined up together. I was thinking of just putting a strip of scotch tape? The seam is not really that big or deep to get a product to fill it. Thanks for any help in advanced Jay

Performance Guarantee for Repair

Hi- As a homeowner I am going to have a TXV and filter dryer replaced with new refrigerant. Where would I measure the the temperature...

Ice Dam Membrane on new roof

We live in Massachusetts and had our roof replaced this past September. I was told that the roofer was putting down a 6' wide ice dam membrane but with all the snow we had this winter, I had some pretty bad ice dams and water leaked into the house in four different places. Without ripping up shingles, is there a way to find out if the membrane was actually installed? Thanks for the help!

Niagara AX server & Java

I have a server running Windows Server 2012 with Honeywell WEBS AX Supervisor software installed on it. Everything was working fine until recently...

NG pressure / flow question

I had a 1/2" line split from my main supply in the garage that runs into my indoor fireplace (which is rarely used). I plan on heating my garage this winter, so I tee'd off a stick to that, as well as ran a 20' length to the opening of my garage doors so that it could feed my burner that I use to make beer. It's a pretty large burner, rated with propane and a 30psi reg. up to 200k btu. Amazon.com : Bayou Classic BG14 Banjo Burner 10 inch diameter : Grill Parts : Patio, Lawn & Garden (http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-BG14-Burner-diameter/dp/B0009JXYTG) That being said, I was using just that setup before I ran these pipes, and it would heat my 26 gallon kettle to a rolling boil pretty easily. I bought this to convert the burner to NG, but do not have a regulator (which I was under the impression that you didn't need, although in the directions it says something about a reg): HURRICANE NATURAL GAS CONVERSION VALVE | William's Brewing (http://www.williamsbrewing.com/HURRICANE-NATURAL-GAS-CONVERSION-VALVE-P2214.aspx)

Accidental Dislike removal

Changing the batteries in my mouse I accidentally clicked the Dislike button on a post that definitely didn't deserve it. Yes, I know this makes me...

Charging the AC, how do you know the quantity of freon being added?

This is just an aftermath, but I'm puzzled by what I was told. Had this guy come over for AC check/tune up on a rather chilly day, he measured the pressure of my ancient Rheem system outside, and it was showing around 40-45psi, and he told me the normal should be 65psi. He did admit that the low temperature (it was 50 F that day) will influence the reading as well. He told me he would drop by later and refill it for the cost of material, $65/lbs, and he said I probably would need 2 lbs. He came by a couple days ago, when temperature was 72 F. The reading actually climbed up to 60 psi, so he refilled it while watching the meter and made sure it was stable at 65-66 psi. Whole process was less than 10 min, and he said it was probably 1 lbs. I did ask why it was not proportional, compensating 20 psi calls for 2 lbs according to him last time, but this was only for 5 psi. But the fact that he kept his word to drop by, not charging another round of labor and seemed to know what he's doing, made me OK with the 1lbs price. But I'm puzzled, how would you know the quantity of freon that's added? The meter he used only showed pressure, it was all up to him to tell me how much I need. Thanks a lot.

Make developers dedicate space for affordable housing: councillor


Councillor Mike Layton would like to see the province and the city back what's called inclusionary zoning.

Dishwasher wiring

Can i Put a DW (1300w,12amp) on a circuit that was used before as a stove hood vent (the one that comes out of a counter top). it also has a 120v outlet attached for the gas range. The circuit is using 2 connected breakers (total 30amp). Can i modify it somehow to use for my DW? Thanks in advance.

TRANE-OUTDOOR UNIT TRIPPING

HEY GUYS...HOPING FOR A LITTLE HELP... 2012 MODEL#-4TWB3036B1000BA, TRIPPING BREAKER RANDOMLY. POWER WIRE IS 30FT LONG, #10 WIRE ON A 30AMP BREAKER....

patio cover

I am looking to build a cover over an existing concrete patio. the slab is 10 ft deep and 12 ft long. I am going to tie rafters to a ledger attached to the facia and rest them on a beam between 2 6x6 post set 11 ft apart. rafters will need to span 8 1/2 ft and will be on 16 in centers. my question is size of beam and rafters. I live in Texas , so there is no snow load to consider. It will have 5/8 plywood roof with roll roofing. thanks for your advice.

Small Flame at Fire Pit

I recently installed a fire pit fueled by natural gas. I have tied into the meter at the house with a 50' 3/8" hose running back to the fire pit. There is about an additional 35' of 3/4" pipe where the hose connects to the fire pit. I am getting very small flame at the fire pit. Any suggestions? Thanks Attachment 49975 (http://www.doityourself.com/forum/attachments/lawns-landscaping-outdoor-decor/49975-small-flame-fire-pit-img_2774.jpg) Attachment 49976 (http://www.doityourself.com/forum/attachments/lawns-landscaping-outdoor-decor/49976-small-flame-fire-pit-img_2783.jpg)

You Have $100 to Spend on Social Media Marketing. Here’s One Way to Spend It.

How big is your marketing budget?

I’ve heard of companies that spend millions on marketing. I’ve heard of others who spend zero (we skew toward the zero side at Buffer).

Regardless of how much you spend, you aim to spend it well. That’s why a hypothetical situation like the one here—what would you do with $100 to spend on social media marketing?—can be an extremely valuable exercise.

I have some ideas on what I’d do with the $100, ways to wring the most value ...

The post You Have $100 to Spend on Social Media Marketing. Here’s One Way to Spend It. appeared first on Social.

Goodman CTK02 losing time and date.

Hi all, I have seen on the last 2 power failures (over the last month) this t-stat has needed the time and date re-entered. The power failures were...

no sweat ... if possible

I am doing a remodel of a 1950's bathroom. I would like to put shutoffs on the sink faucet inlets. Current fitting is a sweated elbow (see pic). I would prefer to avoid sweating the connection so I tried a 3/8 compression valve (pic) but it leaks. I did try to torque is a bit with a wrench but still get a drip. The compression lines do not leak because they have a rubber seal face whereas the fitting does not. What options do I have to avoid sweating on a new elbow? O-ring in the compression fitting, adapter ...? Thanks.

Bicycle Frame

Hi guys, I wanted to show the change of the frame that I run on my wife's bike. I'm not an expert welder, but I am quite satisfied, the work performed in about 3 hours. Look your advice and opinions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YV_A4OIoTM

How to Create Boring-Industry Content that Gets Shared

Posted by ronell-smith

If you think creating content for boring industries is tough, try creating content for an expensive product that'll be sold in a so-called boring industry. Such was the problem faced by Mike Jackson, head of sales for a large Denver-based company that was debuting a line of new high-end products for the fishing industry in 2009.

After years of pestering the executives of his traditional, non-flashy company to create a line of products that could be sold to anglers looking to buy premium items, he finally had his wish: a product so expensive only a small percentage of anglers could afford them.

dog bored by content

What looked like being boxed into a corner was actually part of the plan.

When asked how he could ever put his neck on the line for a product he'd find tough to sell and even tougher to market, he revealed his brilliant plan.

"I don't need to sell one million of [these products] a year," he said. "All I need to do is sell a few hundred thousand, which won't be hard. And as far as marketing, that's easy: I'm ignoring the folks who'll buy the items. I'm targeting professional anglers, the folks the buyers are influenced by. If the pros, the influencers, talk about and use the products, people will buy them."

Such was my first introduction to how it's often wise to ignore who'll buy the product in favor of marketing to those who'll help you market and sell the product.

These influencers are a sweet spot in product marketing and they are largely ignored by many brands

Looking at content for boring industries all wrong

A few months back, I received a message in Google Plus that really piqued my interest: "What's the best way to create content for my boring business? Just kidding. No one will read it, nor share information from a painter anyway."

I went from being dismayed to disheartened. Dismayed because the business owner hadn't yet found a way to connect with his prospects through meaningful content. Disheartened because he seemed to have given up trying.

You can successfully create content for boring industries. Doing so requires nothing out of the ordinary from what you'd normally do to create content for any industry. That's the good news.

The bad news: Creating successful content for boring industries requires you think beyond content and SEO, focusing heavily on content strategy and outreach.

Successfully creating content for boring industries—or any industry, for that matter—comes down to who'll share it and who'll link to it, not who'll read it, a point nicely summed up in this tweet:

So when businesses struggle with creating content for their respective industries, the culprits are typically easy to find:

  • They lack clarity on who they are creating content for (e.g., content strategy, personas)
  • There are no specific goals (e.g., traffic, links, conversions, etc.) assigned regarding the content, so measuring its effectiveness is impossible
  • They're stuck in neutral thinking viral content is the only option, while ignoring the value of content amplification (e.g., PR/outreach)

Alone, these three elements are bad; taken together, though, they spell doom for your brand.

content does not equal amplification

If you lack clarity on who you're creating content for, the best you can hope for is that sometimes you'll create and share information members of your audience find useful, but you likely won't be able to reach or engage them with the needed frequency to make content marketing successful.

Goals, or lack thereof, are the real bugaboo of content creation. The problem is even worse for boring industries, where the pressure is on to deliver a content vehicle that meets the threshold of interest to simply gain attention, much less, earn engagement.

For all the hype about viral content, it's dismaying that so few marketers aren't being honest on the topic: it's typically hard to create, impossible to predict and typically has very, very little connection to conversions for most businesses.

What I've found is that businesses, regardless of category, struggle to create worthwhile content, leading me to believe there is no boring industry content, only content that's boring.

"Whenever we label content as 'boring,' we're really admitting we have no idea how to approach marketing something," says Builtvisible's Richard Baxter.

Now that we know what the impediments are to producing content for any industry, including boring industries, it's time to tackle the solution.

Develop a link earning mindset

There are lots of article on the web regarding how to create content for boring industries, some of which have appeared on this very blog.

But, to my mind, the one issue they all suffer from is they all focus on what content should be created, not (a) what content is worthy of promotion, (b) how to identify those who could help with promotion, and (c) how to earn links from boring industry content. (Remember, much of the content that's read is never shared; much of what's shared is never read in its entirety; and some of the most linked-to content is neither heavily shared nor heavily read.)

This is why content creators in boring industries should scrap their notions of having the most-read and most-shared content, shifting their focus to creating content that can earn links in addition to generating traffic and social signals to the site.

After all, links and conversions are the main priorities for most businesses sharing content online, including so-called local businesses.

ranking factors survey results

(Image courtesy of the 2014 Moz Local Search Ranking Factors Survey)

If you're ready to create link-earning, traffic-generating content for your boring-industry business follow the tips from the fictitious example of RZ's Auto Repair, a Dallas, Texas, automobile shop.

With the Dallas-Forth Worth market being large and competitive, RZ's has narrowed their speciality to storm repair, mainly hail damage, which is huge in the area. Even with the narrowed focus, however, they still have stiff competition from the major players in the vertical, including MAACO.

What the brand does have in its favor, however, is a solid website and a strong freelance copywriter to help produce content.

Remember, those three problems we mentioned above—lack of goals, lack of clarity and lack of focus on amplification—we'll now put them to good use to drive our main objectives of traffic, links and conversions.

Setting the right goals

For RZ, this is easy: He needs sales, business (e.g., qualified leads and conversions), but he knows he must be patient since using paid media is not in the cards.

Therefore, he sits down with his partner, and they come up with what seems like the top five workable, important goals:

  1. Increased traffic on the website - He's noticed that when traffic increases, so does his business.
  2. More phone calls - If they get a customer on the phone, the chances of closing the sale are around 75%.
  3. One blog per week on the site - The more often he blogs, the more web traffic, visits and phone calls increase.
  4. Links from some of the businesses in the area - He's no dummy. He knows the importance of links, which are that much better when they come from a large company that could send him business.
  5. Develop relationships with small and midsize non-competing businesses in the area for cross promotions, events and the like.

Know the audience

marketing group discussing personas

(image source)

Too many businesses create cute blogs that might generate traffic but do nothing for sales. RZ isn't falling for this trap. He's all about identifying the audience who's likely to do business with him.

Luckily, his secretary is a meticulous record keeper, allowing him to build a reasonable profile of his target persona based on past clients.

  • 21-35 years old
  • Drives a truck that's less than fours years old
  • Has an income of $45,000-$59,000
  • Employed by a corporation with greater than 500 employees
  • Active on social media, especially Facebook and Twitter
  • Consumes most of their information online
  • Typically referred by a friend or a co-worker

This information will prove invaluable as he goes about creating content. Most important, these nuggets create a clearer picture of how he should go about looking for people and/or businesses to amplify his content.

PR and outreach: Your amplification engines

Armed with his goals and the knowledge of his audience, RZ can now focus on outreach for amplification, thinking along the lines of...

  • Who/what influences his core audience?
  • What could he offer them by way of content to earn their help?
  • What content would they find valuable enough to share and link to?
  • What challenges do they face that he could help them with?
  • How could his brand set itself apart from any other business looking for help from these potential outreach partners?

Putting it all together

Being the savvy businessperson he is, RZ pulls his small staff together and they put their thinking caps on.

Late spring through early fall is prime hail storm season in Dallas. The season accounts for 80 percent of his yearly business. (The other 20% is fender benders.) Also, they realize, many of the storms happen in the late afternoon/early evening, when people are on their way home from work and are stuck in traffic, or when they duck into the grocery store or hit the gym after work.

What's more, says one of the staffers, often a huge group of clients will come at once, owing to having been parked in the same lot when a storm hits.

Eureka!

lightbulb

(image source)

That's when RZ bolts out of his chair with the idea that could put his business on the map: Let's create content for businesses getting a high volume of after-work traffic—sit-down restaurants, gyms, grocery stores, etc.

The businesses would be offering something of value to their customers, who'll learn about precautions to take in the event of a hail storm, and RZ would have willing amplifiers for his content.

Content is only as boring as your outlook

First—and this is a fatal mistake too many content creators make—RZ visits the handful of local businesses he'd like to partner with. The key here, however, is he smartly makes them aware that he's done his homework and is eager to help their patrons while making them aware of his service.

This is an integral part of outreach: there must be a clear benefit to the would-be benefactor.

After RZ learns that several of the businesses are amenable to sharing his business's helpful information, he takes the next step and asks what form the content should take. For now, all he can get them to promote is a glossy one-sheeter, "How To Protect Your Vehicle Against Extensive Hail Damage," that the biggest gym in the area will promote via a small display at the check-in in return for a 10% coupon for customers.

Three of the five others he talked to also agreed to promote the one-sheeter, though each said they'd be willing to promote other content investments provided they added value for their customers.

The untold truth about creating content for boring industries

When business owners reach out to me about putting together a content strategy for their boring brand, I make two things clear from the start:

  1. There are no boring brands. Those two words are a cop out. No matter what industry you serve, there are hoards of people who use the products or services who are quite smitten.
  2. What they see as boring, I see as an opportunity.

In almost every case, they want to discuss some of another big content piece that's sure to draw eyes, engagement, and that maybe even leads to a few links. Sure, I say, if you have tons of money to spend.

big content example

(Amazing piece of interactive content created by BuiltVisible)

Assuming you don't have money to burn, and you want a plan you can replicate easily over time, try what I call the 1-2-1 approach for monthly blog content:

1: A strong piece of local content (goal: organic reach, topical relevance, local SEO)
2: Two pieces of evergreen content (goal: traffic)
1: A link-worthy asset (goal: links)

This plan is not very hard at all to pull off, provided you have your ear to the street in the local market; have done your keyword research, identifying several long-tail keywords you have the ability to rank for; and you're willing to continue with outreach.

What it does is allow the brand to create content with enough frequency to attain significance with the search engines, while also developing the habit of sharing, promoting and amplifying content as well. For example, all of the posts would be shared on Twitter, Google Plus, and Facebook. (Don't sleep on paid promotion via Facebook.)

Also, for the link-worthy asset, there would be outreach in advance of its creation, then amplification, and continued promotion from the company and those who've agreed to support the content.

Create a winning trifecta: Outreach, promotion and amplification

To RZ's credit, he didn't dawdle, getting right to work creating worthwhile content via the 1-2-1 method:

1: "The Worst Places in Dallas to be When a Hail Storm Hits"
2: "Can Hail Damage Cause Structural Damage to Your Car?" and "Should You Buy a Car Damaged by Hail?"
1: "Big as Hail!" contest

This contest idea came from the owner of a large local gym. RZ's will give $500 to the local homeowner who sends in the largest piece of hail, as judged by Facebook fans, during the season. In return, the gym will promote the contest at its multiple locations, link to the content promotion page on RZ's website, and share images of its fans holding large pieces of hail via social media.

What does the gym get in return: A catchy slogan (e.g., it's similar to "big as hell," popular gym parlance) to market around during the hail season.

It's a win-win for everyone involved, especially RZ.

He gets a link, but most important he realizes how to create content to nail each one of his goals. You can do the same. All it takes is a change in mindset. Away from content creation. Toward outreach, promote and amplify.

Summary

While the story of RZ's entirely fictional, it is based on techniques I've used with other small and midsize businesses. The keys, I've found, are to get away from thinking about your industry/brand as being boring, even if it is, and marshal the resources to find the audience who'll benefit from from your content and, most important, identify the influencers who'll promote and amplify it.

What are your thoughts?


Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

Wiring in the Garage

I installed a gable fan in the attic last year. I used Romex (12 gauge). I will be installing a gable fan in the garage this year and I understand that Romex CANNOT be used in the garage unless it is behind drywall. I will be installing an electrical box on top of the drywall, over an existing box (single receptacle), which I will expand to two receptacles. Steel City 2-Gang Square Electrical Box-521711234EW-25R - The Home Depot (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Steel-City-2-Gang-Square-Electrical-Box-521711234EW-25R/202590467) From there, I think the option will either be conduit or armor cable, connected to this electrical box. Please provide your thoughts or recommendation? I am thinking of using armor cable but is there anything more I need to know? I google "armor cable" and AC and MC came up. Any pointers here would be appreciate it. Conduit in the garage just seems like an overkill. Thanks

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

how can i identify wood siding?

I need to replace some siding,so i need to know what it is. Is there a website or something that can help me? Or should i just post pics here? I know it is not asbestos, fiber, composite. Guessing it is not cedar, no smell. Looks like just pine. Do they make them in just pine? In some spots, the paint has peeled off, but the siding does not appear damaged. Is there a non cedar, wood, weatherproof shingle? They are machine cut, uniform size. House is in CT. Built in 1965. Thanks

Trane C Wire

Working on getting a RTH9580WF installed on my Trane AC/Furnace. There is a terminal labeled C inside the unit and I have a 8 wire thermostat wire. So I wired the brown wire to the C terminal and proceeded to hook up the new thermostat and got nothing (no power at stat). Broke out the volt meter and with the furnace door switch activated I tested the C terminal in the furnace and got 0 volts. Went down the line and found 26v at the R terminal. Moved my brown wire down to R, tested voltage at the thermostat brown wire and get 26v at all times. Reconnected the new Honeywell and still nothing. I am suspecting a bad unit, but wanted to see what you guys think before I take this one back. I expected the C terminal in the furnace to be 24v, but I'm not getting it with my volt meter. The R terminal currently has only a water sensor connected to it. Here are the pictures. This picture was taken before I moved the brown wire from C to R. Image: http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i204/tul9033/IMG_3448_zpsmfalxax8.jpg Image: http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i204/tul9033/IMG_3450_zpsdh24wtpp.jpg

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An Introduction to Schema.org Markup for Emails

Posted by kristihines

If you are a Gmail user, you have likely received some emails that stand out from the rest with a call to action button within the subject line.

If you've booked a flight recently, your airline may have sent you an email that includes an interactive way to view your travel plans.

Similarly, Google Inbox app users might have seen emails that look like this.


These calls to action are courtesy of Schema.org markup for email. Just like Schema.org markup for web pages helps web pages stand out in search results, Schema.org markup for emails helps certain emails stand out from the rest in your inbox.

The goal of email markup is to allow people to take action on emails as quickly and simply as possible. For marketers, there are both pros and cons of this feature. In this post, we're going to look at the email markup options currently available, who can use it, and if it's worth it.

Should you use email markup?

Email markup is currently available for Gmail email recipients only. The number of Gmail users was over 350 million in 2012. To determine whether you should use it, you shouldn't go off a three-year-old statistic, but rather a survey of your own email list or customer database.

Most email service providers (like GetResponse, shown in the example below) allow you to search your subscriber list for specific criteria. Search yours for emails containing Gmail to determine the number of Gmail addresses your emails reach.

Of course, this isn't the whole picture. There are likely more people that use Gmail for business with their own domains. So although their emails do not say Gmail, they open their emails in the Gmail web browser or app.

Another consideration for using email markup is tracking. If you rely heavily on the ability to track email opens and clicks to trigger autoresponders and other marketing automation actions, you may not want to give your subscribers the option to bypass opening your email and clicking on your link.

Once you've determined the approximate number of Gmail users you reach and whether you need the ability to track email actions, your next job is to see if you qualify to use email markup.

Register for email markup with Google

Before you can use email markup, you must register with Google. Google will check to make sure you meet email sender quality guidelines, bulk sender guidelines, and action / schema quality guidelines.

Here are some of the key guidelines you need to know. Emails must be authenticated via DKIM or SPF. The domain of your from email must match the signed-by or mailed-by header.

You must send a minimum of a hundred emails per day to Gmail users for a few weeks before applying. Google will want to see that you have a very, very low rate of spam complaints from Gmail recipients.

Bulk email guidelines include using the same IP address to send bulk mail, using the same from email address, only adding subscribers to your list that have opted in (preferably with a double opt-in or confirmation), and allowing list members to unsubscribe easily. These guidelines will not only help you get approved for use of email markup, but will also help your emails get delivered to more Gmail users without being marked as spam.

Action / schema guidelines boil down to making sure you use the appropriate action markup when possible. When an action markup is not available, or the process is more complex than can be handled inside Gmail, a go-to action should be used. Go-to actions should link directly to a page where the email recipient can complete the action as labeled on the call to action button.

An introduction to email markup actions

Actions created by email markup allow email recipients to interact with your business, product, or service within Gmail. There are currently four types of actions to choose from using email markup.

One-click actions

One-click actions are those where a task can be completed with one click within Gmail or Inbox. For example, when someone signs up for an email list, they need to confirm their subscription.

One-click actions are broken into two categories: confirm actions and save actions. The above example is a confirm action. Save actions can include adding an item to a queue or saving a coupon. Both confirm and save actions can only be interacted with once.

RSVP actions

RSVP actions allow email recipients to confirm whether they will attend an event using an invite from Google Calendar. Your email will include the event card you usually see in emails from meeting invites.

Having people confirm their attendance to your event will help ensure that they don't forget by getting it on their calendar.

Review actions

Review actions allow email recipients to add a star and comment review for your business, products, and services right from the subject line of their email in Gmail.

You can see an end-to-end example of the scripting necessary to create a review action for a restaurant to get reviews from a Gmail user's inbox to the Datastore using Python.

Go-to actions

Actions that do not fall under the above types are considered go-to actions. These are used when you need to take an email recipient to your website to complete an action that is too complex to be handled within the recipient's Gmail or Inbox app.

All of the following are examples of go-to actions that take email recipients to do things on another website.

The call to action on these can be customized, so you are not limited to just viewing orders, tracking packages, and opening discussions. You can tailor them for specific uses, such as resetting a password, reviewing questionable transactions on your credit cards, and updating payment information.

An introduction to email markup Highlights

Another use for email markup is Highlights. Highlights summarize key information from specific types of email for users of the Inbox app. For example, Highlights are used for these order confirmations to show the products ordered.

Another example is this flight reservation using Highlights to show the round-trip flights purchased.

Specifically, there are six Highlights that businesses can use. They are as follows:

  • Flight reservations - Includes options for displaying basic flight confirmation information, boarding pass, check-in, update a flight, cancel a flight, and additional options. This Highlight is also supported in Google Now.
  • Orders - Includes options for displaying basic order information, view order action, and order with billing details.
  • Parcel deliveries - Includes options for displaying basic parcel delivery information and detailed shipping information.
  • Hotel reservations - Includes options for displaying basic hotel reservation information, updating a reservation, and canceling a reservation. This Highlight is also supported in Google Now.
  • Restaurant reservations - Includes options for displaying basic restaurant reservation information, updating a reservation, and canceling a reservation. This Highlight is also supported in Google Now.
  • Event reservation - Includes options for basic event reminders without a ticket, event with ticket & no reserved seating, sports or music event with ticket, event with ticket & reserved seating, multiple tickets, updating an event, and canceling an event. This Highlight is also supported in Google Now.

Note that while Highlights are a great feature, they only work for Gmail Inbox users. If Google continues to push Gmail users to using Inbox, this user base will grow exponentially.

Test email markup before sending

While you are waiting to be registered with Google, or prior to sending out emails with Schema.org markup, you should run some initial tests to ensure that your markup is correct. You can start by copying and pasting your code into the Email Markup Tester to check for basic errors.

You can also add email markup to emails you send from and to yourself on Gmail. It's important to test as one of the action / schema guidelines is a low failure rate and fast response for action handling. You can learn how to send test emails to yourself in this tutorial using script.google.com.

The tutorial gives you some simple code you can copy and paste as directed.

When you save and run the project as directed, you will immediately get the following result:

You can then begin to experiment with the code for the email markup you want to use.

Run your script again and again to produce new emails.

Any approved business can use the go-to actions to link the subject line of their email to any portion of their website. As you continue to experiment, think of new ways to engage your audience with email markup.

Final questions to answer

Here are some final questions you need to answer before you invest in email markup are the following.

  1. Will you get more of your desired results by adding Schema.org actions to your emails? For example, if you use the review action, will you actually get more reviews for your business?
  2. How much time will it take to revise your emails if / when Google standardizes email markup with Schema.org? It might pay to wait until email markup has been standardized and make the time and coding investment all at once.
  3. Will email actions be supported by other email platforms in the future? Schema.org is a collaboration between Google, Bing, Microsoft, Yandex, and Yahoo. So while not guaranteed, it can be assumed that all of the major email platforms on the web could embrace email markup in the future.

If, after answering these questions, you can see a real need for email markup, then find out if you meet the guidelines set by Google to use it and register.

If your business uses email markup, be sure to share your experiences and results in the comments!


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Search Trends: Are Compound Queries the Start of the Shift to Data-Driven Search?

Posted by Tom-Anthony

The Web is an ever-diminishing aspect of our online lives. We increasingly use apps, wearables, smart assistants (Google Now, Siri, Cortana), smart watches, and smart TVs for searches, and none of these are returning 10 blue links. In fact, we usually don't end up on a website at all.

Apps are the natural successor, and an increasing amount of time spent optimising search is going to be spent focusing on apps. However, whilst app search is going to be very important, I don't think it is where the trend stops.

This post is about where I think the trends take us—towards what I am calling "Data-Driven Search". Along the way I am going to highlight another phenomenon: "Compound Queries". I believe these changes will dramatically alter the way search and SEO work over the next 1-3 years, and it is important we begin now to think about how that future could look.

App indexing is just the beginning

With App Indexing Google is moving beyond the bounds of the web-search paradigm which made them famous. On Android, we are now seeing blue links which are not to web pages but are deep links to open specific pages within apps:


This is interesting in and of itself, but it is also part of a larger pattern which began with things like the answer box and knowledge graph. With these, we saw that Google was shifting away from sending you somewhere else but was starting to provide the answer you were looking for right there in the SERPs. App Indexing is the next step, which moves Google from simply providing answers to enabling actions—allow you to do things.

App Indexing is going to be around for a while—but here I want to focus on this trend towards providing answers and enabling actions.

Notable technology trends

Google's mission is to build the "ultimate assistant"—something that anticipates your needs and facilitates fulfilling them. Google Now is just the beginning of what they are dreaming of.

So many of the projects and technologies that Google, and their competitors, are working on are converging with the trend towards "answers and actions", and I think this is going to lead to a really interesting evolution in searches—namely what I am calling "Data-Driven Search".

Let's look at some of the contributing technologies.

Compound queries: query revisions & chained queries

There is a lot of talk about conversational search at the moment, and it is fascinating for many reasons, but in this instance I am mostly interested in two specific facets:

  • Query revision
  • Chained queries

The current model for multiple queries looks like this:

You do one query (e.g. "recipe books") and then, after looking at the results of that search, you have a better sense of exactly what it is you are looking for and so you refine your query and run another search (e.g. "vegetarian recipe books"). Notice that you do two distinct searches—with the second one mostly completely separate from the first.

Conversational search is moving us towards a new model which looks more like this, which I'm calling the Compound Query model:

In this instance, after evaluating the results I got, I don't make a new query but instead a Query Revision which relates back to that initial query. After searching "recipe books", I might follow up with "just show me the vegetarian ones". You can already do this with conversational search:

Example of a "Query Revision"—one type of Compound Query

Currently, we only see this intent revision model working in conversational search, but I expect we will see it migrate into desktop search as well. There will be a new generation of searchers who won't have been "trained" to search in the unnatural and stilted keyword-oriented that we have. They'll be used to conversational search on their phones and will apply the same patterns on desktop machines. I suspect we'll also see other changes to desktop-based search which will merge in other aspects of how conversational search results are presented. There are also other companies working on radical new interfaces, such as Scinet by Etsimo (their interface is quite radical, but the problems it solves and addresses are ones Google will likely also be working on).

So many SEO paradigms don't begin to apply in this scenario; things like keyword research and rankings are not compatible with a query model that has multiple phases.

This new query model has a second application, namely Chained Queries, where you perform an initial query, and then on receiving a response you perform a second query on the same topic (the classic example is "How tall is Justin Bieber?" followed by "How old is he?"—the second query is dependent upon the first):

Example of a Chained Query—the second type of Compound Query

It might be that in the case of chained queries, the latter queries could be converted to be standalone queries, such that they don't muddy the SEO waters quite as much as as queries that have revisions. However, I'm not sure that this necessarily stands true, because every query in a chain adds context that makes it much easier for Google to accurately determine your intent in later queries.

If you are not convinced, consider that in the example above, as is often the case in examples (such as the Justin Bieber example), it is usually clear from the formulation that this is explicitly a chained query. However—there are chained queries where it is not necessarily clear that the current query is chained to the previous. To illustrate this, I've borrowed an example which Behshad Behzadi, Director of Conversational Search at Google, showed at SMX Munich last month:

Example of a "hidden" Chained Query—it is not explicit that the last search refers to the previous one.

If you didn't see the first search for "pictures of mario" before the second and third examples, it might not be immediately obvious that the second "pictures of mario" query has taken into account the previous search. There are bound to be far more subtle examples than this.

New interfaces

The days of all Google searches coming solely via a desktop-based web browser are already long since dead, but mobile users using voice search are just the start of the change—there is an ongoing divergence of interfaces. I'm focusing here on the output interfaces—i.e., how we consume the results from a search on a specific device.

The primary device category that springs to mind is that of wearables and smart watches, which have a variety of ways in which they communicate with their users:

  • Compact screens—devices like the Apple Watch and Microsoft Band have compact form factor screens, which allow for visual results, but not in the same format as days gone by—a list of web links won't be helpful.
  • Audio—with Siri, Google Now, and Cortana all becoming available via wearable interfaces (that pair to smart phones) users can also consume results as voice.
  • Vibrations—the Apple Watch can give users directions using vibrations to signal left and right turns without needing to look or listen to the device. Getting directions already covers a number of searches, but you could imagine this also being useful for various yes/no queries (e.g. "is my train on time?").

Each of these methods is incompatible with the old "title & snippet" method that made up the 10 blue links, but furthermore they are also all different from one another.

What is clear is that there is going to need to be an increase in the forms in which search engines can respond to an identical query, with responses being adaptive to the way in which the user will consume their result.

We will also see queries where the query may be "handed off" to another device: imagine me doing a search for a location on my phone and then using my watch to give me direction. Apple already has "Handover"which does this in various contexts, and I expect we'll see the concept taken further.

This is related to Google increasingly providing us with encapsulated answers, rather than links to websites—especially true on wearables and smart devices. The interesting phenomenon here is that these answers don't specify a specific layout, like a webpage does. The data and the layout are separated.

Which leads us to...

Cards

Made popular by Google Now, cards are prevalent in both iOS and Android, as well as on social platforms. They are a growing facet of the mobile experience:

Cards provide small units of information in an accessible chunk, often with a link to dig deeper by flipping a card over or by linking through to an app.

Cards exactly fit into the paradigm above—they are more concerned with the data you will see and less so about the way in which you will see it. The same cards look different in different places.

Furthermore, we are entering a point where you can now do more and more from a card, rather than it leading you into an app to do more. You can response to messages, reply to tweets, like and re-share, and all sorts of things all from cards, without opening an app; I highly recommend this blog post which explores this phenomenon.

It seems likely we'll see Google Now (and mobile search as it becomes more like Google Now) allowing you to do more and more right from cards themselves—many of these things will be actions facilitated by other parties (by way of APIs of schema.org actions). In this way Google will become a "junction box" sitting between us and third parties who provide services; they'll find an API/service provider and return us a snippet of data showing us options and then enable us to pass back data representing our response to the relevant API.

Shared screens

The next piece of the puzzle is "shared screens", which covers several things. This starts with Google Chromecast, which has popularised the ability to "throw" things from one screen to another. At home, any guests I have over who join my wifi are able to "throw" a YouTube video from their mobile phone to my TV via the Chromecast. The same is true for people in the meeting rooms at Distilled offices and in a variety of other public spaces.

I can natively throw a variety of things: photos, YouTube videos, movies on Netflix etc., etc. How long until that includes searches? How long until I can throw the results of a search on an iPad on to the TV to show my wife the holiday options I'm looking at? Sure we can do that by sharing the whole screen now, but how long until, like photos of YouTube videos, the search results I throw to the TV take on a new layout that is suitable for that larger screen?

You can immediately see how this links back to the concept of cards and interfaces outlined above; I'm moving data from screen to screen, and between devices that provide different interfaces.

These concepts are all very related to the concept of "fluid mobility" that Microsoft recently presented in their Productivity Future Vision released in February this year.

An evolution of this is if we reach the point that some people have envisioned, whereby many offices workers, who don't require huge computational power, no longer have computers at their desks. Instead their desks just house dumb terminals: a display, keyboard and mouse which connect to the phone in their pockets which provides the processing power.

In this scenario, it becomes even more usual for people to be switching interfaces "mid task" (including searches)—you do a search at your desk at work (powered by your phone), then continue to review the results on the train home on the phone itself before browsing further on your TV at home.

Email structured markup

This deserves a quick mention—it is another data point in the trend of "enabling action". It doesn't seem to be common knowledge that you can use structured markup and schema.org markup in emails, which works in both Gmail and Google Inbox.

Editor's note: Stay tuned for more on this in tomorrow's post!

The main concepts they introduce are "highlights" and "actions"—sound familiar? You can define actions that become buttons in emails allowing people to confirm, save, review, RSVP, etc. with a single click right in the email.

Currently, you have to apply to Google for them to whitelist emails you send out in order for them to mark the emails up, but I expect we'll see this rolling out more and more. It may not seem directly search-related but if you're building the "ultimate personal assistant", then merging products like Google Now and Google Inbox would be a good place to start.

The rise of data-driven search

There is a common theme running through all of the above technologies and trends, namely data:

  • We are increasingly requesting from Search Engines snippets of data, rather than links to strictly formatted web content
  • We are increasingly being provided the option for direct action without going to an app/website/whatever by providing a snippet of data with our response/request

I think in the next 2 years small payloads of data will be the new currency of Google. Web search won't go away anytime soon, but large parts of it will be subsumed into the data driven paradigm. Projects like Knowledge Vault, which aims to dislodge the Freebase/Wikipedia (i.e. manually curated) powered Knowledge Graph by pulling facts directly from the text of all pages on the web, will mean mining the web for parcels of data become feasible at scale. This will mean that Google knows where to look for specific bits of data and can extract and return this data directly to the user.

How all this might change the way users and search engines interact:

  1. The move towards compound queries will mean it becomes more natural for people to use Google to "interact" with data in an iterative process; Google won't just send us to a set of data somewhere else but will help us sift through it all.
  2. Shared screens will mean that search results will need to be increasingly device agnostic. The next generation of technologies such as Apple Handover and Google Chromecast will mean we increasingly pass results between devices where they may take on a new layout.
  3. Cards will be one part of making that possible by ensuring that results can rendered in various formats. Users will become more and more accustomed to interacting with sets of cards.
  4. The focus on actions will mean that Google plugs directly into APIs such that they can connect users with third party backends and enable that right there in their interface.

What we should be doing

I don't have a good answer to this—which is exactly why we need to talk about it more.

Firstly, what is obvious is that lots of the old facets of technical SEO are already breaking down. For example, as I mentioned above, things like keyword research and rankings don't fit well with the conversational search model where compound queries are prevalent. This will only become more and more the case as we go further down the rabbit hole. We need to educate clients and work out what new metrics help us establish how Google perceive us.

Secondly, I can't escape the feeling that APIs are not only going to increase further in importance, but also become more "mainstream". Think how over the years ownership of company websites started in the technical departments and migrated to marketing teams—I think we could see a similar pattern with more core teams being involved in APIs. If Google wants to connect to APIs to retrieve data and help users do things, then more teams within a business are going to want to weigh in on what it can do.

APIs might seem out of the reach and unnecessary for many businesses (exactly as websites used to...), but structured markup and schema.org are like a "lite API"—enabling programmatic access to your data and even now to actions available via your website. This will provide a nice stepping stone where needed (and might even be sufficient).

Lastly, if this vision of things does play out, then much of our search behaviour could be imagined to be a sophisticated take on faceted navigation—we do an initial search and then sift through and refine the data we get back to drill down to the exact morsels we were looking for. I could envision "Query Revision" queries where the initial search happens within Google's index ("science fiction books") but subsequent searches happen in someone else's, for example Amazon's, "index" ('show me just those with 5 stars and more than 10 reviews that were released in the last 5 years').

If that is the case, then what I will be doing is ensuring that Distilled's clients have a thorough and accurate "indexes" with plenty of supplementary information that users could find useful. A few years ago we started worrying about ensuring our clients' websites have plenty of unique content, and this would see us worrying about ensuring they have a thorough "index" for their product/service. We should be doing that already, but suddenly it isn't going to be just a conversion factor, but a ranking factor too (following the same trend as many other signals, in that regard)

Discussion

Please jump in the comments, or tweet me at @TomAnthonySEO, with your thoughts. I am sure many of the details for how I have envisioned this may not be perfectly accurate, but directionally I'm confident and I want to hear from others with their ideas.


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