Via e-mail:

contact[at]mahalo.com lonharris[at]mahalo.com

Profile:

@lon

On Twitter:

@Lons

• 2:00 Lon and Danielle start talking about Coupon Pages, using the example of 'Bed Bath and beyond'
  
• 2:17 Lon Pulls up The 'Bed Bath and Beyond' webpage and shows a glimpse of the builder.
  
• 2:58 Lon logs out of the builder and guides us around the page showing us such things as the guide note, fast facts, coupon company policy who the page is controlled by etc..
  
• 5:25 Lon shows an example of 'Bed Bath and Beyond' Coupons from mahalo appearing 5th on a google search.
  
• 6:08 Lon brings up an example of the Disney coupons webpage, citing it as very good example, where the ads are placed and not too much information overcrowding the page. Also the very helpful section stating how to cut costs at Disneyland.
  
• 8:02 Lon starts briefly talking about Key Words and SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
  
• 8:59 Points out two things important to add. 1. - "what terms are people going to search for?" and 2. - Arranging the words on the page so that google knows what the page is about., eg, naming the page.
  
• 13:13 They discuss examples of 'designers' and 'sale' as being good keywords.
  
• 15:20 Lon points out that it is also a good idea to use some common synonyms so that google knows what the page topic is about.
  
• 16:52 The idea of ORIGINAL CONTENT is drilled home as important for the sub-sections. Also where it is best to post your links. (Referral Links)
  
• 20:19 'Cash for Clunkers' is brought up as good example of Linking using the tesla model s widget embedded in the page.
  
• 21:56 They start taking question and suggestions.
  
• 24:45 Different types of coupons are discussed, starting with Zoo coupons. They go on to give ideas about different coupons that you could write about, and where to look for them.
  
• 27:50 Lon shows us how to do a site search for coupons using 'coupons site:mahalo.com'
  
• 31:05 Danielle and Lon confirm that domain names are a great suggestion to use as keywords.
  
• 34:04 The tell everyone to go to malaho.com/coupon-codes to digg it, or stumbleupon, twitter etc.. and then pasting it into the chatroom, using it as a good example to boost your page in google.
  
• 39:23 Brief talk about How-To pages, and the value of the two words 'how to'.
  
• 42:24 Lon gives an example of where to link a how-to page (eg blog)
  
• 45:11 Answer a couple of Twitter questions
  
• 52:15 They do a live 'increase request', increasing the amount of pages a user can have when they click on 'Request increase' after they have been told that they have reached their page limit.
  
• 52:58 Lon wants to get one great idea across, about seo and making mahalo pages. "Try to guess what you think people would search for." EG, using keywords 'Deal, Sale and Coupon', could potentially be three separate profitable Mahalo pages instead of one.
  
• 55:29 Danielle tells us that when you are looking for the coupon/deal/code pages, it's a good idea to use google suggest, to help you figure out what are popular keywords that people use whilst searching for something.
  
• 57:45 They wrap it up with glossing over the tutorial and where to find the links that they will post. How to contact them on Mahalo and twitter.
  
• 59:09 END

- Guide Note: The brief opening paragraph of your page, found in the upper left hand corner. It need only be a few sentences in length, and should include double brackets ([[ ]]) around any proper nouns or other pages you wish to internally link.

- Fast Facts: Brief facts listed underneath the Guide Note. These should include basic, central information about the topic and should always include a URL as a citation, noting where you found the information.

- Subsections: These are found underneath the Fast Facts and contain further background on the topic. They need only be a few sentences. The "How to Use This Page" section in the left hand column of this page is an example of a subsection.

- What is a Mahalo page? All the best information from around the Internet organized in as concise and clear a manner as possible.

- Focus on what information a random user looking at this page for the first time would need about this topic. No personal anecdotes, no blogging, no bias.

- Updating: Page managers are responsible for keeping their pages up to date. If nothing newsworthy has happened with your page since your last update, and you don't need to refresh or fix anything, consider using that time to market and publicize your page around the Web. Look at How to Market a Mahalo Page for suggestions. Marketing a page counts as an update. HOWEVER, if there IS news related to your page, it is your responsibility to put this information up there. If you're working on the Transformers page, it should mention the new movie. If you're working on the Tiger Woods page, it needs to say how he did at the 2009 US Open.

- Plagiarism and borrowed content: Basically, don't do it. If you include a quote, that's okay, but definitely note where you found it in the text or as a citation. (For the Wiki Text that allows you to make a footnote, see the "Wiki Text on Mahalo" section below on this page.) Always write on Mahalo in your own words. Using the same organization of ideas as another resource counts as borrowing content...Your writing should all be your own, based on independent research.

- On using Wikipedia: As a place to start your research, it's great, but it's best to avoid using it as your sole resource. (Many Wikipedia pages have a list of external references at the bottom of the page. Be sure to check this out as it's a good way to figure out some good links to include on your page, and some good sources to use for your Guide Note section. If you absolutely cannot find any other information on the Internet about your topic, using Wikipedia as a source is acceptable.

- Related Pages: At the bottom of the Guide Note column, you have the option of adding "related Mahalo pages." You can search Mahalo for appropriate related terms on which we have pages, or you can do a Google search for Mahalo pages that are related. Search for your topic on Google, and add "Site:mahalo.com" to the end of the search string. So if you were making the Tiger Woods page, you'd search:

Tiger Woods site:mahalo.com

This will produce a list of Mahalo pages that feature the phrase "Tiger Woods." Most of these pages will likely be appropriate Related Mahalo Pages. Put all related pages in double brackets so that they will work as internal links.

- Categories: Pick a category or categories that are appropriate for your page. Because navigating the list can be cumbersome, use your browser's "Find" function to search for certain words. (If your page was Tiger Woods, try searching for "Sports" or "Golf" in the category section).

- Toolbar: This legend describes how all the buttons work:

The Mahalo Toolbar

THUMBTACK: Pins your section or link where it is, and won't let anyone else move it around. Use this when something is very important and needs to be seen first
HAND: Hold down the "hand" icon and it lets you drag that section anywhere you want on the page, or drag that link anywhere you want in its section. When you've got it placed where you want it, just drop it in and move on
ARROW UP: Move the link or section up one spot
ARROW DOWN: Move the link or section down one spot
DOUBLE UP: Move the link or section to the very top
DOUBLE DOWN: Move the link or section to the very bottom
7: Move the link into the Top 7
X: Remove the link or section from the page

- Images: The first image in your "Image Section" will be the avatar used to represent your page throughout Mahalo. So make sure it is a good image that represents the subject of the page well. When you have an image you'd like to use picked up, move it to the first position in the Image Section and be sure to use the thumbtack button to pin it in place.

- Featured Videos: Add featured videos to your page by choosing "Featured Object" from the "Links" drop-down menu in the page builder. You can then enter in a headline for your video, the URL of the video you want to embed (YouTube works best) and "Description Text" that gives the user some context about what they're going to see. It's always a good idea to add a comment as well, to start a conversation on your page. This makes it much more likely that people will (1) watch the video and (2) come back to your page later to see what others have said.

- Changing the Search Term: Each Mahalo section - like News, Blogs, Twitter, Images, Videos, etc. - is independently searching for content around the Web. By default, all of these searches are based on the title of your page. If you aren't getting good results, you may want to alter the term you are searching for, to clarify. Do this by clicking "Edit" at the top of the section, and then filling in a new "search term" in the space provided.

- 3 Great Ways to Update Your Page:

(1) Add a subsection to give your page more detail
(2) Contribute to the page as a user (comment on the message board or on videos)
(3) Market your page

DOUBLE BRACKETS

To make a word or phrase into an internal link to another Mahalo page, put double brackets around it.

[[Mahalo]] is an Internet [[search engine]] will look like this:

Mahalo is an Internet search engine

Put double brackets around all proper nouns and any other terms you think would make an interesting Mahalo search.

BOLD AND ITALICS

To use italics, put two apostrophes on either side of the word or phrase you want italicized. Here is an example:

''The Great Gatsby'' will look like this: The Great Gatsby

To use boldface, put three apostrophes on either side of the word or phrase you want bolded. Here is an example:

'''The Great Gatsby''' will look like this: The Great Gatsby

CITATIONS IN TEXT

If you want to cite a fact you are writing in a text section of a Mahalo page (as opposed to a Fast Facts section), you can use <ref> to designate a link. Take a look at this sentence as an example.

[[Barack Obama]] is the 44th President of the [[United States]].<ref>http://www.mahalo.com/barack-obama</ref>

Now here's how that would look on a Mahalo page:

Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States.http://www.mahalo.com/barack-obama

Click that footnote number and it will take you to the bottom of the page, where your URL is now listed as a "reference."