The Georgia chapter of the grassroots free-market group Americans for Prosperity (AFP-GA) today applauded gubernatorial candidate John Oxendine for signing the group’s “No Climate Tax Pledge.” By doing so, Oxendine pledges to “oppose legislation relating to climate change that includes a net increase in federal revenue.”

Oxendine joins over 180 lawmakers on the federal, state and local levels who have signed the pledge. Other prominent Georgia signers include: U.S. Reps. Lynn Westmoreland, Tom Price, Paul Broun and Phil Gingrey; and Georgia State Senate President Pro Tempore Eric Johnson.

“The one thing elected officials should be able to agree on is that global warming shouldn’t be used as an excuse to hike taxes on citizens and businesses,” said AFP-GA State Director Jared Thomas. “We encourage all of Georgia’s elected officials and candidates for elected office to sign the pledge.”

Federal cap and trade legislation took its first steps toward passage last week when the Waxman-Markey energy bill was voted out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. President Obama has made no secret of his support for a cap-and-trade scheme, which would amount to the largest tax increase in American history. One version of the scheme, introduced last year by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and John Warner (R-VA), is scored by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office as a net revenue increase of $1.2 trillion within just the first 7 years the bill is in effect.

“Using the guise of climate change to transfer dollars from hard-working citizens to bureaucratic big government is unacceptable,” said Thomas. “Regardless of their stance on global warming, this should be common ground for all of our elected officials at all levels of government.”

The pledge is available online at www.NoClimateTax.com. AFP does not endorse candidates. All elected officials and candidates are encouraged to sign the pledge and go on the record in opposition to using the climate change issue to increase taxes and grow the size of government.

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is the nation’s premier grassroots organization committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and scope of government is the best safeguard to ensuring individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFP educates and engages citizens in support of restraining state and federal government growth and returning government to its constitutional limits. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., today issued the following statement on the President’s nomination of federal appeals court Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court. Isakson is traveling in Africa this week on Senate business, but issued the statement through his Washington, DC, office. 

“I look forward to a thorough examination and debate of her credentials and legal views during the Senate confirmation process.” Isakson said. “I believe a qualified judge is one who understands the value and the strength and the power of the Constitution of the United States of America, who will rule based on the law, and who will not legislate based on the position.” 

By Randy Brown, Web-Magic.biz and Greg Hoffman, Marketing Gorilla

First Impression:

Simple and to the point. Good info, low on effects.

Key Problems:

In our opinion, GeorgiaFirst.com is less aesthetically pleasing as some of the others but if the governor’s race was next week and the Internet was the only way to judge candidates, Ray McBerry would win hands down. We do, however, have some constructive tips below that will make the site the darling of the search engines in this race long-term. 

 
Meta Tags:

There are several ways that using Meta Tags in your web pages will help increase the traffic to your site. First, they allow you to tell the search engines and web spiders exactly how to describe your site. Second, including keywords in your Meta Tag tells the search engine that when a person types in a certain word (like the word “ gif “ ) to search for, (at a site like Alta Vista) your site is one to be uploaded. Third, using Meta Tags allows you to get your site listed closer to the top of a search list (there are, of course, other factors including popularity and keyword to content density). Not every web spider will read your Meta Tags but the majority will. It is enough to know that 18 out of the 20 largest search engines do read Meta Tags if for no other reason than for the description tag.

Current Meta Title Tag: Candidate not mentioned in the title.

Current Meta Descriptions Tag: You are allowed 100-200 characters in the description tag depending on the search engine. The description tag is what the engines use as your brief description in a results page to help a surfer choose the link they want to click. It will help you significantly if you write more into this tag.

Current Meta Keywords Tag: You are allowed 1000 characters in the keyword tag and you’re not using enough terms and phrases. The keyword tag is one of many items that search engines use to find you in a search. The user types keywords and based on the words on your site, in your tags and your links from other sites, you are placed in the results list. There are many other terms you could be using on this tag up to 1000 characters. We might also recommend using misspellings here.

Links:

Links from Vendors/Partners/Associations are 1,421. That’s extremely good, particularly this early in the campaign. Keep it up!
Reciprocal linking is a way for website owners to share each other’s traffic. Do not rely on earned or paid media links alone. Find relevant sites that will link to you with keywords other than your name because search engines place a high value on such links. 

Simple Site Mechanical Analysis:

Clean site, good content, intro voice-over might be a bit distracting, but it is very short. No landing page allows potential voters to get right to the message. This candidate site is near the top of all the relevant key phrase searches. Very good job.

The more targeted traffic you attract, the more potential voters you’ll attract before they find your competitor’s site and meta-information is extremely important to that end.

Well I went to my first political rally in many many years today and despite a few rain showers in Dacula, the event was very nice. Attendees were able to meet a handful of statewide candidates including some for the big office under the Gold Dome. 

I got there a little after 12 and was in the food line when the speeches started so I had a front row view for Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton, Ray McBerry and Rep. Melvin Everson, R-Snellville.  Oxendine, Scott and McBerry are running for Governor and Everson is running for Labor Commissioner. Other statewide candidates were there but I got busy eating and mingling and missed most of their speeches. I left around 2:15 p.m. and I don’t know if Sec. of State Karen Handel, Sen. Eric Johnson, R-Savannah or U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal showed up, the rest of the candidates for Governor.

I was able to snap a few pictures so look below. I look forward to attending more of these local rallies so I can get to know the candidates, the staff, the consultants and ultimately the kingmakers…

Ray McBerry speaking at the Gwinnett County GOP BBQ on Memorial Day

John Oxendine at the Gwinnett County GOP BBQ on Memorial Day

Austin Scott at the Gwinnett County GOP BBQ on Memorial Day

Melvin Everson at the Gwinnett County GOP BBQ on Memorial Day

 
By Randy Brown of Web-Magic, Georgia’s SEO Pro

And by Greg Hoffman, Marketing Gorilla

Site Analysis of Karen Handel for Governor of Georgia

First Impression:

Your designers did a great job with the colors, the action of the images, the style and the content inside the site. But the flash landing page is a major problem for the search engines and user friendliness.

Key Problems:

1. No way to turn off the music (problem for many users and an instant way to lose the visitor)
2. Flash content on the landing page (problem for search engine spiders)
3. Site does not auto load after landing page flash runs (problem for many users who may ignore the skip intro link and leave immediately)
4. Less than sufficient reciprocal links.

Meta Tags

There are several ways that using Meta Tags in your web pages will help increase the traffic to your site. First, they allow you to tell the search engines and web spiders exactly how to describe your site. Second, including keywords in your Meta Tag tells the search engine that when a person types in a certain word (like the word “ gif “ ) to search for, (at a site like Alta Vista) your site is one to be uploaded. Third, using Meta Tags allows you to get your site listed closer to the top of a search list (there are, of course, other factors including popularity and keyword to content density).

 
Not every web spider will read your Meta Tags but the majority will. It is enough to know that 18 out of the 20 largest search engines do read Meta Tags if for no other reason than for the description tag.

Current Meta Descriptions Tag:

Problems: You are allowed 100-200 characters in the description tag depending on the search engine. The description tag is what the engines use as your brief description in a results page to help a surfer choose the link they want to click. It will help you significantly if you write more into this tag.

Current Meta Keywords Tag:  

Problems: You are allowed 1000 characters in the keyword tag and you’re not using enough termes and phrases. The keyword tag is one of many items that search engines use to find you in a search. The user types keywords and based on the words on your site, in your tags and your links from other sites, you are placed in the results list. There are many other terms you could be using on this tag up to 1000 characters. We might also recommend using misspellings here. Undoubtedly, some surfers may not know the correct spelling of Handel, and will most assuredly search for “Karen Handle”.

Reciprocal Links

Links from Vendors/Partners/Associations are 431. That’s not terrible, but it is extremely important that you continue to improve on this – these days, this is mandatory particularly on Google. It will increase your search rankings and targeted traffic. We endeavor to get a minimum of 1000, but most of our customers are higher than that.

Some search engines calculate the number of links to your site from other sites and use it to determine your ranking. As you know, a better position equals more targeted traffic! Another way reciprocal links can benefit you is by drawing repeat traffic back to your website. If you offer a high- quality list of relevant links, visitors will return often because they know that they can quickly find what they’re looking for.

Simple Site Mechanical Analysis

Clean site, good content, but written in flash which is a problem for many of the search engines. We love flash, dont’ get us wrong, but it needs to be used in conjunction with smart SEO tactics.  Use of a landing page is not a recommended practice. Use of music with no way to turn it off is likewise not recommended.

The more targeted traffic you attract, the more potential voters you’ll attract and meta-information is extremely important to that end. This site needs a real effort put into search engine placement. Remember, on the web it’s “If you build it, WILL THEY COME?” If we don’t successfully tell them where it is, not much chance of getting targeted visitors. Do not rely on earned or paid media alone. With some solid SEO effort you will find organic traffic online. 

Also, you need to develop and submit Press Releases to online distribution services and utilize political blogs. This is the fastest, most effective way of improving search engine position for a site of this nature. Anchor links for relative keywords will get you the grassroots traffic you need through the search engines.

Start typing in keywords in search engines and ask your team why your site doesn’t rank in the top five results!

Next up, we look at Ray McBerry’s campaign site.

Karen Handel, Republican Candidate for Georgia Governor, unveiled her new website last week and the design made me wonder about its effectiveness in the search engines.  Is this new design going to attract the right visitors? Will she even rank under relevant keywords, or will other sites rank first, giving the user a chance to see competitors sites before hers? 

I’ve asked my longtime business partner, Randy Brown of Web-Magic, to run an analysis on some of the sites of statewide candidates for search engine visibility. This is not an attack on any particular candidate or web designer. We are merely showing you the search engine optimization aspect of online political strategy. Web Designers are a creative. They can build you the best looking hottest websites on the web. But SEO must be a part of the plan.

If you take the analysis back to your designers and consultants and they argue that search engines are irrelevant to political campaigns for any one of thousands of reasons – then your competition will gain on the grassroots level and you may be scratching your heads after election day.

Ray McBerry’s campaign for Georgia Governor wants to remind everyone to wear their campaign buttons, pass out some literature and plant some signs at the BBQ’s around the state on Memorial Day. 

We have volunteers and county coordinators standing ready to distribute materials to our grassroots to advance our message for liberty. Get involved today!

  For Victory in 2010,

  ~Jenny Hodges

 Campaign Director

Independent, Bipartisan Financial Crisis Commission Would Have Subpoena Power

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., today praised the signing by President Obama of a financial fraud bill that includes his proposal with U.S. Senator Kent Conrad, D-N.D., to create a Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission charged with fully investigating the causes of the near collapse of our financial markets and our economy. 

“This is a great day for the American people, who demand and deserve some answers. I’m pleased the President understood the importance of signing this bill into law quickly so we can get those answers to what caused this financial collapse,” Isakson said. “We need a forensic audit of the damage to the financial markets and our economy so we can find out where mistakes were made and ensure we don’t make them again.”

“My constituents deserve answers.  The American people deserve answers.  They have every right to know where mistakes were made, and why our financial system spiraled downward so far, so fast.  If it is discovered that laws were broken or any wrongdoing led our nation down this path, people must be held accountable,” Senator Conrad said.

Isakson and Conrad originally introduced legislation in January 2009 to examine the causes of the current economic crisis. On April 22, the Senate overwhelmingly passed an amendment by Isakson and Conrad to the Senate’s version of the financial fraud bill that would create a Financial Crisis Commission. 

On May 6, the House of Representatives passed the financial fraud bill, including the Financial Crisis Commission, with amendments by a vote of 367 to 59. On May 14, the Senate, on a unanimous consent motion, agreed to relatively small changes to the bill and sent it back to the House. On May 18, the House agreed to the Senate’s changes and sent the bill to President Obama for his signature.

The 10-member, bipartisan Financial Crisis Commission will have until December 2010 to investigate all the circumstances that led to this financial crisis. The panel will have subpoena power and will have the authority to refer to the U.S. Attorney General and state attorneys general any evidence that institutions or individuals may have violated existing laws. At the end of its investigation, the Commission will report its findings and conclusions to the Congress and the President.

This bipartisan Commission will be appointed by Democrats and Republicans in Congress. The Speaker and Senate Democratic Leader would choose the commission’s chair. The Senate and House Republican Leaders would select the vice-chair. Members of Congress as well as federal and state employees would be prohibited from serving on the Commission.

I found this in the AJC today. 

Sen. John Wiles, R-Kennesaw, will hold a town hall meeting Thursday from 6-8 p.m. at the North Cobb Senior Center in Acworth. Wiles will give an update on legislation passed during the latest legislative session and listen to concerns from residents. 

I can’t make it, so if anyone goes, send me an update…

Independent, Bipartisan Financial Crisis Commission Would Have Subpoena Power

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., today praised Congressional passage of a financial fraud bill that includes his proposal to create a Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission charged with fully investigating the causes of the near collapse of our financial markets and our economy. The bill now goes to the President for his signature into law.

“The only way to get an objective evaluation of where mistakes were made is to create an independent commission of experts to ask what went right, what went wrong and what could we have done to prevent this. We need a forensic audit of the laws of the United States as it relates to the financial markets and our economy,” Isakson said. “I want to thank Senator Conrad who has been diligent in his effort to help pass this legislation. I’m pleased this Congress understand the importance of making sure we don’t miss the mark, that we stay focused, and we get the answers to what caused this financial collapse. It’s what the American people deserve.”

Isakson and U.S. Senator Kent Conrad, D-N.D., originally introduced legislation in January 2009 to examine the causes of the current economic crisis. On April 22, the Senate overwhelmingly passed an amendment by Isakson and Conrad to the Senate’s version of the financial fraud bill that would create a Financial Crisis Commission. 

On May 6, the House of Representatives passed the financial fraud bill, including the Financial Crisis Commission, with amendments by a vote of 367 to 59. On May 14, the Senate, on a unanimous consent motion, agreed to relatively small changes to the bill and sent it back to the House. On May 18, the House agreed to the Senate’s changes and sent the bill to President Obama for his signature.

The 10-member, bipartisan Financial Crisis Commission will have until December 2010 to investigate all the circumstances that led to this financial crisis. The panel will have subpoena power and will have the authority to refer to the U.S. Attorney General and state attorneys general any evidence that institutions or individuals may have violated existing laws. At the end of its investigation, the Commission will report its findings and conclusions to the Congress and the President.

This bipartisan Commission will be appointed by Democrats and Republicans in Congress. The Speaker and Senate Democratic Leader would choose the commission’s chair. The Senate and House Republican Leaders would select the vice-chair. Members of Congress as well as federal and state employees would be prohibited from serving on the Commission.

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