Digital advertiser/marketer here. As others have rightly pointed out in some the comments--and as seen appropriately in the title of this blog post!--these really are just the pure basics. Elements to understand extend far beyond this to items such as semantic markup & rich snippets, the crucial role of "outreach" and "viral marketing" (that is, essentially digital PR), "domain authority" as defined by the volume and quality of incoming links to a site, and so much more.
As the topic of SEO is fairly rare on HN, some words I want to share while I got some of your attention: if something gives you pause, don't think to trust a single thing that an SEO consultant or agency out there says to you until you read up on it yourself and/or consult another party. In the end, SEO-pitching digital marketers are pretty much selling snake oil 90% of the time and what you really need is someone on your team with a marketing background who can responsibly manage vendors and force performance working to prove ACTUAL traffic/"brand awareness"/sales growth over an extended period of time (and if they can't show growth, they can intelligently explain to you why.)
I can't count the number of times I've been on calls with "SEOs" just rambling off their traffic reports without any real insight nor any technical knowledge, despite the fact that their agency is charging $100-150/hour for such material. I've seen reports from even large, recognizable digital advertising agencies with many locations worldwide that provided flawed or irrelevant data, a lack of focus on client goals, etc. I could go on and on.
https://mynoise.net/noiseMachines.php - "Noises, soundscapes and tonal drones ... Shaped to your hearing and environment"--great for improving focus, relaxing, etc.
In addition to being a major lurker here, I'm also a marketing assistant at an HR consulting and employer services company. There really is a TON of stuff that these companies can offer startups.
Most interesting though, in addition to dealing with compliance, taxes, etc. a lot of HR companies are looking to offer a wide range of services. I'm thinking of things like manager leadership training, employer handbook development, onboarding, compliance assessments, job descriptions and postings, employee satisfaction surveys, etc. etc.
Hi, I've got a couple things I wanted to comment on.
First, and the most obvious, I want to say that this looks like a very interesting and fun project. I wish you the best.
Secondly, and I know I'm pointing out the elephant-in-the-post here, but I think if one is launching a product or revealing a project to a wide group of potential users, it would be best to utilize a speaker that is easy-to-understand. This has been a point of criticism in past HN posts. Obviously, I don't mean to be offensive in anyway and I really don't know the most politically correct way of pointing this out. I just simply could not understand a large chunk of what the speaker in the video was saying because of his strong accent.
I think there are some ways around this. For example, you could use a different speaker and if you felt the need to make an appearance or comment in a video as the creator/founder of a project, you could make a couple brief rehearsed/precise comments.
Again, very interesting project and I wish you the best.
I agree that Microsoft isn't receiving entirely fair treatment here. As noted in the comments on the link's page, I'm sure a simple tutorial at install will do just fine for many, many typical users.
However, with regard to my personal experience, I picked up the iPhone 4S as my first smart phone. I've never seen an iPhone or iPod touch in action before and this was my first experience with an iOS device. It took me very little time to figure out how to navigate it, close and uninstall apps, etc. I never googled how to do something, and even had fun trying out my new toy.
I think comparing something like the simple iOS and the should-be simple Windows 8 is a very complicated act. The basic nature of a single Home Button and a touch screen simplified my learning of the iPhone. I imagine, without an introductory tutorial, Windows 8, with such complications as an external mouse and full keyboard and no touch-screen monitor, may be a very hectic experience (as seen in the video).
As the topic of SEO is fairly rare on HN, some words I want to share while I got some of your attention: if something gives you pause, don't think to trust a single thing that an SEO consultant or agency out there says to you until you read up on it yourself and/or consult another party. In the end, SEO-pitching digital marketers are pretty much selling snake oil 90% of the time and what you really need is someone on your team with a marketing background who can responsibly manage vendors and force performance working to prove ACTUAL traffic/"brand awareness"/sales growth over an extended period of time (and if they can't show growth, they can intelligently explain to you why.)
I can't count the number of times I've been on calls with "SEOs" just rambling off their traffic reports without any real insight nor any technical knowledge, despite the fact that their agency is charging $100-150/hour for such material. I've seen reports from even large, recognizable digital advertising agencies with many locations worldwide that provided flawed or irrelevant data, a lack of focus on client goals, etc. I could go on and on.