business.txt

by @fesja

Transcript

1. Business.txt
   Standard proposal
   @fesja
   August 31st
   

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2. Problem to solve
   Local businesses have to update their
   information on dozens of websites
   Websites have outdated information
   Users find info that it’s not correct
   

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3. business.txt
   A file with all the info of the local
   business in a standard format
   Websites will get that file and update
   their info when something changes
   Users will read the latest information
   It’s win-win-win!
   

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4. Example
   Name:  RJ  Grunts
   Categories:  American  Restaurant,  Bar
   Street:  2056  North  Lincoln  Park  W  (at  Dickens  Ave.)
   Zip:  60614
   City:  Chicago
   State:  Illinois
   Country:  United  States
   Coordinates:  41.92012,  -­‐87.63645
   Phone:  (1)  773-­‐929-­‐5363
   Price  range:  $$
   Price  description:  $9.95  burger,  $11.95  salad  and  soup  bar.  You  can  eat  for  $10-­‐20.
   Open:  Mon-­‐Fri  11.30am-­‐12am,  Sat  10am-­‐12am,  Sun  10am-­‐9pm
   Short  description:  Great  place  to  have  a  great  burger  and  salad  bar
   Website:  http://www.rjgruntschicago.com/
   Twitter:  RJGruntsChicago
   Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/rjgrunts
   Foursquare:  https://foursquare.com/v/rj-­‐grunts/42153000f964a5208c1f1fe3
   Google:  https://plus.google.com/108935673850120788149/about?hl=en
   Yelp:  http://www.yelp.com/biz/rj-­‐grunts-­‐chicago
   TouristEye:  http://www.touristeye.com/RJ-­‐Grunts-­‐Chicago-­‐p-­‐2127
   

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5. Are people interested?
   259 points and 109 comments in Hacker
   News
   2nd most starred repository in Github on
   August 27th
   Discussion on the W3C newsletter
   Hundreds of discussions with SEOs
   

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6. Is it the best solution?
   Why not schema?
   Why not vCard/hCard?
   Why is it an external file?
   Is it safe against malicious behavior?
   

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7. Does Google support it?
   1. A Google employee writes a personal
   thought
   2. A SEO writes a post about that opinion:
   “Googler: Don't Use business.txt Files”
   3. Someone writes in Twitter: “Google Says
   Don't Use Business.TXT file”
   4. Be careful with what you read!
   

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8. Next steps
   Agree on the format
   Build the first plugins (Wordpress)
   Market the idea to local businesses devs
   Contact with websites to implement it
   

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9. Follow business.txt
   On Github: github.com/fesja/businesstxt
   Group: groups.google.com/forum/#!
   forum/businesstxt
   Feedback? Questions?
   

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