Orchestra Blue

Yellow

White

With gratitude to Allen Iverson for the forever-quotable and memeable soundbite from (gasp!) 2006:

We're actually talking about backlinks, not practice, although they rhyme (kind of).

Backlink is just the digital marketing industry term for a link from another site (back) to yours. There's a few things that are important about them:

Why are backlinks important for early-stage companies?

The obvious answer is, links from other (high quality) sites will generate traffic to your site when people click through, and hopefully those visitors will turn into customers or adopters of your offering.

But the more important answer is, <a href="https://www.lennyspodcast.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-seo-ethan-smith-graphite/#transcript">until you have about 1,000 backlinks to your site</a> (and about 1,000 visits per day from sources other than search), Google's algorithm will basically consider you a spam site. That means your SEO efforts to rank for important keywords? Ineffective.

The easiest and most authoritative source for this data is <a href="https://search.google.com/search-console/about">Google Search Console</a>. It's free, and you don't have to write any code or have any special skillset to use it.

All you'll need to do is sign in with a Google account. If you have Google Apps for your company domain, sign in with a Google account associated with that domain (not a personal email) and that will verify you are connected to that domain, so you can access the data google has for you. If your email isn't with Google you can still verify ownership of the domain, it's just more complicated.

Once you're in, select the website you want (Google calls these 'properties'), and look for the menu item on the left towards the bottom (in the hamburger menu if you're on mobile) named Links. Once you click that, look for the panel named External Links. That top value is your backlink count.

Below that is a panel named Top linking sites. These are the sites that link to you. If you click on one, you can see the page it's linking to. Frustratingly, here you cannot see the text a particular site used for its link. But in the panel below, Top linking text, you can see the text used in links to you, also ordered by count (and also, frustratingly, not tied to the specific site).

Before we cover ways you can get backlinks, let's talk about ways not to get them, and that's to buy them. If you own a business with a website you have almost certainly gotten an email from a company offering <code class="inline-code">high quality guaranteed non spam backlinks at an affordable price</code>.&nbsp; Don't fall for it, these are scams. Block the sender and move on.&nbsp;

If you've hired a firm to do SEO-focused content marketing, they might offer to bundle backlinks in with their service. Do not take them up on this, and fire them the first chance you get. Google penalizes sites with lots of low-quality backlinks, and that's a jail that's hard to get out of. While it may be true that not all of the linking sites are low-quality, it's not worth your time to try and verify their claims. Just move on.

Okay, I won't buy them. How should I get backlinks?

Before going through some of the time-intensive methods let's look at the easiest ones. There are plenty of directory sites for just about every industry and those typically have a submission form somewhere on them.&nbsp;

If your company serves a local market, the Chamber of Commerce (or if you are not in the U.S., its equivalent) will often keep a list of member businesses with links to their sites. These typically cost money to join but you'll get other benefits from them - the backlink is a bonus.

If you graduated from a university, find their alumni community and write to them with information about your business and ask to be featured in an edition. These newsletters are almost always published on the university website. Boom. High-quality backlink.

If your company has venture investors, make sure you're on <a href="https://crunchbase.com">Crunchbase</a> and <a href="https://pitchbook.com">Pitchbook</a>. While you're at it, make sure your investors' websites all have links to your site, and ideally they've all written blog posts or press releases announcing their investment and included a link to you in those, too.

The final boss of backlinks is journalism. Getting a link in a website with high readership will generate other links just from websites linking to the sites linked in that one. One good article featuring your company can almost singlehandedly put you over the 1,000 backlink threshold. 

So how do you get one of those? Well, it won't be easy or guaranteed, but here are some tips. First off, listen to or read the transcript of <a href="https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-get-press-for-your-product-jason-feifer-editor-in-chief-of-entrepreneur-magazine/">Lenny Rachitsky's podcast interview with Jason Feifer</a>, Editor-in-Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, to get a great background on how to work with journalists in general; what they are looking for, how to help them so they can help you, etc.

But as a small business, chances of getting featured in a large national or international magazine are pretty slim. Luckily, backlinks from smaller publications count the same, at least by quantity if not by reputation and traffic potential. And as it turns out, where do national-level journalists turn to get sources for their articles? <a href="https://www.michellegarrett.com/2023/07/22/how-helping-journalists-get-what-they-really-want-boosts-your-pr-results/">Smaller local publications</a>. So be kind to your local beat writer. They might be a path to a viral hit.

Last tip. From that same article, when a journalist is deciding whether to use you as a source for an article vs. someone else, they often <a href="https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/journalists-remain-on-twitter-but-tweet-slightly-less.php">turn to the company (and individual)'s social media presence</a> to get an understanding of how active the company is and what else it's talking about. So if you're not posting regularly about topics relevant to your audience, you might get rejected in favor of a different company representative.

Okay, a bonus tip. As it turns out, a lot of journalists are still on twitter. Despite many public pledges by journalists to leave the site after its owner's public bashing of the profession, <a href="https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/journalists-remain-on-twitter-but-tweet-slightly-less.php">few actually did</a>. While they don't post as often, the fact that it's still a primary platform means you should probably continue posting content there, even though we don't recommend actively using the platform anymore.

As Allen Iverson famously (never) said, "Backlinks? We're talking about backlinks?!". This article's got tips for getting them.

Backlinks? We're talking about *backlinks*!?


        In (most of) the U.S. this week marks the end of Daylight 
Savings Time. This means a few days (or weeks) of either being this 
person or listening to them:

    

I've covered a lot of topics here at AI outtakes but one that we
 actually haven't generated any images at night. This is because most of
 the images we generate through <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/orchestra-ai/">Orchestra AI</a>
 are intended to accompany business marketing materials, and until we 
start working with a flashlight company night's just not going to be a 
priority.


        I recall in the very early days of AI image generation a couple 
of social media posts made the rounds purporting to be AI generated 
images featuring dashcam footage of Gwyneth Paltrow:

    


        These image generation models have gotten better so let's see how they handle night scenes!

    

<code class="inline-code">night vision security camera footage of office workers having 
a business meeting in the forest</code>

<code class="inline-code">&nbsp;night vision camera photo of a lawn crew trimming bushes and 
mowing the lawn in front of a house</code>


        Okay let's try some prompts to capture the spirit of the intense hatred that some people have for the early darkness.

    

<code class="inline-code">a photo of a group of people outdoors at night, looking at the 
moon, yelling, angry, raised arms</code>

<code class="inline-code">I'd like to generate a photo that captures the intense hatred some
 people have for the end of Daylight Savings time, when it gets 
dark very early. Can you depict a group of office workers in a 
night setting, angry at the darkness, raising their fists 
and yelling?</code>


        Okay, back to something more random then.

    

<code class="inline-code">a photo of taylor swift and a fat bear, disco dancing at night, 
in the forest</code>


        Still, it feels like nothing we've done here captures the style 
(and spirit) of the Gwyneth Paltrow dashcam footage images. I wonder if 
we just try that?

    

<code class="inline-code">Gwyneth Paltrow dashcam footage</code>

Seems like generating photos in that style is proving difficult.
 This might be the prompts I'm using, or it might be that the original 
images didn't come straight from an AI art model. But OpenAI released a 
new feature in ChatGPT - you can now <a href="https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8400551-image-inputs-for-chatgpt-faq">upload an image to use and ask ChatGPT about it</a>. Let's see if we can use the existing photo as a template?

<code class="inline-code">Can you generate a grainy photo of an office worker at night, in a similar style to this photo?</code>


        Now we're getting somewhere!

    

<code class="inline-code">Can you make a photo of office workers having a meeting in 
the middle of the road, in the same style?</code>

<code class="inline-code">Now can you generate an image of a fat bear in the same style as 
the photo I uploaded, and have the bear look surprised as though 
it didn't want to be found?</code>


        Okay now armed with a style that works, let's see if we can get a mashup of a stock photo and dashcam footage.

    

<code class="inline-code">Can you generate an image in this style, but instead of a bear 
make it two male office workers standing next to a water cooler,
talking to each other?</code>

<code class="inline-code">Now can you depict an office meeting of three people with different 
backgrounds, where one person is giving a presentation? But make 
the photo extra grainy and make their eyes reflect the way 
the bear's eyes reflected in the photo I uploaded.</code>

<code class="inline-code">&nbsp;Now can you generate an image of a Zoom meeting but all of 
the participants are lit with night vision dashboard cameras.</code>

We've learned a lot in this process! If you take only one thing 
away for your own use of AI in image generation for marketing or 
anything else, remember the trick where you can provide an image to 
DALL-E 3 and use that as a basis for generating other images in a 
similar style. Combined with the <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ai-outtakes-vol-6-jim-wrubel/">brand mascot trick</a>, you can quickly create images in a consistent style with consistent characters for use in all of your collateral.

<code class="inline-code">Can you generate an image in this exact style but instead of a 
bear make it an office worker waving goodbye</code>

Learn the secrets of AI image generation for marketing and more. Discover how to create consistent, stylized images with brand mascots.

AI Outtakes, Vol. 12

Thanks to my daughter, this past week I became one of the <a href="https://xkcd.com/1053/">Lucky 10,000</a> to learn about <a href="https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/goth-ihop">Goth IHOP</a>. After a meme went viral several years ago, somehow the Internet decided that the IHOP in Frederick, MD was 'the goth one'. So much so that Apple Maps shows it as a listing in the region:

So of course that got the staff here at AI Outtakes thinking. If there's one thing that AI art should be good at, it's depicting memes in a more literal sense.

But first, let's check in on Juggalo Sam's Club.

<code class="inline-code">a photo of juggalos, face paint, shopping at Sam's Club</code>

Okay now let's find out!

Of course, since it's the inspiration for the post we need to see what Goth IHOP might actually look like:

<code class="inline-code">a photo of a goth IHOP, exterior photo, in a strip mall</code>

<code class="inline-code">a photo of an IHOP, interior photo, goth waitstaff</code>

<code class="inline-code">a photo of a stack of goth pancakes, on a table in a diner</code>

Okay we need to see the patrons of this Goth IHOP.

<code class="inline-code">a photo of a goth IHOP, goth waitstaff, several goth guests in booths</code>

Okay, we've probably done this one to death (get it? get it? taps mic Is this thing on?). Let's see how AI does with some other popular memes.

<code class="inline-code">a photo of first world problems</code>

I wonder if DALL-E will have better luck?

<code class="inline-code">can you generate an image based on the First World Problems meme,
but in the background include a collage of things that are
ironically first world problems that the woman might be 
distressed about?</code>

Let's see about another popular meme, the <a href="https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/this-is-fine">This Is Fine</a> dog:

<code class="inline-code">a photo of a yellow dog, sitting on a chair next to a table, 
wearing a small hat, inside a burning house</code>

Moving on to 'Pikachu surprised'. Since DALL-E 3 has restrictions on representing copyrighted material we've got to go back to SDXL.

<code class="inline-code">a photo of pikachu, looking surprised</code>

<code class="inline-code">a photo of kermit the frog, sipping from a clear mug of tea, teabag in the cup</code>

Time for the final meme. The one you probably thought of when you realized this edition was going to be about memes.

<a href="https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/distracted-boyfriend">Distracted boyfriend</a>.

<code class="inline-code">a photo of a boyfriend, distracted, looking the other way</code>

<code class="inline-code">a photo of a boyfriend, with his girlfriend, looking at a different woman</code>

Can you generate a version of the distracted boyfriend meme?

<code class="inline-code">okay now can you generate a version of the distracted boyfriend 
meme but make all of the people goth</code>

That's all for this week! I hope you've had as fun reading this as I've had fun making it.

<code class="inline-code">a photo of a goth IHOP, goth waitstaff waving goodbye</code>

Generative AI through the lens of Goth IHOP.

AI Outtakes, Vol. 11


        I'm writing AI Outtakes from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Just 
because of the way social networks work I'm guessing most of you, the 
readers, live here or have been here, but for the benefit of those who 
haven't, the best way I can describe Pittsburgh is, it's a 'big little 
city'. 

    


        It has a population of about 300,000, which is right in that 
sweet spot where there's a good chance that if there's someone you pass 
on the street, meet at a party, happens to be next to you at a painting 
class, etc., there's a decent chance you either know them, or know at 
least one person who knows them.

    

The way I've described it for a few years now is, "Pittsburgh is a one-Kevin-Bacon town". If you don't know about <a href="https://oracleofbacon.org/">Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon</a>,
 ask someone who's eligible for the Shingles vaccine to explain it. In 
the Pittsburgh sense, if you meet someone you are either directly 
connected to them or you have at least one mutual friend.


        So for this week's AI Outtakes I thought it would be fun to show Kevin Bacon in situations that Pittsburgh is known for. Enjoy!

    

<code class="inline-code">photo of kevin bacon, at a steel mill, working hard</code>

For those who are not aware, Pittsburgh is very much an 
(American) football town. There's a tradition of Steelers fans waving a 
yellow rally towel called a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrible_Towel">Terrible Towel</a>
 at games (and at home and sometimes just around town). I'm sure 
generative AI does not know what a Terrible Towel is, but maybe we can 
get close?

<code class="inline-code">photo of kevin bacon, at a pittsburgh steelers football game, in the stands, holding a yellow towel over his head</code>


        There's a (relatively) famous 80s movie called Flashdance that's
 set in Pittsburgh. It's notable for one specific scene, where the lead 
is dancing on stage and leans over a chair and is drenched by water:

    


        I wonder how close we can get to recreating this scene with Kevin Bacon?

    

<code class="inline-code">photo of a young kevin bacon, on stage overhead spotlight, 
reclining on a wooden chair, drops of water pouring down from above</code>


        Another thing Pittsburgh is famous for is ketchup, specifically 
Heinz (the company until recently held the naming rights to the football
 stadium). Surely we can get Kevin Bacon and ketchup in an image.

    

<code class="inline-code">photo of kevin bacon, at a diner, eating a 
hamburger and fries, holding a bottle of ketchup</code>


        Switching briefly back to the football theme, there's an iconic 
cover of Sports Illustrated featuring Jack Lambert, who played for the 
Steelers and is now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame:

    


        Maybe we can recreate this photo with generative AI!

    

<code class="inline-code">photo of young kevin bacon, wearing a black football helmet, 
missing his front teeth</code>


        Pittsburgh used to be known for coal mining and it's still a 
significant part of the regional economy. So to honor that past, let's 
see if we can get a photo of Kevin Bacon from that era.

    

<code class="inline-code">photo of kevin bacon, working in a coal mine, grainy, 
black and white, 1920s photo</code>


        We've covered a number of famous Pittsburgh themes, but what about famous Pittsburgh celebrities?

    

<code class="inline-code">photo of young kevin bacon and andy warhol smiling</code>


        Okay so maybe it has a tough time with rendering Andy Warhol the
 person. Can we get it to generate Kevin Bacon in the style of Warhol's 
art?

    

<code class="inline-code">8k portrait of kevin bacon in the style of andy warhol's 
shot marilyns, four squares different colors</code>


        Let's see how well generative AI knows Mr. Rogers!

    

<code class="inline-code">photo of young kevin bacon and Mr. Rogers smiling</code>


        What about some other celebrities from Pittsburgh?

    

<code class="inline-code">photo of kevin bacon, michael keaton, smiling</code>

&nbsp;<code class="inline-code">photo of kevin bacon and jeff goldblum, smiling</code>


        Okay, back to some Pittsburgh traditions.

    

<code class="inline-code">photo of kevin bacon, scared, riding a crowded roller 
coaster, at Kennywood amusement park</code>

Pittsburgh has some... unusual food traditions. You might be aware of Pittsburgh's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primanti_Bros.">signature sandwich</a>, which includes french fries in the sandwich rather than as a side. And a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_salad">Pittsburgh salad</a> is notable for having french fries on top.


        You can probably guess where this is going.

    

<code class="inline-code">photo of kevin bacon with a bowl of french fries on his head</code>

Pittsburgh's other food tradition involves cookies. Specifically, it's a tradition at weddings in the area to include a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cookie_table">table stocked with a variety of cookies</a>, typically baked by family members.

<code class="inline-code">photo of kevin bacon, at a wedding, standing in front of a 
table full of different kinds of cookies, wedding guests 
in the background</code>


        Pittsburgh's other cookie tradition comes from a regional chain 
of restaurants called Eat 'N Park. They sell frosted sugar cookies by 
the dozen, and each cookie has a frosted smiley face on it:

    

I'm sure we can get an image of Kevin with a cookie like this, right?

<code class="inline-code">photo of kevin bacon, about to eat a large sugar cookie, 
white frosting with a smiley face decoration</code>


        That's it for this week! I hope you've had fun watching Kevin Bacon enjoy Pittsburgh traditions. Until next week!

    

<code class="inline-code">photo of kevin bacon, waving goodbye, pittsburgh skyline 
in the background</code>

Kevin Bacon experiences Pittsburgh's iconic scenes and traditions in this week's AI Outtakes. From steel mills to football games, he immerses himself in the city's culture. Join him on this fun journey!

Backlinks? We're talking about backlinks!?

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