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Why You Should Build a Web Business Around Your Passion :: Social Marketing on MySPace

admin — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 06:57:09 +0000

When I enter into a discussion with my customers on the sort of topic they want to base a web business on, nine times out of ten the answer is something along the lines of "I don’t care, whatever makes the most money".

This is completely the wron

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Search Engine Optimization is not an exact science. It takes lot’s of work and research. Trial and Error. Read through our posts here and try to learn from our experience. We offer some of our insight… news and comment. Please feel free to share your thoughts, and ideas. The site does allow "follows" so post your links.

Are Asda, Tesco & Sainsburys Missing an SEO Opportunity? :: Web 2.0 News

admin — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 06:42:29 +0000

Earlier today I wrote a blog post over on e-consultancy which looks at how UK supermarkets are ignoring SEO for major keywords, most notably “supermarket”.
In my opinion this is a massive oversight and it appears that the leading supermarket retailers such as Asda, Sainsburys and to a certain extent Tesco are trying to overprotect their […]
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How to Promote Yourself Without Promoting Yourself? The Secret of SEO 2.0 :: Digg News Central

admin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 06:31:20 +0000

The Secret Passageway to the Treasure by Stuck in Customs.
Today I will reveal the secret of SEO 2.0! It shows how to promote yourself without promoting yourself. So fasten your seat belts. Why am I revealing it now? I recently had a discussion on Mixx with Shell […]
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SearchDay | Link Marketing: What Google Can Teach You :: Social Marketing News

admin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 06:11:04 +0000

Today’s search engine marketing news and opinion: Link Marketing: What Google Can Teach You; 5 Million Users Hate the New Facebook? No Problem; Powerset’s First Integrations with Live Search; and more.
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Search Engine Optimization - Evolution or Extinction? :: Google PageRank Update

admin — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:06:22 +0000

The following is a guest blog post by Jeremy L. Knauff from Wildfire Marketing Group, highlighting many of the recent changes to the field of SEO.

Marketing is constantly evolving and no form of marketing has evolved more over the last ten years than search engine optimization. That fact isn’t going to change anytime soon. In fact, the entire search engine optimization industry is headed for a major paradigm shift over the next twelve months. Like many of the major algorithm updates in the past, some people will be prepared while some will sit teary-eyed amongst their devastation wondering what happened and scrambling to pick up the pieces. Unlike the major algorithm updates of the past, you won’t be able to simply fix the flaws in your search engine optimization and jump back to the top of the SERPs.

Why is this change going to be so different? In the past, the search engines have incrementally updated certain aspects of their algorithms to improve the quality of their SERPs, for example, eliminating the positive effect of Meta tag keyword stuffing which was being abused by spammers. Anyone who has been in the SEO industry for more than a few years probably remembers the chaos and panic when the major search engines stopped ranking websites based on this approach. This time around though, we’re looking at something much more significant than simply updating an algorithm to favor particular factors or discount others. We are looking at not only a completely new way for search engines to assign value to web pages, but more importantly, a new way for search engines to function.

Local search

A number one ranking for a particular keyword phrase was once the end-all, be-all goal but now many searches are regionalized to show the most relevant web pages that are located in the area that you are searching from. While this will probably reduce your traffic, the traffic that you now receive will be more targeted in many cases. Additionally, it give smaller websites a more equal chance to compete.

Google suggest

This August, Google Suggest was moved from Google Labs to the homepage, offering real-time suggestions based on the letters you’ve typed into the search box so far. This can be an incredibly helpful feature for users. At the same time, it can be potentially devastating to websites that rely of long-tail traffic because once a user sees a keyword phrase that seems like at least a mediocre choice they will usually click on it rather than continuing to type a more specific keyword phrase.

Devaluation of paid links

Google’s recent attempt to eliminate paid links has scared a lot of people on both sides of the link buying equation into implementing the “nofollow” tag. In the midst of this hypocritical nonsense, Google has also been taking great measures to devalue links based on quantifiable criteria, such as the “C” class of the originating IP, similarities in anchor text and/or surrounding text, location of the link on the page and the authority of the domain the link is from to name a few. Regardless of the effectiveness of any search engines ability to evaluate and subsequently devalue paid links, the fear of getting caught and possibly penalized is more than enough to deter a lot of people from buying or selling links.

Visitor usage data

Again, Google is leading the charge on this one. Between their analytics, toolbar and web browser, they are collecting an enormous amount of data on visitor usage. When a visitor arrives at a website, Google knows how long they stayed there, how many pages they accessed, which links they followed and much more. With this data, a search engine can determine the quality of a website, which is beginning to carry more weight in regards to ranking than some of the more manipulatable factors such as keyword density or inbound links. This puts the focus on content quality instead of content quantity and over time, will begin to knock many of the “me too” websites further down the SERPs pages, or out of the picture all together. The websites that will prosper will be those that produce relevant, original content that their visitors find useful.

TrustRank

Simply pointing a vast number of links with a particular keyword phrase in the anchor text to a website was once a quick and easy way to assure top ranking. The effectiveness of this approach is diminishing and will continue in that direction as a result of TrustRank. In a nutshell, a particular set of websites are chosen (by Google) based on their editorial quality and prominence on the Internet. Then Google analyzes the outbound links from these sites, the outbound links from the sites linked to by these site, and so on down the chain. The sites that are further up the chain carry more trust and those further down the chain, less trust. Links from sites with more TrustRank, those further up the chain, have a greater impact on ranking than links from websites further down the chain. On one hand, this makes it difficult for new websites to improve their position in the SERPs compared to established website; one the other hand, it helps to eliminate many of the redundant websites out there that are just repeating what everyone else is saying.

Google Chrome

Utilizing a combination of visitor usage data and a not so gentle nudge in Google’s direction, Google Chrome is set to change the way search engines gather data and present it to users. For example, when a user begins typing in the address bar of the browser, they are presented with a dropdown list of suggestions containing choices consisting of the #1 result in Google’s SERPs, related search terms and other pages you’ve recently visited. This gives a serious advantage to the websites that hold top ranking in Google and at the same time, gives a serious advantage to Google by giving their Internet real estate even more exposure than ever before.

So the question remains, is search engine optimization facing evolution or extinction? Certainly not extinction, not by a long shot, but in a short period of time it is going to be drastically different than it is today. The focus will soon be on producing a valuable and enjoyable user experience rather than just achieving top ranking, which is what it should have been all along.

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SearchDay: Killer PPC Ads: The Final Word :: Web 2.0 News

admin — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 07:42:19 +0000

Today’s search engine marketing news and opinion: Killer PPC Ads: The Final Word; Association of National Advertisers Opposes Yahoo-Google Deal; Zillow Launches New Ad Network with Consortium of Newspapers; and more.
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Headsmacking Tip #7 - Enforce Link Attribution for Your Work :: FAST Internet Traffic

admin — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 07:11:37 +0000

Posted by randfish

In the world of SEO, every link matters, and every link that can be earned, should be - it’s the principle of "optimization." Yet, to this day, even many companies and sites that are focused on growing their search traffic don’t think about optimizing the links they’ve earned. Case-in-point: The web forum software company, VBulletin. Have a look at these search results - allintitle:powered by vbulletin -site:vbulletin.com. All of these sites feature a footer similar to this:

It makes me want to cry.

Why? Because there’s attribution, but no link. There are literally hundreds of millions of pages on the web that Google, Yahoo! and Live have indexed that contain the phrase "powered by VBulletin" in the title tag, yet virtually none of these pages actually link to VBulletin’s site. A (relatively) paltry 1.2 million links and PageRank 6 are what VBulletin.com has to show for the terrific software they’ve created. Just imagine the SEO power of their domain had they gone the route Invision went and made those links default in their installation packages (they’ve got 15X VBulletin’s links by Yahoo!’s count).

Another terrific example comes from an unlikely source - YouTube. Check out a standard YouTube embed code:

No link! Unbelievable, but true. Now check out Vimeo’s embed code:

SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday-Blogging for Higher Rankings from Scott Willoughby on Vimeo.

It’s a little longer, but it contains three beautiful, relevant, anchor-text rich links to Vimeo’s site.

If you’re powering something, providing content, offering embeddable material or contributing in some fashion - automated or manual - you should be getting the link credit. It’s still the only way the search engines are recognizing "votes" on the web, and I can think of few higher endorsements than the leveraging of a source’s material on one’s own site. These are links Google and the other engines want to find so they can provide proper attribution. Don’t let them, or your search traffic, down.

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‘Googlebomb’ blows up in Daily Mail hack’s face :: Search Dynamics

admin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:41:49 +0000

A journalist at British paper the Daily Mail wrote a piece about what she thought was a case of Googlebombing. It wasn’t. But now the journalist in question is (kind of) a victim of a Googlebomb herself (I know she’s not really, but you have to love

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New Post at Amex Blog: Marketing as Product Development :: Mypsace News Bulletin

admin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:09:41 +0000

This latest post is some sketching for a longer riff I’m eager to dig into. I love the fact that I can do sketch out loud thanks to American Express. Here’s the first few grafs: Over the past several posts I’ve been talking about the role of search, conversation,…

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B2B Social Networks Exploding :: FAST Internet Traffic

admin — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 07:06:49 +0000

For a while, B2B social networks had struggled to get traction in a social networking dominated by B2C interactions. Well that appears to be changing according to some eMarketer projections
As more Business people are joining socia networks, more advertsing dollars are being spent on B2B networls. In the US this year, advertisers will spend $40 […]
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Buying & Selling Websites :: MSN/Live Search News

admin — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 06:43:50 +0000

On Sitepoint Clinton Lee wrote a 6 page high quality web site valuation guide.

The New York Times recently published a great article about flipping websites, quoting my buddy Peter Davis.

Shane Pike recently blogged about selling one of his sites to Internet Brands. The site he sold was the one that let him quit his job. I gave him some tips on how to build traffic and increase monetization during a 15 minute chat at Elite Retreat in December of 2006. He quickly took my advice to heart and is a richer man for it. Here is his revenue graph from that site

But where he really made a killing was when he found investment bankers to help him sell on a nice multiple of that

If you believe your site could sell for more than $100,000, you’re throwing money away if you don’t use an experienced broker or investment banking firm to help you sell it. Because they’re much more adept than you at running an efficient process, finding potential buyers, and maximizing the bids from those buyers, they make up their fee many times over.

For example, this whole process started when I received an unsolicited bid for the site. Before all was said and done, though, my representatives had secured not just one, but two final bids that were ten times that initial offer. I couldn’t have gotten half that on my own.

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What Are Your Favorite SEO Analogies? :: FAST Internet Traffic

admin — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:34:53 +0000

I try to teach my mom SEO stuff from time to time, and often do so through the use of analogies. Some analogies perhaps oversimplify the SEO process, but are good for helping get the basic concepts across.

On Page Content

fish and a fishing pole - when explaining how text heavy sites often outrank thin ecommerce sites, I like to call searchers fish and each word on the page an additional fishing pole in the water. This is really powerful when used in combination with analytics data, showing her the hundreds of phrases that people searched for to find a given page on her site…helping her see the long tail as schools of fish.
Don’t Make Me Think - people scan more than they read. Large blocks of text are imposing. People are more likely to read well formatted content that uses many headings, subheadings, and inline links. Expect people to ignore your global navigation, and do whatever you ask them to do (via inline links).

Site Structure

Broadway Street in Manhattan - used to describe the value of descriptive .com domain names, and when describing what top search engine rankings are worth.
a pyramid - when explaining how some phrases are more competitive than others, and how to structure a site.
chapters of a book - used to describe the importance of focused page titles, and how to structure a website.

Link Reputation

search engines follow people - helps explain why new sites tend to not rank well, and how links are seen as votes.
roads and highways - used to describe PageRank and why some votes count more than others.
multiple audiences - used to describe why many types of content are needed to address different audiences, and the importance of creating content that is loved by buyers, linkers, and search engines.
rising tide lifts all boats - used to describe how links to one part of your website help other pages on your website rank better
pet rocks & overpriced dolls - describing how perception becomes reality when describing cumulative advantage, and how some poor quality sites are popular while better content remains hidden

Pay Per Click

instant market feedback - describing how it can be cheaper to test and learn than it is to theorize
taxing irrelevancy - explaining how irrelevant ads are priced out of the marketplace.
users vote with clicks - if your ad does not get clicked on it costs way more or is not shown

Tracking Results

flying blind without autopilot - when explaining the importance of analytics, and how most businesses that do not track results stand a good chance of failing.
people are lazy - describing the power of defaults and how a #1 ranking gets way more traffic than a number 5 or number 10 ranking.

Google Relevancy

Trust is Important - cares deeply for user experience, unless they are paid enough to think otherwise.
The House Advantage - when explaining why YouTube and Knol pages rank better than they deserve to.
Link Authority is Important - explaining why garbage general made for AdSense sites like eHow clog up the search results when higher quality information is hidden.
Informational Bias - when explaining that Google’s business model relies on people clicking paid ads for commercial sites, and why Wikipedia ranks for everything.

How do you describe SEO to people who are not deep into the field?

Update: A few months ago Jaan Kanellis posted many analogies.

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Steve Gerencser: Search Blogger of the Day :: StumbleUpon Update

admin — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 06:42:31 +0000

This is one of a series of posts in which I will be highlighting each member of the Search Bloggers list, with commentary on one of their posts (new or old). Look for this series to continue once or twice a week for the next couple of months.

Meet Steve Gerencser, the Search Blogger of the Day. Steve’s brand used to be Large Orange Pop, but it’s now Metal Monster Marketing. I like that better. But that’s neither here nor there. Today I want to highlight one of Steve’s posts that particularly resonates with me. In his post, It’s hard to find…

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SEOptimise are recruiting :: Search Engine Optimization Weekly Report

admin — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 06:15:51 +0000

We are currently looking for search engine marketing professionals to work from our office at the Magdalen Centre in Oxford.
The job roles available are for an SEO Executive and Pay Per Click Manager, this is a great opportunity for anyone keen to learn and looking to improve their experience in the search industry.
If […]
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Google Launches Knol: Project Wikipedia :: Social Marketing On StumbleUpon

admin — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:43:41 +0000

After we first announced Google’s intention to launch Knol, their knowledgebase, we learned yesterday that the project is finally live.

Here’s a small little screenshot of Google Knol:

Will it be the Wikipedia killer, a many people have been wondering since Knol was announced last year? Well, so far, Knol is extremely medicine-focused and apparently has very bad navigation, according to forum members.

Will it be useful for SEO in the long term? If those results get spidered and ranked well in Google, it will have a traffic value, most likely. But the links are nofollowed as many forum members note.

Additional discussion is on Techmeme.

Forum discussion continues at DigitalPoint Forums.

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Remember When I Said It’s Over? :: SEO Times

admin — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:16:48 +0000

Said it here. Proof points piling up, see this and this: Today our US Search Engine Performance Report: Q2 2008 was released. Analysis of data from our client index showed that Google took more than its fair share of the overall increase in search spending: for every new dollar…

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