1. Google Maps Ads Building Outlines

    4 days, 5 hours ago

    When you view satellite images in Google Maps you can see the building, however I just noticed you can also see the building outlines in standard view. For example here’s the Long Beach Westin Hotel where SMX local was held. Look at the building behind the letter A. You can see a curved building which […]

    Michael Gray

  2. Online Slots Tournament

    6 days, 19 hours ago

    I love free Stuff and Jackpotcity Online Casino is running a Multi Slot Tournament : Here

    and My Favorite bit :
    Should one of your new players (acquired from May 2008 until end of tournament), win the Adventure Final, ReferBack will pay you…the affiliate…$5,000.00!!
    DaveN

    Dave Naylor

  3. Great Tits Warming

    6 days, 23 hours ago

     It’s little wonder the BBC keep scooping awards for their new site make over, especially with such catchy headlines:
    We can now of course rest easy that the great tits of britain respond well to warming ;)

    Dave Naylor

  4. $100 of FREE Text Links

    Recently

    The friendly folks at Tet Link Ads are offering all new customers

    Text Link Ads

  5. Google Webmaster Tools smoke n mirrors

    1 week ago

    It’s not often I get so pissed off that I throw something, but I’m getting close…
    I’m helping a very very small company with SEO, and we I ranked them top 10 for most of the keyword set But in the .com, they are an English company on a UK IP, but the Domain is a […]

    Dave Naylor

  6. Strategic Content as Marketing for Link Building (and the Win)

    1 week ago

    HP can spam the hell out of Google and Google engineers are afraid to do anything about it because they do not want to lose the associated AdWords ad budget. But if you follow HP’s strategy it is called spam - and a Google engineer will smile while killing your site. It’s just business.

    Unless you have a well known brand and/or established social relationships with thought leaders it is hard to get lasting quality links for less than a few hundred dollars each. And there are only a few Google approved paid link sources that you can easily find for all your sites…beyond those you have to use high risk techniques or hunt for more, which requires many man-hours of work.

    If you are going to spend 100 hours hunting for links, why not just spend 40 hours creating featured content and another 10 hours marketing it? I think my recent how much is a #1 ranking in Google worth article was poorly received compared to many of my other features, and it still got over 100 links…at $100 each that is $10,000 in links for 2 days work. Thousands of people saw that article and it will keep building links as it ages. The network effect is on my side. :)

    Using content as a link building strategy is typically far less risky and cheaper than link buying, and it builds brand while establishing a direct organic traffic flow Google can’t block. Given tools like Compete.com, Google Trends, and other sources you can create content like that for virtually any field.

    Custom content is going mainstream - business marketers are spending nearly 30% of their marketing budget on custom content, and today Danny Sullivan announced he is doing a paid search feature with John Battelle for Thomson Reuters. If you have cash higher personalities and market leaders for brand association and exposure.

    The border between content and advertising is blurring. This 45 minute how to AdWords video from Dan Thies comes with an introductional sales pitch and sign up close - but the content in between the sales pitches is of higher quality than most paid content…which builds trust and allows you to charge customers more. Rather than monetizing via ads and marketing with ads it is simply cheaper to use content to capture and qualify leads. This trend will only grow as the rate of innovation and competition online continue to increase.

    • A widely distributed free version is why open source is so effective - it allows you to build trust, mindshare, and marketshare for limited ongoing cost, while allowing you to create a profitable shadow brand.
    • Business organizations are also following an open-source-like strategy. Is SEMPO an industry non-profit? Or are they a for profit SEM training company with a non-profit arm that legitimizes their training programs?

    Even if you are not great with video, well formatted text can still go a long way. Sure most people do not read, but some do, and well linked to text documents rank for a lot of long tail search queries.

    It only takes a couple links from high authority channels to build cascading links. You can connect with people on a resource level (like this SEO guide for Information Architecture or Principles for Building a Successful Internet Business) or on an emotional level (like Brian Clark’s post about almost dieing, and turning his life around).

    If neither of those strategies work for you why not try creating a fun toy, like How Rich Will I Be? Rentacoder (or similar) can help you create a custom toy for a few hundred or few thousand dollars.

    Don’t have enough money to hire a programmer? Then take the time to learn the marketplace and satisfy demands other ways. Strategic content development for link building does not require a lot of money, it only requires patience, time, formatting, a strong understanding of the marketplace, the willingness to be wrong, and the willingness to ask.

    Here is a quote from my favorite band

    If you have been rejected many times in your life, then one more rejection isn’t going to make much difference. If you’re rejected, don’t automatically assume it’s your fault. The other person may have several reasons for not doing what you are asking her to do: none of it may have anything to do with you. Perhaps the person is busy or not feeling well or genuinely not interested in spending time with you. Rejections are part of everyday life. Don’t let them bother you. Keep reaching out to others. When you begin to receive positive responses then you are on the right track. It’s all a matter of numbers. Count the positive responses and forget about the rejections.

    Sometimes a lack of cash gives you an incentive that the competition lacks to create something great.

    Aaron Wall

  7. Yes Shoemoney SEO Does Have a Future

    1 week ago

    Now Shoemoney is a friend of mine, but regarding his post SEO Has No Future today, I am forced to disagree with him. Not only does SEO have a future but judging by the number of SEO clients I am turning away, and the number of job offers I am receiving on weekly basis to […]

    Michael Gray

  8. WP Comments Referer

    1 week ago

    Wordpress Plugin Comments Referer
    Basically this will add a session based Referer to your comments, we try to catch the first entry point, any improvements let me know.
    Download the plugin here wp-refer
    Unzip the file and upload into your plugins directory, then activate ..
    Dave

    Dave Naylor

  9. Wordpress Plugin comments referer

    1 week ago

    I had this Plugin written in house because I was getting abuse on some of my early post’s .. it’s truly awesome when some one leaves a comments like “you sick f*ck how you do that to your cat” and “die f*cker” on this post shaven pussy lol..
    2’s things
    a) it’s not my cat […]

    Dave Naylor

  10. See a webpage like a SEO

    1 week, 1 day ago

    Ok the first thing I always check is server headers, a common mistake is 302ing the home page to an internal page so here is the screen shot of what a server header should look like :

    the next thing is Links and ratio of inbound to outbound links something like :

    I can see that I […]

    Dave Naylor

  11. SEO Microsoft, Yahoo or Google

    1 week, 2 days ago

    Ok hands up all SEO’s who target only Google? Come on,,, Chances are the search marketing world is set to change, evolve if that’s that right terminology. Some believe that Google is likely to become the next “Microsoft.”
    Which is your favourite search engine, or does it vary on a monthly basis? Do you have clients […]

    Dave Naylor

  12. Search Gets Protection

    1 week, 2 days ago

    Looks like Yahoo is rolling out technology to protect it’s search users if they click on a dubious website that hosts anything like spyware or spam. Past experiences tells us that such “helpful” additions often confuse the searcher and somewhat tarnish overall usability. Let’s just see if Yahoo can do any better than Google who […]

    Dave Naylor

  13. Hewlett Packard Giving Away Free Templates With Embedded Links

    1 week, 2 days ago

    Seems the giving away free templates with embedded keyword rich links has filtered up to the fortune 500 level as Hewlett Packard released a series of free templates today
    Head on over to HP Logoworks and download a free template. Open up the footer and here’s what you’ll see

    <p>
    Logoworks designs custom <a target=”_blank” href=”http://www.logoworks.com/business-cards.html”>business cards</a> and […]

    Michael Gray

  14. Interesting SEO Links…

    1 week, 3 days ago

    Roger Montti offers an insightful post on link building for new websites in 2008. If you have no traction you need to find a way to buy/beg/borrow/steal attention. Use that exposure to spread content that turns people on / gets them excited / evokes an emotional response / ties in with their worldview and identity…and watch the links flow like wine.

    Debra mentioned how she sometimes has a hard time telling people that their sites will not get links because they are boring. I actually enjoy doing that because it forces them to take some ownership over their own success (it is hard to drag a company across the finish line if you are an outside consultant - much easier to win if they are at least willingly walking in the right direction).

    The way I teach people that concept is I remove them for their ownership role. I ask “If you did not own this website why would you tell other people about and/or want to visit it at least once a week?” Once they can answer that question honestly with something that is inline with their market it means they have something worth marketing.

    Steve, an all around great guy and moderator of our forums, made a great thread in our local website marketing forums worth checking out if you are a subscriber.

    Predictably Irrational (great blog/book name) has a great post on the power of defaults in emotional transactions.

    Google is hyping image pattern recognition technology they call VisualRank in the media. Either they are about to improve their image search or they want us to think they have the most sophisticated technology.

    Here is a cool example of a nice image script that helps build links.

    Brief synopsis of how AdWords has changed over the past couple years - killing off many of the bottom feeder advertisers. The long tail of SEO keeps growing, but PPC is a winner take most game…from head to tail.

    Brent Csutoras shared his social media marketing presentation online.

    Firewall Script - a tool used to help keep sites secure, mentioned by DaveN so it is probably pretty good.

    SEW published an article about analyzing log files to audit redirects.

    The Problogger Book is out. Congrats Darren and Chris. :)

    Danny Sullivan has a nice recap of the Microsoft Yahoo fiasco. His forward to Philipp Lessen’s new book - Google Apps Hacks is also a great read. Congrats to Philipp on finishing the book. :)

    Breaking the Digg Code - free guide to getting the most out of Digg, though if you market an SEO site it is not worth marketing it on Digg. The average small-minded short-sighted Digg user thinks all SEO is spam - they are a reflection of the dumbest and loudest parts of society.

    Use Intwition to see what posts from a site got the most Twitter links.

    Why whitehats need to know blackhat SEO - as noted in the comments “nothing wrong with having a well rounded education.”

    Seed Keywords is a cool tool which allows you to pass a question on to friends or customers and ask them what they would search for to solve a particular problem.

    Aaron Wall

  15. Why is Google Buying Links From SEMPO?

    1 week, 4 days ago

    Google, which has arbitrarily forced its will to use nofollow on the web (and declared link buyers and sellers who do not use the tag as spammers) is buying a PageRank 7 link from SEMPO.org.

    You would think that if Google wants to set new proprietary standards they would follow them as well. And what better spot to start following them than with a trade organization promoting search engine marketing?

    Who Should Get Penalized For The Shady SEMPO/Google Bought Link Deal

    Aaron Wall

  16. Microsoft Withdraws Yahoo! Offer

    1 week, 5 days ago

    Microsoft decided to walk on the Yahoo! deal. After the sharp Yahoo! stock decline Monday, expect many shareholder lawsuits. The press release contained the following open letter to Jerry Yang.

    Dear Jerry:
    After over three months, we have reached the conclusion of the process regarding a possible combination of Microsoft and Yahoo!.

    I first want to convey my personal thanks to you, your management team, and Yahoo!’s Board of Directors for your consideration of our proposal. I appreciate the time and attention all of you have given to this matter, and I especially appreciate the time that you have invested personally. I feel that our discussions this week have been particularly useful, providing me for the first time with real clarity on what is and is not possible.

    I am disappointed that Yahoo! has not moved towards accepting our offer. I first called you with our offer on January 31 because I believed that a combination of our two companies would have created real value for our respective shareholders and would have provided consumers, publishers, and advertisers with greater innovation and choice in the marketplace. Our decision to offer a 62 percent premium at that time reflected the strength of these convictions.

    In our conversations this week, we conveyed our willingness to raise our offer to $33.00 per share, reflecting again our belief in this collective opportunity. This increase would have added approximately another $5 billion of value to your shareholders, compared to the current value of our initial offer. It also would have reflected a premium of over 70 percent compared to the price at which your stock closed on January 31. Yet it has proven insufficient, as your final position insisted on Microsoft paying yet another $5 billion or more, or at least another $4 per share above our $33.00 offer.

    Also, after giving this week’s conversations further thought, it is clear to me that it is not sensible for Microsoft to take our offer directly to your shareholders. This approach would necessarily involve a protracted proxy contest and eventually an exchange offer. Our discussions with you have led us to conclude that, in the interim, you would take steps that would make Yahoo! undesirable as an acquisition for Microsoft.

    We regard with particular concern your apparent planning to respond to a “hostile” bid by pursuing a new arrangement that would involve or lead to the outsourcing to Google of key paid Internet search terms offered by Yahoo! today. In our view, such an arrangement with the dominant search provider would make an acquisition of Yahoo! undesirable to us for a number of reasons:

    • First, it would fundamentally undermine Yahoo!’s own strategy and long-term viability by encouraging advertisers to use Google as opposed to your Panama paid search system. This would also fragment your search advertising and display advertising strategies and the ecosystem surrounding them. This would undermine the reliance on your display advertising business to fuel future growth.
    • Given this, it would impair Yahoo’s ability to retain the talented engineers working on advertising systems that are important to our interest in a combination of our companies.
    • In addition, it would raise a host of regulatory and legal problems that no acquirer, including Microsoft, would want to inherit. Among other things, this would consolidate market share with the already-dominant paid search provider in a manner that would reduce competition and choice in the marketplace.
    • This would also effectively enable Google to set the prices for key search terms on both their and your search platforms and, in the process, raise prices charged to advertisers on Yahoo. In addition to whatever resulting legal problems, this seems unwise from a business perspective unless in fact one simply wishes to use this as a vehicle to exit the paid search business in favor of Google.
    • It could foreclose any chance of a combination with any other search provider that is not already relying on Google’s search services.

    Accordingly, your apparent plan to pursue such an arrangement in the event of a proxy contest or exchange offer leads me to the firm decision not to pursue such a path. Instead, I hereby formally withdraw Microsoft’s proposal to acquire Yahoo!.

    We will move forward and will continue to innovate and grow our business at Microsoft with the talented team we have in place and potentially through strategic transactions with other business partners.

    I still believe even today that our offer remains the only alternative put forward that provides your stockholders full and fair value for their shares. By failing to reach an agreement with us, you and your stockholders have left significant value on the table.

    But clearly a deal is not to be.

    Thank you again for the time we have spent together discussing this.

    Sincerely yours,
    /s/ Steven A. Ballmer

    Steven A. Ballmer
    Chief Executive Officer
    Microsoft Corporation

    Any guess as to Yahoo!’s closing share price Moday? Vote on this poll and guess below. If you are the first person to guess within a dime you get a free month of access to our online SEO training program.

    What Price do Yahoo! Shares Trade at 4PM Eastern on Monday?
    ( polls)

    The short term upside for search marketers is that this lowers the odds of Yahoo! gutting itself by outsourcing paid search to Google.

    Aaron Wall

  17. Sponsored Links

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    Google

  18. Yahoo! May Carry Google Ads

    2 weeks ago

    Yahoo! may announce a deal to carry Google ads in the next week, according to the WSJ:

    While a broad search ad pact would likely attract intense antitrust scrutiny, the options Google and Yahoo are discussing include a nonexclusive arrangement that they believe could satisfy regulators, say the people familiar with the matter.

    The basis of such an arrangement would be a real-time auction system that would choose the most lucrative ads for any given consumer query from among those sold by Yahoo, Google and any of their competitors, the people say. Microsoft, for example, could potentially connect to the Yahoo system and have search ads it sold displayed alongside Yahoo Web search results, under an arrangement where they likely would share ad revenue.

    It is easy to claim to be in support of open standards with a propriety closed-box system after you already own monopoly marketshare. Unfortunately for Yahoo! this short term revenue boost puts them in the same risk category as the common webmaster - Google is Venice; Webmasters are Constantinople.

    Will the TV networks allow Google to do the same to their ad marketplace?

    In a recent interview Eric Schmidt said

    We’re really focused on this huge opportunity before us, which is automating the trillion-dollar industry that is advertising. We won’t get all of that, for sure, but we should be able to get a significant part of that over the lifetime, certainly of my service to the company.

    Aaron Wall

  19. Search Local Search Global

    2 weeks ago

    TLD’s and hosting, where would you host if you wanted prominence within serps in a certain geographic area,,,? Does it make a difference. Is it just microsoft that’s focused on localisation?
    Sounds like an easy answer to this one.
    Search engines must put weight on hosting location and im not just talking ip address.
    Dan Horton SEO

    Dave Naylor

  20. How Much is a #1 Google Ranking Worth?

    2 weeks ago

    I just wrote a ~15 page article aimed at helping SEOs estimate how much a top rank in Google is worth.

    I would appreciate any feedback you have on making it better. If you like it please hook me up with a Del.icio.us or Stumble. Any and all mentions are appreciated. :)

    Aaron Wall


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