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Matt Cutts vs. V7N

Geek Smackdown!

Written on Friday, January 26th, 2007 by lorien1973 :: 1 Comment so far

V7N - some forum/site I never visit, apparently has a new service where they sell contextual links. Cleverly, its url is: http://contextual.v7n.com/. Not knowing much about this, I assume its a service where you post up an offer asking bloggers to write about your site and, in turn, they’d link back to you. Much like Pay Per Post.

Matt Cutts brought it up in the sense that it is “undetectable spam” in reference to an errant email he had received. The whole post is kind of funny, actually. Cutts suggests that finding these links and discounting them is easy enough, programatically. Yeah right. Contextual links are, by far, the hardest to detect. As I’ve brought up in many forums, I could show up 100 pages and ask “are these purchased or natural links” and I bet you couldn’t guess more than 50% (which are your odds of getting any guess correct). Making a program to guess correctly is even harder.

I’m curious why Google simply doesn’t close the loophole that makes these schemes work. Discount anchor text. Google has taken the first step by finally fixing the “google bomb” problem.

Here’s my question to Cutts on this. Let’s assume you buy blog entries from blogs that get traffic. These blogs lead directly to traffic and sales for the target site. Blogger gets paid; target site increases traffic/revenue. Where’s the harm done? Now, if ‘links’ don’t help in Google (in terms of ranking, popularity, etc) who really cares. But, will Google actively penalize you for getting those links. That’s the question.

Pay Per Post Sends Me Free Stuff!

Me Likey Presents!

Written on Monday, January 22nd, 2007 by lorien1973 :: 2 Comments so far

Pay Per Post sent me a box of free stuff today! I got a giant blue pen (14 inches long), a t-shirt (maybe or a towel - havent opened it yet) that says “blog mogul”, 2 calling cards, some breath mints (what are they trying to tell me?), and a big green foam finger with a dollar sign on it. Not so sure about the finger, but everything else is really cool. Thanks Pay Per Post!

It’s not a $10,000 beach towel from Google, but me likey presents!

$10,000 beach towel you ask? - Google’s first present (to me, at least) was a beach towel with the Google logo on it. Really cheap beach towel, too. It was sent during the summer, so it made sense, but I think its thread count is like 8. Since I spent about $10,000 on adwords that year, I call it my $10,000 beach towel. I have never used it - would YOU use a $10,000 beach towel? I didn’t think so! While the later presents have been cooler and more “Google-y” - the digital photo frame, the color changing radio, the USB crap - the first gift is always the best.

I’m the best at getting Wikipedia links!

Well, not really, but you are reading this anyways…

Written on Wednesday, January 17th, 2007 by lorien1973 :: 1 Comment so far

More of an egads post than anything else.

A year or so ago, I wrote this article at Search Warp, and today I find out that not only has it gotten a Wikipedia link, but also, apparently has some .edu backlinks as well. I think its the first link to something I’ve written from Wikipeida, so I’m pretty proud of that. No applause necessary.

And I wondered how that article was getting so much traffic too. I do sell a lot of related products, so maybe people are coming from Wiki and buying from me. I know; fat chance.

Me: Search Warp’s Largest Traffic Source

By traffic, this author is the #1 author on SearchWarp.Com.

Written on Tuesday, January 9th, 2007 by lorien1973 :: 1 Comment so far

Not sure why it matters, but I think its interesting.

According to Search Warp, I’m the #1 author on their site. I know some of my articles have gotten positive and negative comments, there, as well - based upon the email notices from Search Warp. I’d bet the most negative is the self serving “dent removal” one I did a few years ago. Basically a commercial for a product I sell. I’ve recently added ones that are more neutral and offer alternatives besides actually buying stuff from me. One of the people at Search Warp suggested I do so, and I finally got around to it and did it.

I was bored this evening - actually writing a bunch of content and needed a break - so I broke down the above page a little bit. Of the top 100 authors, I account for about 14% of that traffic. I almost bring as much traffic as the 2-4th authors combined and I more than double the 2nd place author as well. A few months back, I noted that I was the #2 author on Search Warp. Something drastic happened though, as I believe I had about 31,000 referrals at point and the #1 author had about 33,000. So it must be framed over a given time frame.

If anyone feels to congratulate me on my minor acheivement, please feel free!

Chaos Theory and Google Supplementals

Is Google purposefully throwing Chaos into the SERPs?

Written on Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007 by lorien1973 :: 1 Comment so far

If you are like many webmasters these days, you have noticed an increase in your supplemental results for a site: search on Google. While this blog is done for informational/entertainment purposes only, we do run several actual money making sites.

Supplementals and non-indexed pages are becoming an issue that needs to be dealt with. Back in November, if you’d search for “purple dull widgets” (for example of course, and referred to as PDW for simplicity’s sake), our item page - the most relevant to the search - would show up (PDW at XXXX.com). Now, if you search PDW, our section page (rather than item page) shows up (Widgets at XXXX.com) and the item page is no longer indexed at all.

In fact, up and down that search; except for Ebay, no page title exactly matches PDW at all. Why?

Chaos? We were #1 for PDW for over a year. Many of the other sites were 2-10. Is it good business for google to show the same results for a year for PDW? The internet is about fresh, new, now.

If you were going to a search engine and saw the same results for PDW every day, would you continue to use the search engine or would you move on? Be honest.

Given that everyone follows the same Google rules; it makes sense for Google to throw a little Chaos into the mix. Random irregularities creating different SERPs at different times of the day for no apparent reason at all.

If anyone else has a better reason for the supplementals, random weirdness at Google, non-indexed pages, etc. Please posit your ideas. Until then, and we’ve been considering this for months now, Chaos is the new normal at Google.

Saddam Executed - First Photos from Arabic TV

Here are the first photos of Saddam’s execution from Arabic TV

Written on Friday, December 29th, 2006 by lorien1973 :: 5 Comments so far

No comment needed. I wont post the images in the post, rather I’ll link to them. Content Warning

http://www.seohaiku.com/images/saddam-hanged.jpg

Poor Villagers Sue “Borat”

Villagers threaten suit against Borat producers

Written on Saturday, November 11th, 2006 by lorien1973 :: 1 Comment so far

Here’s the complete story.

But now the villagers of this tiny, close-knit community have angrily accused the comedian of exploiting them, after discovering his new blockbuster film portrays them as a backward group of rapists, abortionists and prostitutes, who happily engage in casual incest.

…

Disabled Nicu Tudorache said: This is disgusting. They conned us into doing all these things and never told us anything about what was going on. They made us look like primitives, like uncivilised savages. Now they,re making millions but have only paid us 15 lei [around £3].

I’m confused. Are they offended that they are portrayed as “rapists, abortionists, and prostitutes” or that they weren’t paid enough? Reading this story, it seems to be the latter. I think their priorities are just a little askew.

Gaining Traffic from Article Submissions

A brief discussion on our success of posting articles to various article sites

Written on Thursday, October 12th, 2006 by lorien1973 :: 4 Comments so far

I’ve read some debate the past few days of the value of article submissions. I think the main focus of these discussions is misdirected. People, apparently, focus solely on the link value from your article. Many people seem to acknowledge the direct traffic you get from the articles. When doing anything online (these days especially), I think you should focus on traffic - not on links, not on PR. Traffic. It’s all it’s about.

Currently, I rank #2 on Search Warp for traffic driven to the site through my articles. Searchwarp also accounts for traffic, and direct sales to my websites as well. So providing information and content to other sites, helps me make sales to customers who many have missed me otherwise. Cost of creating an account and posting information. Zero.  Price of getting customers you may have missed otherwise. Priceless. Searchwarp is actually my 10th largest referrer to one of my websites, sending me about 20,000 visitors every year.

There’s a lesson in here somewhere (I’m sure someone will help me out). Earlpearl, from the DP forums, brought it to my attention that I am #2 on Searchwarp. My submissions have slowed there due to lack of time, but I want to be #1, so I will definitely be putting more submissions there shortly.

I also got accepted as a writer to Buzzle the other day and will begin submitting articles there as well. The submission process is much the same, but the acceptance rate seems a little slower. My first article was approved there, and already has pageviews. If I can pull good traffic at Buzzle too (alongside the Searchwarp traffic), it will add 2 more avenues to getting traffic to my sites. One through the articles themselves and Buzzle’s natural traffic, the other through the SERPs Buzzle will possibly generate.

Since I have about 60 articles that I’ve written, but have not put online yet, there is a lot of work to be done, but in the end, it’ll help secure several venues for traffic that my sites could really use.

Now, if I could only secure a DMOZ editor position. I did apply a few months back (rejected because I submitted to a category that wasn’t narrow enough), so I may apply again. Who knows. Not sure if it’s worth it.

Small businesses are tough like that. Not enough people to handle all the work. Too controlling to hire someone to help. It’s a tough life.

Press Releases: Getting the Best Bang for the Buck

This entry discusses properly using PR Web for sending out press releases and getting the best ROI for your investment.

Written on Wednesday, September 20th, 2006 by lorien1973 :: 2 Comments so far

Press releases are an often overlooked portion of SEO, but one that can pay off huge dividends in the long run. This post will get into a few points - how to write a press release that will be read by your target audience (they aren’t who you think they are) and how to format a press release - on PR Web, specifically.

Who is your target audience for a press release?
Let’s be clear here. Your target audience for your press release are not buyers or customers. Your target is the media, the press, the paparazzi. Whatever you want to call them. You want your release to be geared towards them. Why?

Yes, PR Web will get you reads, clicks, and maybe even a sale or two (don’t count on it); but, if your press release gets picked up by a paper or leads to an interview, a story about your offering, then you are much more likely to turn a profit from it.

So, how do you get the press to pick up the story about your website?

Attracting the Press: Like moths to the flame
The press is always looking for a good story or an interesting angle to something that has already been written about a hundred times. With a million journalists in the world, something always needs to be written about. Many environmental groups, health groups put out press releases to get their information out into the public for consumption. How do you think the press comes up with factoids from some obscure group no one has ever heard of? Press releases.

Attracting their attention is the important part, and as usual, you have very little time to do so. So, we’ll do two examples of a release so you can see the wrong way and the right way.

Scenario: You are a startup company who is starting a business selling skateboards on the internet.

Here is a press release:
Version 1:
ABC Skateboard company announces that it has created a new shopping website on the internet to market its skateboard products to shoppers.

Its operations are located in Dayton, OH and has four full time employees and serves customers in all 50 states and Canada.

Version 2:
Scott Jenkins is a skateboard enthusiast who lives in a rural suburb. While he has an interest in the sport, finding skate shops in rural america can be difficult. “That’s when I turned on my computer and did some searching. I came across several skateboard shops online and found just what I needed,” said Scott.

Fact is, with over 10 million skateboarders in the country, there are only about 1,000 stores that sell the products so consumers find it hard to get the gear they need; that’s where ABC Skateboard comes in.

——-

Which of those was more interesting? The second one, of course. Why?

It presents an easily identifiable problem and suggests a solution to the problem. The first simply states a bunch of uninteresting data that no one would want to read. The second is far more likely to be picked up by a media outlet, the owner called or interviewed, or the press release forwarded to others who actually like the topic being discussed. Thus, stands a far greater chance of being profitable.

So, get your thinking caps on and create an interesting press release. Take time, do an interview with someone in your field and do it right. It’ll pay off.

But the pay off will be greater if you do some basic SEO to your release…

Formatting your Press Release on PR Web
We always recommend paying at least $80 for a press release on PR Web. This payment amount gives you access to their SEO tools - mainly anchor text inside the press release. It also guarantees submission to Google News, Yahoo News and others which will increase your chance of being picked up by more minor sites.

If you pay $80 (or more) to PR Web, here is the simple method of getting the anchor text you want…

Let’s say you want your anchor to be “skateboards”

In the press release, you’d do this:
ABC Skateboard sells http://www.domain.com/skateboards.html [skateboards] along with other products

When the press release is live (not in edit mode or pre-release), it will show up like this:
ABC Skateboard sells skateboards along with other products.

This way will ensure you get your good anchor text for your press release. Since it will be picked up by lots of other sites, it can help you in the long run.

 Happy PR’ing!

Google Rumor: New Adsense product announcement

Google to announce new publisher program in the next few days.

Written on Saturday, September 9th, 2006 by lorien1973 :: 1 Comment so far

After scouring through last quarter’s financial reports; we stumbled across a brief mention from Google of a new method for publishers to display ads. We believe it to be an improvement on Adsense - possibly to help reduce click fraud and prevent adsense account hijacking - but we shall see shortly. I’ll keep you posted.

Read on…

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