Google AdWords Interface, WebmasterWorld World of Search Conference, Google Launches Movie Search

Ask Jeeves Interview, Search Stocks Falter, When is it OK to Start Selling SEO Services?

Ask Jeeves:
Interviewed. Mike Grehan interviews Jim Lanzone & Apostolos Gerasoulis.

Search Stocks:
downgraded on weak PPC spend

thread asks:
When is it OK to Sell SEO Services?

How Not to Run a Directory: Link to Me or I Delete Your Listing

So a new general directory owner or manager feels all listed sites should link back to them and is willing to delete the entire database if they have to.

Bet that adds value to their site. Good way to "build" a directory, eh.

What ever happened to the old concept of building value and then extracting profits from it?

Fun email sequence in the extended entry... from Lakhya

Regarding your site listing at:
http://www.hedir.com/antiques.html
I think i can get a backlink:

from me

once you stopped accepting sites I submitted I stopped caring about your directory.

sorry if that sounds blunt

but when you arbitrarily decide to stop accepting any and all
submissions I stop trying to help you.

from Lakhya

Hedir.com management has changed. I am the webmaster now. This is one of the projects i have undertaken recently . I am restructuring hedir design and policy.
I have noticed that you have got 10 sites listed in my directory .
I do not find any history of your helping the directory either with link or any other way . Could you please enlighten me regarding this ? Coz i believe in the concept of mutual help in the webmaster
community .

me

I was helping your directory. it was in my directory of directories. it was on my list of directories that over 1,000 have, etc.

when it started screwing around with rejecting every submission I made I stopped making submissions and pulled my support for it.

I also have a theory that directories can charge for inclusion if they like but if they require reciprocal links and are general directories then generally they are a waste of time.

from Lakhya

The site is going paid this march , with basic submission still free.You are welcome to submit as many sites as you want .

Reciprocal link is a part of my policy towards existing sites as i am deleting the old base . So, i am pulling out your links from the directory .

You can resubmit your sites if you want .

On the other side of the coin I am a big fan of the Bruce Stone theory:

Give the webmasters what they need. Links, good and fast service and as many pages index by the search engines as conceivably possible. This generates traffic, something directories have been poor in delivering. You’re not doing the webmaster a favor by accepting their site. They are doing you the favor by developing the database for you. :from interview

It is a mutual thing and if you try to work hard to create something of value others will try to help you.

Sadly many directories subscribe to the Hedir philosophy.

Give me. I am greedy. Give me. Give me. Give me.

Directories list sites. Good sites do not generally list bad general directories.

The biggest problem with most sites these days is that most try to extract profit without building any value.

Sure you can do that if you are technologicaly gifted or know the right people, but deleting large portions of a database because they do not link to is probably the wrong way to "build" a directory.

Press Releases: Spam Alley

From Dan Thies new blog

The online PR thing is automated and all these press releases end up archived somewhere, with link popularity passed on indefinitely (maybe). But it's only a matter of time before the PR wire turns into total spam, isn't it? I can see it now, we'll see days with press release titles like:

Why would an SEO Company create an arbitrary press release to inform the world of his clients keywords.

Would you want your SEO company to use your niche keywords as an excuse to promote themselves?

Maybe tucked away on their sites, in a testimonial or corner somewhere, with a link to your site, but not something you should be reading Fresh off the news wire!!! hehehe

Press releases are an easy way to dominate news search results, and I have even had some rank well in regular Google search results (part of the reason they can rank well is because some of the PR sites have a solid base authority level).

I sometimes use PRWeb to submit them.

A Few New SEO Blogs

Some of these might not be exactly new, but just new to me, but hey may as well list them...

Key Words - new blog on SitePoint by Dan Thies
SEO Shed - newish SEO blog. I think it is done by Sebastian from SEW forums.
SMART Keywords Blog - newish SEO blog. I think it is done by AussieWebmaster who is a moderator at SEW forums.

Hopefully I will have time to update the big list of SEO Blogs soon. I think the list is getting up near 5 pages. There are a bunch of us.

Join the SEO Book Affiliate Program

Arg, Warning, Self Promotional Post: !!!

I recently added affiliate software to my site which tracks sales through PayPal.

Join the affiliate program today and get a free $20 bonus credit.

More information in the extended entry...
Most of my sales are generated through PayPal, which has substantially lower costs than ClickBank. In addition to saving me money that also means that saves affiliates money too.

Good Deals with the New Affiliate Program:

  • Triple Redundancy Sales Tracking - Session management, IP logging & cookies.

  • Allows affiliates to send traffic to the home page or to a sales letter page.
  • The affiliate software makes it easy for affiliates to use various banners, text links, or text ads.
  • Since most of my ebook sales are through Paypal and since that payment option is on nearly every page of this site that means affiliates stand the greatest chance of getting commission for their sales. Also the triple redundant tracking makes it easier for affiliates to ensure they get credit for their sales.
  • The new affiliate software does not use 302 redirects, so I do not need to worry about Google or Yahoo! penalizing my site by not properly following a 302 redirect.
  • I am crediting all affiliate accounts with a $20 bonus credit.
  • My affiliate software allows me to set result based compenasation levels. This helps me give added incentive and added reward to harder working affiliates. This also helps give better affiliates a benefit in the marketplace.
  • The affiliate software also allows me to roll out pay per click advertising options. I have not yet turned this on but may do so eventually.
  • The affiliate software allows two tiers. I have not yet turned this on but may do so eventually.
  • Top affilates will get $40 per sale, which is over 50% of the sales price.

Bad Deals with the New Affiliate Program:

  • New affiliates will be started out at $25 per sale, which is lower than the current program level. The affiliate payment amount goes up by $5 after each 5 ebook sales. Though after 15 affiliate sales affiliates make $40 per sale.

  • The new affiliate program pays once a month, whereas ClickBank pays twice a month. My program will pay out quicker than ClickBank does though.
  • I have set the minimum payout to $50. New affiliates that do self sales will not be able to profit from self sales until they sell at least 1 additional copy of the ebook.
  • Currently my affiliate program requires PayPal accounts to receive payment.

When Can I Sign Up?
If you would like to join the new affiliate program you can do so today.

I am phasing out the old affiliate program and intend to have it fully phased out by March 5th.

If you are a current affiliate under the old program and have made multiple sales already please send me an email and I will see if I can start you off on a higher tier to credit you for your past sales.

I realize that changing affiliate programs sucks for affiliates (being an affiliate of many products myself), but I do not intend on doing it often. I appoligize for any inconveniences this change may cause.

If you have any questions, comments, or feedback please email me or post them below.

How Search Engines Work

Under the Covers: How Search Engines Work by Tiziana Perinotti

from 97, talks about stuff like natural language processing.

New Search / IR Slideshows & PDFs

Creating Multiple Similar Pages: Is it Search Engine Spam?

Answering a question from SEW Forums

Q: My question is, with this # of links to the same form is it better to save the form with different file extensions or to have all links all going to the same form?

A: I think a large part of the potential problem is intent, which may not be clear and easy for robots and editors alike to be able to understand. If you do go the multi page route you do not necissarily need to optimize those pages ... just get enough link popularity into your site and those pages should rank well. Plus you can pull that data from a database right? [added: ensure you create content which clearly conveys its purpose]

I think another thing you need to look at is the user of your site. If they land on those contact forms or whatever, do those pages provide enough info to actually convert?

Many well known SEOs recommend creating various pages for slightly difference audience and query types, but you want to keep the end user in mind.

If the search engines did not exist people would still

  • create similar documents targeted at different personality types and different motivators / personal triggers

  • create similar documents with different marketing strategies to target different consumer bases
  • create similar documents in different languages or with slang to target different people

The myth of the single ideal searcher or web user is just that: a myth

Why Small Pay Per Click Search Engines are Usually Not the Answer

I think I see a similar thread about once a month or so. What small engine provides underpriced traffic?

Many people tend to be stuck on a product or service or marketing angle. We tend to view these as good and then place our problems on others.

  • Overture and AdWords are too expensive.

  • blah doesn't provide enough traffic.
  • blah has too low of traffic quality.
  • etc.

Before looking to smaller engines I usually recommend creating a product or service offering which does decent on AdWords OR Overture.

Google AdWords and Overture have some fundamental significant differences in how they operate which means that some ads can fail on one and succeed on the other. If an offering fails on both networks then refine it. Change the offering. Target the ads better. Bid on a different position. Position 1.0 might be the guy who is losing the most money. There are lots of things you can change.

When people just give up on Overture and AdWords it means that they are settling for

  • small streams of traffic

  • slow feedback loops
  • potentially lower traffic quality. If the traffic source is a good one why would they partner with a second rate PPC instead of one of the larger ones?

All that combines to likely lead to small streams of sales.

If you can't compete on the larger networks refine until you can. Create a profit stream and then look to duplicate the results.

If you corner yourself to the smallest networks as time passes you may be continually marginalized until your business goes under.

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