The Suit Made the Man...

Yet another good eBay link building technique... You know, some people just know how to dress.

I wonder how they got JasonD to pose for that?

Only 9 left...better hurry. Gurtie Gurtie Gurtie already bought hers.

Google Changing European Agency Comissions

Danny says Google is changing their European Agency Commission Structure:

  • Commission will be tied to business brought in or grown

  • Commission will be tiered to a maximum of 12 percent
  • The new program opens across Europe from January 2006 to any qualified third party agency (at least five clients, two Google certified professionals on staff).
  • Yes, search marketing firms are eligible.

Danny also posted more about the current payout levels in the subscribers article linked to from his blog post.

Desired SEO Tools

Are there any SEO tools you would like to see made that are not on the market?

More on Publishing...

Tim O'Reilly likes Google Print, but realizes times are changing:

I do think that a lot of the resistance from publishers has to do with the fear of ultimately being disintermediated by Google. And it's a legitimate fear. The publishers who don't embrace the net will be swept away by it, while those who do will surf the wave to new excitement. Print-bound intermediaries will go away, but they will be replaced by new delivery-mechanism-agnostic intermediaries and business models. The role of the intermediary will remain because it's driven by the law of large numbers.

Tim also pointed at this amazing article: Piracy is Progressive Taxation, and Other Thoughts on the Evolution of Online Distribution.

Seth Godin reminds us that readers are already paying if they are paying attention, and as a bonus, posts on how / why ideas spread.

SEO Everywhere? SEO on The Apprentice...

I can't believe I am making a post about reality TV...please don't hate me for it, but an SEO who met my friend Avi at WMW New Orleans is a canidate on The Apprentice.

While I do not watch TV I am rooting for the SEO. Those who watch, please take note to how & when he spams the show with product placement, keyword density, and the like.

Full TP Profile Article - No Subscription Required

Some readers may not have a WSJ subscription and be able to read the recent TP profile in the Wall Street Journal, lucky for them the whole article is also available in the Startup Journal.

Online Flowers

Another good example of a simple site playing a competitive market (online flowers) from a slightly different angle. Gets lots of free viral links. Much less risky than the shill blogger technique.

Although, if people say it's the thought that counts, and the system is automated, does it still count?

Google Reframes Size Debate

Google removed their you are searching 8 billion + pages and reframes the size debate, encouraging people to use Google more and search more specifically. :)

Framing is huge in marketing. If you control the language then you win the battle.

Danny wrote a great article about the history of the search database size wars, going back to the days of AltaVista & Excite page counting.

Also interesting to note that Danny loves the Lego Star Wars video game, and searched for the same piece I did. Finding the missing Star Wars lego pieces via search is no doubt a hard task, especially using UK spellings.

Danny recently turned 40. Happy Bday Danny.

Astute SEW fans may find the hidden Annie Williams paintings present suggestion in his latest article. :)

Original Idea vs Copycats...

So that Million Dollar Homepage idea is taking off so well that there is already a million penny homepage, another one charging a quarter per pixel, and one where you buy a guy beers.

It is so much harder to come up with an original idea than a meeee tooooo idea. Each additional copy cat only adds more value to the original as they crowd the marketplace and make it so that only the original stands out.

Usability is Everything (by Default)...So Says Jakob

This page shows exactly why search engine marketing is amazing:

Search engine users click the [search] results listings' top entry much more often than can be explained by relevancy ratings. Once again, people tend to stick to the defaults.

You can always tell a topical guru when they extend their typical testing or scope of information to include ideas which would typically be considered to be part of another field.

Many people describe the world with search being at the center of everything, others think you need to be able to Use It, while some explain the world through a deck of texas holdem playing cards <-- [link for sale, inquire within]. What lense do you see the world through? :)

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