Recent Links
While at Pubcon I did an interview with Ralph Wilson about link building. I have got wayyyyy too chubby, but I think the video turned out ok outside of that. And there is even a guest appearance of Abraham Lincoln in the video!!! :)
Invesp referenced me on a top marketers list. Classic ego-bait that worked great. I got so many Twitter followers this past week that I thought someone released a Twitter spam software program or something...and then I remembered the top 100 marketers list and knew it went well. ;) It was popular enough that even follow-up post about it got lots of exposure. If you don't understand egobait, then this is a great resource to study and emulate. People love awards and anything that strokes their ego or gives them a sense of purpose or sense of community and belonging.
Simplicity as a marketing strategy...it works! I am trying to create a few new features on this site (and off it) that should support simplicity and make SEO more accessible to the average webmaster.
Debra Mastaler offers a funny post about link building with elephants and link building tips for 2009.
The RIAA is now trying to go after ISP level filtering rather than suing their customers.
According to comScore, Youtube represents 25% of Google's US search volume. They may be losing money, but renegotiation with partners on payouts and improved ad technologies will eventually turn Youtube into a huge revenue stream. Youtube holds a lot of contests and could easily turn revenues up if they can figure out a way to make Youtube ads more social and interactive. Google has always been great at public relations...if they advance their ad network to offer such services they could make their unprofitable media highly profitable.
Digg is burning through cash, but may be working to create a social ad unit:
One experiment Digg is working on, says one source close to the company, is a self service advertising product that will be somewhat similar to Google Adwords, but with a twist. The product would insert advertisements into the Digg news stream (presumably clearly marked). Where those ads end up, and how much an advertiser pays per click, would be based on user feedback. So users would have the ability to vote on advertisements in the same way they vote on stories. The better ads, as determined by Digg users, will get more prominent placement and a lower cost-per-click.
That takes public relations and social media to the next level...allowing Digg to make revenue from their attention stream, and allowing advertisers to promote content that is well aligned with user interest...rather than having advertisers set up fake accounts to do guerilla marketing.
The WSJ shared social media marketing tips and Michael Gray shared examples of how social media links turn into rankings.
While the web might have some issues here and there, online commerce is still growing like a weed, with coupon sites and Amazon.com seeing sharp year on year rises in traffic.
Alan Rimm-Kaufman explains click volume vs profitability "to generate more total profit dollars by moving higher on the page, clicks have to rise faster than per-click profit falls." He also shared this 2004 Atlas image on Google click potential by rank:
Frank Watson highlights a start up gone bankrupt due to a botched deal with Google, and presumes that the Google/Yahoo! search deal was simply to stop Microsoft's advances in the search space. Most market makers actively manipulate the markets they manage...doing so is too profitable to ignore.
Comments
Yes, I was shocked to see you. We still live in the memories of your about page photo.
Lose weight Aaron. Its easy. Here is some inspiration:
Adnan Sami lost 117kg in just about 11 months - you just have to shed a few kilos!
Go try!
Dilip Shaw
same here, i too am a superheavyweight (olympics boxing weight division standards) because I sit all day and night on my computer working. :)
i think if everybody uses the same strategy, it is always good to resort back to simplistic marketing style.
I was going to comment on this and then thought I shouldnt, but as the only 2 comments here hint at that topic, I cant remain quiet..particularly because I was talking about this with a friend two days ago:
If you want to lose weight/keep your weight in check, why do cardio/run in place/ride a stationary bike (all of which is boring and hard work).
If you can find a sport that's fun to you you can get the same effect (burning the same amount of calories), but at a much lower cost (at least if you can find a sport that's more fun to you than running in place). I stay in shape by playing sports I enjoy, and as opposed to cardio/running/etc. I actually find it fun to play tennis or basketball for 2 hours, whereas trying to burn the same amount of calories exercising would be tough work. Actually, I like to swim, but if I wanted to get the same effect from swimming Id probably have to swim 10 times as many laps as I do (which would be horrible!).
Maybe everyone cant find a sport that's really fun to them, but I bet most people could find a sport or two they have more fun playing than forcing themselves to do cardio...would probably take some time to find something, but if you do then it was a great investment of your time..and for your lifetime (volleyball unfortunately only burns about a third of the calories most other sports do).
I remember you once wrote about playing tennis with your wife (girlfriend then), and you probably can afford to get your own tennis court lol, so why not play tennis? I also know you must've been big on baseball, I bet you could find something.
Think about what a great one-time investment for your life/health/positive well being it would be.
or maybe squash..maybe you could create an seobook team that plays a google team in baseball, use it as link bait and make money doing so. Thinking of it kickboxing might be more fun and linkbaitworthy if a Google team is involved ;-)))
PS: I feel like cardio/running in place is similar as diets with a yoyo effect (does that exp. exist in English?) Most people pretty much dislike doing it, thus they are more likely to quit and not making constant gains (or well loses) with it.
I agree with the sports thing BTW. I used to play basketball a lot last time I lost weight. :)
Aaron: I liked the very casual nature of the video. I also liked that I got to see two people interacting on screen; POV video is good, but there is something about seeing people conversing live that makes the discussion more interesting and easily digestible.
With regards to weight, forget about the gym and treadmill. Find a Jiu-Jitsu instructor near you and join. The expense is nominal and you will lose an incredible amount of weight slowly over time (better for your body and mind) while learning an awesome martial art.
Over the past two years I've shed over 15 lbs of body weight. I've been a gym-rat since my teen years, but can honestly say that I'm in better physical and mental shape now at age 36 than at age 16.
Thank you for an awesome year of knowledge sharing. Merry Christmas and cheers to an even more successful 2009.
- Eric Itzkowitz
Merry Christmas to you too Eric!
I believe the exodus of brains from Yahoo will lead to further bidding. Yahoo needs technology for maintaining their sliver of the internet space, and Google would be a better fit. Sure Google might have pretended to have and interes in Yahoo to ward off MS, but ultimately...when Yahoo is desperate enough, I think Google will snap them up.
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