Here is an image sent to me by a business partner of mine today. Clearly he is not spending enough time figuring out ways to make us more money…..I mean its not even a GOOD attempt at a photoshop hack!!

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Are all SEO’s dirty? 

I have been going through a boat load of SEO related posts lately (on other blogs I frequent), and spending more time reading comments then I really like to.  Sometimes I get caught up and can’t help it.  Before to long I forget where I started, and am lost in a sea of pathetic comments that make me do posts like this every once in a while.

What bugs me is how all SEO’s are tagged “dirty” by non-SEO’s, and people that really have no clue about marketing online.  I realize it will probably never go away no matter what way you look at it, because think about lawyers and the bad name they have (but we still need them, and they are not going away)  SEO’s will never go away and will always be needed, because there will always be people that want to get found online, but have no clue where to even begin.  Think about how long offline marketing has been around and all the information out there, but yet there is still plenty of people paying tons of cash to offline marketers to help them with thier business.

Why the rant? 

I was checking out some articles that were pretty cool on Digg and came across some comments from a Digg user talking about how all SEO’s were a#$$ and such, and how they were making sites like Digg dirty.  There will always be spam, there will always be dirty players, but to label every SEO that way is a pathetic attempt to get attention (or should I say traffic).  And I must admit it made me go look into this person more etc…Maybe since the post was about link baiting, the comment he was making was a “link” link baiting attempt to piss me off.  Well it worked.  So this guy talking about how dirty SEO’s are to get traffic by any means - (shows me) this guy was doing the very same thing by leaving the comments he did.  Its all spam in some form and all dirty. 

I hate all the offline spam I get in my mail everyday, as well as on the doorstep which lead me to recently purchase a “NO SOLICITING”  sign for my door, but I don’t think that every business that markets this way is dirty.  They are just trying to get business.  So again, anyway you look at it all marketing is SPAM.  The only way you can truly get business without spam is word of mouth.  I do not have to go out and find SEO jobs.  They come to me and most of them I turn down cause its just not worth it to me.  Word of mouth marketing is powerful, but you have to have a skill worth paying for (with proven results) for it to happen anyway.  So if you are getting results and making things happen for people and they are referring you to other people then is it really dirty?  NO, its just good business.  Why do people get in business?  TO MAKE MONEY.  To make money you need to market…..anyway you see where this is going, but it felt good to rant!

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More and more people are starting to post about Google Bombing, and Republicans, and Democrats alike are going back to thier methods all over again now that elections are about a week away. (but they never really stopped)

I have done several posts this month and last about Google Bombing and Google Washing etc., but it is very interesting to see other (big) SEO Marketing sites starting to talk about it again, as well as talk about how its never gone away. It is true. It has not gone away, its just that you can see it more during an election year, and because of that more people want to start talking about it again! To me its funny and I am glad when other sites start to blog about it and drum up interest in the topic because it just adds to my list of funny stuff to teach with, and talk about!

Lets keep an eye on things over the next year and see how these googlebombing methods will be used in the upcoming 2008 presidential race. Thats when I think things will get really interesting when it comes to googlewashing and googlebombing (same thing)!

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Got a response from the admin at Yahoo Publisher (see I told you the customer service is good) about the program being out of beta:

Golly, we’re sorry, but we’re not out of beta yet. We’ve just launched a new home page to link up you publishers — whether you’re in the beta or not — with all of Yahoo’s publisher tools and services. There’s lots on offer there, so we hope you’ll take advantage of them - - M2, Head Blogster (Admin)

So it may not be out of beta, but it has new tools and services everyone should take advantage of.

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With the launch of the new website yesterday Yahoo Publisher Ads looks to now be out of the beta version/testing and are live! I am hoping the new version will allow ads to show up internationally. I have not dug deep enough to figure that out yet, but I am very happy that Yahoo Publisher Ads is live and everyone can get a taste of freedom away from the “other” major ad program. I love Yahoo! Publisher Ads because of how nice the customer service is, and how they actually get back to you … unlike the “other” major players who just seem to not give a crap.

I would just plead to Yahoo to keep up the good work and keep the customer service at the same level now that they will most certainly be getting bigger and more popular!

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………….is here! FINALLY

I know you have been waiting for it! It’s finally here! Firefox 2 … enjoy all you “other” browser haters!

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Just wanted to share another great blog promotion tool - Feed Burner.  This tool is a way you can share your blog feed across the board and will work with no matter what reader the subscriber has.

It is a great way to gain more exposure for your blog.  For example here is the URL to this blogs feedburner to subscribe to: SEO Blog  - just to get an idea how it works.

This is also a great tool to promote your podcasts as well if you are a podcaster. 

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Here is a little piece of the Google Algorithm pie that Rand explained for us, and although its nothing new as far as stuff I know, and have figured out …its still good to see it and visit this information from time to time..

GoogScore = (KW Usage Score * 0.3) + (Domain Strength * 0.25) + (Inbound Link Score * 0.25) + (User Data * 0.1) + (Content Quality Score * 0.1) + (Manual Boosts) - (Automated & Manual Penalties)

What they mean?

1. KW - Keyword usage inplaces such as the title tag, meta description, meta keywords, keywords in content, keywords in links (inbound and outbound) Header tags, keyword useage in URL.
2. Domain Strength - the age is the biggie here.  Look at all the ILQ directories.  The main factor they are worth submitting to and the strength they give your site is the age.  How long you have registered the domain name for. Links pointing to them, and not just the number again the quality of the link pointing to your domain.
3. Inbound Link Score - It’s basic, it really is.  The main factor is age, page rank and quality of link pointing to your site.  Also, the useage of the link - is it in the form of anchor text or just a url link?
4. User Data - History of the way visitors use your site.  How long they visit and return visitors.  Do you have reasons for the people to keep coming back?   Do you have any rankings in the search engines?  If so, is your click through ratio (CTR) good for those keywords, or does your site constantly keep getting snubbed by visitors?
5. Content Quality Score - Validation.  I think rather then humans (the web is way to big - especially Googles index) the algo’s come into play here if the site validates, if you are using all your redir’s properly, the way your site reads etc..
6. Manual Boosts - I am not really sure if this is true or not, but we are sure that Matt Cutts has a built in spam-detector, and thats why Google really keeps him around.  (jk)  So if a human can penalize a site, maybe a human can boost a site.  I mean type in SEO blog on Google and notice who is #1.  Why not, I would do it too if I could!
7. Automated & Manual Penalties - You can report spam, and you know the algo’s have a way to pick up the bigger ways of spamming.  In the webmaster tools area you can also submit for re-inclusion as well.  Someones gotta look at that right?  If not thats one smart algo…..I really don’t think this area should have its own section, and could probably be thrown in with the manual boosts areas.

Google will never give us all of its gold nuggets.  Its fun for us to try and pick apart what we know and test things we don’t and I think that is the key.  If you never get in and play, you will never figure anything out - and THAT is most of the battle itself!

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Just wanted to share another great blog promotional tool and site that I have been using. http://mybloglog.com

Here are some cool things that i have figured out you can do (so basically my review) with My Blog Log to help promote your blog better using this community:

1. Add a picture to your profile. They give those that add pictures more access and more visibilty to other members of the community.
2. Great profile area to update. You can add other URL’s to sites you have as well as quick links to your MySpace, Flickr and such accounts. Really cool feature for the web 2.0 in you!
3. Join communities of your favorite sites and blogs. You can check out the kind of traffic they are getting (as well as your own) and you are more visible in those communities once you have joined them.
4. Make suggestions. Its a brand new community site and they are really willing to hear about ways they can make it better. Who knows, you might getting better respect from the admin’s if you create a cool new idea or feature for them and that could help you as well with visibilty!

My Blog Log is just another great site and idea for those readers of mine wanting more blog promotional tools that are available to us!

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From time to time I like to feature a site that has some really good products and information for any online business. I know I sell business plan software on this site, but My Business Kit has some other software products that I do not sell on this site and have used personally and have helped me tremendously with my internet businesses.

My Business Kit - The Personal Financial Statement will allow you to calculate your net worth statement with our included net worth calculator with ease. Quick Links: personal financial statement | budgeting | personal budget | personal finance software | business plan software

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