« November 2006 | Main | January 2007 »

December 22, 2006

Friday Recap

Normally, we’d just link off but since this is possibly the greatest video of 2006 (and Susan is in Japan so there’s no one here to rein me in, muahaha), I’m going to give it to you right here. Watch how this adorable, incomprehensible baby 2-year-old human handles a heckler.

Why is it the only time baby speak is understandable is when said baby is agitated? But in all seriousness, did her parents really sit her down and explain to her that she’s a human? Doesn’t this make you think her parents may be slightly, well, nonhuman?

Baby better be careful or robotic grandma will put her through the airport x-ray machine. Nice.

In his Friday Recap rip off (kidding!), Stuntdubl points us to America’s Worse Commutes. After reading it, I will officially stop complaining about my 45 minute drive to work. There are clearly people who have it much, much worse.

TechCrunch conducted a poll after picking apart Yahoo! Personal’s business model and asked readers which was more important, looks or personality. Well, you’ll be happy to know that computer nerds are just as shallow as regular folk, with more than 70 percent saying looks come first. I’m never dating again, am I?

Slashdot pointed us to the 10 Most Dangerous Toys of All Time and I don’t feel at all bad that I broke out in giggle fits through the entire thing. Decapitation is meant to be laughed at.

Speaking of danger, what would you do if you tried on a pair jeans and felt a five-centimeter long scorpion crawling up your leg? I would have a heart attack and die. That’s what I would do.

There was crazy talk last week that Google babied their employees in order to keep them under the Googleplex roof. That was obviously a horrible lie. On a side note, please ignore this picture of Googler’s in pajamas and booties, I mean slippers.

Search Engine Journal presents 97.5 Ways to get Banned (or penalized) by Search Engines. Rock!

Speaking of Loren Baker, he offered up one of the most fun 5 Things post I’ve seen. If you haven’t read it, you should. Go now and I’ll meet you back here.

Back? Cool.

Tiny Nibbles compiled a list of the Top Ten Sexiest Geeks of 2006. They lost points for ranking Kevin Rose in at number 7 (um, ew), but they scored them back again by giving me Ze Frank at number two. Yummy.

Jeremy Zawodny says it’s not a pony, but look, a pony! And it’s in Solvang, which is only a couple hours drive from here. I get to stalk the pony! (You’re missing my patented over-excited face.)

Jakob Nielsen gives an amusing look at Usability in Movies – Top 10 Bloopers. I too have pondered the elusive access denied/ access granted phenomenon.

If you’re thinking about what to get your favorite blogger, how about a diamond-encrusted USB drive? It’s like a dog tag for non military people. And pretty.

The folks at the Google Operating System blog discovered that Google now claims to deliver Book Search results in “0.00” seconds. How’s that for service? It’s like I’m so Google-controlled that they can predict what I’m going to search for before I even ask. Why don’t they just print out my daily searches for me when I come in the morning?

Because that’s the kind of friend he is, Barry Schwartz points out that the wife of Danny Sullivan publicly ding’d Danny over at Daggle and called him a plonka. I love Mrs. Sullivan and Barry for pointing it out.

Phil Lenssen shows that sometimes Google has a sense of humor. You know who also suddenly has a sense of humor? Search Engine Watch. When did that happen?

SoloSEO went through a lot of effort to discern what Santa’s favorite cookie is. To bad it was the worst test ever and he’s still wrong. Everyone knows Santa’s favorite cookie is the sugar cookie! It has to be. The sugar cookie is the best cookie in the history of awesome cookies.

I want to thank Socially Given for telling me I’m colorblind. Merry Christmas to you too. Jerks.

Lastly, I want to take a second to say thank you. Though crappy for me personally, 2006 was a winner professionally. In February, I was warmly adopted into the amazing Bruce Clay clan, and in some ways, by all of you as well. To top it off, I scored a hug from the dreamy Rand Fishkin in Chicago, who can complain after that?

Thanks to everyone for sticking with us (and me!) this past year. And a special thanks to the Bruce Clay, Inc. team for being so overwhelmingly supportive as I attempted to pick myself up off the ground these past few weeks. I can’t imagine working with a better bunch of people.

And with that, you’ve just finished your last Friday Recap of 2006. Can you believe it? We’ll see you in 2007. Be safe.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 12/22/06 at 10:43 AM
See more entries in Fun Stuff

December 21, 2006

Digg Members Go Renegade

I don’t spend too much time frequenting Digg, but this sucks.

Lee Odden reports that his Online Marketing Blog was recently banned from Digg for consistently spamming. Of course anyone who knows Lee knows that Lee Odden is not a spammer. His blog is filled with informative, intelligent content, but unfortunately that doesn’t matter. It seems there’s a new campaign over there at Digg that the rest of us didn’t know about.

Lee explains:

“I recently learned from a top digg member that certain digg community members decided to start getting rid of SEO sites by emailing spam complaints to digg. These community members’ definition of spam blogs is not what you might think. As long as the site has to do with SEO, they apparently consider it spam because the digg community generally detests anything to do with SEO.”

I know I’ve joked before about the high school mentality of Digg and we all know Digg users are notorious for not liking SEOs, but are you serious? A group of people can join together to get my URL banned just because they don’t like me or the type of work that I do? These people really need to grow up and get a life.

The dangerous part is that a URL can get banned even if it’s not the site owner that’s submitting the content. For example, Lee Odden’s site was banned after a reader Dugg one his articles. Lee wasn’t even involved.

Sadly, Lee’s not the only one experiencing this. Chris Winfield posted a list of other domains that are now banned by Digg for the same ridiculous reason, including Text Link Ads and the entire DigitalPoint forum. And don’t even bother submitting a site that has the word “SEO” in your URL. If just 10 people vote to ban your site, Digg may label you a spammer and ban you.

Yesterday, Michael Graywolf posted How to be a Dirty Digger, which was a virtual how-to guide for getting someone banned from Digg. I chuckled when I read it because despite its obvious ability to be used for evil, it highlighted how easy it is to manipulate the Digg system and take out your competition. I hoped it would be a sign to the guys behind Digg that something needs fixing. Obviously some kind of review process needs to be created before we go kicking people out of the lunch room for wearing the wrong clothes.

But until that happens, Digg remains its own self-destructing mob that even its founders can’t rein in. And that’s sad. The search engine optimization community has been very good to Digg. Digg and other community-based media sites were a hot topic at SES Chicago earlier this month, but instances like this will create a backlash that Digg will not be able to recover from. We’re already hearing reports of SEOs taking their “Digg This” button off their site, if only for self protection.

Part of launching a community is monitoring it to make sure it’s running correctly. You can’t let your community decide to eradicate an entire industry. That has a tendency to irritate people.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 12/21/06 at 3:57 PM
See more entries in Search Engine Optimization

Bruce Clay, Inc. First Premier Sponsor of SMX

We’re proud to announce that Bruce Clay, Inc. has been named the first premier sponsor of Danny Sullivan’s Search Marketing Expo. The conference will be held June 4-5 at the state-of-the-art Bell Harbor Convention Center on pier 66 and will be limited to just 300 (!) paid attendees. Combine the overwhelming amount of support that hit when Danny announced his departure with the extremely limited number of spaces available and you have an event that is absolutely a Must Attend.

With everyone wanting in, we predict these tickets are either going to end up on eBay, be scalped at the door, or be traded for a search marketers’ first born!

But wait, there’s more!

In order to have a little fun, we’ll be giving away a free pass to one lucky Bruce Clay client of tools, training, or services over the next five months. The drawing will be held approximately two weeks before the event. Contest details are still be ironed out, so keep your eyes peeled to blog.

Search Marketing Expo will be geared toward advanced search engine optimization and search marketing techniques, so no tired Fundamentals Track at this one. Think of it as Search Engine Strategies goes to college. I’m anxious to hear who the speakers will be and what they are going to work up. The bar has just been raised. (And I’m sure the bar will a popular location at this event!)

An advanced conference series is something that is in dire need for the industry. Search marketing is growing up and those of us who have been around for a few years and learned the basics are thirsty to learn more. Danny and his crew will offer an entirely fresh look at our industry and you’re going to want to be there.

If I’m sounding a little jittery it’s because I’m through-the-roof excited about this one. I think it’s great that Danny has stepped up to the challenge of offering an advanced conference and Bruce Clay, Inc. is thrilled to be a part of it. Danny Sullivan is a leader in our industry and we have an enormous amount of respect for him.

I cannot wait for June. I hope I can sit still long enough to blog it.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 12/21/06 at 11:21 AM
See more entries in SEM Events

December 20, 2006

Search Headlines

Jake Baillie Leaves TrueLocal

Search Engine Journal’s Loren Baker reports on something we too were made aware of today: Jake Baillie announcement that he will be leaving TrueLocal as of Jan. 1 in order to act as Managing Director of a company that will fund new media and technology start-ups.

Jake wrote:

“As managing director, my role will be to evaluate, fund, and help these small and inventive companies become self-sufficient. We’re starting out with a stable of existing investments which will be announced shortly, and beginning in April, we will evaluate new opportunities. We’re looking to take on several entrepreneurs in residence in the short-term, as well as providing investments to companies in the 50K-500K range.”

Jake, from everyone here at Bruce Clay, Inc., we wish you all the best in your new endeavor.

Vote for the 2006 Search Blogs Awards

Voting is open for Search Engine Journal’s 2006 Search Blog Awards, so get to it. We’re proud, shocked and mystified that the Bruce Clay, Inc. blog is in the running for Best SEO Blog of 2006, and that somehow my lowly name wound up on the Best Search Engine Blogger list. That’s mighty humbling.

So, stop what you’re doing right now (no, now!) and run over there to go vote for all your blogging favorites. And if it happens to be us, well that’s okay too. ;) In all seriousness, we’re just happy to be among all of our favorite blogs and bloggers. It’s quite an honor.

More Blog Drama

Over at Daggle, Danny Sullivan contemplates the growing lack of blog civility. We feel ya, Danny.

I was among the bummed that TechCrunch UK was put on hold, but even I don’t want to read about all the drama going on behind the scenes. Some internal affairs are meant to be kept private. Danny offers some good questions to ask yourself before you go airing your dirty laundry in public.

“Is it fair? Will I be comfortable to say to them, sorry -- but this was justified, this particular tone. And in particular, I think about what if I have to meet someone in person. Would I behave in a particular way in a face-to-face manner? I try to exercise those face-to-face manners online, especially when leaving comments or in forum discussions.”

Fun Finds

Gaping Void’s The Career Manifesto. Here’s my favorite:

“6. Your technical skills may impress the other geeks, but if you can’t get along with your co-workers, you’re a litigation breeder. Don’t be surprised if management regards you as an expensive risk.”

Did you read that, Susan? Heh. [Don't worry, Lisa. You're adorable. We're not getting rid of you. --Susan] - Oh, don't even. You were the one voted Most Likely To Stab Someone in the Jugular with a Pencil in high school.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 12/20/06 at 5:16 PM
See more entries in Search Engine Optimization

I was paid to blog this

Last week the FTC issued their opinion on for-hire word of mouth marketing, ruling that anyone being paid to solicit a brand must publicly disclose that relationship. They stated that marketing could be deceptive if consumers were more likely to trust the product's endorser "based on their assumed independence from the marketer." Well, yeah.

Though not revolutionary, the ruling could have a number of implications, and my personal opinion on all of it is very mixed.

First, realize that the FTC did not pass a new law against deceptive word-of-mouth advertising. Deceptive marketing was looked down upon in the past and it’s still looked down upon. Instead, they issued a statement saying that instances would be reviewed on a case-by-case basis to see if “law enforcement action is appropriate” Kinda intimidating, but at the same time, nothing totally new.

The problem is through the rise of blogs, companies like PayPerPost and other social media sites, it’s become fairly easy to spread fake, yet authentic-looking positive buzz about your company and we’re starting to see it more and more. Recall the fake Walmart blog, the for-pay blogging that goes on over at MySpace, reports that companies are paying users to submit stories to Digg, and the old PayPerPost model that didn’t require bloggers to disclose they were paid for the post. It’s a scary thought to think that deceptive word of mouth marketing has gone mainstream, but in some ways it has.

Obviously, it poses a tremendous problem if consumers are reading paid-for buzz thinking the endorsements are genuine, true depictions of their experiences and feelings. The old model of PayPerPost was unethical; its sole purpose was to deceive. That shouldn’t be tolerated on the blogosphere where trust is so hard to come by anyway.

The FTC wants for-hire endorsements to be marked as such. I’m all for that, I think people who are paid to blog or have an “opinion” have a right to disclose that. However, I fear where the line will be drawn.

Is the FTC going to go trolling through deep sites looking for affiliate links? I think sites should reveal that information but who is going to regulate it?

And if they find something law-enforcement worthy on a site, who is facing the trouble? For example, say a company offers to pay me to write a glowing endorsement of their latest blog tool. If I’m dumb enough to do it and the FTC catches on, is it me who faces the suit, Bruce for employing me and not writing it in the contract that we disclose such things, or the company who hired us with the intent to be deceitful? In some instances I think it’s going to be difficult to identify the true culprit.

And where do you draw the line? I’m paid to blog but the opinion I express here is so clearly my own. Do I need to remind you every day that I make a living out of this? (I hope not, Bruce will start to realize he’s overpaying me!) Do you discount what I say because you know I’m not doing it solely because of my passion for Internet marketing?

And even though I agree that for-hire blogging is unethical, what makes it any different than a restaurant reviewer who got a free meal or someone who gets to stay at a fancy bed and breakfast in order to review it? It just seems like we’re heading into murky waters here when you start talking about laws and being able to file lawsuits.

We don’t need laws. We need a general blogging code of ethics that says if someone paid me for this endorsement, I’m going to tell you. There’s a difference between a blog entry and an advertisement and I think it’s important that it be noted. People form relationships with the bloggers they read everyday. Heck, I bought a Timbuk Blogger Bag after Barry Schwartz talked about it over at Cartoon Barry. If he was paid to write that entry, I’d like to know. (Though I still would have bought it; I’m not privy to cool search engine messenger bags like some people…)

Full disclosure is vital on the Web. I really can’t even stress it enough. There’s so much garbage out there that you need to know you can trust people. If you were paid to write something, I want to know. Own up to it. If you don’t, you risk upsetting people and now it seems like it might get you into trouble with the FTC too.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 12/20/06 at 3:31 PM
See more entries in Blogging

December 19, 2006

Search Headlines

Ask.com Sponsors Surf Contest

Elisabeth Osmeloski reveals that Ask.com will be sponsoring the Mavericks Surf Contest taking place in Half Moon Bay, California (that’s where the Scobles live, right?) in early 2007.

Greg Ott, Ask.com’s vice president of marketing, says that when users conduct a search for the surf contest they will be given instant access to Web casts, viewing locations, videos, bios on the surfers, and the history of the event. They’ll also be able to get Mavericks images, news, maps, walking and driving directions, blogs and other information via Ask.com and Ask Mobile. Sounds fun. Perhaps an odd pairing, but fun all the same. Cowabunga, dudes!

I strongly apologize for that last remark. I don’t know what came over me.

eBay Closes Down in China

The New York Times is reporting that eBay shut down its main Web site in China and instead took a 49 percent stake in a joint unnamed venture with Tom Online Inc. An official announcement is scheduled for tomorrow.

Yahoo Gives Back During the Holidays

Back at Search Engine Watch, Frank Watson notes that instead of giving gifts to their high-end customers (What is this then?), Yahoo used DonorsChoose.org and DonorsChooseGift.org to send gift card donations to customers’ charity of choice.

I like that a lot. I wish more of the engines would get on board with this. I mean, search engine schwag is nice and we all enjoy getting it, but how many Google T-shirts does one person really need? Get rid of the shirts and use that money for good. [Not so fast, I'd like that Yahoo sweatshirt. Making me less cold is totally charity. --Susan]

Disclaimer: All views, opinions and self-centeredness expressed by Susan Esparza are not representative of the goodwill and generosity displayed by the rest of the Bruce Clay, Inc. staff. She is what we like to call “a bad egg”. Heh.

Everyclick: The charity donating search engine

Speaking of good-intentioned search engines, I came across Bigmouthmedia’s article on Everyclick and found it be pretty interesting.

For those unaware, Everyclick is a UK-based search engine that uses Ask.com technology. For every click you make, the engine will donate a small amount of money to a charity of your choice, at no cost to you. So you search and click until your little heart’s content and the proceeds will go to benefit people who need it. Just one more reason to do your holiday shopping online.

Fun Finds

Michael Graywolf makes me want Taco Bell. Thanks a lot, Michael.

From SEO by the Sea: Smaller Screens Make Smarter Search Engines.

Attributor Corp has launched a new copyright tool that will scan the Web looking for stolen instances of your content. Sweet.

Ask.com’s Gary Price shows us how to use SkylineGlobe to track Santa in 3D. Suddenly, I’m 5-years-old again.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 12/19/06 at 3:33 PM
See more entries in Ask, SEO, Search Engine Optimization

Australia: A Nice Place to Visit

I think I would really enjoy visiting Australia -- the sights, the wildlife, the opera house, all of it. It sounds gorgeous. However, I don’t think I’d ever want to live there, what with all the Google suing, potential iPod and YouTube banning, and now the news that users aren’t even allowed to link to copyrighted material without getting sued.

Pardon me for saying this, but Australia is crazy in the head.

An Australian three-judge panel ruled that linking to copyrighted music on the Web without permission “runs afoul of Australia’s copyright laws”. [Yes, I could have rewritten that, but then I wouldn’t have gotten to use “afoul” on the blog.] The ruling came in response to an appeal on whether or not Stephen Cooper, a retired police officer, broke Australian copyright laws after he hosted a Web site where searchers could go to share links to copyrighted music. Cooper argued he was not in violation of Australian law because he had no control over what users posted on the site since they could automatically add links without his control.

The panel disagreed, ruling:

“A principal purpose of the Web site was to enable infringing copies of the downloaded sound recordings to be made. The fact that the Web site also carried a warning that some downloading could be illegal did not lessen the force of the invitation."

It’s fairly easy to make the Cooper/ Google parallel. In fact, Cooper argued it himself, likening his site to Google’s habit of pointing searchers to other sites on the Web. The panel didn’t seem to like that response and added that even Google “is not always free to link to everything it wishes”.

It’s not? Oh, I don’t like where this is going.

I think it’s ridiculous to try and govern where people can and cannot link to. The nature of the Web is to link. People don’t create sites to hide them behind an iron wall (well, unless you’re a newspaper site). The Internet is about sharing content and linking to content that compliments your own. Is Australia really going to go down the road where people can be sued for piracy just by linking? The far-reaching implications of this are asinine.

Does that mean I can’t link to the article where I read this since it’s likely copyrighted under Australian law? Am I not allowed to point you to the hilariously amusing video I found the other day? Can I not point you to a great post I read over at Search Engine Land? Even scarier, do you realize that this means my Friday Recaps are totally illegal in Australia?

The horror!

And beyond just me being able to share fun things with you, what about Australian search engine optimization? If no one is allowed to link one another, how are you supposed to show the search engines you are an expert in your field? How do you an optimize a Web site without links? How do you have a Web site without links? You don’t. At least not one people will want to visit.

A Web site without links is like an online book report.

We’d like to recommend that Australian law makers attend Bruce Clay’s SEOToolSet™ training in Sydney on 12-14 February. Maybe they’ll learn something about the importance of links both to individual Web sites and to the Web as a whole. There’s this new thing on the Web we’re all trying out, it’s called “being a community”. Try it, you might like it.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 12/19/06 at 3:17 PM
See more entries in International, SEO, Search Engine Optimization

Ask.com Gets It Right With Ask X

Be aware: my search geekiness and Ask-love are in full effect today. Please don’t let it scare you away.

When Ask.com launched AskCity a few weeks back, Barry Diller not-so-eloquently revealed that Ask.com and its homepage would go under “a major update”. Well, it looks as if we’re seeing the first phase of that now.

While searching on Ask last night, I saw an unassuming link in the top right asking me to try out the new interface (users can now go to http://www.askx.com to check it out). I attempted to gather up some screenshots and tell you all about it this morning, but unfortunately I suffer from advanced screenshot retardation (ASR) and was unable. [Yes, I've tried to explain about just pressing the printscreen button. --Susan] - Mine is most obviously broken.

Fortunately for you, Read/WriteWeb is far more technologically savvy than I am and they were able to produce some screenshots and even offered up a good walk-through of its features.

Despite my ASR, this all gets me very excited.

Ask is calling the new user interface “Ask X” and refers to it on their new About page as a “double secret sandbox for Ask experiences of the future”. So is this just an interface update or the equivalent to Google’s SearchMash – a place where they can test stuff that they’re not sure about? I’m not sure.

The difference between Ask X and Google’s SearchMash is that Ask X is totally awesome.

The results page interface uses a three pane system. The left side acts as your “control panel” where users can quickly narrow, expand or refine their search. In the middle, you’ll find your AJAX-flavored search results where searchers can take advantage of Ask’s Binoculars, Smart Answers, and other tools, as well as instantly save the URL. The way I’ve seen it, there are typically two sponsored results on top, with a few more down at the bottom of the SERP.

The right panel is what separates Ask X from everyone else. Without even asking for it, users can preview other type of search results like images, shopping, video, news, blogs, shopping and more. Check out the Ask X SERP for a search for the term “prison break”. (Quiet you; it’s all about Wentworth Miller.)

Awesome, right? It’s like performing six searches at the same time. For me, this is where the search engines need to go.

I’m in love with Ask X. The homepage is clean, but attractive; the SERP does a great job of highlighting Ask’s vertical searches and providing me with additional information, and it does a stellar job of distinguishing Ask from its competitors. With the new UI, all of their services and tools are displayed on one page. It’s a very smart way to seamlessly integrate all your vertical offerings, while still making the page usable.

Congrats on this one guys, it’s very cool. Now if only we could get that API…

UPDATE: Gary Price pointed me to his Ask X Users Guide over at ResourceShelf. Thanks for the tip, Gary!

Posted by Lisa Barone on 12/19/06 at 10:59 AM
See more entries in Ask, Branding, Design

December 18, 2006

Weekend Update

Yahoo: No Directory Tag Coming

Tim Mayer revealed in a WebmasterWorld thread that Yahoo! may unveil its No Yahoo Directory Tag during a January update. We first heard they were planning on implementing it back in October, but this is the first we’ve heard of any kind of set date. Here’s hoping it sticks.

Google and NASA pair up

It looks like Google and the NASA Ames Research Center have signed a “Space Act Agreement” to work together on projects ranging from “studying scientific-data search technology” to using Google Earth flyovers from the moon and Mars. Cool. I mean who doesn’t want a better version of Google Moon and Google Mars?

We hear the first thing planned is to figure out how to make NASA more accessible online, with real-time weather forecasting and tracking of the International Space Station to come later.

It makes perfect sense for Google and NASA to work together on these things, but it still gives me the creeps. Every time I hear about Google working with the government or other high level groups, it just seems like an action-packed world domination movie in the works. Just because I’m slightly paranoid does not mean there aren’t weird people listening and watching everything I say and do.

Todd Malicoat is a nice guy

Though he seemed to enjoy tormenting me in Chicago, it turns out Todd Malicoat is actually a pretty decent guy. Todd is offering to help you, Time magazine’s person of the year, find a sweet search marketing job. Just send him your resume/CV and he’ll hold onto it until he finds something he thinks you’d be interested in. Even better, he won’t even tell your employer you’re out scammin’ for a new gig. Job recommendations from a guy who’s got the search goods? Talk about an offer you can’t refuse. [Speaking of SEM jobs, we have an employment page too. You know you want to come work with me Lisa. --Susan] Yeah, yeah, come work with us!

Want To Know What Happened In Search This Month?

Just a reminder to let you know we’ll be sending the SEO Newsletter out a little early this month as we’ll be closing down next week for the holidays.

Things to look forward to in the December edition: Tips on search engine friendly copywriting, a review of the year of search 2006, and all the search and industry news you can handle.

If you’re not yet subscribed, here’s your chance.

Fun Finds

Marketing Pilgrim announced its iPod winner -- Congratulations to Kevin Henney. May you and your iPod shuffle have a wonderful life together.

Cartoon Barry is getting all sorts of adorable lately. First we learn about Barry’s love for MJ and all things basketball, and then we get to meet his nephews. I hope eldest nephew Avi doesn’t mind that Barry says he was “stuck” watching him when little brother Jeremy was born. Heh. Way to go, Uncle Barry! :)

Posted by Lisa Barone on 12/18/06 at 5:40 PM
See more entries in SEO, Search Engine Optimization

Will Goodmail Make Friends in the UK?

Um, no.

Precision Marketing (via TW) reports that the geniuses behind AOL and Yahoo’s Goodmail campaign will launch a similar “paid-for” email venture in the United Kingdom. That would be awesome had, you know, the system actually worked in the States or gotten any kind of backing whatsoever. But it didn’t. So why would it be adopted in the UK?

The perceived idea behind these pay-to-send email systems is that charging emailers a small fee to send a piece of mail will deter the spammy mass mailers from overloading your inbox. The problem is that it doesn’t. I know, it’s shocking, but spammers aren’t going to stop emailing you simply because others are willing to pay an admission fee. They’re simply going to get smarter about it.

My problem with these paid-for email services is that they try and mask the problem instead of fixing it. Instead of email service providers putting their efforts into fighting spam, they’re more apt to charge companies to fight the war for them. There are so many problems with this. In my eyes, ESPs who adopt this system are selling out their customers.

First of all, it’s self-serving. It gives ESPs no incentive to better their spam detecting techniques. By working to fight spam they would actually be taking money out of their own pockets. This system puts it in their best financial interests to provide a weaker service. Why would anyone support that? The email that makes it into your inbox should be there based on your ESPs ability to trust the sender, not because they paid for it. Email is not pay per click.

Second, paid-for email will act as an obstacle for nonprofits and small businesses who can’t afford to pay for every piece of email they send. That’s why lots of companies send email – because it’s free and print mailings costs money. There’s something very wrong about asking honest companies to use their marketing budgets to cover their email costs simply because ESPs aren’t improving spam filters as fast as spammers are learning to get past them. It’s almost backwards.

Advocates of Goodmail (read: those that stand to make money off it) say the system will manage mail in a way that will make it “easy” for recipients to complain about spammy messages. They also add that if there are too many complaints, the sender will lose their Goodmail account.

Until they create a new one?

The jaded email reader in me believes that spammers will go through Goodmail accounts like they go through servers and IPs today. This doesn’t solve the problem; it’s putting a non-waterproof band-aid on it that will fall off at the first sign of contact. It’s good for those who stand to make a lot of money off it, but it’s bad for setting email standards.

And for the record, (despite what Susan may tell you) I don’t like complaining. I don’t want to have to grumble about the amount of spam in my email. I’d rather it just not be there in the first place. By legitimizing spam it’s basically giving up on the fight to abolish it.

If you’re looking for a way to put trust back in your inbox, we at Bruce Clay recommend the 1st Certified email system. It’s free to download and each time you use it the company makes a digital fingerprint that will certify that email address later one. Better yet, each time you click on an email from an advertiser, 20 percent of the revenue from that click is donated to charity of your choice. You can’t get much better than that.

We can all admit that spam isn't going to disappear any time soon, but that doesn’t mean we should sit back and watch it take over our inbox. The way to combat spam is to actually try and combat spam. It’s not to make people pay to get around it. That idea didn’t fly in the US, and I don’t think it’s going to be well received in the UK.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 12/18/06 at 4:07 PM
See more entries in Email

December 15, 2006

Five Things You Didn’t Know About Lisa Barone

As I mentioned in the Friday Recap, Graywolf tagged me to share five interesting facts about myself. Though chain letters give me a headache, I do think this is a fun way to learn a little more about everyone and optimize your Bruce Clay blog experience. I wouldn’t want you to feel like you’re stuck in some sort of dark alley when you visit. ;)

I’m not sure that there are five interesting things about me, but I’ll do what I can.

1. I never would have started writing had I not torn the ACL in my right knee during my senior year of high school and lost a full athletic scholarship to the University of Connecticut.
2. I grew up on Long Island, NY, went to college in Boston (Emerson College) and moved to California when I was 22 to follow a boy that I had met and fallen in love with online at the age of 14. He just recently called off our engagement. Any one got an apartment to rent? :)
3. I don’t enjoy Rand because he is physically attractive (though he is, I’m not blind), I enjoy his presence because there’s something very endearing about a passionate dork who plays with transformers.
4. In college I was forced to officially declare myself “disabled’ in order to pass a sophomore public speaking class.
5. When I think of my little brother, my eyes well up. He goes to college in Pennsylvania and I only get to see him during Christmas. He’s my heart.
6. Fun Bonus Fact: I have two kitties, Swat and Jack Jack, and every day I ask Susan to let me sneak a picture of them on the blog and every day she tells me no. Maybe if you drop her an email she could be persuaded…

Tagging: Kim Krause, David Temple, Karl Ribas, Matt McGee and Li Evans.

Note: I wanted to pick Susan, but she told me not to. [That's because I'm incredibly boring. Also shy.--Susan] -- You can’t be shy online. It’s like a rule.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 12/15/06 at 12:14 PM
See more entries in Fun Stuff

Friday Recap

Now, before we start, I’d like to bring everyone’s attention to a problem we are facing here at Bruce Clay. In the picture below you will see two cars. The car on the left belongs to Bruce Clay SEO Analyst Darren Slatten. The car on the right belongs to our beloved Susan Esparza. Notice how close the side mirrors are.

Darren, please learn to optimize your parking. If you scratch Susan’s baby I will never hear the end of it. We wouldn’t want to wake up one day and find out that something horribly tragic happened to you, now would we?

Though Todd’s completely accurate in calling it an ‘the equivalent of an email chainletter”, there’s a fun meme circulating the blogosphere called “blog tag”. So far we’ve learned lots of interesting tidbits about our favorite search folk. Graywolf tagged me so look for mine later (assuming I can come up with 5 interesting facts about myself, which will be trying.).

Over at Search Engine Watch (you remember them, right?), Greg Jarboe shares the news that Wordtracker will be holding a contest to find the next Google Guru. The winner will be taken to the Disney Resort in Florida for a 5-day workshop. Here’s what I got from reading that: Blah, blah, Disneyworld vacation, blah, blah, blah.

I would never challenge Kalena Jordan’s optimization smarts, but I will challenge her claim that search engine optimization is no longer sexy? Search engine optimization is plenty sexy, I mean, what’s sexier than a parasitic dreidel sucking the life out of an avatar version of Barry Schwartz? That’s pure sex appeal.

Obviously, I can’t make it through this recap without mentioning SEOmoz’s giggle-worthy SES Chicago Recap cartoon. It’s pure hilarity. Rand and Rebecca did a fabulous job capturing the essence of Jason Calacanis and portraying the soon-to-be-patented Sullivan Shimmy. Hmm, I wonder what Rand’s doing right now?

This is super important. The UK’s Social Issue Research Center (via GMSV) lists the first five signs of Mouse Rage, a deteriorating syndrome caused by site owners not following usability guidelines. Trust me, you don’t want to see the last five signs. It only gets uglier.

Vanity Fair (via JB) compiled a list of Dick Cheney’s Google searches. Some of the more notables include:

ahmadinejad members only beige jacket (heh)
lynne cheney MySpace
hunting accident manslaughter pleas

“Hunting accident manslaughter pleas” for, you know, that time he shot that guy in the face.

PC World presents the 15 Best Places to Waste Time on the Web. Surprisingly, MySpace is not on the list. (Or at least I don’t think it is; I can’t get numbers 12-15 to load.) I’ve lost full days on MySpace. And Craigslist.

Scoble reveals that his first girlfriend tracked him down via the Internet after not speaking since 1983 (I was a year old!). I was okay with that, until it sparked some moderately depressing comment banter about people wanting to reconnect with long lost loves. Move on, weirdos. Just because you chewed on the same piece of Playdough when you were five doesn’t make you soul mates.

David Naylor has launched his own social networking site called TickMe. I’m holding my opinion because frankly, David Naylor scares me. And I wasn’t cool enough to get “tick’d” anyway.

Gray Hat News penned their own take on the much publicized Dean Hunt letter and investigates the rumor that Google infantilizes their staff. I’m not going to lie, it still makes me laugh.

The Google Operating System blog created a list of What Google Can’t Do, including mail, blogs, search, ads, or anything for that matter.

People are sharing all the holiday gifts they have been receiving from Google and it’s making me hungry. So far we have gingerbread houses and pantless little gingerbread men. Now if there was some Google pumpkin pie, I’d be really impressed.

It turns out our honorable Danny Sullivan is something of a speed demon. So watch out!

To help you properly get in the spirit of the holidays, Nathan pointed us to an amusing Jib Jab video that breaks down all the crazy things that happened this year. If you’re looking for something a little more ‘traditional’, you may also enjoy the Scrub’s version of A Charlie Brown Christmas. And it’s always helpful to learn how to photograph Christmas lights.

If you’re looking for a holiday gift for that special lady in your life, how about a talking bikini? It’s sad that we now force our swimwear to tell us when we’ve had a little too much sun. If you’re belly is sizzling, it might be time to turn over. Otherwise we’ll make you listen to another one of Bruce’s You Might Be A Redneck jokes. It’s not pretty.

[Lisa totally missed the super addicting snowflake creator at Popular Front. I can't even express to you how much fun I've had with this since I ran across the link about a week ago. Here's my most recent snowflake. Oh yeah, they're giving money to the Salvation Army for every quarter million snowflakes created so your wasted time can be written off as charity. --Susan] -- Is that what you’re going to tell Bruce when he asks what you’ve been doing the past week?

Posted by Lisa Barone on 12/15/06 at 12:05 PM
See more entries in Fun Stuff, Search Engine Optimization

December 14, 2006

Search Headlines

You missed me while I was out sick, didn’t you? It’s okay, you can admit it. I missed you guys too.

TechCrunch UK Dead?

This is sad news for me. Michael Arrington announced that he’s putting the pause on TechCrunch UK after a dispute with editor Sam Sethi has erupted into a game of politics.

If you haven’t been following the story, here’s the abridged version, which represents all that is taboo on the Web. A blogger (Sethi) posted a critical review of a TechCrunch-sponsored conference on the TechCrunch UK site. The conference organizer responded with a foul-language comment, which was then mysteriously deleted by Michael Arringon at the request of the organizer. Sethi then returned to the scene of the crime, purposely dragged up said foul-languaged comment and made other statements not approved by TechCrunch. Sethi was eventually let go and TechCrunch UK is closed until further notice.

And though I just exhausted myself giving you the play-by-play, I’m not at all interested in the drama of it all. I’m bummed that Michael Arrington’s way of handling the situation is to close down TechCrunch UK.

While he ponders his options, we lose a valuable source for international Web 2.0/ startup news. TechCrunch UK was finally starting to get off the ground and putting it on hold may destroy that. Whatever internal drama is going on over at TechCrunch, resolve it. Don’t kill a promising blog.

Does Google Treat Their Employees Like Children

Graywolf started an amusing thread over at Threadwatch, quoting an article that suggests Google gives employees free food, laundry service and limitless access to ‘bouncy brightly-colored balls” so they never grow up or learn how to do anything on their own.

Ha! The image of Google being made up of overgrown two-year-olds will stay with me forever.

Of course, I don’t think it’s at all accurate to say Google is trying to infantilize their employees to prevent them from growing up. I’m pretty sure the reason they’re working at Google is because they’ve proven themselves to be exceptionally brilliant and capable.

The real reason Google provides these services is very obviously so that employees have no need to leave the Googleplex and will work themselves to death by staying there all night. Er, did I just say that out loud? [Note to self: Get Lisa a bouncy brightly-colored ball. --Susan] -- Rock!

Hmm, how interesting…

Kathy Sierra says repeating those three little words (she says two, but I’m including “hmm” in the word count) when you’re mad, sad, frustrated or anything else can give you the pause you need to prevent you from putting your foot in your mouth.

According to Kathy, by inserting “hmm, how interesting” when responding to a negative comment or email, it helps you from taking things too personally and forces you to ask more questions before jumping to conclusions. Good advice from a very smart woman.

Alternatives to Kathy’s suggestions: Wait 20 seconds before responding to criticism (it lets you consider their point of view) or kick really hard in the shins before they even finish speaking (it’s just funny). They’ll be so startled and in so much pain, they won’t be able to run after you.

Congrats to Karl Ribas!

Congrats to Karl Ribas for being named the victor of Li Evan’s controversial (seriously, who knew?) HatBait campaign. Karl beat out Neil “Pretty, Pretty, Princess” Patel with an impressive 18 votes. Li even got a quote from Karl:

“I also have a quote from him .... one I got a chuckle out of. Karl noticed who all voted for him and said this "Oh… there’s one from Lisa Barone! wooohhhiiieee!"”

He acts surprised despite our email thread where I pledged my loyalty to him. (You’re missing out on some impressive eye rolling over here.) Regardless, I make grown men say “woohhieee”. I am awesome. [No, you're smokin' --Susan] - I feared you were going to do that…

Fun Finds

QAQNA tells us You’ve Only Got One Shot at a First Impression. How sage. This is why Bruce waited 10 months before introducing me to others. He was afraid I’d mess it up.

Seth Godin talks about brands as mythology.

Threadwatch member lists off potential Christmas gift ideas. Be Afraid.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 12/14/06 at 5:26 PM
See more entries in Search Engine Optimization

December 11, 2006

How much noise are you willing to tolerate?

I know this is shocking, but I spend a fair amount of time checking out the SEOmoz blog (not too much, Bruce, I swear!) and reading through the long list of comments. The content is often stellar, the writers are typically concise and personable, and as with most blogs, the comments are just as informative as the initial post. However, if you’ve spent much time over at Rand Land lately, you may have noticed things are getting a bit…heated these days.

There’s been some talk that the quality of the content has been sacrificed as the team tries to post more frequently and create more “Digg-worthy” posts. People are starting to get very vocal about their dissent. I don’t know if the SEO voted Most Likable by his colleagues is just now finding his small group of gnat-like critics or if people are legitimately concerned with the level of content over there (I’m not concerned, I think they rock).

I’m not going to debate the status of the SEOmoz blog. To me, its good stuff, but I do think it touches on an important question: How much noise are you, as a reader, willing to tolerate before you change the channel?

I think the most important goal of your blog is to be informative. Your blog should fill a hole in the industry. If you’re doing your job, your posts should be educating readers in a way other blogs aren’t. You should be adding some kind of unique value.

Readers sometimes have problems when blogs become more about being popular and linkworthy (aka noisy), and less about being informative. You know exactly what I’m talking about. We’ve all read the Top Ten posts that are designed solely to get onto Digg or the post with the sensational headline meant only to get attention or stir up controversy. And though I realize Digg and sites like Digg are an important part of some of our colleagues marketing strategies (and for good reason. We’re not discounting that), they’re not our favorite posts by these authors. But I keep reading because I know the next post will be a gem that I couldn’t find anywhere else.

Personally, I like a little noise. A blog that’s all work and no play is boring. There’s a reason SES is just as synonymous with crazy parties as it is with great panels. We search nerds have a work hard, play hard mentality and giving us a bit of noise helps us digest the important stuff.

Though it may be hard to tell sometimes, the Bruce Clay blog covers all things internet marketing. We’re likely to touch on the habits of the engines, Web analytics, search engine optimization, branding, and basically anything that would fit into one the six sections of our Web site.

But, if you’ve ever read a Friday Recap, you know the second goal of this little blog is to be personable and have a little fun. We want you to be able to form a connection with us, and by joining in the conversation, we hope to be able to form a connection with you. That’s when we tend to get a little noisy.

I’m sure there are times when Bruce wishes I’d stop gushing over my various SEO crushes and stick to the search news. But sometimes I digress and he forgives because (a) my little indiscretions give the blog some personality and a voice, (b) I’m undeniably adorable and (c) he is the most understanding, most intelligent, most amazing search engine optimizer I have ever come in contact with.

And as long as it’s done within reason, I don’t think noise is bad. I actually think it’s important. Your signal tells your reader what you do, but the noise tells them who you are. In the blogosphere, that’s important.

The noise allows us to take a step back and realize that sometimes as an industry we take every Google sneeze a little too seriously. You do need to know how much noise your readers will tolerate though.

I know that I can shell out about one off-topic post a week without Susan peering over her computer monitor and looking at me funny. Jeremy Zawodny knows his readers don’t mind hearing about his flying experiences, Matt Cutts can talk about Emmy every now and then, and we all wait for updates from the very noisy Men of SEO blog.

At the core, our blog is here to inform. If we Friday Recap’d the entire week, you’d probably email me to knock it off. So we don’t do that. We make sure the rest of the week we’re providing you with posts that are valuable. We make an effort to keep the noise down around here so you’re not so distracted that you miss the good stuff.

I think that’s where the line needs to be. Can readers still find the good stuff? Or is there so much noise that they’re getting lost?

I hope that you feel like you can still find your way when you visit us.

As a blogger, it’s also important to realize that you’re not going to please everyone all of the time. I don’t pretend that you’re sitting on the edge of your seat reading everything I write, but I do hope you’re engaged by at least some of it. And that the some of it you do find interesting will make the rest of it worth your time.

If there’s anything we can do to make your blog experience more enjoyable (besides enabling comments) or less noisy, drop me an email. I’d love to hear it.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 12/11/06 at 5:38 PM
See more entries in Blogging

The Fun Weekend Update

I’ll admit, though I read my feeds obsessively over the weekend, being out of town all last week still has me feeling out of the loop. However, now that a glossy photo of me and my Rand has replaced my ex-fiancé’s wall space, I’m starting to feel more settled. Let’s get caught up together, shall we?

Why bother with search engine optimization?

Clearly we’ve all been wasting our time. The way to get your site to the top of Google’s SERP is to email all the blogs listed above you and ask them to bow out. Forget this optimization stuff.

This is genius. Loren Baker reports that an online store owner is threatening to sue blogger Dean Hunt unless he “lowers his Google ranking” (is there a knob?) for a keyword phrase the store owner feels he deserves. The store emailed Dean, saying in part:

“I haev [sic] checked your blog and it has nothing to do with [edited], so I think it would be best all round if you remove your blog from google for this search term. Please understand that we make our living from this, and you are just writing a blog that has nothing to do with [edited]. If you do not remove yourself from google for this search, then I will call them myself and have you removed.

Oh, I’d love to hear that phone conversation. Obviously the store owner doesn’t understand that informational sites (i.e. blogs) tend to be given more weight by the engines than merchant sites, but still, his request is pretty amusing. Especially after he sent poor Dean a follow-up email saying he has already contacted a lawyer and that it’s in Google’s interest for his site to rank higher than Dean’s blog.

Dean, who clearly has a sense of humor, responded that if Google responds to the store owner’s ridiculous quest, he’d love a copy of the email. He says he’s already prepared a nice little place on his wall to hang it. Heh.

Vote or Die

I apologize for the Diddy reference, but it’s the end of the year and it’s time to vote for things that ultimately do not matter! (Or maybe I’m just bitter because I never win anything.)

Over at Search Engine Journal, Loren Baker is asking readers to vote for the best search blogs of 2006. I’d like to thank the three people who voted for Bruce Clay, heh. I love you all.

Voting is going strong over at Search Marketing Gurus, where Li Evans is reaping the benefits from her HatBait campaign. Though Chris Smith is getting some last minute love, it’s a close race between Karl “Firefox” Ribas and Neil “I’m a pretty, pretty princess” Patel. Both are great guys, but because I had to choose, my vote went to Karl.

Lastly, because she’s awesome, Kim Krause has organized her own blog awards with offbeat categories such as Best Blog By a Non-Human With Big White Gloves Whose Name is Roy, Best I-Didn’t-Write-An-SEO-Book Blog, and Best Non-Accessible, Not Usable Blog. All very cool categories.

Personally, I’d appreciate it if you voted for me in the Favorite Blog Author Who Writes for Somebody Else’s Blog and Should Seriously Start There Own Blog, Blog category.

Join the Fishsticks

I received an email this morning from my new best friend, SEO Fangirl, inquiring about possibly starting up a new search cult. Matt has his Cuttlets and, as of today, Rand will have his Fishsticks. I know, I know, you’re excited. Me too.

I dream of Fishstick T-shirts, hoodies, mouse pads, wallpaper (for your bedroom, not your cell phone) and so much more. Once we are properly outfitted, we will take over Seattle in June. Muahaha.

Fun Finds

Rand gives Matt Cutts a multiple choice test over at SEOmoz, helping us all to learn a little more about Google and Matt’s role there. We also learn that Matt wouldn’t date me if he was single. That hurts, man. That hurts.

Now that most of us know the true identity of SEOFangirl, there’s a new mystery for eager detectives to solve: Who is SEOFanguy? I don’t know, but based on the redesign his blog just got over the weekend, I’d say we’re going to hear a lot more from him. For what it’s worth, that is the hottest blogroll I’ve ever seen!

Ms. Dewey? What are you doing? Oh my god, cover your eyes!

Posted by Lisa Barone on 12/11/06 at 5:05 PM
See more entries in SEO, Search Engine Optimization

Google in bed with terrorists; known to kick puppies.

You’ve probably heard rumblings of this one already, but I think it’s worth noting, if only because the story just won’t die.

Basically, Webmaster Radio’s Jim Hedger went on record in SES Chicago claiming that Google was funding terrorism by serving ads on sites that are connected with known terrorists groups (including site properties within controversy-laden Orkut), and not being proactive enough about obliterating automated clickbot programs.

Hedger says he has a contact behind the lines in Fallujah working with the Iraqi insurgency that was reportedly setting up AdSense-supported blog networks, encouraging users to click on ads, and then using that revenue to fund terrorist groups. It’d be nice to know why Hedger is working with this guy instead of turning him over to the appropriate officials, but that’s neither here nor there.

The system is said to work like this:

1. ”Groups set up blogs and sites with Google AdSense ads
2. Commit click fraud on those sites
3. Collect revenue from Google
4. Donate revenue to ‘charities’ which funnel to terrorist groups”

Obviously, this story has linkbait written all over it. But if you concentrate on the click fraud aspect and the clear lack of editorial control Google demonstrates within AdSense (thereby ignoring that whole silly terrorist angle), it’s suddenly a lot more newsworthy.

If what any of Hedger is saying is true (and it may be. Jim is a respected voice in the industry.), it’s the flaws in Google’s AdSense program that are technically funding terrorism.

So what does Google do about it? You fix the flaws.

If you want to increase the quality of AdSense sites out there, there needs to be an extensive editorial review process. Someone needs to look at every site that is created, decide whether it meets their guidelines, and then either approve it or reject it. You don’t have to look any further than all the crappy MFA sites to see something needs to be done. Obviously, this will likely never happen. I don’t suspect that Google will ever be okay with dedicating the amount of resources needed to accomplish this.

And truthfully, even if they did, it might not be enough to keep sensationalized headlines like this out of the press. People will always enjoy speculating that Google is engaging in nefarious behavior. And they probably are, completely unknowingly. There’s no way for Google to keep track of what advertisers do with the money they make through AdSense. I’m sure some of it used for unfriendly business, but that’s not Google’s responsibility to detect, nor should it be.

However, something really should be done to at least improve the quality of sites getting past Google’s filters. It’s irresponsible for them not to address a problem they know exists.

The other issue here is click fraud. If Hedger’s allegations are true and people are using clickbots programs to generate false clicks that needs to be stopped.

Or maybe it already has. If you haven’t read Andy Beal’s recent click fraud exclusive, you should. He reports that click fraud levels are less than 2 percent. Andy spoke to Google’s business manager for trust and safety, Shuman Ghosemajumder, and was privy to information that was previously only shared internally. Ghosemajumder went over Google’s four-stage process in identifying and filtering invalid clicks, and defined what Google considers to be an invalid click:

“Non-fraudulent clicks (such as a visitor genuinely clicking an AdWords ad more than once) and “click fraud” (those clicks that are obviously not legitimate).”

If that’s the case and Google is being proactive, then I think advertisers need to start seeing documentation of that. Give users an IP and referring domain for the clicks they’re charged for so both sites are working with the same data. Don’t just share information with the Andy Beals of the world. The rest of us deserve information too.

I think a lot of people were watching this story and hoping it would die down on its own, but if the talk on Matt Cutts blog, the comment train over at Search Engine Journal and the growing thread at Threadwatch are any example, this one’s got legs. I think we’re going to be hearing about this for awhile. And it’s worth talking about, as long as we’re focusing on the right story.

[And maybe this has no importance, but how in the world does Jim Hedger have contacts working behind the lines in Fallujah? Or am I the only one without contacts in third-world countries? I’m always the Jan, never the Marcia.]

Posted by Lisa Barone on 12/11/06 at 2:02 PM
See more entries in Rumors

December 8, 2006

SES Chicago Recap

It’s sort of like the Friday Recap, only not.

So we’re back. The entire Bruce Clay, Inc. team has made their way back from snowy Chicago (some of us earlier than others. Jerks.). Personally, I had an absolute blast getting to meet everyone and I hope you had a chance to stop by the booth and say hello to the real stars of Bruce Clay – the analysts.

For those that missed it, we hope you enjoyed the session recaps (my fingers have almost stopped bleeding). I really believe the theme of SES Chicago was not how can I run an effective search engine optimization, pay-per-click or branding campaign, but how can I run it correctly. Attendees were intent on learning the trusted ‘white hat’ strategies and to avoid techniques that may be considered spam. It was about creating value, not finding shortcuts.

The industry is growing up and with that comes the realization that it’s not just about doing search engine optimization, it’s about doing it right.

That theme was in full effect during Thursday afternoon’s Organic Listings Forum. Attendees wanted to know what they could do to show the search engines their sites were valuable and informative. We heard SEO bad boy David Naylor talk about creating excellent content to make sites link-worthy. Bruce talked about the importance of doing even the small things, like keyword tags, correctly, while Mike Grehan stressed the importance of compelling content and reiterated that content doesn’t just mean text.

In the Social Media Optimization panel, we learned that building community ties takes time and if you want to get the full benefit, you have to develop real relationships, not just phone it in. Neil Patel gave a hilariously colorful presentation on what not to do in Wikipedia and Todd Malicoat stressed the importance of absolutely NOT spamming. Search marketers and search marketer wannabes know that if you spam, you will be banned.

In the Ads in a Quality Score World session, marketers learned how to optimize relevant landing pages, not how to launch aggressive bidding wars to crush the competition. Attendees flocked to the great usability panels which provided step-by-step guidelines for constructing sites that rank well for the right reasons. Again, it wasn’t about learning ‘tricks’, it was learning what the engines are looking for to adapt to the necessarily methodologies.

That’s not to say that previous Search Engine Strategies conferences supported using black hat and spammy techniques, but an experienced SEO could always spot the twinkle in a questioner’s eye when they were asking how to improve their rankings. You could pick out the person looking to break down the search engines door by appearing as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. They wanted fast rankings at no cost. Surely the panelists knew some kind of trick, right?

Wrong.

Fortunately, this year those people were few and far between. I think smart marketers have realized if you’re going to play the game, the only way to play it is to follow the rules. No one wants to walk into their boss’s office and explain that their bad behavior is what resulted in company’s site getting banned.

At SES Chicago, people were there to learn. And that was great to see.

Some quick shout-outs and mentions from me:

First, our condolences to Anne Kennedy who lost her husband on Friday. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Your presence at the conference was definitely missed.

Big thanks to Todd Malicoat for acting as my agent Sunday night, introducing me to all the friendly search folk, arranging my first meeting with Rand, and buying me a $4 water. (I do apologize for all the flack you took later thanks to Rand “Troublemaker” Fishkin.)

To all the ladies who attended the Search Lady Lunch. It was great to meet all of you and prove to everyone that neither I, nor Rebecca, are SEO Fangirl! [And that you aren't Bruce either--Susan]

David Temple – I am so glad we had a chance to meet and even share an elevator ride. You are extremely kind and I can’t wait to read all about your forthcoming interview with Bruce.

Thanks to Kim Krause, Loren Baker and Barry Schwartz for letting me blog in their presence. I look up to you all. And Barry, feel free to put those Shadchan powers to work!

Lastly, to my Rand, thanks for being so awesome, warm, and full of life. It’s amazing to me how you remain so unaware and unphased by the fanfare around you. I’ll see you in April. :)

Posted by Lisa Barone on 12/ 8/06 at 4:04 PM
See more entries in seschicago06

This is not a Friday Recap

It is however a recap posted on Friday. Don't let it boggle your mind.

Things that caught my eye today while I waited for Lisa to wake up and come to work. [I’m such a slacker, I know. --Lisa]

On a plane, wanting to write and nothing to say--Barry describes my writing process. Really, I think that every single thing I write starts out just that way. Perhaps not the plane bit but the rest of it is pretty accurate. Like Lisa said last week, when you're stuck like that you just write anyway.

Kathy is describing the way my brain works: minute to minute and terrible at focusing because I'm dying to stay connected. [Let’s recap, Barry is describing your writing process and Kathy is describing how your brain works? Methinks someone is a little self consumed. --Lisa] I'm just feeling neglected after all the attention you got this week. As I type this, on my screens are Google Reader in the background, Outlook on the left screen (I have new mail. Must. Resist. Urge. To. Read.) and Google Desktop on the right side of the screen updating news and weather. Since Lisa and I sit in the middle of all the office traffic, the chaos on my screen is least of the distractions though. I can hear three analyst conversations from here over my headphones.

Kathy recommends that we get out of being connected and instead get in the flow. Does this mean I need to close Google News?

Lisa's sports boyfriend is suing Yahoo!. Tom Brady is suing the search company for using his image. The Smoking Gun broke the story and SELand brought it to my attention. As other have noted, most search engine lawsuits have a hard time proving merit but this one might actually stick. What do you do if you're Yahoo! in this situation?

Lisa's SEO boyfriend is trying to peek into Matt's bag of tricks. Rand's got some intriguing guesses about what's going on during those infamous site review sessions when Matt is sitting sphinx-like behind his laptop, ferreting out spammers and championing the white hat way of life.

Speaking of Matt, he's hard at work debunking the most recent zombie rumor (you know, they've been killed but they keep coming back?): The conspiracy theorist in me wonders if Google strategically placed themselves in the second position in order to debunk just such a rumor? I mean, I thought of it so the really smart people at Google definitely have.

Fresh Egg's got a new foreigner (they had to give back their last one.) She's a writer so we look forward to hearing more from her in the future. Welcome to the blogosphere, Juliette!

Posted by Susan Esparza on 12/ 8/06 at 12:04 PM
See more entries in Blogging, Fun Stuff, International, Search Engine Optimization, Yahoo

December 7, 2006

It's Thursday and SES Chicago has come to an end. We hope everyone had a great show and learned lots about search marketing, optimization and this great industry. While the stellar Bruce Clay team heads back home, we'll take a moment to review all the coverage here on the blog.

Monday:

• Merging Video and Search Engine Optimization
• Landing Pages: It’s All About Relevance
• Create a Search Engine Friendly Web Site
• How to Make Friends and Influence Clients

Tuesday:

• Keynote: Jason Calacanis
• Bulk Submit 2.0
• Duplicate Content & Multiple Site Issues
• Mobile Search Optimization
• Successful Site Architecture

Wednesday:

• Images and Search Engines
• SMO: Social Media Optimization
• Blog & Feeds Search SEO
• Keynote: Danny Sullivan - Search In 2006

Thursday:

• Big Ideas for Small Sites & Small Businesses
• In House: Big PPC
• Organics Listing Forum

That's everything! What was your favorite part about SES? Let Lisa and me (Susan) know by emailing us.

Posted by Susan Esparza on 12/ 7/06 at 2:45 PM
See more entries in Fun Stuff, seschicago06

Organics Listing Forum

Today’s Organic Listings Forum is moderated by Detlev Johnson, with speakers Bruce Clay (Bruce Clay, Inc.), David Naylor (Bronco), Todd Friesen (Range Online Media) and Mike Grehan (international search marketing consultant).

Since this is an open question and answer format, I’ll do my best to paraphrase each question and let you know who’s responding with what. Of course, my job would be easier if these boys didn’t talk over each other. :)

What link building tactics can be done to promote a new site and keep it out of the sandbox?

DN: I don’t think there are any sandbox issues anymore.

TF: The aging process, and how fast your links are getting built, and where those initial links are coming from. Look in your space and find those authority sites that you can get links from. Find other places in your space that have authority. Those kinds of things make you very legitimate and you should be fine.

BC: Does your site look like it’s behaving in a natural way? If you start a new site and the next day you have thousands of links, that doesn’t look natural. No incestuous links, or multiple IPs linking to you. If you look and act in an unnatural way you will get ignored.

MG: Sit down, look at your site. Write down 10 reasons why people would want to link to your Web site. If you can’t get past 5, you’ve created your own sandbox. (zing!)

Best practices for cloaking software?

DN; There levels of user-agent cloaking. Either you have stolen someone else’s content and you don’t want them to know, you have great content you’re hiding behind a subscriber link, or you’re geo targeting.

MG: There are times when cloaking is very useful.

DN: The problem with cloaking is that it’s not a dirty word and people think it is. Ninety-nine percent of cloaking is good cloaking.

Should we split our IP addresses up so our clients, who have similar content, aren’t on the same IP?

DN: Yes, you will have a problem. Yahoo is a classic one where if you got so much content on one server, on one IP address, you’re going to have problems.

I have an established site that’s been out for 10 years, but I may need to change the domain. What kind of techniques should I consider to preserve the PageRank and visibility of the site?

DN: If your site is clean and white hat, email Google and tell them what you’re going to do. They don’t want your site to get lost.

TF: Something we added into the mix as insurance, we made the Google and Yahoo XML sitemaps for the old site and then when we launched the old site with the 301s, we gave them the old site map to give them another chance to spider all the pages.

BC. The entire URL restructuring should not take more than 3 weeks. Be ready with PPC in case there’s a dip, but you should be fine. Your new domain should have a 404 page with a Meta index tag that has a ‘no index’.

When launching a new Web site, what is the appropriate pacing on setting up inbound links?

BC: If you were to create a site from scratch today and suddenly that site announced the cure for cancer, you’d have a million links within a week and that wouldn’t be interpreted as spam. It’s natural for the content. But if you have a 1000 inbound links from the same IP, you might be a redneck.

DN: Launch a site, press release it, and create something on the site that would make people want to link to it. Do something different. Once you are different, a month down the line, give them something else. That’s why the blogosphere does so well.

DJ: Err on the side of fewer links. It’s not the number of links that matters; it’s where the links are coming from.

BC: During your design you have to ask yourself, if I were another site, would I link to me? If you wouldn’t link to yourself, getting quality sites to link to you will be an uphill battle.

It used to be SEO was all tags. Then it was Content is King. Now linking is so important. Is content still king?

DN: The search engines are link-based, end of story. Larry and Sergey’s papers are all about the importance of linking. When people talked about the engines loving content, it’s not like the engines were reading it and saying, ‘that is the best story I’ve ever heard!’ They recognized that other sites liked it and were linking to it.

DJ: Linking has been important before Google. It’s one factor in many factors that goes into an algorithm. Google has shown that if you make linking the primary focus then you can achieve good results. Linking is still incredibly important because it can increase your indexing and ranking since you have these 3rd party endorsements of your content. The title tag will never go away because HTML has purposes other than search engines. Today, right now, linking is one of those things that are driving rankings.

MG: When you’re talking about content, yes, it’s still king, but what is content? It’s not just text, it could be a tool. If content is king, end user data is queen.

BC: You need to have the content first and the links will follow. You want quality links, not just links.

Do the search engines see 301 redirects?

TF: If you’re doing it at the server level, the search engines see all redirects.

We have a parent Web site with sites for 30 different cities. What’s the best way to optimize that?

BC: Cityscape went with subdomains and optimized each one separately. You can probably optimize one Web site with 30 different themes. If it’s unique content, you can accumulate a whole lot of content about basketball on one domain.

TF: I would subdomain them off. Otherwise you’re splitting your effort across too many domains.

Is a subdomain more valuable than a slash?

DN: Not anymore.

DJ: It was about pooling link popularity. Some people were seeing some incredible results by splitting a site into subdomains and making it appear as one Web site. But people took that too far and the search engines stopped giving that authority.

We do a lot of directory submission. But a lot of the directories only let you put a company name in there. Does that look bad to the search engines?

TF: Not at all. When you look at people’s backlinks, it’s going to completely dominated by brand. When we’re doing directory submissions, we try and roll in a keyword. If we’re submitting for a consumer electronics company we’ll say “stereos from X” and most of the time that will get in.

MG: If you want other people to do it, there are good people out there. It you’re looking for someone, look for client renewals. If they have clients who have been around for years, they’re probably doing something right.

What’s your opinion of the ODP?

DN: They should pay for submission.

TF: There’s a lot more value out there than the ODP. Go do the submission and forget about it.

MG: There’s a lot of stuff you can do offline that will bring in links. Be creative.

BC: I don’t think it’s important enough to spend a lot of time on.

How much attention to the search engines pay to the keyword field. How much attention should we pay to it?

MG: On a rainy day, when there’s nothing else to do… [polite chuckles :)]

TF: I haven’t done a keyword tag in two or three years.

BC: We think any tag worth having is worth doing right. There are 100 variables in the algorithm, what makes you think you’re better than the guy next to you? It only takes 30 seconds to do a keyword tag if you know what the keywords are for the page.

MG: I know for a fact that Yahoo! looks for the keyword tag. It won’t help you with rankings but it says you are a candidate for a result set.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 12/ 7/06 at 12:09 PM
See more entries in Design, SEM Events, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engines, seschicago06

In House: Big PPC

This session discussed what to do when you find yourself in a keyword bidding war with…yourself -- or, more accurately, when subdivisions in your company try to outbid each other for keywords. By not centralizing your marketing divisions, you run the risk of driving up PPC costs as you fight against yourself for your own terms. It’s time to end the civil war.

Panel members include Beth Morgan (Red Bricks Media), Matthew Greitzer (Avenue A | Razorfish), Tim Daly (Sendtec), and Olivier Lemaignen (Intuit).

Beth Morgan starts off identifying the potential sources of own-team conflict, such as the generation gap (corporate programs that compete), sibling rivalry (inter-division competition), new kid syndrome (competition between divisions), and the world cup (international and regional campaigns competing).

She notes the four challenge areas:

• Messaging: Different divisions might have varying marketing approaches. If you’re presenting uncoordinated messages to the market place it could ruin the overall corporate message.
• Tracking & Reporting: What are you going to track? How are you defining conversions? How are you going to track it? How will that affect the time it takes to report on campaigns? What should you report and how often?
• Keyword research and categorization: Keyword research takes time. Without coordination, divisions can duplicate efforts looking for the same words. Different divisions should compare results to limit repetitive work.
• Bidding: Google, Yahoo and MSN generally have a policy that only one paid ad from the same company can run at a time. Lack of coordination can lead to irrational bidding, stealing impressions and paying more than necessary.

You can beat these challenges by centralizing your search activity. Identify one agency partner or an internal in-house manager who will coordinate search across all your different divisions. Once you have that person in place they should be monitoring messages to make sure there’s consistency, create cross divisional benchmarks, a central database of terms, and coordinate all bids.

Thing big. Even if your company is starting search in just one division, assume it’s going to spread out. Spending a little extra time planning now to think through future issues will save you time and money later on.

Matthew Greitzer gave attendees four rules for managing internal competition.

• Build an Organization and Service Structure to Support Collaboration: In order to have a campaign run effectively you need to create a central marketing team to work with units.
• Implement Unified Tracking across Campaigns: You have to have one set of data across different business units or you’ll miss some of the value your search campaign is driving.
• Allocated Keyword Ownership through Testing: If you have multiple units claiming the same keyword, you can alternate campaigns to see which one runs better and who will benefit off the term more. You want to manage them in a way that makes them complement each other, NOT compete.
• Protect Your Brand Name: All three major engines offer some sort of trademark protection. Restrict affiliates from bidding on your brand name.

Having a single team act as your division-wide SEM resources enables consistent communication across management teams, better sharing of best practices across management teams, complimentary bidding practices on shared keywords, the ability to dictate the rules of engagement, and fosters holistic keyword and SEM strategies.

Once you realize you’re bidding against each other and stop it, you’ll see results immediately. You should notice your CPC, CTA and media costs go down, while sales and orders go up.

Tim Daly and Olivier Lemaignen provided case studies about companies who compete against themselves.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 12/ 7/06 at 10:12 AM
See more entries in Analytics, Pay Per Click, seschicago06

Big Ideas for Small Sites & Small Businesses

Here we are on Day 4. We made it, folks. Let’s dive in.

Jennifer Laycock (Search Engine Guide) starts off the panel, noting that though the Internet was once considered the great equalizer, that’s since changed. The Internet used to give everyone a level playing field, but now money is starting to have more of an influence, helping large companies gain visibility over small business owners.

Common sense is today’s great equalizer. As a small company, you have the ability to make quick changes without cutting through the red tape. You’re more flexible than a larger company. You are as strong as your ideas.

To compete against large companies, small sites need to change the way they think about search engine marketing. Forget about chasing the algorithm or about magic formulas. Instead, understand that the search engines want to be “a real boy” (aka the Pinocchio Effect). They want to be able to judge your page the same way a human being judges your page. There is no magic formula when it comes to SEM.

Pinocchio action in the past:

The best example of the engines’ Pinocchio complex is in the progression of links: At first, the sheer number of links won. Over time, it became about link text. Then they moved into link quality (who’s linking to you?). Lately it’s been about link age. The longer you’ve maintained a link, the more authority it has. We don’t know where it’s going next but you can see a clear progression to replicate human judgment.

Pinocchio in action now:

Is there a sandbox? Jennifer Laycock says there is no sandbox. If you’re Google and you make your money by having people come to your site, it makes no sense to lock every site away for six months or a year. Instead, there’s a Trustbox (a term coined by Aaron Wall).

Jennifer compares it to a Chinese takeout restaurant. If you live in an area with a lot of Chinese restaurants, you’re not going to go flocking when a new one opens. But if that takeout place is still there six months later, you may be more likely to check it out. (I am in love with that example. And sweet and sour chicken.) Jennifer says it’s not so much about age, but about raising the bar to entry. With more sites coming out, it’s getting harder to compete.

Jennifer says the number one rule of organic search is to speak the customer’s language. It’s about researching what your customers are searching for, what they’re doing with those terms and building your campaign around that. Understand the search buying cycle and use it. Are they in the interest (muscle cars), research (fastest muscle cars) or purchasing phase (classic muscle car dealer)?

The number one rule of pay-per-click is that it’s not about buying clicks. It’s about buying customers. (Ooo, buying people!) Learn how to track your pay-per-click campaigns. PPC without direct metrics is like launching TV, yellow pages and direct mail on the same day without taking the time to see which campaign brought which increase in traffic.

The number one rule of link building is to build relationships. Network locally. Think of a link as an online referral. Are you giving someone something worth putting their reputation on the line? The best way to get a link is to earn it.

Matt McGee (Marchex) is up next and says that as a small business owner you have to work smarter and be more creative in your search marketing.

The first decision you have to make as a small business is whether you should try and do SEO yourself or if you should hire out.

If you do it yourself, you’re going to have to invest more time than you do money. You should be reading blogs, joining mailing lists, participating in forums and attending conferences and other industry events.

From there Matt highlights three books wannabe-SEOs can read to gain industry knowledge:

• SEO Book by Aaron Wall
• Small Business Guide to Search Engine Marketing by Jennifer Laycock
• Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day by Jennifer Grappone and Gradiva Couzin

If you prefer to learn by attending seminars, Matt recommends:

• Search Engine College – Kalena Jordan
• SEO Research Labs – Dan Thies
• Search Engine Workshops – Robin Nobles and J. Alexander
• High Rankings Seminars – Jill Whalen

If you’re going to hire out, you can use directory sites such as TopSEOs.com, SEOconsultants.com, SEOpros.com or SEMPO.org. Realize that not all the firms listed are good and not all the good firms are listed.

Now that you know where to find them, you have to determine what to ask when choosing one. Matt gives attendees five tips to help you choose the right company:

• Trust: Ask a lot of questions; build a relationship.
• Experience: ask for references.
• Risk comfort level: know the tactics and liabilities.
• Measure success: set clear goals up front.
• Cost: Arm? Leg? Your first-born?

As a small business, you have the luxury of trying out new ideas. Think outside the four search engine box. Practice ‘alternative SEM’. Use participation marketing. Don’t wait for customers to find you; go out and find them. Are they on message boards? Discussion groups? Blogs? Social networking sites?

Rule number one is to avoid the hard sell. People don’t like you coming into their community. Try to build relationships.

Matt recommends focusing on Flickr as a new marketing opportunity. People aren’t just sharing photos; they’re sharing comments and conversations. Use your URL as your screen name, upload your company’s logo as your icon, write a user profile to promote your business, link to your Web site, participate in photo groups and upload quality photos.

John Carcutt (MoreVisibility) talked about leveraging your company’s advantages and highlighted ways small businesses can find ways to out perform larger competition. You have a tighter product focus, are in better touch with your customers and faster reaction time.

Using these ideas to influence your strategies against larger competitors can help you with organic and paid search.

Here are some other things you can do:

• Set Reasonable Goals: You don’t have to be first or the largest to compete. You do need to have a presence and make a profit.
• Become part of the community: Start practicing Social Media Optimization. Get involved with sites like Wikipedia, Digg, Reddit, deli.cio.us, etc. You can get content without paying a copywriter and gain trust within these communities.
• Create a community: The easiest way to do this is to create a blog.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 12/ 7/06 at 9:07 AM
See more entries in Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimization, seschicago06

December 6, 2006

Keynote: Search In 2006

[I’m kicking myself right now for forgetting my camera. Danny Sullivan and Barry Schwartz are sitting huddled together on the edge of the stage quietly chatting and it’s perhaps the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. There’s a total "my buddy" moment going on.]

It’s time for Danny’s keynote and I’m personally psyched. The chair-throwing mood Jason Calacanis inspired yesterday has subsided and now it’s just time to have an interesting conversation about search. You can almost feel the relief.

Danny’s starts off talking about search convergence. The idea that search is colliding and merging with all sorts of other things. Google, Microsoft and Ask have become search utility companies that strive to provide you with whatever your search-heart desires – be it video, Web programs, radio ads, whatever. They’re there for you.

Danny says if you’re a successful SEM, it’s not because you know how to rank for a specific search; it’s because you understand how Google gets information. You take that information and that skill and you apply it elsewhere.

See that, Jason; it’s a skill.

Danny talks about the search wars going on and highlights Microsoft, Yahoo and Google.

He says Microsoft is sending out mixed messages. First stating they’ll kill Google and be more relevant, and then saying that we’re just at the beginning of search.

The new challenge facing Microsoft is that they’re trying to build it up from scratch. Microsoft’s Erik Selberg said Microsoft’s engine is “not better yet, but [it’s] no longer laughable”. You might snicker at that, but it’s true and it’s something to be proud of. AdCenter has been an even bigger victory for the company.

Yahoo!’s Susan Decker announced it wasn’t Yahoo!’s goal to be number one in Internet search and that they are fine to simply maintain market share. Later they said the troops were pumped and that Yahoo! was about to take charge. Then we got the Peanut Butter memo. Today we hear they’re reorganizing.

And then there’s Google. They’ve been very busy this year but we hear they’re doing okay. :)

[Notable: I just realized that all Danny’s slides have the Search Engine Land logo sitting on the bottom. That made me smile.]

From there Danny launches into a discussion on video and brings up how important Google’s acquisition of YouTube was because it was very unGoogle. Typically, Google finds a small company they’re interested in and buys it simply because they want the individuals running it. They pay some paltry sum, get the company, and it’s over. But this time Google was willing to shell out $1.6 billion. That’s noteworthy.

He says video search is currently just video on demand. "I want to see that Colbert Report I missed, where can I find it?" Or "I want to see that viral video going around, give it to me." Video sharing has created the FBS network aka the Friends Broadcast System ("you gotta see this").

From there Danny goes back to talking about search. He defines search marketing as putting messages in front of people who overtly and explicitly express a desire – usually via keywords – for a particular product, service of information.

Search engine optimization is the act of doing this by trying to influence unpaid listings, usually crawler-based ones, while search advertising is the act of doing this through direct paid methods.

As the session moved on, Danny talked about all the big dollar issues that were supposed to crash Google but didn’t (clickfraud, copyright), shares his indexing wish list and highlights some of the major search-related news stories that hit the press this year (NY identifies a woman based on her search history, Danny gets interviewed by Nightline, etc.)

If you want to know what kind of a speaker Danny Sullivan is, know that the session went almost an hour over and most people didn’t move an inch. In fact, we probably wouldn’t have even realized it had Danny not kept apologizing. The truth is Danny Sullivan is an amazingly humorous and engaging speaker and people would have been perfectly content to sit there all night listening to what he had to say. He’s our search leader and we look up to him because he motivates us.

And as I sit here, I can’t help but wonder how hard Incisive is kicking themselves right now. They won’t recover from losing Danny. He's what brings the life to these conferences.

He’s on stage right now talking about search, practically tripping over his words because he’s so excited and passionate about it. He makes you passionate about it too. You can feel his energy and it’s contagious…and so are his giggles (yes, grown men do giggle). Sitting here is inspiring and I have Danny to thank for that.

I hope Bruce lets me tag along when Danny launches his own conference in June. If Danny’s involved, it’s going to be amazing.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 12/ 6/06 at 5:28 PM
See more entries in Search Engine Optimization, Search Engines, seschicago06

Blog & Feeds Search SEO

So a little change of plans, hope you don’t mind. I was planning on attending today’s Usability & SEO session, but at the last minute I found myself being mysteriously drawn into the Blog & Feed Search SEO panel instead. Maybe it’s because I’m a blogger by trade.

Detlev Johnson is acting as moderator for speakers Amanda Watlington (Searching for Profit), Stephan Spencer (Netconcepts) and Rick Klau (Feedburner).

Amanda says 2007 will be the year of RSS. She attributes this to the launch of IE7 (I quietly chuckled), which she says will make RSS accessible to everyone, not just the tech savvy. She notes that people will not even realizing they are using an RSS feed, something we’ve mentioned before.

RSS distributes content and drives traffic to Web sites. Amanda calls it the plumbing of the Web. That’s hot.

She notes that before you start building your feeds, you should ask yourself several important questions:

• How many feeds are appropriate for your company?
• How much content is needed to keep the feed fresh and attractive?
• How much of each content piece should be included in the feed?
• Will the feed include multi-media content, audio and video?
• How to propagate the feeds both initially and on update? (Prepare the ping!)
• How to measure the performance of the feeds?
• How can you monetize it?

Once you can answer these questions, it’s time to optimize.

One part of blog optimization is optimizing content. This includes building keyword lists to identify the terms you want to include in your posts. Keywords can be used to focus categories, in blogrolls, in anchor text, in headlines, etc.

Amanda outlined five steps to creating powerful keyword rich content:

1. Write the post.
2. Review your keyword research list for keywords applicable to the content you have just written. Narrow your focus on just a few keywords per post.
3. Include a keyword in your headline.
4. Review the body of your post. Look for places where you can include other keywords.
5. Check the anchor text to make sure you’re targeting terms there as well.

I want to stress the importance of NOT stuffing your blog post with keywords. The purpose of a blog post is to start or add to a conversation. If you get overly concerned with keywords, your friendly, informative blog post will start to sound like a press release. Would you subscribe to read a press release?

Blogging is about the free giving of links (unless you’re a Scoble) and sharing information. As someone who loves blogs and blogging, I’d ask you not to taint that.

If you want to bring traffic to your blog, the best thing you can do is to join the discussion and let people know you’re out there. Notify other blogs of your existence by commenting on their blogs or dropping them an email. Better yet, get yourself to a conference and say hello. I’ve met so many great people this week and discovered blogs I never knew existed (and hopefully some people found us too!). People are far more likely to link to you if they know you.

Amanda also suggests hosting your blog on a separate domain and linking between your site and the blog. I don’t necessarily agree with her on that, but I’ll leave that to you.

Other ways to ramp up traffic include getting your content or feeds syndicated in other publications (SiteProNews does this quite a bit), use full text feeds instead of snippets, increase the items in your feeds from 10 to 20, highlight the popular posts and chestnuts on your blog, publish your feed as an HTML page or as a podcast, and, if all else fails, publish headlines from your blog on your MySpace page. I know, I know, but it might work.

Once your blog is optimized, you have to make sure your RSS feed is optimized as well. Make sure you’re using keywords in the feed title. Write your descriptions as if you’re writing for a directory. Use full paths on links and unique URLs for each item. Include images to help brand recognition. Build a keyword theme for your feed.

Once these things are done, be sure to measure your blogs traffic. Sites like Technorati (which I get intravenously at this point), FeedBurner and FeedCraft can help you stay on top of this.

If you’re interested in monetizing your blog, you need to make sure you’re ad-ready. Know your readership, make sure your template is ready, clean up your content, sharpen your editorial focus, and join an ad network.

Stephan Spencer discussed the various blog search engines.

Like with traditional search, there are only a handful of blog search engines worth noting: Yahoo! News & Blog Search, Google Blog Search, Technorati, Feedster, and PubSub.

There are several things you can do to better your chances at getting your blog listed in these engines.

First, consider tweaking internal hierarchical linking structure. Use tag clouds & tag pages to make it easier for the engines to find your content. Include links to related posts. Start a Top 10 posts section (Friday Recap section, anyone?). And include links to next & previous posts (using keywords in your title!) to help the engines find their way through your blog.

Work at building inbound links. Going back to the joining the conversation thing, try to get on other bloggers blogrolls.

Don’t forget to optimize your Title tags. Your blog name should be at END of the title, not the beginning. Overwrite title tags with custom ones.

Some other tips to keep in mind:

• Rewrite URLs to contain keywords.
• Use hyphens, not underscores.
• If necessary, 301 redirect from yourblog.com to www.yourblog.com.
• Maintain legacy URLs even after switching blog platforms.
• Always use keyword-rich anchor text.
• Create sticky posts to serve as a keyword-rich introduction to all your category pages.
• Make it easy for users to subscribe to your blog.
• Include 1-click buttons that allow users to easily add your feed to their favorite aggregator.
• Get in the habit of pinging the blog engines when you have fresh content.

The most importance thing to take away from this panel is that feeds aren’t just coming from blogs. They’re being used for podcasts, video blogs, Web services, retail outlets and in areas you haven’t yet even realized.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 12/ 6/06 at 4:16 PM
See more entries in Blogging, Branding, Search Engine Optimization, seschicago06

SMO: Social Media Optimization

Next up, the Social Media Optimization panel examines how using community-built Web sites can be a great way to tap into links and search-driven traffic.

Chris Sherman is moderating this one with speakers Andy Hagans (TLA), Neil Patel (Advantage Consulting Services), Rand Fishkin (SEOmoz) Todd Malicoat (Stuntdubl) and Lee Odden (Online Marketing Blog).

This has nothing to do with the fact that I’m not-so-secretly in love with him, but whose idea was it to put Rand’s gorgeous face behind a large computer screen. It makes no sense. How am I supposed to stare be able to hear him? Life is so cruel.

[Okay, after I typed that Rand peeked out and blew me a kiss (I wonder if we’re so connected he gets a mental RSS feed of everything I type?). I have witnesses, people. We are so getting married.]

Up first, Neil Patel on Wikipedia:

Neil touches on all the benefits associated with getting involved with Wikipedia, like authority links, increased traffic, brand recognition and great information.

And though your mouse finger is starting to get a little itchy, Neil gave attendees a humorous rundown on all the things NOT do on Wikipedia:

• Don’t use Wikipedia for link building (wink, wink.)
• Don’t add biased information about your company.
• Don’t delete accurate information because you don’t agree with it.
• Don’t break any community rules.
• Don’t spam. You won’t get away with it.

Neil gives examples on what happens if you spam, including the famous Steve Colbert elephant example.

To correctly build links, you should first establish a reputation for yourself as a Wikipedia editor. This typically involves modifying around 500 pages before your user account gains a strong reputation. Once you’ve hit this benchmark you’ll be able to edit pages, shall we say, ‘more freely’.

Once you do decide to create a page for your company or brand, add the quality information before you add th