No Spitting No Scratching

I'm relief pitching for Eric once a month as he takes a much needed break from writing The Link Week column on Search Engine Land and today was my first time up. My topic was more of a safe bunt than strong hit but hey, you gotta start somewhere right?

Anyone who blogs on a regular basis knows how hard it is to come up with fresh ideas and captivating posts that haven't been written to death. I think it's even harder with link building since so many people talk and speculate about it ad nauseum. I don't like reguritation posts and "me too" comments so I try to pop on here when I feel like I have something to contribute other than white noise.

Which apparantely isn't often as I'm also of the opinion that while there are foundational and some advanced tactics, there really aren't a ton of linking techniques outside of what you hear about. The "advanced" stuff usually involves more redirects, clever 3-ways and content scraping/generators. What you give up in 'white hat tedium' you make up for in burn and churn redesign so in the end, it's a wash.

Hot Fun According To Chris

My long-time buddy Christine Churchill has posted a super wrap-up of her time at last week's London SES. I've pulled two things from her post I want to say ditto on:

For those who don’t know Anne Kennedy – she is one of the kindest, most loved people in the search industry. I highly recommend next conference you stop and tell her hello, or better yet, give her a hug. She’s had a tough time and she’s one of our own.

Ditto, ditto, ditto. Anne - HUGE cyberhug to you. And....

Those of us who attend conferences regularly often take the work behind running the conferences for granted. How smoothly the show runs can make the difference between a mediocre show and a fantastic one. At SES London, as usual, Karen Deweese and her incredible team of logistics gurus made the conference run like fine tuned machinery. There’s truly a symbiotic relationship between speakers and support team where both benefit from each other’s presence. The speakers are better speakers because they aren’t fretting about the logistics details. I’m sure the other speakers agree with me when I say “Thanks Karen for making us look good.”

After reading that I punched the air big-time. Chris did a great job verbalizing what so many of us think but probably don't say directly to Karen and her staff. YOU ALL ROCK!

Stop by the SEM Clubhouse, there's some good stuff there!

Love Links Out

Network Your Way To Links

Bambi Francisco had a column today on the impact Web2.0 is having (or not) on corporate America. Toward the end of the post she made a remark I found encouraging:

At the end of the day, Web 2.0 and social networks are really about networking, communicating and collaborating quickly and efficiently. It's not really changing who we are and how we relate to one another. We all network because we are relational people. (my bold)

How true.

The discussion group and webrings of yesterday have morphed into the social networks and "LinkedIn" type places of today. While the technology has changed, the sense of needing to belong to a community hasn't; we still seek to congregate with others who share the same opinions and have the same ideals.

Use these network and forum sites to your full advantage to help market yourself and collect links. Start by:

- Researching the key players within your network niche for linking and advertising opportunities. Note any publications they're being quoted in and then approach with articles and news materials of your own.

- Listen for trends, watch for growth and be active in ongoing discussions. It's much easier to approach people in the network with business offers if they've heard of you and feel you're credible.

- Ask the forum if they run a newsletter or sister blog and inquire about ad space.

There are networks and forums for just about every industry out there. To get you started, here's a couple of resources that list networks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

and

http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2005/02/14/home-of-the-social-
networking-services-meta-list/

and a forum directory:

http://directory.big-boards.com/

Tip: If you don't have a forum in your industry - start one. It will go a long way to making your business an authority in the eyes of your clients, constituents and the media! (translation, it will attract a lot of links ;).

Slashdot / Del.icio.us / Digg

Takes One To Know One

..."but the truth is that 90% of the SEO market is made up of snake oil salesman. These are guys in really bad suits trying to get really naive people to sign long-term contracts...." jason calacanis

For the record - my suits probably cost more than your rent and we're not all guys.

Digg?

Justilien's Interview Howls!

Justilien gave a great interview over on GrayWolf's SEO Blog about local search and finding links. He offers up a number of good points, I particularly like this one:

...."Another strategy is to publish expert articles on industry related sites. Hire a writer or editor if needed. By doing this the site gets a link or two and may pickup secondary links from others who read the article such as journalist and bloggers...."

I think hiring local editors/journalists is a smart idea for a number of reasons:

1. It's (almost) a sure thing that you'll get a link from their host publication. Newspapers, like websites, always need content!

2. Newspaper people are a lot like academian's, they accrue credibility by what they publish. That link-filled article of yours won't just sit there, it'll be sent out to all her/his contacts and then some.

3. Most journalist's have their own blogs now, which need content, and credibility etc etc.

If you're looking to hire writers for local angles, local newspaper people are golden!

Good one Jus!! (and yes of course that's me in the bikini ;)--

Del.icio.us / Digg

Piggly Diggly Links

Got a note from Jennifer this morning with a link to her blog updating us on her situation with the National Pork Board. Seems the milk has settled and everyone is happy with the final outcome. Smart smart way to handle things Jennifer, good for you.

I walked away with two impressions after all this was over; the first was a ‘huh?’ head scratch and the other was an observation on how to get 'targeted' link juice out of Digg when you don’t create the bait.

Did anyone else think it was interesting given the HUGE amount of information/sites on the Web that the National Pork Board found the "other white milk" tee-shirt on the CafePress site? Because what they found was an image. I couldn’t find any descriptive text around those tee shirts so I wonder, are there alert bots out there reading images? (don't think so!) Hmmmm

After Li dugg Jennifer’s story, it was fascinating to watch people react and how the story grew. From those observations I concluded people involved in digging tend to fall into two camps:

• Those that comment using descriptive keyword text, drop URL's and add the Digg story to their blogs (promoters)
  
  and



• Those just happy to comment (happypeople).

IMO, if you want to use Digg to accumulate links and attract traffic without dropping 'bait', you need to become proficient at being a promoter (with emphasis on the marketing your URL’s bit.)

True, you’ll get more attention and more links if you start the ruckus but it’s not always possible or time efficient to do so. It’s easy to say “launch some link bait” but the reality is – it can be hard and the results aren't always that great.

Digg encourages comments so comment away – but be smart about it like Danny and Ian were, they both blogged about the situation first and then went to Digg to add comments AND links back to their blogs:

Danny said: ...“I know Jennifer well and did a write-up of my own on her situation:http://searchengineland.com/070201-154333.php” ...

Ian wrote: ...“And to think they just spend $60 Million buying this trademark, only to make themselves look stupid. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. http://mcanerin.blogspot.com/2007/02/pork-porn-and-shirtless-moms.html”...

Whether you call it link baiting or spin marketing or capitalizing on a good/bad situation, learn how to take full marketing advantage of the vehicles people are using to propel their stories into cyberland. You’ll broaden your reach and link counts by doing so.

The difference between men and boys is the smart way they play with Digg toys!

Del.icio.us / Digg

This Little Piggy Went To The Lactivist

This little piggy went to the Lactivist.

This little piggy should have stayed home.

This little piggy had a stupid beef.

This little piggy is done.

This little piggy cried Boo Hiss Squeal all the way home.

Digg for Jennifer.