Guilty (in a good way) By Link Association

An article in our local newspaper caught my eye today; it was a short piece on how the public relations folks in a neighboring County were going to offer a variety of new programming on their school and government cable channels. It also pointed out how the school system was using YouTube to host its video's and had plans to add more.

My link spidey senses got all tingly as the ideas whirled in my head; I immediately started thinking about the opportunities I could take advantage of on local access cable. I headed over to the County site to see how and where to submit video content and found this on the Production Request page:

All York County Government and York County School Division offices, departments, agencies, governing bodies, boards and commissions are eligible to submit requests for programs, public announcements for cablecast or internal use, and/or requests for program production services to the Division of Video Services. Other individuals or groups are not eligible unless sponsored by an eligible user.

Ok so maybe not the dot-gov-link-gold-mine I had first envisioned but no matter, this still may have link building potential for both direct and residual links.

If your business caters to local government or the school division, look for sponsored programs and special events where local business people are called upon to donate goods and services. Video tape your products being used at the event and work with your government contact to have the tape included on the local cable channel. (remember, you have to be sponsored by a "eligible user"). Be sure to include contact information at the end of the video.

You can also send the same video to your local television stations for rebroadcast on weekends when news stories are slow and they're looking for content. Never hurts to try!

If your school system or local government has a YouTube channel, start a dialogue and leave comments. There's no link popularity to be gained but you'll build plenty of community popularity as well as credibility.

Associating your business through in-direct links on local cable channels might not generate a measure of green through your toolbar, but it may help grow the green in your wallet! Pop over to your local cable station and see if there's an opportunity to submit links either directly or through a sponsorship. You'll be guilty by association in a good way no matter what you do!

Get In Touch With Your Inner Link Self

We don't talk much about surveys when we discuss link building, probably because a lot of webmasters feel their keyword lists should suffice as research when they're trolling for links.
But really - your keyword lists don't tell you about people's loyalties or personal preferences which is what you need to know before engaging in the more promotional link building.

From my experience, people like to have packaged solutions, they want specific tactics and the sites to use them on. I think that's why directory submissions are so popular and the center of so many link discussions. People can wrap their heads around the whole process because it's a no-brainer.

Find directory, qualify, pay for submission, submit. Bam, one-way link in place. Easy peezy.

I like easy too but know from doing SEO that easy doesn't boost your site in the serps. That easy normally begets links that don't pass strong link popularity and that easy ends up making you work harder down the road.

Which sucks. That's where the research in the beginning really pays off. Talking to people, doing surveys, buying trend reports etc - all those things help you get in touch with your customer base and eventually in touch with your inner link self.

I say this all the time ad-nauseom but it's true: if you were doing business on Main Street you wouldn't just take out a yellow page advertisment and be done with it. You'd find out from:

• friends



• family



• the Chamber of Commerce



• Better Business Bureau



• your industry association



• trend reports



• local newspapers



• SCORE



• SBA (Small Business Admin)



• resources like ConsumerWorld.com



• Federal Citizen Information Center (in Pueblo CO)



• SURVEYS YOU CONDUCT

... and so on where the people likely to buy your products frequent, trends in their demographic, what publications they read, etc. Then you'd go and advertise there as well.

Talk to the people who buy your stuff. Talk to friends and family and figure out what they're doing online. We live in a SEO centric world and don't search or think like the average consumer. Don't assume your customers think like you do, or search like you do because they DON'T.
Find out where your customers go and do everything you can to place ads in those locations. Keep talking to them, keep asking questions, keep in touch. You'll build exposure, gain trust and accrue links if you do.
photo found on AzureInspired

Who Knew Martha Stewart Was A Link Building Role Model?

If you’re planning to attend Search Marketing Expo East 2008 in New York October 6-8th, stop by one of the linking sessions and say hello.

I'll be on three panels; Link Building Bootcamp, External Linking Tactics and Tools Glorious Tools where I'll be doing what else... link tools!

If you still need to register I’d be more than happy to share my SMX Speakers’ discount which is $150 off the all-access pass. Whoo hoo!! Just holler!

That's right, a clear no link required freebie. No request for a link, no requirement for anchor text. Just a promo code for $150 bucks. Unlike our friends at Martha Stewart.com, we're not asking for a thing in order to get the freebie.

Isn't that great? Yeah we know the freebie isn't coming out of our pockets but we didn't have to mention it now did we.

I mean, answering all that email and sending out the promo code will take a ton of time but hey, that's ok with us! Even though time is money we're going to smile smile smile and email along because we're hoping our karma attracts lots of quality inbound links to this blog.

Aren't we the best? Time to go and play on twitter, see you around SMX East!

Cover Your Link Ass et

There's been a couple of articles written on what to look for when hiring a link builder, one was done by my good friend Justilien Gaspard and the other by Sugarrae. Both give excellent practical advice to follow if you're hiring someone/firm to do your link work....

The rest of this article has been moved to the new link building blog on Alliance-Link. It can be found here  https://www.alliance-link.com/link-building-blog/

Sir, Would You Like Fries With Those Links?

Recently in several SEO forums I noticed a number of threads discussing ways to find and build "economical" links. The forum participants wanted to know how they could initiate "safe" reciprocal linking as well as "fast" submissions to free article directories. They reasoned these tactics were worth doing because both linking methods were "economical" and "easy" to use.

I understand some linking techniques can be expensive, tedious to implement and extremely time consuming, but tying your online business success to linking tactics deemed "easy", "fast" and "cheap" seems counter-productive. If you limit your linking to low-cost tactics or look at the practice as "link building" instead of "marketing for links" you're almost guaranteed to fail.

Using Tip Jars For Links

I read a Sphinn today titled "Seth Godin Wants to Cheat Advertisers With Fake Clicks" and thought - yikes! Suggesting people click on adsense as a reward is stupid for lots of reasons but especially stupid on a link building level.

Clicking adsense might get the blogger a little money (or no money if he gets banned) but he/she will never know it's coming from YOU.

But hitting a tip jar ensures the blogger knows exactly who the donation is coming from. If you're interested in guest blogging or having the blogger review your products, donating to his/her tip jar is a great way to get attention to your cause.

Forget clicking the adsense, drop a tip. It might get you a link.

Calling Matt Cutts To The Bat Phone

This post has been moved to the new link building blog the Link Spiel. You'll find the entire post here: http://www.linkspiel.com/2008/07/mattcutts-bat-phone/

Dear Matt Cutts:

I hope this finds you well. :)

I'm writing to ask a question about anchor text and if you count the anchor found in a second link on a page. There's been a lot of discussion on this topic recently, it's an important point and one a lot of people want more information on so... since it's a subject only Google can definitively answer I thought I'd go straight to the source and ask.....

Grab Your Profile Link Before Some Jerk Does

Online, reputation is everything. It drives you professionally, personally and algorithmically. Have a good one and you'll see positive returns. Develop a bad one and you'll have to work doubly hard to come back into your customers good graces.

While it's impossible to monitor every venue showcasing public opinion and reviews, you can work to protect your reputation by registering your known brand/name with as many social media, forums, and discussion sites as you can, especially the popular ones in your niche.

Why? Well anyone can register any name at a social media site and pass themselves off as you. Or just register the same name and tie it up so you can't. If you've worked hard at promoting your name (or a forum nick-name), people will assume it's you they see on various social media sites. Imagine their confusion when some interloper starts posting differing opinions or ridiculous comments! By not registering your name you've lost the opportunity to build on it and promote yourself in that location.

You've heard the old saying..."online, no one knows you're a dog"? It's very true. Anyone can come along and register your username, no verification or identification required. Once they become "you", they can seriously damage your reputation by making outlandish accusations or promises on behalf of your company. At the very least they unintentionally cause confusion. It could go on for a while before you find out about it and by then... negative opinions are formed, reputations are damaged and people are left scratching their heads.

If you think it's a big waste of time to go around and establish your branded username, consider the time and expense it will take to get those negative comments deleted and the confusion straightened out.

Also consider the added link bonus you'll get by taking possession of your username; many of the social media sites allow clean links in their profiles. (LOL - what kind of link builder would I be not to find the link opportunity in this! ;)

Be pro-active and register your brand/name on as many social media sites as you can. Tie up your username and avoid damaging your reputation, don't make it easy for anyone to steal your online identity.

Is That Directory Worth Submitting To?

This post can now be seen at http://www.linkspiel.com/2008/06/is-that-directory-worth-submitting-to/

It was interesting to see the number of questions that came in through comments and email after I ran the post below (Directory Submission Discount Codes) asking if Directories were still a viable link source.

If you follow this blog you know I think they have a place in your overall link building efforts but shouldn't be done as a stand-alone tactic. I consider them part of your foundational linking efforts and not your ranking salvation.

In my opinion, there are a lot of free and paid directories that are worthless for various reasons. Here's the short litmus test I use when trying to decide if a Directory is worth my time or money:

1. Is the directory page your link will sit on in the index of G and Y?

If the page your URL will be added to doesn't show up in the index, then it does you no good ranking wise. Then you have to decide if the traffic alone is worth it.

2. When was the page last cached?

If more than a couple weeks, you need to check for exclusions and nofollows. Or ask why. Or just move along.

3. Does the page have more adsense ads than submissions on it?

This is a particular pet peeve of mine. I don't think I need to compete with adsense ads when paying for a listing. If there's as many ads as submissions, I walk.

4. Does the directory allow you to deep link?

Linking to your main dot com is good, deep linking is better.

5. Does the directory allow you to use your own Title?

It's more advantageous for me to use "Link Building Firm" than Alliance-Link in my submission Title if I'm linking for rank. On the other hand, a handful of links with my company name doesn't hurt either.

6. Does the directory offer a lifetime link?

This is personal preference but - pay it once, be done with it, move on. If you go the annual route you may be asked to pay more the next year. My exception to my lazy-pay-it-once rule is Business.com

7. Is the directory listed in the Google Directory and/or the DMOZ?

The answer to that one should be self explanatory :)

http://www.google.com/Top/Computers/Internet/Searching/Directories/
http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Searching/Directories/

If you spend a little time poking around all the Directory categories on the DMOZ you'll find a bunch of juicy little aged directory nuggets to add your site to, buy mailing lists from or strike up a promotional advertising deal. Use them for all they're worth!

Linking In Earnest

I watched an amazing video last night - “Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” on YouTube.

This vid has been online a bit (has over 2.3 million views) so you’ve probably know about this guy but in case you don’t, Randy Pausch is a Professor from Carnegie Mellon who is dying of pancreatic cancer. He’s blogging and recording his final days as a way to leave a legacy for his very young children and draw awareness to this deadly disease.

The lecture on the video is part of an old academic tradition known as “The Last Lecture”. Professors are asked to pass on to their students all their worldly wisdom as if the next day would be their last. In an ironic twist, Professor Pausch was asked to do the lecture the same time he was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer.

As I watched and listened to this remarkable 76 minute video, four things he recommended stood out for me:

1. “… be good at something, it makes you valuable”

2. “How do you get people to help you? By telling the truth. Being earnest. I'll take an earnest person over a hip person every day because hip is short-term.”

3. (Shows slide of Jackie Robinson) “Don’t complain, just work harder. That’s a picture of Jackie Robinson. It was in his contract not to complain, even when the fans spit on him. You can spend it complaining or playing the game hard. The latter is likely to be more effective.

4. "Work hard. I got tenure a year early. Junior faculty members used to say to me, 'What's your secret?' I said, 'it’s pretty simple: call me any Friday night in my office at ten o'clock and I'll tell you."

Professor Pausch wants us to take what he’s learned and use it to enrich our personal and professional lives. I see no better tribute than to apply his sage advice to my link building business and life in general:

1. Be good, it makes you invaluable. Attracting links is about setting yourself apart and/or creating a niche. Spend time developing your business and marketing your reputation rather than coming up with silly linking schemes.

2. Be earnest. Cutesy link bait may attract a handful of links, but content in demand is there for the long haul. The number one online activity after email is product search. Write content that answers your customer’s questions and provides value.

3. Work harder. Don't succumb to the mediocrity of your competitors. Look to offline promotions for inspiration and ways to set you apart. Don’t use linking tactics that can jeopardize your business.

4. Work hard. You can’t build quality links in a day. Or a week, or even a month. It takes time and energy to create the right content and/or find and approach sites that will do you the most good. Develop your content, your image and your reputation and you’ll become the authority site everyone wants links from.

If you’d like to see the PowerPoint slides Dr. Pausch’s used in the lecture, click here.

All Hail The Dot co.uk Link - Or Not?

I talked with Dixon Jones from Receptional yesterday, Dixon lives "across the pond" and is someone I chat with frequently about link building and life in general.

It's always interesting to hear what fellow linkers are noticing and watching, especially those from other countries. There are subtle differences in linking tactics and approach based on cultural customs and engine variations so I'm always looking to pick up a tip or get input on things when they fall outside my native comfort zone.

I pinged Dixon to get his opinion on using dot com's versus country TLD's and because I thought his answer had a lot of great info in it and might benefit someone else, asked him for permission to reprint our conversation. He said OK so here goes...

debra: ....do you think it's better/more advantageous for a business in the UK to use a dot com? Or use a dot co.uk? How's that affect link building?

Dixon: When I read that question first, I thought you asked what was more "adventurous" rather than what was more "advantageous" - which is interesting, because the two words probably give me different thoughts.

Debra: Yeah well, sorry, my spelling sucks and I probably typed "adventurous" instead of "advantageous". Or maybe my subconscious is trying to tell me something. ;)- So what you think, dot com or dot co.uk?

Dixon: The absolute safe thing (SEOwise) for a UK company with a UK client base to do is to use a .co.uk domain hosted on a UK based webserver - then they should 301 redirect the .com domain to the .co.uk. However - this isn't my preferred approach - more about my preference later.

debra: How much later? I have to go get the kids from school soon.

Dixon: Later as in two seconds while I type this. I can't go but so fast.

debra: Ah. Sorry. Again.

Dixon: There are some really important pre-requisites here. The first is that you shouldn't even start if you do not own the .com domain AND the .co.uk. use a domain where you can control both if you can. If you do not, then there is a very real risk that the other TLD is taken and used in a similar way confusing your customers and the very least and having someone profiteering off of your brand at the very worst.

There are many .co.uk domains available where the .com is taken, and there is a tendency to jump on these. Before buying one, check that the .com owner is established in a different business and certainly not likely to be mistaken for you. Sometimes things happen the other way around. When I started out, I bought dixonjones.com ... but I was a poor man, and the .co.uk was cheaper. Unfortunately, dixonjones.co.uk was taken. Now there is a company of several hundred architects presumably kicking themselves for not buying the .com. (If they had at least thanked me for redirecting their misguided emails for 8 years I might care, but not even a Christmas card so far)

debra: Well that's pretty rude of them. Want me to point some links at them and....

Dixon: No no no. Anyway... The real key for Google last time I looked was where the server is hosted - not the domain name itself. I suspect that this may be changing over time, but the "adventurous" route is not to 301 the .co.uk to the .com, but rather to use the .com HOSTED ON A UK SERVER (very important) and then 301 the .co.uk onto it. This gives you a much better grounding on which to go global. Because let's face it - adventurous is nothing if not about expanding in the future.

debra: All that redirecting and being adventurous makes my head hurt.

(Inserted: Dixon ignores me here and keeps typing)

Another reason for needing both TLDs is that people in the UK certainly do assume a url and type it in. They are as likely to make a mistake using .com instead of .co.uk as they are the other way around.

debra: Yeah, using the dot com is easier and less typing. Glad to know people are lazy everywhere not just here in Virginia.

debra: So how do you determine where a site is hosted? Have a tool for this lazy person?

Dixon: If anyone needs to know where a site is hosted, there are a few tools - one is at http://geobytes.com/IpLocator.htm. You first need to ping the domain (which I do from the DOS/CMD window) "ping http://www.domain.com/" to get the IP number of the site. And for the record, Geobytes isn't mine.

###

Good information as usual, thanks for the input Dixon.

It's Hip To Be Link Square

We recently had a great turn out at our quarterly lunch meeting of the Virginia SEO MeetUp. The afternoon flew by as the group talked and shared ideas on everything connected to SEO. There were lots of questions on things like which conference should they budget to attend and what new tools were out there. It seems all the talk of recession has a lot of SEO/SEM shops budgeting for only one show this year and only investing in tools with a clear ROI. That conversation alone was noteworthy but overall the one topic that sparked the most debate centered around link building and which tactics were working. Click to continue reading...

Is Traffic The New PageRank? No.

How many times have you read an article or blog post where someone says "don't worry about PageRank, if the link will drive traffic it's worth pursuing." I'm betting you read that a lot and if you're like me, catch yourself scoffing just a little when you do.

Yes yes I know PageRank isn't a major component of the ranking algorithm anymore and yes I know it dates me but what the heck, I can't help myself. I'm a busy person with little time to look behind every page I come across so I let the toolbar set the tone. If there's a meter of green, the page passes the initial glance test. If not, I may do further analysis before moving on. For me, the PageRank meter is an adequate gatekeeper and one I can see present tense.

Traffic is harder to determine, there's no way to look at a site and see site traffic unless they offer something like Sitemeter on their pages. There's also no way to see which pages a search engine deems higher quality. You just don't offer stats publicly unless you're selling links in which case they should be provided in a media kit. As a result, it's tough to find out what a site is generating traffic wise and makes securing links based on traffic a gamble since it's a future tense metric. (meaning, I take a risk in securing a traffic based link. I can't tell the success of that link until it generates traffic).

But there's a couple of problems with my old habit.

First, it limits me to using just Google. That's not good since each of the "big three" use a different ranking algorithm I may miss out on an opportunity to find a good partner site by just using one.

Ok truth be told I don't like the idea of one entity having so much power and right now, Google has a lot. Don't tread on me, and power to the people comes to mind when I think of Google. (Which is pretty funny if you consider their motto.) And while Google doesn't tread, right now I feel like they are creeping along into everything and that kinda worries me.

Second, Google has been pushing the use of nonfollow which has prompted a good number of commercial sites to adopt it rendering any authority vote they cast almost invisible not only on G but Yahoo! as well.

Influenital sites like YouTube, the Wikipedia, Yahoo! Answers and now the greater portion of Flickr pink their links which means their authority doesn't flow. We've made them authorities by linking to them but do not enjoy the reciprocity that comes with partnership. Oh well.

And lastly, we know visual PageRank isn't a true representation of the real McCoy... not that it really matters in the big ranking picture anyway. I mean, why do people say things like " well the toolbar doesn't really show true PageRank". Does it show false PageRank? Well no according to Google, it just doesn't show what they see. It's a timing issue. Whatever.

All seems kinda dumb when you talk about it like this. So why does the fuss around PageRank continue? Good question. Better question might be - what's better at giving us the quick qualifying factor like the PageRank toolbar?

Don't tell me Alexa. Yikes! Maybe it's plain old search engine placement, an average of sites across the three engines.

The only tool I know that does that is Aaron's Myriad Search although I noticed it doesn't bring back any results for Ask Jeeves but includes them as an option on the main page.

For now I'm keeping my toolbar. Sorry Aaron, love Myraid and will use it but it doesn't fit on my toolbar. When it does I'll unhook the green meter and put it up there. Until then, here's looking at you PageRank.

Can you spare a Sphinn?

Dude, Your Site Is Boring No Links For You

At last week's SMB Unleashed Conference in Houston someone asked what was the hardest part of my job as a link builder. Was it the:

Massive amount of time involved in competitive research? Or -

The massive amount of time involved in negotiating space? Or -

Developing new and creative content that continually attracts links?

Nope, no and no again.

IMO, the hardest part of my job is telling someone you won't be able to secure the authority links they so desperately want because their site is a boring, forgetable mess. That doesn't mean I would muster up low quality links either, I just wouldn't work for them period unless they were willing to make some changes.

No matter how I spin it, when I tell someone " your site is boring and lacks credibility as a result. No one will link to it unless you make some changes..." that doesn't go over well with most people. It's easier when you have something tangible to point to like poor design, poor usability, outdated content, broken links, over-use of Adsense and no About Us page. But you're not always that lucky and it's never that easy, sometimes it's just a case of dull and boring.

It's easier to define credibility than "dull" since "dull" is somewhat subjective. Boring content is unemotional, unattached and one dimensional, so it stands to reason you're not going to find motivated people creating captivating pages that elicit credibility. Take dull and now add lack of trust and you have one dud site to try and secure links for.

To me, David Hasselhof is boring.

Vin Diesel is not.

Hamburger is boring. Kobe beef is not.

Birkenstocks are boring (and ugly). Jimmy Choo's are not.

Canned sales verbiage is boring and lacks credibility. Product reviews and testimonials are not.

You can say "boring" is a matter of taste much like beauty is in the eye of the beholder but really... when it comes to selling yourself and establishing credibility online, would you attract more confidence and links by:

• Hosting information on David Hasselhof eating burgers in Birkenstocks Or --
• Vin Diesel noshing on Kobe beef with a date in Jimmy Choos?

I'm betting the latter - unless of course you're Amish or somehow challenged.

OK so the example is a little extreme, but you get the point. Your link building and content generation campaigns shouldn't be where you scrimp on costs or creative energy, they're key to your overall online marketing success.

You can't afford to have a dull site or one lacking credibility if you want to attract links, build brand and drive targeted traffic. If you don't have content to use as a hook or the site lacks certain credibility elements then you need to spend the money and have them created otherwise, no one will link to you.

Old and stale beget no links and sales . Don’t skimp on paying for content.

Usurp Wikipedia And Build Authority. Cool.

If you're in the market to find ways to usurp an encyclopedic interloper and wanted to reestablish a long time brand while helping websites develop topical authority in the process, how would you do it?

Seems Encyclopædia Britannica found one. They've created an information widget webmasters can use to place authoritative information on their sites from EC's databases even the paid sections. Here's what it looks like and the marketing spiel that was launched with it:

Britannica Widgets are here, and with them you can instantly post an entire cluster of related Encyclopaedia Britannica articles on your blog or Web site. Just follow the instructions and copy and paste the several lines of code associated with each widget as html into the appropriate place on your site. Any readers who click on a link will get the entire Britannica article on the subject, even if access to the article normally requires a subscription. Really. Try it.

So let’s say you have a site about philosophy, or astronomy, or basketball. Stick one of the widgets below on your site and your readers will instantly have access to Britannica’s coverage of the subject.

Hopefully Britannica won't get a widget smack for using these, will be interesting to watch and see what happens. I'm rooting for them.

How To Expose Your Brand Without Wearing A Trenchcoat

I got a clever email recently from another SEO (who shall remain nameless), it's a very creative brand building promotion that didn't cost this person a dime to implement.

I want to share the email because it's a great way to generate exposure especially if you have a small marketing budget but need a big way to attract attention. While I changed the email verbiage to protect the sender, the full spirit and process of the promotion is there.

The email was sent to the friends, customers and newsletter participants of this SEO. The "gift" mentioned in the copy was impressive and extremely valuable, a definite motivator. Here's the email:

Subject: Want A Complimentary Really Nice Gift at SMX Munich?

Hey there, this will just take a couple of seconds!

SMX Munich is right around the corner and I'll be there! The first client that comes up to me and asks for a Really Nice Gift will get it, no strings attached and no April Fools joke.

Well ok, there is one string attached.

Popular SEO Website is running a contest and the grand prize is a ticket to SMX Munich. If you want my Really Nice Gift, you need to get me to Munich!

So go to their site and post a comment telling them you want me – Great SEO Guru - to have the free ticket to SMX and include a link back to my site. (Provides URL)

After all, you can’t get the Really Nice Gift if I’m not at the show in Munich right?

The point of the promotion wasn't to get a bunch of comment links, it was to motivate people to talk about the Great SEO Guru on a highly visible website. He used a contest someone else was running to promote himself and maybe win a free ticket worth over a thousand bucks in the process.

A couple people talk about you, others go to investigate. Lots of eyeballs read that post and lots of people noticed the multiple comments being left for the Great SEO Guru. Pretty smart.

For the ten minutes it took to write the email and send it, I'd say that was a great return on exposure investment.

Looking Cool Can Look Link Stupid

Have you seen the new social networking site Starbucks launched about two weeks ago called MyStarBucksIdea?

The media release Starbucks issued calls it an online community network but after going through it, it does seem like a glorified customer feedback form. Since I prefer Diet Coke as my caffeine poison of choice, I don't really care what Starbucks is calling their new venture but I was very interested to know how they were going to sell the concept to their customers.

I'm a big believer in cross promotion and incorporate offline advertising into all the custom linking services I offer. IMO, it's smart to advertise to your demographic offline because people assign credibility to what they read and transfer that trust to an online brand when they see it.

And we know trust helps to build links. So I figured I'd learn a thing or two from a company that managed to make paying $4 for a paper cup of coffee at any time of the day an unconscious part of our routine. I was curious to see how this retailer was going to promote a new online opinion venue to a customer base that's predominately offline. I headed over to our local StarBucks cafe to see if they were displaying any in-store collateral supporting the new networking site.

Surprise surprise - they weren't and the counter clerk didn't know anything about the site either. Which sincerely surprised me as I always had the impression StarBucks was marketing savvy.

I'm sure StarBucks spent a ton on money on creating this new Web2.0 platform so it's a surprise to see they're not taking advantage of in-store collateral annoucing it's creation. I know it's perceived to be cool to have a social media tool in your marketing arsenal and while I applaud StarBucks for making an attempt to build community, I'm shocked at their lack of basic Marketing 101.

I know that sounds a little harsh but I really feel that way. Everyone wants to use the latest toys and look cool because when you're cool, people talk about and admire you. But I have to wonder... here's a company with an almost 100% offline presence and they go and launch an online social networking site to build a -- community? They already have community in their stores everyday.

Which is why they should capitalize on it to market the new online venue. If they launch a new coffee, where do they promote it?

In the stores of course. So why wouldn't they promote a major new portion of their business in-store as well?

I know, I know, just because our local StarBucks aren't pimping the new site doesn't mean it's not happening elsewhere. It SHOULD be happening here, Williamsburg is a hot tourist destination and was visited by the Queen last spring so we're not total hicks. Starbucks owns thousands of offline stores -- thousands. Are they using them to promote a new marketing tool designed to listen to customers, the very people they want becoming part of their new community?

From what I can see -no. Too bad too. If the idea is to use the social networking site to empower customers, they're not doing it at the most effect level - the storefront.

Now I ask you, is that cool?

People turn from being customers to brand evangelists when they feel empowered and part of something. Think about your loyalties and why you have them, do you feel the way you do because someone listened and acted on your opinion? Probably. :)

If you have an offline store supporting an online presence, or even if you exist only online, it makes a world of sense to cross expose your URL/promotion at every opportunity.

If you're going to go through all the trouble of creating something as detailed as a social networking site or as a simple as a magnetic sign for the side of your car, be sure it's going to be seen by the people who can make a difference and in a format that reinforces credibility.

You want to look cool? Buy sunglasses. You want to grow your company and your link base? Advertise in on and offline publications and venues reinforcing your credibility.

Time for a fresh diet coke. :)

Directory Savings - BOTW & Aviva

Our friends at Best Of The Web are offering a promotion code for discounted submissions to their Directory now through the end of the month. Here's the details:

Throughout the year, we like to provide our valued members with savings on additional BOTW listings. It's been a while since our last promotion, so this month we offer you the opportunity to save big. From now until the end of March, you can SAVE 25% on All NEW Submissions and Sponsorship Advertising in the Best of the Web Directory and BOTW Blog Directory.

When prompted, enter the following Promo Code: SAVEBIG

Be sure to enter the Promo Code: "SAVEBIG" during the sign up process and you will instantly save 25% on new directory submissions as well as sponsorship advertising products.

The promo code may be used multiple times for multiple products and services during the month of March. Remember - the code will expire on March 31, 2008 so be sure to take advantage of the 25% discount before it's too late!

If you've bee thinking about submitting your site to BOTW, now's the time!

ADDED:

An email came in from Jeff at the Aviva Directory with a discount special of their own, here's what they're offering:

Aviva Directory has just turned 3 years old. We could not have made it this far without your valuable support. To thank you, we are offering all clients a third birthday special of$20 off all new submissions - both regular and featured.

To take advantage of this special offer, simply enter the following coupon code into the coupon field when submitting: birthday3

You can use this code for multiple submissions.This offer will expire at the end of March - on March 31, 2008. So, hurry and take advantage of it before the special ends. We look forward to many more birthdays in the future, and continuing to provide you with a top quality web directory.

Any other directories out there want to add a discount code? Bring.it.on!

Bee's Do It, Even NonProfits Do It. Let's Do It, Let's Fall In Link Love

Beth Kanter of Beth's Blog recently published an interview she did with Jonathan Colman of The Nature Conservancy. Jonathan is their Associate Director of Digital Marketing and he shared some insight on how the Nature Conservancy (a non-profit) was using social media as part of their marketing mix.

A lot of the interview struck home and made me think about the parallels between traditional linking and social media promotion. While I agree the two entities are different animals and call for seperate strategies, the bottom line is the same for both... to increase traffic and link love.

With some people holding SEO to the fire for exploiting social media, I thought it might be interesting to look at those parallels based on comments made in the interview and see if there's any common ground. Let's start with this one:

...one of the most interesting parts of engaging in social media is how you can measure just about everything that you do. The real challenge, of course, is to determine the meaning behind those numbers.

There's been some chatter on how links generated through social media are somehow less relevant than those secured through traditional link building methods. In traditional link building you identify a link, assign value to it and then proceed to do what you can to get it. If you're successful in securing the link, it becomes a commodity because of where it came from and the importance you placed on securing it.

It's the opposite with social media. You put the content out there and if you're lucky you'll see big traffic and some quality inbound links. Generating links through the social networks can be a crapshoot, you get what you get. Unlike traditional linking, you can't pinpoint where those links will come from or control which sites to target.

So the question is, are the links generated through social media campaigns any less efficient?

The short answer is -it depends on your goal. In today's linking landscape it's important to secure links from high quality sites, and/or those in your niche for maximum ranking impact. Getting links from places like CNN and The Huffington Post are also great provided they aren't dynamic. But if you're looking to generate eyeballs and traffic, then general links in massive quantities are fine, it should be easy to determine their effectiveness.

Here's another comment Jonathan made:

… another principle strategy of ours: connecting with people where they are rather than making find us. ...Rather than force people to come to our site ... we’re happy to ind them where they’re already engaged and introduce them to the Conservancy in venues of their choice.

Advertising/participating on sites your customers frequent when they're not on your site, that's just smart marketing. It's why keeping them engaged through reviews, surveys and customer commenting on your site is so important. Use your site to pull the info you need to find out where they are. No matter what type of linking campaign you do, you need to know what your customers want, where they are and what sites to target. That's Marketing 101.

He then went on to comment on some specific tactics/sites the Nature Conservancyy was using:

I routinely bookmark and comment on environmental news, green blogs, and stories about sustainability and alternative energy technology. One of our foremost social media strategies is to try to link to and promote as many stories as possible outside of our own site.

When we talk about link popularity as a concept, we tend to overlook the importance of topical relevance for the more impactful issues like anchor text and quality links. It's a given that anchor text and inbound links are strong factors but it's equally important to establish community relevance by linking out to sites within your community. By finding and linking to sites hosting your demographic, you work the opportunity from both sides... you get targeted eyeballs and establish your site in a cited, topical network.

.... with Digg visitors, these folks just viewed the landing page and most of them immediately left without viewing any other pages. But that’s OK, because our popularity on Digg drove in 50+ links from blogs, including a few elite sources like The Huffington Post and Cisco.com, and also caused “spillover” popularity into other social news networks. The real value from this particular success on Digg wasn’t so much the initial spike in traffic, but the increased SEO positioning and second wave of visitors coming from blogs and other sites.

The article being referenced can be found here on Digg , some of the "spillover" sites he mentions are Mixx, Hugg, Care2, Reddit, Magnolia, and Netscape . While you may not get as many votes from any one of these "spillover" sites as you would Digg (provided the story was went hot), put them all together and their numbers are impressive.

You'll also get a wider circle of inbound links which is good for establishing a varied linking pattern and increasing visibility overall.

I turn to Twitter to publicize my social media campaigns, usually the ones on Digg. ... a handful of friends following these tweets ... actually click through and vote on the stories. Twitter, Pownce, even IM can be used to draw people into your campaigns...

I've noticed a change in the way people are using Twitter these days. When I started it was more conversational but now, people seem to be using it to annouce new blog posts, ask questions and ask for Diggs/Fetches/Sphinns. More than once I've picked up an URL or a new site that's been helpful; I recently added a link I saw on Twitter to my latest SEL column, I had finished the post and was ready to send in when the tweet happened. Being able to find and react to information that quickly is every marketing person's dream.

Cherry picking links is still a good idea, you target what you want and what you know you need. Social media is good for spreading the word while attracting links in the process. The links are less targeted but no less efficient or important to your overall inbound link graph. Successful link building is about blending both and loving the results.

Dude, Where's My Leap Link?

Hey there, hope all is well out in linkland. I have a couple things to share:

If you've been thinking about doing SES New York, here's a priority code for a 20% discount when you register: 20SPKRGUST. Be sure to stop by the linking session on Wednesday, March 19 and say hello, I'll be there talking about links again.

Good news! The Aviva Directory is back in Google's index with a new and "improved" outlook on link life. Jeff wrote an awesome post on what happened and how they changed what they were doing to get back in Google's good graces. You'll find the whole post here on the Aviva blog. Thanks for sharing what you learned and here's to living in the green from here on out!

Two more things and both are from Search Engine Roundtable.

If you didn't make it to SMX, here's the week's recaps minus the one I'm supposed to be doing on the Linking Basics session. Pretty sad when you have to cover your own session 'cuz none of your cohorts thinks it's sexy enough.

Oh well, note to self: next time we do a Linking Basic's panel...pack push-up bra and convince Eric to show some chest hair.

The other thing from SERoundtable is a post about how paid links can hurt you. Yep, you read that right, seems there's been chatter about how your competitors really can slap you into the penalty box. We'll see. People also go on and on about how funneling PageRank is the next coming and duplicate content means the end of search life as we know it. Hmmm.

Our friend Matt McGee has a great post on the new Yelp/Yahoo! relationship:

At the bottom of every business profile page on Yelp, right next to the “Write a Review” button, there are now links to view the appropriate category results page on Yahoo Local. And even better, those are followed links with terrific keyword usage in the anchor text.

Smart move Yahoo!, that Yelp is a keeper and you got there first, nice.

During the Link Building Basics session at SMX I had a slide in my tactics section that said this:

• Ask your customers to write reviews on Yahoo! Local and Yelp.

Especially now with what you know about Yahoo! and Yelp, it may be a very good time to develop some sort of incentivized review program with your customers. Or at the very least, point them to both Yelp and Yahoo! and encourage them to add a review.

This will put some pressure on customer service departments which is a good thing, with people using the review sites and the results surfacing across the Web, companies will have to be at the top of their game or suffer humiliation and loss of sales. Which can be good and bad I guess... this has the potential to affect small business when it's really the big guys that need the kick.

Hmmm (a lot of humming tonight) I wonder if my suggestion to encourage people to review could be seen as spamming. Could be I guess, since Yelp is considered one of those social media sites.

On the other hand, I'm really not sure why, is encouraging people to leave a review on Yelp any different than offering a discount on the back of a printed receipt? You've seen those - call a 800 number, take a survey and you get a discount code for a future purchase. Maybe it's the paper that makes it all public relations instead of spamming.

Who knows. Ok enough from me, have a great weekend. :)