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.

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...

Tools, Awards And General Link Stuff

I've been up to my eyeballs creating presentation slides for the upcoming SES Training program in San Francisco, love to do these sessions, hate doing slides. We have a nice crowd coming to a great hotel on historic Union Square so it should be a good session.

I'm happy to annouce the Link Spiel won the SEMMY award in the link building category. I was shocked to be honest, didn't think I had a paid link's chance in hell given who the finalists were but -- it did and I'm extremely grateful to all that voted.

Winner:
Help! I’m New, I Need Links, What Can I Do? Debra Mastaler, The Link Spiel 9/29/07

Runners-Up
Andy Hagans’ Ultimate Guide to Linkbaiting and Social Media Marketing Andy Hagans, Tropical SEO 2/5/07

Revealing your Competitor’s FULL External Relevance Profile – One of my best kept secrets Hamlet Batista 10/17/07


In other news, I have been meaning to download and try out a couple of SEO/link tools and finally did so this weekend.

First one is SEOQuake which shows a large number of SE parameters under each search result. There's a download for Firefox and one for IE but I couldn't get the IE to work properly so couldn't test that one. You can pick and choose the various engines/parameters you want to see, (PageRank, inbound link counts per engine, if they have edu links etc) there's a lot of them but several strong ones you can use to help determine whether or not to pursue a site as a link partner.

It's helpful, offers a great one-stop look at a number of things and is free to use. But like a lot of these tools, it doesn't have export features or comparative analysis capabilities that would propel it to awesome status and become something I'd pay for.

The other tool is one Michael VanDeMar created called Bad Neighborhood Link Checker:

This tool will scan the links on your website, and on the pages that your website is linking to, and flag possible problem areas. This can greatly ease your seo efforts.

Basically, the tool scans your outbound links and tells you if the sites you're linking to could have issues that may affect your ranking. I had to giggle a little at what came back for my site, not sure I'd call SEOByTheSea, Marketing Pilgrim or StoneTemple potential spam sites but hey- who knows what the guys are really doing over there. ;)

Ok, in fairness and because I know I'll get a raised eyebrow from one of those "guys"-- all it means is the blog I was linking to had a disproportinate number of the same type of inbound links so a little "possible problem" flag was raised. The tool recognized a lot of "sameness" in the link structure which is, if you believe everything you hear, not a good thing when it comes to links.

You can hover over the different images and information boxes pop up to tell you what the image stands for - I like that. I also like the fact the tool identifies which link is questionable and why.

For example, I had one questionable link (which is different than the "possible problem" flag) come back identified as containing verbiage "questionable" for the SEO community. The word was "sex" and while I think it's safe to say people are having and talking about sex in the SEO community, as a term on a site talking about SEO, it's out of place -- even if only by one letter.

What triggered the blip to the Bad Neighborhood tool was in the comments on a blog I linked to. Seems the word "sex" was used both in the anchor and surrounding text so my site was guilty by association and the link was flagged. This little tool is handy-dandy if you don't want to spend a lot of time looking over potential partner sites.

Disclaimer here: There is absolutely nothing wrong with a site that uses verbiage outside the topical realm. There are comments on this blog which could be considered off topic, I can't police everything and don't want to. The point here is - if you run that tool and find a lot of off-topic verbiage/links then think again about partnering with them.

As a reminder, Aaron has a terrific list of free SEO tools over on LinkHounds as does Joost de Valk so check them out as well.

A couple of people have asked how my website and blog redesigns are going. Great! I'm excited at what's being done. Never thought it would take so long but hey, Rome wasn't built in a day.

Thanks again for voting for my link building post and for supporting this blog. It's much appreciated. :)

Silence Of The Link Lambs

Last week Search Engine Land posted information about a link building opportunity with Wired that caused a bit of commotion after people took advantage of the opportunity.

Tonight I got an email from StomperNet explaining a similar firestorm caused by it's members with the site Scribd.com. Here's an excerpt from that group broadcast that explained (in part) what happened:

..."OK, just about two weeks ago we released our "NoSecrets" video. In that video we gave a bunch of new strategies for using social media sites to build your business. One of those sites was scribd.com...Now this is where it got interesting ... That NoSecrets" video went viral... And it was viewed many, many tens of thousands of times. Naturally, many of those people put the strategies to work.... But, of course, with SO many people viewing the video, well let's just say not all of them used the scribd.com strategy the way they were supposed to*. And just a few days after we released thatvideo, scribd.com made some changes. They posted about those changes on their blog..."

More " we've been spammed, Internet marketers be damned" drama. Interesting.

No, I don't condone spam and even more importantly, I don't condone stupidity. Anytime I write about a strategy and provide example sites, I try to add a "don't spam" type disclaimer. Not because I'm covering my ass but for site preservation. I don't want to add to the demise of open sources, I saw what happened to places like Yahoo! Answers and del.icio.us, and I don't want to be part of turning those places pink.

(Yes I know, this little blog isn't in the same league as SEL or Stompernet when it comes to influence, but hey -- even small voices carry on the 'Net. :)

Publicly sharing link building information and resources has become difficult recently. With certain tactics on the outs and open sources now fighting back, sharing where and how to get links has become a touchy subject.

How much is too much information? Do you discuss principles and leave out the specifics? Do you talk about the type of site but never reference one by name? I've always freely shared ideas and sources because it's how I was taught and how I continue to learn. I'm one of those old hippie types who believes in the communal nature of the Net so I contribute and give back by sharing what I know works. My defiant ying side wants to scream out stuff like this:

Link far out and stick it to the man.

But the yang is a little different. I'm also an ISTJ pragmatist who thinks sites accepting UGC (user generated content) shouldn't be surprised when their systems are challenged by large numbers of people looking to add their articles. Especially when those sites were built to accept those articles to begin with! If you think what's being submitted is spam, bounce it. IMO, public sites accepting content shouldn't build a business without a spam contingency plan.

So what's an old Pink Floyd lovin', granola chewing link building chick supporting a viable 2008 business and a new Lexus supposed to do? Share? Not share? Go underground or worse...regurgitate?

Lots of questions, not so many answers - yet. For now I'm going to keep on truckin' but with a Mad Eye Moody approach. Hopefully no one will come along and eat me alive for doing so.

Fetch / Sphinn

Ok, It's Settled. Link Bait Is A Science. Or Not.

Does anyone else think it's a little odd for a hospital research group to use an 11 year old algorithm to plot a course for staph?

Google tool could search out hospital superbugs

Would that article have gotten as much play had it NOT used the word "Google" in it's title?

Also, last month (Dec '07) this article surfaced in NewScientist magazine

Do our brains work like Google?

It's a recap of a report published by researchers from the University of California/Berkeley on how Google's PageRank algorithm can be used to help study the human brain information retrieval process. (Bill Slawski found the paper for me, thanks!)

The paper was presented at a technology conference (again - interesting) and then picked up by NewScientist magazine. Seems there really is more to PageRank than being fodder for SEO ire.

Now please don't go getting all huffy and accuse me of being a medical killjoy or wanting to hoard PageRank for the SEO community - it just ain't so. I'm all for the spread of green love in the world.

But still... (seriously now) the whole thing seems a little creepy and not because they're talking about staph. Bill pointed out scientists/researchers tend to use popular terms and examples (like the word "google") to reinforce concepts and I get that but - does the scientific community really need to use the word Google in the title of their research papers to get attention?

Cynical me says "seems so". Again - it IS an 11 year old algorithm... and Google is trading at what - a bazillion dollars a share? Are these people really using the best mathematical equations to find medical answers to benefit mankind or one that grabs attention and maybe research dollars?

One thing's for sure - it appears our friends in the medical/scientific community have learned the fine art of link bait. Which means it's really a science - right? Link bait for science. Has a nice ring to it.

If this spread of research love continues I wouldn't be surprised to see PageRank as Time Magazine's Person of the Year.... ;) Hey- add that to the prediction list!

ADDED:

iBrian sphunn a story about the staph post here: http://sphinn.com/story/21569

David from WebProNews blogged about it: http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/01/04/hospitals-could-google-for-superbug-movement

It made Slashdot's science section: http://science.slashdot.org/science/08/01/04/1719213.shtml

and the tech section of InfoWorld: http://weblog.infoworld.com/techwatch/archives/015374.html

But nothing coming back from the medical community....... wonder how come?

Will The Real Search Engine Blog Please Stand Up?

Earlier today I read the The 2007 Paid Links War, In Review post on Search Engine Land and clicked through to the links within the article. After reading, clicking, and reading some more, I realized I had spent a solid 20 minutes on the post and had visited 12 different sites. Wow.

I came away with two things as a result:

1. I appreciate the time and effort it took Vanessa Fox to write the article, it's a huge amount of work and I think sites like SEL, Search Engine Guide, SER and SEJ provide a tremendous information service to the SEO community and/or anyone wanting to learn about the world of search marketing. And...

2. I have to wonder how does a small business person - or anyone outside of the SEO circle find the nuggets of information being shared by search engine representatives on individual, private commercial blogs?

Why isn't information like this (see below) being added to the official search engine blogs? How would anyone in the small business community know to look on this blog, scroll through the mounds of comments to find a significant statement like this one made by Google Engineer Matt Cutts on paid links:

I think quoting me as saying "ALL links inside of any sponsored post should carry the no-follow tag period, regardless of whether they are required, not required or even link to the advertiser paying for the post" is different than our conversation. I believe that I said that adding nofollow to all links in paid posts would certainly be safe.

Bold mine. I wonder why this wasn't blogged about on an official search engine vehicle with links to the originating story/comments? The host blog would still get some attention, the search engine would make their point clear and official and the rest of us only have to visit one place. Win, win win.

Come on guys, you want us to follow your webmaster rules then make it official by posting them in one place, on your company blogs. Let's get rid of the FUD, the crude, and the mud associated with near-miss comments by people trying to share.

I'm not suggesting the information you're dropping around isn't helpful - it is - but it's damn hard to follow when it's left all over the blogesphere.

Fetch / Sphinn

More Link/SEO Predictions 2008

With Barry griping about being bored every five minutes on Twitter I thought I'd help out and give him something to do by suggesting he ask around for people's 2008 predictions.

And amazingly, he did!! :

http://www.cartoonbarry.com/2007/12/send_me_your_search_prediction.html

After thinking about it, I have a couple more predictions to add:

• I think Google will drop the DMOZ this year. It's been taken from their "even more" drop down menu to where-ever so what's the point of having it?
  
  
• Someone will create a hand-held device that is a USB stick, satellite radio, telephone, camera and dictaphone all in one. Ok maybe that one is more wishful thinking.
  
  
• Creative conference swag is going to make a comeback. It started with the mug Stoney sent out for the holiday's, thanks for sending me one as well honey. Hatip Simon .
  
  
• Reputation management is going to be the hot service this year, with more and more people participating in the review process it's going to be extremely important to monitor and correct/bump/trump what's out there.
  
  
• I think you'll see a lot of the smaller SEO agencies/single shops consolidating or merging with larger companies. SEO isn't just about SEO anymore.
  
  
• More private forums are going to blossom as people become hesitant to talk openly about what works and what doesn't in SEOLand. It's sad really because the quality of the content being shared publicly might suffer.
  
  
• And on that note, my last little predication is really an annoucement: at long last we're re-doing our site, adding new services and bringing on new people to Alliance-Link in January.
  
  
• In addition, my poor little blog here will be transfered to a new big girl Link Spiel. See? Hell can freeze over. ;)-
  

Happy New Year everyone. I wish you good health, family happiness and online business success.

And for Barry I wish no day ever be boring. :)

~ Debra.

It's Prime Time To Get A Video Link

I've been following the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike since an old high school friend is a member. She's been writing for a popular police drama for a number of years now so I set my alert services to bring back tidbits on the strike and her writing group in particular.

This morning I got an alert from the Center for Media Research with a survey recap from the Online Testing Exchange with some interesting numbers as they relate to the way people will watch TV (or not) as the strike goes on.

Seems 44% of the people surveyed stated they'll continue to watch their favorite show even if they're repeats and 26% said they'd probably watch more reality TV since those types of shows aren't likely to be affected by the strike. (I love you Simon!)

But the most interesting number IMO was this one:

16% said they'll watch more original content on the Internet as a way to keep themselves entertained during the strike.

The OTX only surveyed 3100 people for this opinion poll but still...... 496 of them said they'll go online for original content. The fact they KNOW to go online means they're already aware it's there and will just do more of it. Don't let the statistic fool you, that little drop in the bucket represents a huge possibility if you think about the millions of people with Internet access.

If you've thought about creating a video now might be the time to get it going. With universal search the topic du jour and the writers strike possibly re-channeling people online, you stand a pretty good chance of being seen -- and linked to.

When Does It Cease to Be Link Marketing And Become Link Spam?

This little blog gets a fair amount of traffic and its share of spammy comments. I turned comments off a while ago when my irritation surpassed the novelty factor but brought them back when I decided to be a good blogging neighbor and embrace posting, linking out and comments even though they could be a pain to manage.

I get the usual "great info, thanks for sharing" or "very useful post" type comments that are not only unimaginative, but also a dead giveaway you’ve been hit by drive-by blog spammers. They almost always come from off-topic sites which I just delete.

But lately I've been noticing a number of comments pop up on posts I made 18 to 24 months ago sitting on URL's with a bit of PageRank showing. Even though I know these comments are being strategically placed, they're so well written I can't help but be impressed. These aren't the moronic "very useful post" type comments you see brought in by the auto bots but thoughtful well written pieces of marketing prose. They're longer, detailed and use shared keyword phrases found in my blog posts and in the Title or content of the site the link points to! Someone's been thinking here.

And like their spammy cousins, these link drops are from businesses in unrelated industries sharing keywords. For example, someone recently submitted comments on a post I did in early 2006 titled Nascar Links . The guy left a well written paragraph which incorporated keyword terminology from my blog post plus a couple of his own. The link he left pointed to a strategically optimized site for Nascar products.

My post had nothing to do with Nascar, it just used terminology and people associated with the sport. I feel fairly certain this was a human generated link drop and not something done by an auto-bot given the tone and depth of the comment. Someone had to read the post and figure out a way to incorporate what I said with their keywords. Really, it was pretty slick. (I'm taking notes ;)

And while I thought the post was savvy from a SEO perspective, I reluctantly acknowledge the link drop wasn't made as a good blogging neighbor. It was a calculated move done to affect rank. If I had left the comment up there, could someone have reported me under the new snitch rules? After all, the link was purposely put in place to manipulate Page Rank.

So I wonder... for all those bloggers out there who have open comments on aged sites with Page Rank showing, are they unknowingly setting themselves up to be reported as a link scheme? Does the fact this tactic was done through blog comments make it less a marketing tactic than cold-calling for links from blogs and websites?

When does it cease being a marketing tactic and move into link spam?

No Ink Trail On These Newspaper Links

The hub-bub over buying links really started to gather steam about two years ago, that's when I seem to recall see/hearing the search engines go public with their dislike of the technique. It really heated up after someone suggested the advertisers on the O'Reilly network were spamming the engines and the Berkeley College newspaper was singled out as an example of advertising gone bad.

The whole situation soured me on using newspapers as a source to find links but I had a re-think the other day after I read a report from the Newspaper Assn. of America where over 59 million people or 37.3 percent of all active internet users visited an online newspaper site in the second quarter of this year.

The report went on to quote the NAA’s President as saying:

These (newspaper) sites continue to adapt to evolving consumer demands, frequently allowing user comments on articles and offering thought-provoking blogs to complement the journalistic excellence that makes newspapers a community's most trusted resource.

My linkey senses started tingling after I read the last part. With all those people visiting a "trusted source" I decided I needed to move past any issues I had with newspapers and go look for opportunities.

I couldn’t find a list of the online newspapers used in the report but did come across a slightly older study (Nov. 2006) done on the Top 100 Newspaper Web Sites. I pulled the top three papers and decided I'd try looking for links I didn't have to pay for. Here's some of what I found:

The New York Times.

· Offers a detailed media kit that explains the hows and why of advertising on their sites. Very helpful in figuring out which pages have high traffic counts.

· Of the papers I checked, The NY Times has the largest list of blogs and bloggers. They break them down by category making it easy to find and pitch them on articles and stories.

· Under Classifieds there's a directory to add your business to, no signs of pink links here.

The Washington Post.

· In addition to offering a media kit, The WP has a blog directory. Check out the blogroll under Network Members, I'm sure you'll recognize a couple of people.

· The City Guide offers local businesses the opportunity to add a listing. Links in both the blog directory and the City Guide are clean, all the pages checked were listed in both Yahoo and Google.

USA Today

· Has a so-so media kit and a couple of internal directories, but none show a meter of green.

· Check out the site map, it's detailed and lists columnists/bloggers by category for easy contact.

· Best feature on this site is the USAToday community.

As a USATODAY.com member, you can participate ... by contributing your own comments and reviews throughout the entire USATODAY.com site. Interact with our expert journalists...Connect with other readers...Create your own blog. Upload photos. Find and interact with people like you.

The community is free to join.

Having a topical blog on a site like USA Today makes sense, editors looking for sources, quotes and links tend to turn to people from their home site first since there's a bond of commonality established. If you want to become known for a certain something, this is a good way to do it.

I spent a total of about 20 mintues on the three sites to pull the information listed here. Some of it isn't a cut and dry submission opportunity but overall, the sites can be easily mined for free linking opportunity.

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