Zero Link Worth

According to this tool - http://www.business-opportunities.biz/projects/how-much-is-your-blog-worth/ my blog is worth zip.

My blog is worth $0.00.
How much is your blog worth?

Ok fair enough since I do absolutely nothing to promote it but I wondered about some of the other blogs I read on a semi/regular basis. In no order and with no surprises, here's what I found:

seomoz.org/blog.php, is worth $207,750.72
(Can I borrow the yellow shoes?)

seobook.com/, is worth $674,060.76
(Proof that peanut butter sticks!)

webguerrilla.com/, is worth $117,988.86
(Will learn to talk over you ;)

mikegrehan.com/, is worth $185,733.66
(Site has GREAT photos and better rants.)

battellemedia.com/, is worth $1,582,970.16
(He's the real Googleguy)

gawker.com/, is worth $2,941,253.40
(Maybe I should develop an obsession w/Google maps)

rohitbhargava.typepad.com/weblog/, is worth $23,146.14
(I'm getting the blue shirt)

thomasbindl.com/blog/, is worth $2,822.70
(Look -- I have a German word in my blog title, any points there?)

seroundtable.com/, is worth $2,399,859.54
(Four guys and Kim, some odds ;)

justilien.com/, is worth $119,117.94
( Way to go JG)

http://www.daggle.com/, is worth $59,841.24
( Does he type as fast as he talks? ;)

bruceclay.com/blog/, is worth $3,951.78
(Motivation for my own Corvette)

seobythesea.com/, is worth $209,444.34
(Patents - ah - Bill, you're safe.)

ducttapemarketing.com/weblog.php, is worth $138,876.84
(His site is almost as ugly as mine)

sugarrae.com, is worth $27,662.46
(Alright, now I'm redesigning my site)

Ok, now here is a surprise....toprankblog.com, is worth $0.00. If I'm not mistaken Lee mentioned a short while ago he changed the URL or something - that has to be it because it's a great little blog. Oops, ( sorry - forgot it's owned by a guy) ....because it's a great BIG blog.

(Correction added after original post)
I've made a faux pas and stand corrected. Lee is right, his blog is worth a WHOPPING $263,075.64. -- Which means it can well afford to give me a couple of pennies of link cents. Or in my case - link sense since I can't seem to copy and paste worth a damn.

There are many others but I can't bring myself to see anymore. LINK TO MY BLOG AND HELP ME GET SOME BANK! I'll make it easy to do, just copy and paste this:

http://thelinkspiel.blogspot.com

I want to be worth a couple dollars at least. Two bits anyone?

I get by with a little help from my friends with a little help from my friends...

Kim Krause and I have three things in common... we both agree driving a kid-taxi is our real full time job (this SEO thing is totally second banana), we've both been wearing the same long-straight hair style since high school and we've both been 29 for at least 10 years now.

....Okokok, it's really more like 18 years (for one of us and no I won't tell which) but who's counting when you're having this much fun? Kim has written another timeless usability piece so park it and enjoy!

In User Centered Design, Performance Matters Because We're Lazy
Written by Kim Krause Berg

Suddenly, with passion and close scrutiny, web site owners are discovering their web site navels. It's the same thing as watching my kids discover their belly buttons for the first time. Without fail, each of them has asked, "Mom? What the heck is this thing for?"

And so it is, that today, the popular mantra is no longer, "I gotta have a web site."

It's been changed to, "Why do I have a web site?" and even better (the really aware ones) will ask, "Is this web site really serving the needs of my web site visitors?"

When Do We Check Under The Hood?

The most common type of contact I receive is from people who are redesigning their web sites or considering one. They want to know if they should get a usability evaluation before or after the redesign.

These site owners no longer question needing help with usability and user centered design. They already know their website has conversion issues. This is because in today's Internet environment, performance matters over mere existence.

Even search engines are researching user behavior. This explains why you never know what to expect each time you use one. They're watching your every move. Their eye tracking software is following test subject eyeballs. Their computers are counting your clicks, and well, they even know where your house is, but don't even get me on that topic.

To answer the "When should I get my site evaluated" question, my answer is "Now".

Web site reviews are performed while you're thinking about usability. Or, while you are scribbling the layout on napkins, or drawing the information architecture on the white board before you meet with stakeholders (who will change it all anyway. Keeping a set of usability guidelines nearby will help hold you to this commmittment to your end users.........(more)

Usability Consultant, Kimberly Krause Berg, is the owner of UsabilityEffect.com, Cre8pc.com (www.cre8pc.com), Cre8asiteForums and co-founder of the Cre8asiteNetwork . Her background in organic SEO combined with web site usability consulting offers unique insight into web site development.

I get by with a little help from my friends with a little help from my friends...

If you ever hear Stacy Williams talk about me and use the term "big dead stinky fish" in the same sentence, it's ok. We have a real live -- I mean dead fish story we share so she's not being funny/mean/descriptive!

I just found out Stacy is a finalist for the Georgia Women Entrepreneur of the Year Award; typical of her not to tell anyone about something as great as that. I'm keeping all my stinky fingers crossed she gets it. :)

Below is an article on optimizing press releases Stacy wrote - enjoy!

“Spinning” News for Search Marketing Impact
by Stacy Williams, Managing Partner, Prominent Placement.

What costs less than a penny an impression, drives qualified traffic to your web site, positions your company as an authority, helps boost search engine rankings, generates buzz, and may even result in traditional media coverage?

Three words: optimized press releases. An average optimized release will:

• Be read by well over 100,000 people (journalists, industry analysts and prospective customers).
• Be published on more than 850 other web sites.
• Have an average cost per read of less than 1 cent (or a CPM of about $8 for you media folks).

Want to try it? Here are four basic steps to successfully optimize an existing press release.

• Decide which search terms to target with your press release. Search terms are the words and phrases your target audience might type into a search engine in order to find your web site. There’s a definite art to selecting search terms, but you can get a lot of good information from Wordtracker.

• Use the search terms in the headline, subhead, and copy of the press release. Don’t overdo it – it still needs to read well and present your news item accurately and succinctly. Still, it’s usually fairly simple to swap out wording that no one is searching for (such as “enterprise systems”) for more precise, product-oriented language that your target audience is searching for (such as “enterprise resource planning software”). Another example: Instead of writing about “our products,” write about “our fiber-optic transceiver products.”

• Build links into the release that point to related pages on your web site. Search engines consider the number and quality of links pointing to a site when determining rankings. To further impact rankings, include your search terms in the text of the links themselves.

• Distribute the release via PRWeb, an electronic distribution system built just for the Internet. Pony up for paid distribution – while PRWeb has an option to distribute your release at no charge, you won’t get nearly as many benefits by using that option.

What happens next?

• The release shows up nearly instantly in both Google News and Yahoo News. These news engines have over 27 million unique visitors a month in total. Often, it'll show up in regular search sults too.

• The release is fed across the Internet and picked up by other sites that publish syndicated content. Your release shows up on numerous other sites -- again, building awareness and site visitors.

• It’s emailed to appropriate segments of an opt-in email database of over 100,000 journalists. So, in addition to the online marketing benefits, you may get traditional media coverage out of this!

• A web page is created for your release on PRWeb’s site. If you’ve built links pointing to your site into the release, every time your release is posted somewhere on the web, it creates more links pointing to your site.

Consider extending your traditional PR efforts to the online world. Optimizing press releases is a cost-effective, measurable tactic for increasing your position in search engine rankings and building traffic to your site.

In 2001, Stacy Williams and her husband Matt started Prominent Placement, a search engine ranking company in Atlanta. Her extensive marketing background includes 18 years' experience at advertising and direct marketing agencies in Atlanta and Los Angeles, primarily working for B2B clients. She's also a fellow speaker at SES and publishes frequently in various industry journals. In her spare time she can be found selling Girl Scout cookies.

Keywords: optimized press releases, Stacy Williams, publish syndicated content, generates buzz

Slashdot / Del.icio.us / Digg

Link Traps

Sometimes we get so caught up looking for the latest and greatest link building program we forget about the simple, tried and true tactics that attract links. Before you invest time and money on a linking program, take care of business at home by creating some of these easy but effective link traps…

You Have To Tell Them What To Do.

Do you have a “link to us” page? If you don’t, consider adding one and include a link to it from all the content portions of your site. People are more likely to link to content they like right after they’ve read it, especially if you’ve told them it’s ok to use the content and show them how. Create a page with varied linking options such as:

Multiple text links with varied anchors and URL’s
Tagged images
Sections of re-printable content with links embedded

The last option is most desirable IMO and probably the most attractive to the blogging and media community. I’ve found journalists and bloggers resist being asked to write something or reprinting press releases in whole but will copy and paste sections of relevant information in addition to links. To have it ready and available makes their lives easier and increases your chances of having your link-embedded copy used.

Offer Them Something. (Link Incentives Work!)

For the most part, people need an incentive to link unless your site is exceptional, well known or the latest craze. Sweeten the offer by giving away something of value in exchange for the link. My friend Randy Cullom ('Randy' on the High Rankings forum) does a great job with this, take a look at what he's done: Webmasters: Link to us and receive a free one-year subscription

His offer is clear, well written and of value to people interested in certificates.

Give Them A Little Trust Nudge.

When’s the last time you ordered something from LLBean? After you took out your new parka, did you notice the extra catalogs in the bottom of the delivery box? They throw them in hoping you’ll spring for matching ear flaps or pass the catalogs on to someone else in the neighborhood. Basically, they're giving you an easy way to find and order more stuff. What if you did something similar and included link instructions to your product pages in every -

Email
Auto-responder
Correspondence and
Product delivery box/file?

Chances are people will add the link or tag (think Slashdot / Del.icio.us / Digg ) your pages to let others know about the great services you offer.

I’ve talked about trust links before but their importance bears another mention here. If someone takes the time to ask for more info or makes a purchase from your site, they’ve shown interest and/or trust in your products. While they’re basking in that warm fuzzy afterglow, offer information on how they can link to your site or link to relevant information within your site.

I know adding a “link to us” page isn’t as exciting as creating a snazzy link bait program or rewriting follow-up correspondence isn’t as sexy as developing an uber tool – but – they’re both solid tactics that work with minimal effort.

Before you implement the gee-whiz linking schemes to support revenue and link producing initiatives like product announcements, endorsements and/or other news worthy items, get your house in order. Then sit back and listen for the cha-chink of the link traps!

Keywords: link incentives, link tags, link to us, link bait

Slashdot / Del.icio.us / Digg

Yes, I get by with a little help with a little help from my friends....

You know how you always remember your first time .........

Being interviewed that is ! Well, Peter Da Vanzo was my first, he popped up one day and said "hey Debra, do you have five mintues and can I interview you for my blog?" That five minutes turned into two weeks of chatting and we've been friends ever since. When I pinged for something to add here, he responded with what you'll read below. Typical of Peter, he's always helping a friend - or two! :)

The 3-Page Search Engine Optimisation Technique by Ammon Johns

Performing basic optimisation to improve the rankings of a page in search results is not truly that difficult. Generic search engine friendly optimisation techniques work well in most engines. When competition is fiercer, and many of your competitors have some level of search engine optimisation too, things become harder.

At this point, the content needs to be better optimised for the particular algorithm than the competitors' content is - and this means choosing which algorithm (and search engine) you will attempt to match. One page cannot closely match different algorithms, and each of the major search engines has its own algorithm.

Can a single optimised page match (at more than a generic level) with both the Google algorithms (providing the search results at Google, Yahoo and AOL) and with the algorithms of Inktomi (providing the bulk of search results at MSN)? The answer is 'No'...... (click for the rest of the article, it's a tad long but worth the read)

Peter Da Vanzo, is a search marketing strategist and industry commentator based in Wellington, New Zealand. He's the owner of SearchEngineBlog (circa 2002) which examines the search world from a grassroots perspective. He can also be easily bribed with beer.

DNS Issue

I've been a member of SEOConsultants for several years and have always been impressed with the way Edward runs the show over there. So when he sends email and asks folks to post about an issue he feels important -- I'm happy to do it. From Edward:

DNS Recursion is DNS Cache Poisoning

This issue has now escalated to a much higher level as we have some topics going on at WebmasterWorld that have discovered particular instances of DNS Cache Poisoning and how it is affecting those involved.

As a search marketer, it is your responsibility to understand at least the basics of what is happening so that you can report your findings to those reponsible for your DNS, Web Hosting, Email, etc.

Please, this is a very serious issue and we hope that those of you with Blogs, Forums, etc. will help get the word out there so that the server administrators of this world can help close the gap that shows 75% of DNS Servers are open for recursion. That is a scary thought!

http://www.seoconsultants.com/tools/dns/cache/

Elephant Links

Remember this from your Marketing 101 class?

If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying ‘Circus Coming
to the Fairground Saturday’, that’s advertising.

If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk him into town, that’s promotion.

If the elephant walks through the mayor’s flowerbed, that’s publicity.

If you can get the mayor to laugh about it, that’s public relations.

And if you planned the elephant walk, that’s marketing.

Let’s change it up a bit for Link Marketing 101:

If you pay for a link on a high profile site, that’s advertising.

If that high profile link contains an exclusive special offer, that’s promotion.

If the exclusive link promotion is virally passed, that’s publicity.

If the viral promotion is blogged by many, that’s public relations.

And when your site suddenly becomes a three-ring traffic circus... that’s marketing.

Yes I get by with a little help from my friends with a little help from my friends...

If I had a dime for every minute I've spent laughing on IM with Scottie we'd ALL be able to retire early! We even hook up the webcams and let our kids chat with each other from time to time - it's a real family affair. Luckily, she's popped by and agreed to let me run this article on image links, -- thanks buddy.

Hmmm, wonder if Mr. French would be as good a friend and come clean my house? ;)

Image Links, SEO and Usability. How Image Links Can Help Build a Better User and Search Experience.
by Scottie Claiborne.

There are webmasters out there who believe that good design, usability, and SEO can't co-exist in the same site; that effective SEO will ruin usability or design elements. While there are plenty of examples that seem to prove this point, it doesn't have to be that way.

Ask for advice on building a search-friendly website, and one of the tips you will often receive is to use text links throughout your site. Text links are read by search engine spiders and render the same regardless of the type of browser being used. They are accessible by screen readers and can be easily identified as links using CSS rollover properties. It's great advice and you can't go wrong using text links.

However, sometimes the most relevant phrase for a page is just too long to use in your primary navigation without looking awkward or simply including too much information for the typical site user. That's when image links may be a better choice.

Image Links VS Text Links for SEO

Text that makes up a link is referred to as anchor text and it can be a powerful tool for search engine optimization. The text in the link tells the search engine what that page is about, and it is so powerful that pages can rank well for terms found only in links to the page and not on the page itself. (Type "miserable failure" into a Google search for an example.)

Customized text links are highly prized for their ability to improve rankings for specific search terms and it makes sense to use them on your internal pages, since those pages "count" when the engines look at links and relevance.

Image links are followed and counted as well, and the text in the alt attribute for the image serves the same function as anchor text. General theory holds that alt text isn't as "powerful" as link text, and for good reason. Webmasters who try to "game the system" stuff zillions of phrases into their image alts in an attempt to rank better for those terms. Because it isn't an element that is likely to be seen by users (unless they hover over an image), it can be more easily abused. In general, search engines prefer to give more weight to elements that users can see.

While it's difficult to prove that alt text on image links is "less important" than text links, it does seem to make sense that text links have a little more "weight" than image links.

The SEO Challenge

In an attempt to rank well for keyword phrases, you are likely to see sites that don't just link to
Home

now they link to:

Cincinnati OH Home Cleaning Services Home Page

Where

Carpet Cleaning
Duct Cleaning
Drapery Cleaning

were once enough, you now see links that say

Cincinnati OH Carpet Cleaning
Cincinnati OH Duct Cleaning
Cincinnati OH Drapery Cleaning

From an SEO standpoint, it's a pretty smart move. From a design and usability standpoint, it stinks. Users have to look at extra words in the links that are there to help them find the page, but are superfluous and annoying to someone already in the site.

Image Links Get the Job Done

The answer is to put those long, relevant, but awkward keyword phrases into the alt attribute of an image link. If your home page really is about "digital camera repair services", you can put that in the alt attribute of an image link that simply displays the word "home".

• Home- The page will be relevant for "home", which doesn't really benefit the page or help search engines to know what the page is about.

• Digital Camera Repair Services Home- The page will get extra relevance for Digital Camera Repair Services Home, but it looks awkward and may confuse users.

• Now, the users simply see a "home" link, which is easy to understand, but the search engines read "Digital Camera Repair Services Home Page" and assign that page a little more relevance for that term. Users who hover over the link and screen readers will still see a relevant explanation of what the link is about.

Image links can be used throughout the site for sites with awkward keyword phrases, or be used selectively for pages like "Home", "Contact Us", "About Us", and other key pages that are best identified with short phrases, but can be described better using an alt attribute such as "Contact the Digital Camera Repair Service Center".

It's Not a Question of "Better" or "Worse"

Text and image links both serve a function and you can build a site using exclusively one or the other, and it will be fine. However, when you consider the terms that you want to rank well with and the need to balance simplicity with specific words, image links offer an alternative to wordy text links that don't integrate into your navigation very well.

Getting a mild boost for your desired keyword phrase in an alt attribute is STILL better than getting "full" credit for "About Us". It just makes sense to use those internal links to help identify the full topic of the page. Just remember not to go overboard when adding your alt text- only use the phrase that best describes the page.

Scottie Claiborne is the Web Marketing Strategist for Right Click Web Consulting and the facilitator of the Successful Sites Newsletter. She is a speaker at the Search Engine Strategies conferences and the High Rankings Seminars as well as the Administrator of the High Rankings Forum.

Stupid Videos

Take a break and have a laugh....

http://www.stupidvideos.com/video/commercials/German_Coast_Guard_3/

Yes I get by with a little help from my friends with a little help from my friends...

Bill Nye might be the Science Guy but Bill Slawski is the SEO Patent Guy! He's also one of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet and a fellow member of the SMA-NA. He's stopped by and left us something "on the silly side of linking". Enjoy!


A morning walk, with hypertext

Funny where links are showing up these days offline, in the world. This morning, I decided to keep my eyes alert for hypertext on a stroll through the small town I live in.

Grabbing a cuppa joe at the big chain bread and coffee place near me, I notice that the receipt not only has a web address, but also instructions to provide feedback by web or toll-free phone number to be eligible to win a monthly $ 2,000. cash prize. Good to see calls to action with a link. That seems like a good idea.

I also pick up a copy of the local paper. Usually I read it online, but sometimes I like to relax with breakfast and the news, and it's hard to eat and type at the same time. Prominently under the paper's name is the online address. I wonder if subscriptions to the printing-press version has suffered, or if it appeals to a different demographic than the online edition.

The place where I pick up my paper is my local newstand, and I ask myself, as I look at the magazine covers, how many of them don't have websites. The newstand has been in business for years, and it's a local institution, serving folks a mix of books, magazines, papers, lottery tickets, snacks, and drinks. Lots of URLs all over the place, on almost everything they sell. Are newstands like this one an endangered species?

Walking through a parking lot, I feel an urge to click on cars, noticing that some Maryland and Pennsylvania license plates include URLs instead of state mottos. Kind of hard to mouse over vehicles while they are barreling down the highway, but it must help spread the word that these states have websites.

You never know when you might need a dumpster, but if you do, the garbage removers near me are savvy enough to include their URL on the big green trash receptacles I walk past this morning. I'm surprised at some of the places where I didn't see URLs, like the DHL pickup box, Verizon payphones, and a number of stores and restaurants that I know have web sites.

Some of the food places do have their URLs painted on their glass windows, or on signs. A couple have tent signs I have to walk around on the sidewalk, with their web addresses on them. One of those dining establishments holds special dinners celebrating different events, and I see they have a couple of signs touting a “Graduation Day Special Dinner.” (I like living in a college town.) The signs state that this is “reservation only,” and they let people know that they can make those reservations online, listing the address.

A few other places using the internet as part of their front facade marketing include the local post office, one of the town's florists (who also has the URL on the back of the delivery van parked in front of the building), and one of the real estate agents, with a sign in the otherwise empty window of a store that closed a couple of months ago.

I see a few nods to online guerilla marketing, with events listed on a community bulletin board with web sites noted, and a sticker for a clothing store placed graffiti-like on a oneway sign in an alley. Another sticker for a band, with URL, is seen a little further down the street. I don't know if this is a good idea, or a bad one, but I did write the band's name and address down.

Returning with a hot coffee and chocolate pastry (breakfast of champs), I see that the mailman has brought me some correspondence from around the world. The lowcost insurance company sending me mail displays their dot com in the return address instead of street, city, state and zipcode. I guess they figure no one will be sending their letter back to them if the intended recipient has moved.

Some of the bills that accompany my junk mail also prominently exhibit online addresses where I can send in my payments. I wonder how much time they save by having people pay online. I'm not sure how I feel about paying my bills online.

Along the journey, I stopped and picked up “A History of Violence” on DVD. Of course, on the package are URLs for both the film and the production company. I decide to watch the movie before looking at the web site for it. I've already seen the trailer, read a review, and bought the movie. I wonder what else they might have for me at the web site. Hopefully something that isn't trying to sell it to me, because I already own it.
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Author Bill Slawski owns SeoByTheSea a company offering internet marketing services focused on organic search engine results and usability in web sites.