Tuesday, March 15, 2011

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Senator Al Frankin Revs Up SXSW

Posted: 14 Mar 2011 09:50 PM PDT

Al Franken is known to attract an audience.

Sometimes in a packed comedy house or senate chamber and others at a town hall meeting in his home state of Minnesota.

Where's the Senator at today? The Annual South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas: a geek fest for the creative and un-creative alike.

Mr. Franken's words regarding net neutrality and the threat of corporations "destroying the Internet," hit home with an audience reliant on a free-flowing and semi-unregulated access. Going as far to call it the, "First Amendment of our time."

“I came here to warn you, the party may be over,” Franken added. “They’re coming after the Internet hoping to destroy the very thing that makes it such an important [medium] for independent artists and entrepreneurs. Its openness and freedom."

To put his comments in your native tongue: Destoying ='s large corporations' attempts at allowing media companies to pay for quicker streaming. Mr. Franken cited Comcast in his example of a company's business model threatened by an open Internet.

“The real end for Comcast is to put Netflix out of business entirely,” Franken said, because of the threat that Netflix’s streaming video business could pose to Comcast’s cable franchise. “In the end, the American people will end up paying a lot more for worse service.”

The current setup essentially guarantees your drunken exploits blog gets as much attention as Netflix.com.

Well, who wouldn't be for that? Probably the ones trying to push drunken idiots out the door. Also affectionately known as independent film makers, musicians and writers. . . just to name a few.

Don't expect the fight to be easy. It's time to start passing the hat.

“Unfortunately one thing these big corporations have that we don’t is the ability to purchase favorable political outcomes,” Frankin continued. “Big telecoms have lots of [lobbyists], and good ones, too. "The end of net neutrality would benefit no one but these corporate giants.”

A large majority contend, allowing corporations to purchase better streaming would not leave independent artists and small businesses behind. A comprise was also reached which would create two classes of Internet: wireless and fixed line.

Fixed line providers would not be allowed to block access to sites or applications. However, wireless carriers would have more leeway to enforce streaming caps.

Despite the compromise, Mr. Frankin isn't done fighting for what he calls a "weird Internet."

"Let’s fight for net neutrality. Let’s keep Austin weird. Let’s keep the Internet weird. Let’s keep the Internet free.”

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Saturday, March 12, 2011

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PaidBacklinks.com V2 Is Now Live!

Posted: 11 Mar 2011 11:25 AM PST

Get 10 Free Backlinks Today!

When I first got into SEO, I took out a sheet of paper and wrote down the basic elements that a proper SEO campaign consisted of. Those 3 elements were:

1 – Onsite Optimization

2 – Content Production

3 – Backlinks

The truth is that SEO is VERY easy, it just takes a ton of work . . .

Now, everyone with a little bit of training can perform the necessary elements of onsite optimization and most people can write an article with some kind of effectiveness. But, what about building backlinks?

The truth is that building backlinks is the hardest aspect of SEO. You have a few choices when you set out to build backlinks. First, you can email other website owners and ask for a link back to your website (this is boring and usually leads no-where). Second, you can hire a dedicated link building team to do the heavy lifting for you. Or third, you can try PaidBacklinks.com which completely automates the process!

That’s where PaidBacklinks.com comes in! PBL is a revolutionary system that allows website owners and SEO agency’s alike to build hundreds of quality one-way-textlinks with the push of a button.

So what exactly is PaidBacklinks.com?

In short, the system relies on a privately owned blog network of several thousand domains that have even more articles and post already indexed by Google.

Backlinks are built using the “Campaign Builder” in which the user enters in their keywords and URL’s. From there the PBL technology searches the blog network for exact keyword matches and set’s the backlinks in place.

The best part is, you can test drive the system for FREE and receive 10 backlinks with no obligation.

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Wednesday, March 9, 2011

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4 Principles I Try to Live By

Posted: 08 Mar 2011 07:26 PM PST

I have been working online (full time now) for almost 10 years. And, as I approach this milestone in my professional life I find myself becoming much more retrospective of things past and trying to contemplate what the future will mean for me both personally and professionally.

In the last 10 years, I have went completely broke 3 different times and suffered numerous setbacks that I will chalk up as both my own cause and “bad luck”. I have seen my business grow to 110 employees and go back down to just myself working at home, only to find that I had to somehow find the resolve to pick myself up and try it all again. Despite all of that, I would not have done it any other way!

The following 4 principles are certain truths that I have come to know during this wild ride.

1) All you have is trust!

If your clients, co-workers, or partners don’t trust you . . . then you don’t have a business. You might have a organized crime syndicate or your might have a dictatorship, but you most certainly do not have a business.

Work hard as you grow your business to develop trust around everyone you know. Do what you say, and always only say the things you can or are willing to do.

2) This takes hard work!

If you are working on the internet and you are expecting a huge pie in the sky pay-dirt to come your way . . . go bet on a horse race. You will probably have better odds hitting it big there.

Everything from SEO, to PPC, and product development takes a HUGE amount of work and a lot of sleepless nights and long hours. Be ready to give it your all and most importantly make sure that your family is behind you in your endeavors. I could write a book on that truth alone (getting your family to buy into your dreams), but we will save that one for later.

3) Everything that happens to you is your own fault!

You might say “But Mike, above you mention ‘bad luck’?” . . . that’s right and when I think about it, I made that bad luck come my way.

The choices you make and the people you surround yourself with are entirely up to you. Make sure that when you set out to build your business that you only choose those who have the same or higher ethics that you have. This will ensure that you are not brought down by their poor decisions as often the case might be.

4) I never plan on retiring!

Now, my employees and partner might read this and say “But, Mike . . . that’s not what you told us!”. While it is true that I have told them in 3 years I want to retire that doesn’t mean that I want to stop working.

The idea of setting around and growing old on a golf course simply doesn’t strike a chord with me. As I move forward in life I am going to strike to work hard to help others and never stop building.

Just food for thought . . . .

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Tuesday, March 8, 2011

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What Do Mobile Users Mean for SEO?

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 09:44 PM PST

In the wake of FinancialTimes.com stating half of their traffic arrives from mobile sources, many online marketers are asking. . . ,"what does this mean for search engine optimization?"

It's not like users will immediately stop normal surfing patterns and abandon Google, Bing and all organic forms of traffic. However, any semi-follower of the SEM industry would take a step back and ask a few questions:

  • Will users depend more on social recommendations or keep with traditional search behavior?
  • How will results change to reflect the needs of mobile users?

Instead of trying to answer each question directly – let's consider a few options. First off, FinancialTimes.com doesn't specifically state these are organic users, direct users, paid. . . etc.

Since FT is a news aggregation site, these type of stats should not be surprising to anyone following this industry. . . including FT's managing director, Robert Grimshaw.

In an interview with Beat.TV, Grimshaw stated, “approximately forty-five percent of digital news is now consumed via mobile devices…. Coupled with the growth in consumption, has been the interest in advertisers around advertising on the mobile platforms, which was nearly non-existant just one year ago.”

These may have been established users who switched over to mobile and didn't need any extra prodding. The bigger question in demand of answers: regardless of where traffic originates (organic or not), will your site be ready to handle mobile users?

Surprisingly, most are not excepting mobile usage to grow this fast.

Grimshaw went on to say, “That’s a number that surprised us,” he told Beet.TV at the paidContent2011 conference. “I think it demonstrates actually how quickly the audience is picking up mobile devices and shifting away from the desktop and into the many new digital channels that are emerging."

And, how does all this make money?

“When you look at the subscription side, what we’re seeing is that people are very willing to do business on a mobile platform. They’re buying subscriptions directly through their mobile devices and over 2010 we saw 10 per cent of our new digital subscriptions every week coming from mobile devices.”

This is what most advertisers / marketers should be focused on. Will users interact directly with mobile ready content? According to FinancialTimes.com, this seems to be true.

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Wednesday, March 2, 2011

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Did Google Farmer Affect Your Crops. . .?

Posted: 01 Mar 2011 07:58 PM PST

This is a great time of year. As Winter turns to Spring, those living above the equator have a lot to look forward to.

In a couple months, we who survived Winter Blast 2010-11 should be thankful it's come and gone. A new season of planting has begun. Not only for literal farmers and growers, but for all in the online biz industry. Opportunity is plentiful.

Despite the optimistic outlook and environment, every farmer is faced with circumstances behind their control: weather, bacteria, drought,  disease, theft. . . etc.

The same goes for producers and planters of content. Bear with me as I continue down the road of analogies.

Let's break out the Almanac and get to work.

As the dust settles and we examine Google Farmer's impact. . . it's important to take a look at the results of their algorithm changes. Not on the typical bot or farm sites that everyone expects to either, 1.) Drop in ranking, 2.) Get deleted from Google's index. I'll save my breath.

How about freelance sites where thousands of your peers depend on for income?

Many have posed the question (and rightly so) if companies such as, Demand Media, Break Studios or Bright Hub are worthy of some Google love. Better known as User Generated Content (UGC) I say yes. Let's look at the facts.

In terms of how these sites fared in the recent shakedown? I'm impressed. Even though Alexa.com shouldn't be the final say in determining the success of a site, numbers don't lie.

The following sites rely on user generated content and have all come under fire for "farming", as seen in the above link. Yet, recent stats show these blogs / information portals made it through Mountain View's eradication efforts.

>>> MadeMan.com <<< – Updated through Break Studios.


Who cares about the Content Scare of 2011? MadeMan and Break Studios is going strong. Quality always wins out in the end.

>>> eHow.com<<< – Updated through Demand Media

The naysayers would be proud. Disappointed is probably a better word. With a rank of 37 and continuous growth. . . It looks like How to Make Friends at College is more important than I thought.

>>> BrightHub.com<<< – Content hosted on root domain.

Don't let the past few days scare you. All of the above stats showed positive yesterday and it looks like BH is heading in the right direction. With a good combination of popular interest and academic worthy articles – they should see more love in the future.

Again, Alexa and traffic stats shouldn't be the "end all" of judging a site's success. Could eHow have 1k articles banned but continue posting strong numbers? Of course. Bright Hub could be on the verge of a ranking meltdown and you all may laugh at me tomorrow.

But for now, time to write some articles.

This is a great time of year. As Winter turns to Spring, those living above the equator have a lot to look forward to.

In a couple months, we who survived Winter Blast 2010-11 should be thankful it's come and gone. A new season of planting has begun. Not only for literal farmers and growers, but for all in the online biz industry. Opportunity is plentiful.

Despite the optimistic outlook and environment, every farmer is faced with circumstances behind their control: weather, bacteria, drought,  disease, theft. . . etc.

The same goes for producers and planters of content. Bear with me as I continue down the road of analogies.

Let's break out the Almanac and get to work.

As the dust settles and we examine Google's Farmer's impact. . . it's important to take a look at the results of their algorithm changes. Not on the typical bot or farm sites that everyone expects to either, 1.) Drop in ranking, 2.) Get deleted from Google's index. I'll save my breath.

How about freelance sites where thousands of your peers depend on for income?

Many have posed the question (and rightly so) if companies such as, Demand Media, Break Studios or Bright Hub are worthy of some Google love. Better known as User Generated Content (UGC) I say yes. Let's look at the facts.

In terms of how these sites fared in the recent shakedown? I'm impressed. Even though Alexa.com shouldn't be the final say in determining the success of a site, numbers don't lie.

The following sites rely on user generated content and have all come under fire for "farming", as seen in the above link. Yet, recent stats show these blogs / information portals made it through Mountain View's eradication efforts.

>>> MadeMan.com <<< – Updated through Break Studios.

Who cares about the Content Scare of 2011? MadeMan and Break Studios is going strong. Quality always wins out in the end.

>>> eHow.com<<< – Updated through Demand Media

The naysayers would be proud. Disappointed is probably a better word. With a rank of 37 and continuous growth. . . It looks like How to Make Friends at College is more important than I thought.

>>> BrightHub.com<<< – Content hosted on root domain.

Don't let the past few days scare you. All of the above stats showed positive yesterday and it looks like BH is heading in the right direction. With a good combination of popular interest and academic worthy articles – they should see more love in the future.

Again, Alexa and traffic stats shouldn't be the "end all" of judging a site's success. Could eHow have 1k articles banned but continue posting strong numbers? Of course. Bright Hub could be on the verge of a ranking meltdown and you all may laugh at me tomorrow.

But for now, its time to write more articles.



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Friday, February 18, 2011

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JC Penny Link Buying – Unethical?

Posted: 18 Feb 2011 07:19 AM PST

The New York Times was the first to break the story about the dirty secret of search, that included JCPenny.com acquiring backlinks en-mass to help boost their ranking in Google.com.

It seems (according to the article), that the internet seems to be littered with abandoned pages that link back to JCPenny.com. The article cites examples of pages about cameras, dogs, diamond drills, bathroom tiles, and dentist . . . of course the full list is much more massive.

But the real question is this . . . is what they are doing ethical?

Google search works based on an algorithm that includes many factors of a web site such as domain age, content, and of course . . . backlinks. Google has gone around the internet preaching what is considered ethical SEO and what is not, thus creating a great divide inside of the search engine marketing arena.

Why would Google claim building backlinks is unethical?

How did the idea of paying someone for a backlink on their website make the purchaser seem slightly criminal?

In short because the Google search algorithm relies so heavily on how backlinks are factored into deciding which website ranks in any given position for certain keywords. And of course, Google does NOT like to be manipulated.

“When did it become unethical for a website/blog owner to monetize their property?” That is the question that everyone should be asking.

Another question is “Why should we rely solely upon Google to decide the fate of so many businesses?”

So let’s play the devil’s advocate for a moment. . . If you were being manipulated would you like it? Of course not! So, while I respect Google’s position on this I am very much against the demonizing of those who choose to either sell backlinks or buy backlinks to help them make more money online.

It really is not about what is ethical or unethical . . .

Remember, the one who frames the question wins the argument and Google has done an amazing job at framing the question of backlinks, thus they will win . . .

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Interview With Kyle Murphy – MetaFever’s Affiliate Manager

Posted: 18 Feb 2011 02:21 AM PST

Our next addition of the Meta Fever interview series features a member of the local community.  So, will you please welcome affiliate manager, search marketing extraordinaire and online money machine. . . Kyle Murphy.

MF: Welcome to Meta Fever, Kyle. Tell me, how did you hear about the site and what first grabbed your attention?

Kyle: I’ve been working in the online marketing space for 5 or so years now, working primarily as an affiliate manager, and when I saw the job with Metafever, I had to apply. I’ve always been an affiliate/paid search guy, so learning the other end of the spectrum with a company like Metafever is too tempting to pass up.

MF: What will your primary roll be?

Kyle: I’ll be doing what I’m best at – taking over the Affiliate Program.

MF: When did you first start making money online?

Kyle: It’s pretty much a requirement to be a good affiliate manager, so right after i started. If I can’t make money online myself, who am i to teach others how to do it?

MF: What it is about affiliate marketing or search engine marketing in general, that will help continue to give the average start up business(s) a voice.

Kyle: The reach you can achieve with affiliates is exceptional. They manage email lists of hundreds of thousands, promote via PPC, SEO, Social Media – it’s a great way to tap into multiple traffic sources while only managing a single campaign.

MF: Will the voice(s) ever become saturated? And, as a result – demand more creativity from marketers.

Kyle: Oh absolutely. the competitive landscape in high volume traffic sources like AdWords is huge – there’s a great deal of talent and creativity required to turn a significant profit.

MF: Do you still see SEO as a large growth sector, or is their reason to worry about a bubble.

Kyle: SEO will never go away, it’ll just change. Search engines are always looking to rank websites to deliver the most relevant content. Google most certainly doesn’t want an old Geocities page popping up on 1st page results!

MF: What are some of the best ways for someone to get into affiliate marketing?

Kyle: Affiliate marketing takes some pretty good knowledge of the affiliate landscape – you’ve got to know your competition, create a profitable offer for both you and the affiliates, and promote, promote, promote.

MF: Are these among the best ways to make money online?

Kyle: There are a ton of ways to make money online – all it takes is a little creativity. The affiliate space is a good way to go, as is SEO, or even paid search. It’s all in the approach.

Thanks for the time, Kyle!

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Thursday, February 17, 2011

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Why Professional SEO is Important

Posted: 16 Feb 2011 12:03 PM PST

Professional SEOMany people who get an idea for a home business thinking that the internet is filled with opportunities to make money are absolutely right. The thing that seems to be forgotten the most is that having a professional SEO company is vitally important. This is because of the vast amount of competition out there. Do a search on just about any topic, and you will likely find hundred of thousands of results if not millions. Since many of those you see near the top employ professional SEO themselves, you are going to have to do the same thing in order to be truly competitive.

When developing a site you are going to quickly learn that there is no real get rich quick method out there. It will take a lot of time and effort, and just as much dedication as a full time job or career. This will mean that there is even less time for you to learn how to do every aspect of marketing for your site, which makes hiring a professional SEO services consultant will not only bring you profits faster, but make things easier in the long run.

There is a lot of research that you can and should do on your own, but having a professional SEO consultant provide you with a detailed analysis report is almost certainly going to provide insight you otherwise would not have seen. For that reason alone you should include in your web development plan and budget room to hire someone to provide top notch SEO for your site. The cost of not having a professional SEO expert will be greater in the long run when you have to redesign your site almost completely from scratch.

You will want to make sure everything is done correctly from the start so that none of your valuable time is wasted. It can also save you money in not having to pay for months of hosting which bring you little to no profit from your site. Having a professional SEO consultant will ensure that everything is done correctly. You will still be in charge of the operation, but you will get advice, and quality services that quickly have your site ranked high in the search results. This of course will ultimately lead to higher profits in your bank account.

For anyone who doesn’t think having professional SEO services for your site is important, you will quickly learn how wrong that is when your site sits somewhere below several hundred thousand web sites, many of which would not have as good of content or quality service as yours, but they had professional SEO services. Both the time saved learning a new field, as well as money when your site brings profit quicker will very easily pay off in the long run. Think carefully about your business plan to be sure that this is easily within you budget.

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