| LED Digest 2291: Marketing Exclusivity, Link Buys |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom pair Networks: The LED's Web Host Hosting and Domain Registration from a Trusted Leader pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. November 17, 2006 Issue no. 2291 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ====== NEW ====================== --== Marketing Exclusivity ==-- ~ Leah Driver "Would anyone care to explain their thoughts and why they believe this is a legitimate request?" ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Buying Links ==-- ~ Eric Ward "I don't buy links for search engines, I buy them for click traffic..." ~ Nathan Holley "The best things in life are free. And so are the best links." ~ Anonymous "I and many other affiliate marketers use this tactic for affiliate sites all the time. It's an industry." --== Getting Sued for SEO Work ==-- ~ Anonymous "From a non-practicing attorney I can share some advice..." --== HTML Editors ==-- ~ Dr. Amit Chatterjee "[Drupal has] an available granular permissions system and excellent SEO built into the core." ==== BILLBOARD =================== --== Sitemaps.org ==-- ~ GJ Berg --== Make My Site Faster ==-- ~ Val Waldeck ========== NEW ==================================== From: Leah Driver Subject: Marketing Exclusivity This is a response to those who would be mad if a marketing company (and in my opinion, that's basically what an SEO is) did work for a competitor years after doing work for them. Granted, I live in the US and I noticed the original post along this vein was from the UK, so I may be comparing apples to oranges but -- you've got to be kidding me, right?? Once you work with a marketing vendor (ad agency, graphic designer, branding consultant, SEO, etc) you would expect them to NEVER, EVER, EVER work for a competitor? Are you willing to keep the company on retainer forever and ever? I can certainly understand a vendor not working for a competitor while they're on your payroll -- and most reputable companies would not consider working for competitors simultaneously -- but to expect a company to refuse working for a competitor until the end of time seems to me to be the same as denying a company the ability to make a living. In a certain area there are only a certain number of businesses and if a company were in business long enough, they would end up having to move to meet that criteria. Before you hire a company do you find out if they've ever worked for one of your competitors? If so, do you refuse to hire them? I'm sorry, but having worked with lots of outside consultants over the years, this way of thinking comes as a shock to me. Would anyone care to explain their thoughts and why they believe this is a legitimate request? Thanks, Leah Driver ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Eric Ward Subject: Buying Links Suffering Snorkelblats... I don't mean to sound like The Grinch, but frankly if you are buying links anywhere anytime with the intent of getting the search engines to rank you higher as a result of those bought links, then you are flirting with disaster and the clock is ticking on any success you experience from that tactic. As it should. The engines don't want you buying links to fool them. It's patently clear that ALL the engines DO NOT want you buying links for rank. So don't. That said, I buy links for clients all the time. I bought fifty links this week at adbrite for a big pharma client. I don't buy links for search engines, I buy them for click traffic directly from the site I bought them on. We old timers call that 'advertising'. :) When buying links using this 'advertising' approach my single most important concern is making sure the engines know the link was not bought with the intention of fooling them. That's one good thing about adbrite. Adbrite's method is not intended to fool engines. Eric Ward http://www.ericward.com -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Nathan Holley Subject: Buying links Yes, I buy links all the time for clients. I do it for the traffic, not for the rankings. Search engines aren't too happy about sites purchasing links solely for rankings. The correct way is with nofollow. Matt Cutts has a blog entry about why artificial inflation of PageRank w/ paid links is bad: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/text-links-and-pagerank/ Here's an interview Mike Grehan did w/ Matt Cutts regarding this issue. It's in MP3 format: http://www.mikegrehan.com/audio/mattcutts/prclip.mp3 . "The best things in life are free." And so are the best links. Nathan Holley -------- new post - same topic -------- [the following poster has asked to remain anonymous. -ed] From: Anonymous Subject: Buying links I think one of the reasons I've never posted here is because it allows no anonymity. I don't like using my real name for competitive reasons, and because I need to keep a "low-pro" on the Net. It is a small world in this industry and those who wear black hats (or any shade of grey) aren't exactly loved. Buying links is a reality for SEO purposes and raising pagerank (aka link popularity). I know the SEs don't want to hear that, the white-hats don't want to hear that, but it's the truth if you want results and want results quickly. Many clients are willing to pay for that. Most won't risk the danger of getting slapped by Google though (nothing more unhappy than a client whose site gets banned from Google). I and many other affiliate marketers use this tactic for affiliate sites all the time. It's an industry. One word of warning: this is not something to trifle with. Most site owners won't need to buy links specifically for link pop. It's more of a specialized thing IMO. Okay, here's the basic advice I have: - Balance: lots of lower quality links first - directories, etc. These give a wider base point for any higher-end paid links so it looks natural. Registering w/ directories is something you should do anyway, regardless of this topic. Most paid directories are good investments - Business.com, Yahoo, Joe Ant, bCentral, BOTW, etc. These raise your credibility level w/ the SEs while extending your "linking profile" in a nice natural pattern. It's very unlikely that Google will discount quality paid directories anytime soon, but they may start to factor this into the algorithm. Again - balance. If you are covered here then any algo changes won't matter much. - The best links send targeted traffic AND increase your link popularity. So for new sites get some niche-related links first. - The amount of links on any renting page matter. More links = less value for you. You want as close to "virgin" pages as you can find for your link buys. - Find out all you can about site-wide links (also called "Run of Site"). These can be dangerous to purchase. Recently Google dinged ROS links for many sites because they reveal unnatural linking. - Anchor text is extremely useful. Keep it in mind when purchasing links and be sure to use it correctly (viz - mix it up with your buys). In my opinion, link buying / renting really only needs to be done in competitive areas and for specific rankings. It's an advanced technique and you can get in lots of trouble quickly if you do it the wrong way. For more specific info I recommend Aaron Wall's seobook.com. It's not really updated anymore (at least not with relevant info) but it's got good archives. Anonymous -------- new post - new topic -------- [the following poster has asked to remain anonymous. -ed] From: Anonymous Subject: Legal Advice Re the SEO being sued for rankings... I definitely sympathize with you and the dilemma you are facing. From a non-practicing attorney I can share some advice with you on some issues you are facing. Many people on this post are telling you to fight your way all through the court system. Then again they aren't the ones being sued, you are. If you have an an endless cash supply and feel you can win then by all means do it. Don't forget about the years of stress this will take on you before it hits a courtroom or even settles. I recently asked for a legal opinion on a complex matter and spent 22k in a matter of 3 months. Making matters worse I didn't get the answer I was looking for. You will be amazed at how fast a $400/hr attorney will eat you alive. You may feel you are completely right and you very well may be. If this is a matter of paying someone 10k or even 20k to go away then do it. If the lawsuit is frivolous you do not counter-sue despite what people on the post are telling you. Your attorney will file a motion to dismiss and ask the Judge to throw out the case based on the fact it has no merit. If the case has no merit you should not have to spend too much money. Your attorney can tell you if you have any chance of having the suit tossed out. You may or may not, I don't know the facts of your case. Sue / counter-sue, depositions, mediation, all will only cost you six figures or much more in the end. It will effect every aspect of your life so get ready. Sometimes we all have to take a bite out of a you know what sandwich. Evaluate the stress and financial cost and make a decision based not on emotion but rather on whether it is worth it. If you go to court you may win, but you will only be let off the financial hook of the amount you are being sued for. Countersuits usually fail miserably. Defendants (you) actually win most of the time (60% or better). Even if a jury finds in your favor a Judge has to make the other side pay your legal fees and I can tell you that they seldom ever do. Again, evaluate the total cost to you. Sometimes simple correspondence between lawyers can stop the bleeding. They may be seeking a fortune but could be willing to take much less. I wish you the best in whatever avenue you decide to take. Remember one thing which is always true... the sooner the case is over and the attorney's stop the hourly billing the better off you will be. Good luck. Anonymous -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Dr. Amit Chatterjee Subject: HTML editors Hi All, I know, Content Management Systems have been touched before, including Joomla, but with the recent upgrades and 1.5 beta release, I do think it is a very easy to install and use & a web-compliant CMS, with lots of extensions and modules. The documentation is reasonable. The backend of Joomla! is very usable and the WYSIWYG editor is quite nice. It is supported by a large and active community. Scales well and provides a lot of customization options. Another option is Drupal, though not so easy to install, and is not as great aesthetically; however has exceptional documentation, is well coded and has an available granular permissions system and excellent SEO built into the core. Learning curve for either of the above should not be more than a week! I really do think spending a week to learn either of such systems will pay you back good dividends in the long run. Best regards, Dr. Amit Chatterjee, SM http://www.mtindia.org ==== BILLBOARD =================================== From: GJ Berg Subject: Google, Microsoft & Yahoo partner to help webmasters Simplifying way websites can be submitted to their search engines. http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/11/16/sitemap/index.php?lsrc=mwrss gj berg Go SHARKS!!! <Moderator Comment> It's an interesting development. More here: http://www.bruceclay.com/blog/archives/2006/11/search_engines_2.html ... and you can see the site here: http://www.sitemaps.org -Adam -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Val Waldeck Subject: Faster site Re my post about making my site faster -- Thank you so much to all who took the time to assist me with so much valuable information. This newsletter and its readers are TOPS! Val Waldeck www.valwaldeck.com ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by pair Networks: pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains Copyright 1995-2006 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Any road followed precisely to its end leads precisely nowhere. Climb the mountain just a little bit to test that it's a mountain. From the top of the mountain, you cannot see the mountain." - Princess Irulan, Dune |
