Marketing & SEO Discussion List - LED Digest

 
LED Digest 2401: Google Hell Print E-mail
==================================================
                 The LED Digest
             Moderated Discussion List
     "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997"

      Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom

www.GetWebContent.com/LED : the LED's Key Sponsor
 The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers.

==================================================
List Moderator:                     Published by:
Adam Audette                          LED Digest
adam, led-digest.com     http://www.led-digest.com
..............................................
May 2, 2007                        Issue no. 2401
..............................................


            .....IN THIS DIGEST.....


====== NEW =====================

        --== Google Supplemental Hell ==--

                ~ John Smart
"So, should the SEO be liable for causing
the mess...?"

                <Moderator Comment>


==== CONTINUING =================

        --== Core Business Values ==--

                ~ Eric Ward
"I have one single core value that drives
everything else..."

                ~ Rae Deisler
"Your job should be joyous, your work an
aspect of your life."

                ~ Shel Horowitz
"...ethics, cooperation, and attitudes...can
lead to business growth and profitability..."

        --== Google Indexing Time for Blogs ==--

                ~ Valerie Beeby
"Google do differentiate between blogs
and web pages."

        --== Why Linux? [was: Essential Software...] ==--

                ~ Michael Linehan
"Why would some besides a geek go with
Linux instead of OS X?"


=========== NEW ==================================

From: John Smart
Subject: Google Hell

A client sent me this. It was originally posted on Slashdot:

---------------------
"Forbes has up an article on the consequences of being dumped into a
claimed 'supplemental index', also known as 'Google Hell'
http://www.forbes.com/home/technology/2007/04/29/sanar-google... It
uses the example of Skyfacet, a site selling diamonds rings and other jewelery,
which has dropped in Google's rankings and saw a $500,000 drop in revenue
in only three months after the site owner paid a marketing consultant
to improve the sites.

"he article claims that sites in the supposed 'supplemental index'
may be visited by Google's spiders as infrequently as once per year.
The problem? Google's cache shows that Google's spiders visited the
site as recently as late April.

"Google Hell is the worst fear of the untold numbers of companies
that depend on search results to keep their business visible online.
Getting stuck there means most users will never see the site, or at
least many of the site's pages, when they enter certain keywords.
And getting out can be next to impossible -- because site operators
often don't know what they did to get placed there.'"

Source: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/01/1229242
---------------------

So, should the SEO be liable for causing the mess, and shouldn't
this industry have some form of standards?

John Smart
InternetDesign.com
A Human Touch in a Digital world.

Comment?

<Moderator Comment>

I found this post on Slashdot very interesting:

"Does this also mean that you can "game" the sites of your
competitors to get them into Google hell?

"It seems that if I want to deep-six your site, which might mean
your entire business and/or livelihood, all I need to do is find the
most inept link spammer I can, and pay him a pittance to whore your
site's URL all over the place, on tons of spamblogs and Viagra
pages. All of a sudden, Google will notice, can your page off of the
search results, and you're hosed.

"I've got to imagine that this has already happened; heck it seems
like a fairly good extortion scheme: pay us or we'll linkfarm you
until Google notices and your competition slaughters you. It's like
SEO, only in reverse."

Comment?


======== CONTINUING ===============================

From: Eric Ward
Subject: Values

Like Adam, I had the remarkable good fortune to get to know Tony
Hsieh (Zappos, Link Exchange) back when I helped with the original
link building and publicity campaign for Link Exchange.

As Tony prepared to sell to Microsoft, he helped me negotiate what
is to this day my single most lucrative individual project. He told
Microsoft to hire me to write the original BCentral search engine
and directory submission guide.

He then was generous enough with his time to help me navigate
through negotiations for BCental to buy my NetPOST service, which to
my utter shock MSFT valued at 1.3 million dollars.  I operated
NetPOST back then as a one man show from a basement office over a
28.8 modem :) Because I was a complete moron and didn't want to move
to Redmond, I turned the 1.3m down.

But I will never forget what an amazing guy Tony was / is.  I am not
surprised at all that Zappos has done what it has.  I just wish I'd
listened to Tony then. :)

I have one single core value that drives everything else:

1). If a client is unhappy as a result of your work, do whatever it
takes to make them happy, no matter the cost, no matter the time
involved, and even if you feel the client is wrong, do it anyway.

I have not lived up to this every time, and I know it, but it's what
I aim for.

Eric Ward

EricWard.com | URLwire.com | WARDREPORT.com
Content Publicity Strategies & Holistic Link Development
w: http://www.ericward.com ----- http://www.urlwire.com

Comment?


-------- new post - same topic --------

From: Rae Deisler
Subject: Core business values

What a visionary list of values by Tony Hsieh. I wasn't familiar
with the company Zappos before this, thanks so much for turning me
on to them. I'll be putting an order in just as soon as I can pick
out a pair of shoes I like (shoe overload!).

About the values, my business principles are quite simple:

- Act With Integrity

Your character is a huge selling point. Displaying respect,
confidence, strong morality and an ethical approach to business
instills security and confidence in the client. It also disarms
people and is incredibly effective for avoiding conflicts.

- Take the High Road

Often in business you'll be faced with decisions, and sometimes
these can have ramifications directly on the client. I've learned
that choosing the most ethical direction in most situations is
always a safe best. I take this to the extreme and even cost myself
money in the interests of avoiding a hit on the client.

- Communicate Openly

Don't be something you're not. If you can't do something, if you
don't know something, come right out and say it. It's powerful to
use honesty in a business situation; frankly it often takes
potential clients off guard. They're used to getting the spiel.

- Have Fun

Your job should be joyous, your work an aspect of your life. We
compartmentalize everything in the US, we separate, catalogue,
organize our thoughts according to interests, needs, and goals. But
it's all the same mandala of experience. Having fun on the job is a
powerful way to make work your life and your life more rewarding.

- Be Humble

I agree completely with Tony on this quality. It's very important.
Looking from above we're all pretty much the same in regards to our
situation. We have different classes, income levels, abilities,
intellects, etc, but we're all human beings and we must remain that
way. That means none of us is so high and mighty above the others
that we can act like we're important. Frankly, we're not important.
The ocean is important, the galaxies, the sun. We are only important
in our ability to serve and contribute to the world around us, not
in our self-interest and personal ambitions.

Humility says, "I'm wise enough to know I know very little" and
speaks volumes about a person's character.

Sorry to get so off the track of marketing, SEO, etc. Frankly, this
is a refreshing break.

Rae Deisler

Comment?


-------- new post - same topic --------

From: Shel Horowitz
Subject: Values

> I'm interested in hearing your thoughts. What
> core business values do you have?
        - Adam Audette, LED Digest 2400
        - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1803/55/

Tony's list is a great one.

As the author of Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People
First, which is all about using values in business -- showing how
ethics, cooperation, and attitudes of service and abundance can lead
to business growth and profitability -- this is something I think
about a lot.

I've been working with a UK-based branding consultant, Nick Kettles
of NewMythCreate.com, on a process to extract my core values of
honesty, integrity, quality, service, social change, etc. into a
pithy little tagline.

Under his guidance, I've come up with this: "The courage to act with
integrity... the wisdom to profit from it."

I like it a lot -- and I'm not even done with his process yet.

Shel Horowitz
http://www.frugalmarketing.com
Sign the Ethics Pledge: http://www.business-ethics-pledge.org

Comment?


============ Sponsor Message ===========

Now you got 'em, what are you gonna do with 'em?

Surfers, that is. They're at your site, but is your
copy ready?  Is it powerful enough to convert
casual visitors into free-spending customers?

At www.GetWebContent.com/LED we first write "sell"
copy that makes you money and your website sticky.

Then we SEO it to make sure it gets read.

============ Sponsor Message ===========


-------- new post - new topic --------

From: Valerie Beeby
Subject: Blog indexing

> How Long Before a Blog Post is in Google?
> I was playing about last night and noticed that
> my blog posts seemed to get indexed very quickly
> by Google. This also included the test WordPress
> blog and not just the Blogger (Google) ones.
        - James Miller, LED Digest 2399
        - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1802/55/

Google do differentiate between blogs and web pages. Here's what
they say in my Google Account help page on Alerts:

---------------------
"Google Alerts are emails automatically sent to you when there are
new Google results for your search terms. We currently offer alerts
with results from News, Web, Blogs, and Groups.

"A 'News' alert is an email aggregate of the latest news articles
that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top
ten results of your Google News search.

"A 'Web' alert is an email aggregate of the latest web pages that
contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top twenty
results of your Google Web search.

"A 'Blogs' alert is an email aggregate of the latest blog posts that
contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top ten
results of your Google Blog search.

"A 'Groups' alert is an email aggregate of new posts that contain
the search terms of your choice and appear in the top fifty results
of your Google Groups search."
---------------------

Apart from signing up for Alerts, I'm afraid I just don't know how
you do a Google News, Blog or Group search. Maybe there are separate
databases for News, Blog and Group entries. Such items are more
instant but could be more short-lived than web pages.

Enlightenment?

Valerie Beeby

Which six expressions on your face are recognised everywhere?
http://www.purple-owl.com/art-faces.html

Comment?


-------- new post - new topic --------

From: Michael Linehan
Subject: OS X / Linux [was: Software...]

About Linux,

I don't understand all these people writing in about Linux. Yes,
there are some great programs. But there are major players who have
no intention of porting to Linux. And, I tried Open Office.  Yes,
it's Word compatible --- sort of. Even for the simplest documents,
there are glitches. Whereas Apple's Pages imports from and exports
to Word flawlessly, for any documents I use, anyway.

With Linux, you get a lot of "potential" power at a great price, but
that there are severe limitations that have to be solved. So for
super-geeks it's not so bad, they can script their own drivers or
whatever. For people running a business it's just not as easy.

One possible factor in going with Linux is cost. The one thing
Apple's OS doesn't have is a pile of free, open-source programs.
But how many programs does the average micro or small business owner
actually need? And then, let's consider apparent cost and real cost.
Like the cost of using a program such as Open Office that is not
fully Word compatible, or of constantly using an interface that just
isn't as integrated and easy as a Mac - so every operation is a
little less efficient.

The couple of times I so-called installed (i.e. compiled) a program,
compared to just installing in OS X!  What a hassle!  Efficiency
equals more money in your pocket - moment by moment.  The cumulative
effect of all those little efficiencies over the year is enormous
(Gartner Group report: Mac equals several thousand dollars per
person increased profit.)

Is it that while leaving Windows, people still buy into the anti-
Apple propaganda enough that they don't regard OS X as a viable
alternative? Is it that they like free software? Is it that they are
geeks, so they like messing around with Linux?

Why would some besides a geek go with Linux instead of OS X?

Michael Linehan, Marketing Alchemy
www.marketing-alchemy.com

Comment?


-------------------------------------------------------
The LED Digest is sponsored by GetWebContent.com
The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers.
Free no-obligation proposal: http://GetWebContent.com/LED

The Archives: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/126/120/

Subscribe: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/52/77/

Unsubscribe, Change Email, or Hold / Resume Delivery:
http://www.led-digest.com/content/category/4/17/86/

(c) Copyright 1995-2007 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

"Goethe tells us in his greatest poem that Faust lost the liberty of
his soul when he said to the passing moment, 'Stay, thou art so
fair.'" - Robert Francis Kennedy