| LED Digest 2459: Being a Guinea Pig for Clients |
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================================================== 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. www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ : the LED's Premier Sponsor Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. July 30, 2007 Issue no. 2459 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ======= NEW ===================== --== Ranking & Value of Three Word Phrases ==-- ~ Greg Watson "I would like to hear more of a theoretical discussion and opinions..." --== Save Energy with Black Backgrounds ==-- ~ John Smart "...if Google made their background black not white, it would save 750 Megawatt-hours per year." --== Being a Guinea Pig for Clients ==-- ~ Beth Ann Earle "Do you see any dangers or pitfalls in playing the guinea pig role?" ==== CONTINUING ================= --== The Hard Sell of 'Free' ==-- ~ Ron Coble ~ Ivan Jimenez ~ R. Neilson --== Google's Guidelines on Linking ==-- ~ Michael Martinez ~ Tom Aman ========== NEW =================================== From: Greg Watson Subject: Anchor Text - Value of a Three Word Phrase I have a homepage that consistently ranks 1st and 2nd on Google for two different three word phrases (both which contain the same two word phrase). I also have nine subpages that also rank on the first page of Google for each of their relevant three word phrases (most of which also contain the same two word phrase). My homepage ranks somewhere between the 10th and 18th page of Google for this two word phrase which appears to be moderately competitive. The simple "applied" answer is to start building links to the homepage using the two word phrase as anchor text, but that is not the question that I want to ask. I would like to hear more of a theoretical discussion and opinions about what value a three word phrase anchor text contributes to a two word phrase in search engine rankings. For example, anecdotally we know that a three word phrase does contribute or benefit the search engine rankings for a two word phrase -- but by how much? One example opinion might be to suggest that a three word phrase is only 20% as valuable as a two word phrase when trying to rank for the two word phrase. Please understand that I am not suggesting that is the case, but rather trying to provide a theoretical framework for beginning to discuss the value of a three word phrase. GW -------- new post - new topic -------- From: John Smart Subject: Save the Planet - Go Retro I read a very interesting article today, which has made me wonder about quite a few things. Apparently, glowing white on a screen takes more energy than black. This does make sense to me. It has been suggested that if Google made their background black not white, it would save 750 Megawatt-hours per year: http://ecoiron.blogspot.com/2007/01/black-google-would-save... There is even an energy star table about it: http://www.microtech.doe.gov/EnergyStar/info.htm#display But this does leave some questions. Are these numbers for LCD or CRT? I have owned 15" and 19" CRT's, I cannot help but think size of screen will affect wattage, especially when talking about such big numbers (Googles usage). But the concept is interesting - 'Visit my site and save money!' 'My site is very dark, and already you have saved at least 50% of a rain-forest tree'. Maybe that is not the way to market this. As a side issue, I love that the above link to the energy star site shows you a page with an off-white background! I believe they call that our tax dollar at work. : ) John Smart InternetDesign.com -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Beth Ann Earle Subject: Facebook (and Guinea Pigs?) > 2. Creating facebook and MySpace and Linkedin and other > such accounts - is this beneficial? Do we want to do this? - John Smart, LED Digest 2450 http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1856/190/ Sorry, LED'ers, I'm a bit late getting in on this, but, after Adam's prompt, I did join LinkedIn -- and not just because I trust Adam as if he were God Almighty H/himself (Itself? Herself? let's not go there) ... or even because I think Pilot Fish is going to get a bunch of business off it. Imostly did it for the same reason we bought PPC ads for ourselves for a bit and put Google Analytics on our own pilotfishseo.com and polysort.com sites -- just to learn about it and see how it works, so when clients ask, we can provide firsthand (albeit rather anecdotal) insights. As I'm typing this, it's suddenly dawning on my that we really use own company and websites as a guinea pig for a wide variety of things before offering them to clients. Which brings up a question for those of you who provide services to clients -- do you ever try stuff out on your own websites or businesses before recommending it to a client? Has it been a useful exercise? Have you ever tried something that didn't work for you but that you recommended to a client, because it did seem like a good fit for them? Do you see any dangers or pitfalls in playing the guinea pig role? It seems to suit our purposes well, but am I overlooking something? There's at least one other company that I know plays the guinea pig -- a new client who's going through our keyword program only partly to find the right keywords for their own site. They readily admitted that they wanted to undergo the process themselves, so that they'd have a better understanding of what they're recommending to their own clients. So. Are we just a couple of nutters plying our respective trades in little old Akron, Ohio? Or are there other nutters out there? Wishing all the best to LED'ers everywhere, Beth Earle www.pilotfishseo.com ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Ron Coble Subject: Selling free > My question to the groups is: Why would a free > thing "sell" better when I stop selling it? - Will Bontrager, LED Digest 2458 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1866/190/ In regards to Will's post - I would first like to say that I have personally used (and still do) several of his free softwares and they are excellent. But to his question, I believe that many people are simply worn out on "free" when it comes to stuff on the Internet. I would think in regards to Will's software or any software for that matter, if you do not have an immediate or perceived future need for it, you don't want to bother downloading it. I also think that many people have become jaded to the word "free" on the Internet - knowing, in most instances, it entails an upsell, constant follow up emails, etc. etc.. Will, as a suggestion, you may wish to try some of the offers I have seen being used in recent months. They include starting the software out at 5 cents and increasing it by 5 cents with each purchase or starting at .99 cents and increasing the cost a nickel or dime an hour until it reaches a certain dollar figure. Most of these type of offers I have seen (and purchased some) have been set up through Paypal. It might be worth trying as I really think people are burnt out on free. Kindest regards, Ron Coble Coble International - International Marketing Services http://www.ImportExportHelp.com -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Ivan Jimenez Subject: Selling free Will, People associate price with value or worth. As the saying goes, "You get what you pay for!" Free implies no value or worth to many people however this tends to change when someone learns about a freebie on their own or through a trusted source. Now why would a free thing "sell" better when you stop selling it? Everyone loves to buy but no one likes to be sold. Best, Ivan Jimenez OXSYS Corp. | Web Design, Application Development & Marketing http://www.OXSYS.com -------- new post - same topic -------- From: R. Neilson Subject: Selling free When someone is trying to push a free item to hard, I will sometimes avoid it thinking there is some hidden agenda. Like try this get hooked and after 30 days we are going to charge you for it. When you went to softsell of the free item customers didn't feel threatened. R. Neilson H. L. Supply www.hansons.net ============ Sponsor Message =========== We say this: We're the best bloody web copywriters on the planet. You respond thus: Prove it. We say: OK. Read these http://getwebcontent.com/copywriting-samples.php and see if you don't agree with us. You say: Where do I sign up? We say: Visit http://GetWebContent.com/LED today. ============ Sponsor Message =========== -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Michael Martinez Subject: Link exchanges > Now, if you go back and read my post you'll see that > the conclusion was about how ridiculous the whole > idea is about reciprocal linking, not natural linking. - Phil Scimone, LED Digest 2458 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1866/190/ You completely missed the point. People link from wherever they want for a variety of reasons and the search engines don't care. There is no such thing as a "theme-based linking boost", or an "off-theme linking penalty". No filtering occurs. There are many good reasons to want those off-topic links. There are no search-related algorithmic reasons to NOT want them. There are only SEO myths that say they might cause problems for you. Michael Martinez http://www.michael-martinez.com/ -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Tom Aman Subject: Link exchanges > Truly natural links don't come from "relevant" sites. They > come from sites where someone expresses an interest > in another site regardless of what either site's "theme" is. - Michael Martinez, LED Digest 2457 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1865/190/ I agree with Michael. Links between sites with the same "theme" are useful if I am researching a particular subject and do not want to look at anything outside that realm, but the apparently irrelevant links can be just as useful. The "irrelevant" link may be put in as a means of linking to a site where that helps explain some point or provides additional information - to use the camping site example, a site devoted to ticks is outside the "camping" theme (irrelevant) but could be of great importance to someone planning a trip to an area where ticks carrying Lyme disease occur. While a search engine may not recognize the importance and relationship of these apparently different themes, any human would recognize the value of links between these sites. That same site devoted to ticks may also carry links to sites related to pets where the tick information would be just as useful to a pet owner. The pet site could also link to the camping site because of the tick information or as an assist to pet owners considering taking their pet camping. So we have sites with three different "themes" (camping, ticks and pets) that could, when a human looks at it, logically link to each other. One of the really great things about the Internet is that these kinds of *apparently* irrelevant links exist and help us find all kinds of information or make information easier to locate. A link from a "great dating ideas" site to a site devoted to camping is one of these *apparently* irrelevant links that is actually very useful to anyone looking for a great dating idea (and may also help sell some camping gear). Worrying about what the search engines might think(???) about the relevance of such links, and using this criteria to eliminate some, would greatly reduce the usefulness of the Internet. Tom Aman http://www.cyberspyder.com ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by: GetWebContent.com The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. 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