| LED Digest 2535: List of Great Newsletters |
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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 .............................................. November 14, 2007 Issue no. 2535 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== CONTINUING ================= <Moderator Comment> ~ Great Newsletters ~ Goodbye Little Guy? ~ 1 Key Sponsor Opening --== The Value of SEO Forums & Celebrities ==-- ~ Dirk Johnson "...with a few notable exceptions, I have had my fill of the SEO industry." ======== CONTINUING =============================== <Moderator Comment> Greetings LEDer, Hope you're having a great week. Things have slowed down a bit, so it's a perfect time for me to clear out the backlog of posts. I also wanted to mention a couple things: GREAT NEWSLETTERS Even though email newsletters aren't as "sexy" and prevalent as blogs these days, some of them are of very high value. And while interactive web apps are still the best way to grow audience reach, in-house email lists are by far the most important remarketing asset a company can have. Here are a few must-read newsletters in my inbox that I recommend you check out: High Rankings Advisor http://www.highrankings.com/advisor/ I always recommend Jill Whalen's awesome Advisor to clients, colleagues and contacts. The question and answer section Jill features is always interesting, and you can tell she puts a lot of time into each issue. Just subscribe, trust me... when it hits your inbox I guarantee you'll become addicted to the great quality. Web Digest For Marketers http://www.wdfm.com/ Larry Chase has been publishing "WDFM" as it's called since the mid-90s. It's still a great resource for marketing intel and overview information, especially for recommendations and newsworthy reviews. I have a co-registration partnership with Larry for good reason - his list is high quality and relevant for online marketing. Excess Voice http://www.excessvoice.com/ Nick Usborne is one of the old-school copywriting masters. I've worked with Nick and he's a consumate professional - very mild-mannered and engaging. This newsletter is always well-written with great information about the customer relationship, writing on the web, and other related topics. Nick just does a great all-around job with this (which is why he's another co-registration partner of the LED). SEM 2.0 http://groups.google.com/group/SEM2 Not a pure newsletter, but a list-based Google Group dedicated to search marketing founded by Andrew Goodman. Small, focused, and advanced audience who's only interest is a competitive advantage in search engines, makes this a fantastic resource. I've recently joined Andrew in managing the community. SearchReturn http://www.searchreturn.com Detlev Johnson's top-down newsletter focused on search marketing, primarily the organic side. Always great information to be found here, as Detlev does a careful job putting together information on important topics. His recent features with Eric Ward have been great reading. Detlev is a deeply experienced SEO and it pays to listen to his advice. Evolt "The List" http://lists.evolt.org Evolt.org started as a community project for a couple information architects (see the "Polar Bear Book" by O'Reilly), and has several discussion lists and newsletters with information relevant to designers, developers, information architects and search marketers. "The List" is my favorite -- even though it's probably more relevant for designers and developers day-to-day. It often has material for internet marketers that's of excellent quality, too. The site also has some great articles to comb through. Others? What are some great newsletters that you recommend? THE LITTLE GUY I wrote a post about changes I foresee in search marketing that will make it much harder for "the little guy" to remain competitive. It's pretty long, so please read the full post online. Here's a snip: ---------------------- "One of the most fundamental shifts the Internet made to mainstream media and business was the ability to grant power to the little guy (and girl). We all appreciate how the web makes it possible for anyone to reach a large audience, literally overnight under the right circumstances. "The topic I'd like to introduce this week is how this may be changing, in the SEO world at least, with paid search being an indicator." Source: http://groups.google.com/group/SEM2/msg/4b795566c646077d ---------------------- Post to the SEM 2.0 list, or here with your thoughts please! KEY SPONSOR SLOT Last but certainly not least, there's a new Key Sponsor position open for qualified advertisers. You may have noticed GetWebContent's ad copies this week -- if not here's one: "Ever since we launched GetWebContent.com we've been advertising here with great results! So great, we can't accept new clients for awhile. "Fact is, we simply underestimated the demand for professionally written custom copy. See you again as soon as we get caught up." If you're interested in reaching 40,000 internet marketers, designers, small businesses, agencies, and developers (and a whole lot more), contact me and let's discuss it. Thanks, Adam --------------------- From: Dirk Johnson Subject: SEO forums In response to Debra Mastaler's post... Debra, my apologies if you felt offended, but I have to stand behind my characterizations of what I have encountered in SEO forums. The forum threads that you cited are just a small sample of my posting history, and it does not include my rancorous discussions in what is probably the most widely read SEO forum. The forum and blog moderators elsewhere are far more willing to tolerate unrestrained reciprocation bashing than are the moderators in highrankings and searchenginewatch. I have found that a small number of the high profile voices in the SEO world, like yourself, Chris Boggs, Eric Ward, Jim Hedger, Ross Dunn, Danny Sullivan, Steve Pronger, Stoney deGeyter, Mike Grehan, and Lee Roberts, do understand proper reciprocation as a fundamental Web marketing strategy. At least, that's what I take away from their writings. I'd be more than happy to add names to that list, if I have overlooked anyone. There are also several SEO consultants who are not well-known writers, but who use our services (or they manage reciprocation in-house, or hire our competitors) to achieve specific linking objectives for their clients. Curiously, they keep bringing new clients to us, and they have done that for years. Most of the rest of the well-known voices in the SEO industry are openly hostile to reciprocation. It's easy to find these anti-reciprocation pundits. They are everywhere. When you read their thoughts on the subject, it becomes glaringly obvious (at least to me) that they are making up their theories out of whole cloth, or just parroting someone else. Their conclusions defy pervasive evidence to the contrary. When confronted with those facts in a forum or a blog, they simply become more obnoxious. At some point, it's pointless to argue. There is no burden of proof in the SEO industry whatsoever, and detractors are simply dismissed, with pile-on support from "disciples". Maybe your forum is immune from that. Most are rife with it, especially the home cooked blogs. I have better things to do with my time. They openly insult people who reciprocate, and that includes tens of thousands of legitimate website owners who reciprocate properly with other relevant sites. Some of these site owners have been reciprocating effectively well before Google even existed, myself included. We really don't deserve to be reprimanded or insulted by these self-promoting SEO gurus for having a "link farm", or whatever other derogatory terms they use to describe it. Just who is out of line here? Unfortunately, these gurus do not "pack up and go home" when their goofy theories fail, as you claim. Some of the worst perpetrators of SEO myths over the years continue to enjoy "expertise" status. I don't expect that to ever change. My goal is to educate the small business owner, not the SEO industry. I used to try to do that with some decorum, but that approach goes nowhere. An SEO consultant who does not understand that reciprocation is a fundamental web branding function that pre-dates every search engine is confused. An SEO consultant who has to resort to insulting tens of thousands of site owners who do it properly is something else again. They are often the ones who advise their disciples and clients to apply all manner of goofy SEO games and fads. They do all of his quite publicly, via their writings. I don't hear "through office walls", as you claim. I just read what they write. It's all very public, available to anyone who actually reads what these people say and holds them accountable. But then, I try to read everything that is written about reciprocation. Most of it is outright laughable, and fails even the most rudimentary of real world review. The list of well-known SEO celebrities who have published ridiculous and unfounded claims about reciprocation is very long. The number who get it right is very limited. I have enough years of actual, real world, hands-on experience with the subject to know the difference. Debra, I appreciate your attempts to call me out, but, with a few notable exceptions, I have had my fill of the "SEO industry". I avoid the forums. I shake my head at the nonsense theories that have no real basis. I feel for people who come to us after having spent thousands of dollars on some worthless "celebrity SEO" firm, and got little to show for it. With the exception of outright black hat techniques, I wholly reject the notion that there are "secrets" that are held by only a few, and that they warrant high prices for their celebrity status. Instead, I consistently tell people to look at a lot of REAL search results to see what really works in terms of effective optimization. When that is done, what I claim stands up very well. It is simple and straightforward, and has worked for years, very consistently. Unfortunately, most business owners do not have the time or the skills to do that analysis effectively, and can't distinguish between reality and SEO-BS. At that point, they are vulnerable. Best regards, Dirk Johnson www.domaindrivers.com (c) Copyright 1995-2007 Orange Wheel, LLC. 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