| LED Digest 2641: SEO Standards |
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The LED Digest
Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom http://www.AudetteMedia.com : the LED's Publisher Boutique Internet Marketing: SEO, SEM, Social Media http://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 .............................................. May 7, 2008 Issue no. 2641 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ====== NEW ====================== --== SEO Standards ==-- ~ Michael Linehan "Ultimate quality does not, necessarily, lie in those with degrees." ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Triangular Linking ==-- ~ Dirk Johnson "Reciprocation is a business choice, not a religion." --== Basic CMS Functionality ==-- ~ Shel Horowitz "I strongly recommend moving OFF the wordpress server and onto your own server." ~ Al Toman "I found an excellent web-compliant text-editor..." --== SEO for Flash ==-- ~ Al Toman "Section 508 requires that all information is accessible." ========= NEW ===================================== From: Michael Linehan Subject: SEO standards From time to time there is a thread on the topic of the appalling so- called work done by some Internet companies, with the corresponding call for standards. There is an implicit assumption behind that such a call that standards defined and controlled by a national or state body and established universities provides a guarantee of a higher level of quality. While one can certainly bring up examples that would support such an idea, I would suggest that just as many can be brought up that contradict it. Just one dramatic example is that of midwives. Long ago, in the US and Canada, many, if not most, births were attended by midwives. Then doctors, as they gained influence, edged them out, and took the act of childbirth under their own control. The standards argument imply as self-evident that the much more highly qualified doctors would be better "childbirth specialists". In fact, the US, with the most medicalized, instrumentalized and doctor- controlled birth system on the planet ranks far behind many other countries in birth mortality. Those with the lowest birth mortality rates are also countries (e.g. Sweden) which make much more extensive use of midwives. At the same time, vast numbers of people each year die from taking ***professionally prescribed and correctly taken*** drugs, while the medical industry works vigorously against herbal remedies, vitamins and more. And living in Canada, I don't want to even discuss the HMO system our many US readers are subject to! None of this is a great advertisement for the prevailing method of "standards" control in the medical area of our lives. Almost everything today that cannot be done without a degree (often graduate) was, not long ago, done by people with no degrees. How did they get their knowledge? Through living and through working. How did they prove themselves? By doing the work. Indeed, it is not that long ago since one could join a law firm as a junior clerk with no qualification, gradually learning and rising in responsibility, and eventually become a fully-fledged lawyer. Ultimate quality does not, necessarily, lie in those with degrees. One can also come up with all kinds of examples how the standard educational system is really in a state of crumbling decay - truancy rates in the tens of percent in high schools, drugs in school, rampant emotional and physical cruelty. Then even after enduring all that, a third of the population in the US goes to university. How much of a guarantee of quality is a degree under such a system? (Hooo, boy, some people are not going to like this post.) So let's not be so gung-ho in calling for standards. I think that we should abhor a system which puts more and more control in that single standard system of universities that then lead to professional associations. Yes, I want to have some assurance that someone who can kill me (i.e. a doctor), should have some kind of provable knowledge. (But even then, when those qualifications are extensive, the emptor still needs to caveat.) As the saying goes, passing exams only proves one is good at passing exams. I used to teach advanced physical skills to dancers, acrobats and other physical performers. For many years, I was flown over to Europe every year to teach for weeks or months at a time at a professional and national dance company level. I was brought back many times by the same people. I have no degrees or formal qualification in any kind of physical training. No-one ever asked and no-one ever cared. Maybe at least when one's life doesn't hang in the balance, it is a better measure of quality that one does good work and can produce clients who will say so. Michael Linehan, Marketing Alchemy www.marketing-alchemy.com ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Dirk Johnson Subject: Triangular linking Reciprocal linking was a sincere site-enhancing method in the early days of the Internet but it has degenerated to being a nuisance these days (I know fellow LED reader Dirk will jump a this, but this is my sincere opinion)." - Donald Nelson, LED 2638 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/2053/190/ Hi Donald, I respect your opinion. Reciprocation is a business choice, not a religion. Based on my ongoing experience with this on a daily basis with hundreds of sites, when done properly and with relevance, reciprocation still works much like it did in the beginning. Especially within niche realms of interest, it remains a very powerful marketing tool that still drives a massive amount of direct traffic. Certainly, there is "spam noise" associated with reciprocation, but even that aspect seems to be less than it was two years ago. We now get far fewer spam submissions to our link request forms than we have in the past. I track this stuff. Maybe they've moved on to blog spam. Within niches, plenty of site owners still willingly link to other site owners in their niche, and many have been doing it for years They do not link with irrelevant spammers. To them, it's a vital advantage. They've seen it in their own stats. They do not continue to do this out of ignorance. Like everything else in marketing, it has it's own unique challenges, costs, and return on investment. Again, it's a choice. Choosing to ignore such a powerful source of relevant traffic, especially for niche sites, seems to be curious marketing advice. Those who do it enjoy the advantages, those who don't, don't. Best regards, Dirk Johnson www.domaindrivers.com -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Shel Horowitz Subject: CMS > 4. But the biggest advantage is that you > don't have to do anything at all about SEO. > That all comes free. > > 5. As does the hosting. - James Miller, LED 2635 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/2050/190/ I strongly recommend moving OFF the wordpress server and onto your own server. I use WordPress, hosted on my own sites. Even if you have to pay someone a (very) few bucks to set it up, you have control, and you have access to all your content if the company decides one day to pull the plug or start charging a service fee--and you don't have to worry aobut censorship issues, which WordPress has already apparently been involved with. I've seen too many businesses destroyed by relying on no-cost outsourced tools that suddenly got yanked out form under them. Shel Horowitz http://www.frugalmarketing.com -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Al Toman Subject: CMS Bill, I ran into the exact problem that you are experiencing. I found an excellent web-compliant text-editor created by a well-known scripter in the web design community, Cameron Adams. You can read about and download the (free) editor here: http://themaninblue.com/writing/perspective/2005/01/27/ He uses it himself to compose the web pages of his blog. It is nothing fancy. Straight and simple. If you can type in a word processor, you can type into this text-to-html editor. I modified his code a bit so that it displays in-line images correctly. Also, it needs to be tweaked to give it the functionality you need. If you need to discuss this, let me know. The resultant files that are created in this editor are added to the (selected) web page, usally into a div, using php include and decorated using CSS. The backend php script sets where the files belong, etc. Image uploads are pretty simple and at the same time they can be tricky. You'll want to protect your accounts servers from malicious uploads, etc if they allow their "registered" users to upload. Therefore, a sessions password login script is required, as well. We can talk about these features too. If you accounts add the images themselves, then, no biggy. The text editor requires that the images are uploaded, obviously, and it's helpful if they're uploaded to a specific directory. This is so your accounts can remember the url to the images (required by the text editor) easily. You can setup one ADMIN PAGE (after log in) to handle the entire web site in most cases, regardless if it is only for the accounts use or for their "authorized" users. This way you can update only the center column content, the left and right column content remain as is, as an example. I hope that that helps. Holler if you need anything further. Al Toman Web Design Your Business -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Al Toman Subject: Flash SEO Regardless if one is for or against all flash web sites, if one cares, Section 508 requires that all information is accessible. The flash NOT being accessible, currently, a duplicate web page is required. Said page is to be black print on white background (of sorts though a grayed background is preferred) consisting of text. It is said that a dot GOV TLD is of great consequence in SEO and it is said that one loses SEO points with SEs for duplicate content. Most ALL dot GOV web sites obtusely violate Section 508, not providing duplicate accessible content as required. Mahbe dey don' wanna lose them thar SEO points!?! Al Toman (c) Copyright 1995-2008 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life, you'll regret the things you didn't do more than the ones you did." - H. Jackson Brown, Jr. |
