Curious response to an SEO web enquiry

I was emailed a few times through the All Things Web site by a company requesting details on an SEO consultation and training in online marketing to help them with their website.

I fired back a personalised email each time advising what I could do for them (and the VALUE I would bring to their business) and each time they replied with more details and how interested they were.

I chose today to give them a quick call rather than keep emailing which is not my preferred method of communication and ask to speak to the young lady who had emailed me.

The response I got was quite odd especially after the amount of emails we had "traded".

She had made her mind up that she had figured out "in 10 minutes" what was required to SEO her website and no longer had need of my potential SEO services.

This young lady then made it clear she would not be going forward (which is fine by me with such a poor attitude) and prevented me from continuing the conversation. If she had let me she could have likely gleaned more from me as I would have at least quickly ensured she was on the right tracks with her SEO efforts.

Instead its a shame as looking at their site they've carried out some "SEO" and already there are serious keyword stuffing mistakes on the page..... I never did get the chance to tell her and I must admit its unlikely I'll be phoning back anytime soon.

Not all of us online marketers do the hard sell and a lot of us actually exist to help others and take great pride and pleasure in having a part in increasing a clients level of business.... take note next time you have an experienced web marketing bod on the phone... :)

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Buying your way in with Links on blogs

Thanks to Peter de Vanzo's (as usual) excellent V7N Search Marketing blog I found this article on Link Buying - highly useful and informative to those wondering where next their link building exploits should take them!

Search Engine Journal's Link Buying Blog

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Google Sitemaps does NOT affect your Rank

Having spotted Rand Fishkin speaking with Vanessa Fox, Google's Webmaster Central Product Manager and interesting to hear she confirmed that Google Sitemaps will not affect your ranking... though I believe she left off one important word... "yet"

I am certain that if your website makes Google life easier in not only indexing your pages but also informing it when updates are done then I would think your site (as long as it meets other basic SEO requirement number 1: Good content) is going to be (over time) ranked more highly than if you did without Google sitemaps. I can't see any other reason for being rewarded in using Google tools...

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Heh us Moloneys, we're FAMOUS

I was checking links on Googles Webmaster tool for my own domain and spotted this page on the links list:

Famous Moloney's


Checking it out I find I am listed as a "famous" Moloney under Internet Marketing Consultant. Now THATS cool (the Moloney bit, not the consultant bit!)

Then my savvy business marketing mind suddenly thought what if I was to contact each person from this list and ask if they have a website and if so would they prefer another "Moloney" to help them with it... kinda like keepin' it in the "family"...?

Talk about spotting a niche market! Ahem. ;)

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Is Digg really gonna send you THOUSANDS of visitors?

I see some of blogs over the pond are making a big thing (is it a big thing???) about Digg, Reddit and StumbleUpon and how many visitors they can send to a website.

All great and of interest, but just one thing plagues me....

Having had my own articles digged or "red-ditted" (some out of the blue) I've yet to see the thousands of visitors some people claim to be getting each and every day.

I admit and agree that these voting type sites can increase traffic but how effective are they in generating inbound links to your website?

And more importantly how many £££ or $$$ is each Digg user spending on your site... I'd hazard a guess it ain't very much... if some people can digg that often then do they have paid jobs? I know the top digg(ers) are likely being paid, cannot remember where I read that though.

The other thought that strikes me is that isn't Digg just one great big link farm...?? Not in the typical sense of reciprocal linking but one that is being utilised by link marketers for their own gains rather than for the real community of Digg users... doesn't this make Digg's users pissed off they're being used by marketeers....?

When Google's algorithms realise the marketing and link bearing connection from Digg and adjust their link juice or link value accordingly downwards... could it negatively affect a websites rankings (could it therefore be used to affect a competitors online rankings)... I am not saying the algorithms are doing that now but who knows for the future....?

YES if you write a good piece on Digg and are seen to be a regular submitter of decent articles you can hide your own self promotion quite effectively from other Digg users... but if you're a one time link builder I'd say you're easily gonna get a) ignored and/or b) spammed

Either way I'm not one to believe the hype of how much traffic (and if it is all good how much cash that converts into) the likes of Digg and Redditt can bring.

They're fine sites but not the be all and end all of getting visitors to a website.

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Returned from abroad... down with the flu

A fantastic trip to Germany to advise about the benefits of online marketing and SEO to a company that greatly impressed me.

Unfortunately at the same time I was hit hard by the flu virus (no not MAN flu... the real thing) and am now recovering so if there's not many posts these next few days, don't panic... I'll be back to blogging very soon (once I've recovered from my sickbed!)

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NEW! Free Keyword Research Tool

For years Overture's free keyword tool was considered essential... now it appears to be down most of the time (and I guess on its way out) Trellian's Keyword Discovery team have stepped in with their own free keyword tool...

Ok, it only shows the first 100 results but for many that's likely going to be more than enough to work with. If you want more results then its well worth considering coughing up some readies to purchase the software... at £300 (based on approximate GBP to USD exchange rate) it is quite pricey (compared to Wordtracker) but it's worth the investment to put you ahead of your competition.

Try it here:

Free Keyword Research tool by KeywordDiscovery.com

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The Worrying Trend in Content Theft

For those who are unsure what constitutes website copyright and content theft I have a link below that can educate you further so as not to put yourselves at any risk (as I said I like to help others).

Content Theft

I am highly ethical in all that I do. If you decide to take others work without their permission then it is fair to say you are certainly not as ethical as I.

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Managing a Sales Meeting

I like concise informative posts that are easy to read and easily understood.

Those of us who need new business through the doors (about 99% of us then) will likely find Mark Ace's article about Managing the Sales Meeting an invaluable piece.

Top of the SERPS via Froogle

I'm making a lot of my retail clients aware of the benefits of Google Base - its certainly proving fruitful for them with higher rates of visitor conversion to buyers. I'm impressed. :)

One thing I get asked a lot is "NOT all my items show consistently on Google SERPS 1st page, in the space reserved for Google Froogle - why is that?"

I'd say its very likely a low level of relevance, a poor title and product description and would recommend you get the optimium descriptive keyword in the products title AND description ensuring you also carefully list the benefits of your product. Some clients of mine actually believe the cheaper they price their products the more likely they get listed though I have no seen evidence of this yet, in fact I don't believe this to be a major influence - though if anyone has evidence and can dispute that I'd be happy to discuss....

Looking at Froogle's own page the initial listing shows as sorted by relevance so that kinda gives the game away...

I'll give you an example:

My client Storm Outdoors Clothing Online Store is not showing on the SERPS page for the following product:

Rab Summit Storm Jacket

My client's site is however listed on Froogle but to get a searchers true attention we're going to need to get that product showing above the top results in the Froogle listing on the Google Search Results page.

To do that I'm going to tweak the product data and improve the copy of the product AND check the relevancy of the keywords. I'd expect to see A) an increase in Froogle listings B) my clients Froogle listing for this product at the top of the SERPS pages

I'll keep you posted on that one!

In the meantime what I have found out is that discovering more about getting the best from Google Base and Froogle requires a LOT more research and study... during some initial research I found Google Base's own in house blogger - its well worth a read...

Official Google Base Blog

Remember you read it here first that making your product and title description more relevant in your Feed (and with better calls to action) can surely help you increase listings on the SERPS pages with Froogle even further. ;)

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Not EXACTLY snowed in but nice all the same...

I spent the day indoors yesterday choosing to stay off the roads. Only 4 inches of snow but just enough to almost close down part of the UK.

Seems the amount of snowfall was varied... Bristol I hear got very little whilst up here between Cirencester and Swindon we got some. Here's a photo to prove:




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Yahoo Design Pattern Library

I found this link to Yahoo's Library of Design Patterns this morning.

A fascinating and informative website and I would recommend it highly - especially if you are in the fields of web design, usability and online marketing.

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A GREAT lesson on DUMBASS link requests....

Got this GREAT link request today - let's break it down and have some fun shall we?

And I'm not passing this guy any link love either so no links!

Ok here's the email:

"Hi
I just thought I would send you a quick compliment on your website
and while at it, I thought I'd ask if you would mind exchanging links. My site is: http://www.#i-am-a-potential-spammer.biz and I will be sending aproxamitly 1000 - 15000 search engine visitors to the site on a daily basis starting Feb 05 2007.

In other words... LOTS OF TRAFFIC will be dropping by, which will benefit both you and I... IF we exchange links that is. The reason I'm asking you to exchange links is because I noticed that your site has related content and I am really trying to boost my search engine rankings and I figured the best way of doing it would be to
insure that we both would greatly benefit from it.

I am actually putting your link on: http://#www.dumb-ass-spammer#.biz/link.html right now and ask if you would be kind enough to place a link on anywhere on your site - linking back to my site at: http://www.#blank-due-to-it-being-spam#.biz with the text "Search Engine Marketing" or even "SEO Optimization".

I want to thank you very much for your consideration and am looking forward to doing business with you in the future.

Konrad

PS - Should you decide to do me this favor and accept my proposal, simply email me and I'll enter you into to a contest to win $100. If not, I apologize for this inconvinience and shall never bother you again."

Ok Konrad, let's put together a little lesson on sending out legitimate link requests shall we?

DUMBASS LINK REQUEST RULE NUMBER 1:

Learn to S-P-E-L-L or take time to read your email before sending it to me, it needs to be picture perfect for me to be interested. You've spelt quite a few words incorrectly and thats a bad sign though I'm not worried about American English spelling. I'll let you figure out this one.

DUMBASS LINK REQUEST RULE NUMBER 2:

You've not used my name! So you obviously did not look through my website in any great detail. Sorry but do I look like a sucker? We online marketers all know that the best response to a link request is a personalized email with the website owners name (or at least their position within their company). It only takes a simple phone call if it is not immediately obvious online.

DUMBASS LINK REQUEST RULE NUMBER 3:

No, I don't mind exchanging links but I am going to check out the content of your web site first. I am not going to be too concerned with design (though that is a bonus) but more with your content - is it authoritative, resourceful and user friendly? Or is it just spam.

From the nature and type of your domain I think it's the latter but lets be generous and give you the benefit of the doubt.... no, I spoke too soon, your site - straight off the bat - IS SPAM!

DUMBASS LINK REQUEST RULE NUMBER 4:

1000 to 15000 visitors A DAY? From the 5th February 2007? That is AMAZING - just how are you going to do that with a 3 PAGE website full of affiliate links - but hidden as contextual links for your users to click on?

If, Konrad, YOU can prove to me those figures rather than make a potentially false and inaccurate statement then I will link to you but somehow I doubt your claim without hard evidence.

A little link research from the Neato backlinks tool tells me enough I need to know and a Google Page Rank of "0" confirms my suscipions you're just about an SEO nobody... IMHO...


DUMBASS LINK REQUEST RULE NUMBER 5:

Ah a little bit of honesty.... yes my site has related content and yes I understand you are trying to boost your search engine rankings. Listen Konrad I am in the search marketing industry I am NEVER going to link to your affiliate site, cause quite frankly I feel its crap.

DUMBASS LINK REQUEST RULE NUMBER 6:

Ensure we both benefit from it? Sure, I'll link to you and get penalised for linking to a potentially BAD neighbourhood IF Google does find it. Sure I'm gullible enough that I just cannot miss out on us BOTH benefitting... or more likely YOU benefitting at the expense of my website's users....

DUMBASS LINK REQUEST RULE NUMBER 7:

One good point. You've put my link on first - lets go wander over to your website and see if it is actually there, shall we? I'm hoping you have put it in but I get a sneaking suscipicion (heh there's that word again Konrad) you haven't.
I'm really hoping you've proved me wrong!

And 15 seconds later, nope, no evidence on your links page (as at 06-Feb-07) of a link to my All Things Web website and no evidence in the code either - I checked just in case you were using anchor text, the same way you asked me to do for you.

DUMBASS LINK REQUEST RULE NUMBER 8:

Looking forward to doing business in the future together? When hell freezes over my friend...

DUMBASS LINK REQUEST RULE NUMBER 9:

Winning a chance of a $100 prize in your contest. Tell you what, save yourself the trouble. Mail me the $100 and I'll put a link somewhere to you (I reserve the right to choose the domain though). I'll donate the $100 to the SEO Industry to train others - how's that, sound fair? Does to me. :)


If you're going to want to get a link from my website or this blog to your site then I am afraid you're going to have to try a little bit harder to get my attention in your email and with your online content!

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Rapid Exec - early days but the SEO challenge is on!

Rapid Exec are a new prestige travel and executive driving service based in Bristol serving business users across the UK.

The site has been built in-house by the Rapid Exec team and as yet only consists of 1 page - which as Rapid Exec now know is not enough to compete (c'mon guys get them landing pages sorted PRONTO!) but I thought I would pass a little link love and give them a little promotion at the same time.

They got a real nice limousine type Merc too which by the way looks fantastic!

Call them on 01454 777090 and book if you need platinum chauffeur corporate driven hire car at extremely cost effective price!

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Dealing with unwanted inbound links....

I noticed in my traffic logs that the all things web site receives dozens and dozens of visitors from a website that seems to me to be involved with "pyramid selling" - the type that offers $10000 a month for very little effort... that so stinks of BS... really, c'mon!

It pissed me off enough (to be honest it doesn't take much!) to start writing an email to request the site owner remove the link to my site. Just as I was about to send it I suddenly paused and had a thought...

... what if those people coming to my site suddenly got the message that the Internet is not a super easy, make a quick buck overnight way the other website seems to be offering....?

So I binned the email.

It might be that I am approached by some of these people to help them promote their business which I would prefer rather than they go cough up to the other guy...

It might also help generate more inbound links from other sites - even other sites that I disagree with BUT it can only help my profile and overall ranking in time if that does happen.

Yeah I may get plagued with crappy reciprocal requests but they're pretty easy to ignore and the overall effect will be to potentially increase my business' online exposure and that can surely be a good thing!

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