March/April 2003
FROM MIKE GREHAN TO 12,000 DISCERNING MARKETERS WORLDWIDE
[Contents just below.]
+ EDITOR'S WELCOME:
[But first - a big round of applause as we hit 12,000. I'd
like to thank each and every one of you personally. So: Thanks
to ziggy@yahoo.com, thanks to zara@msn.com thanks to... okay,
okay, I'm getting on with it... ]
Well, due to the fact that I've done more travelling than
usual since I last dropped you a line, I'm very late with
this issue. Let me apologise if you've been sitting up waiting
each night, ceremoniously anticipating its due arrival.
So where in the world have you been? I hear you ask. And
as you're asking: I'll tell you. I've been to... Boston, New
York, London, Barcelona, London (again), Amsterdam, Edinburgh,
New York (again), London (yet again), Newcastle... Where?
Newcastle - the metropolis of the north-east of England, close
to the Scottish Borders, where I roam the forests to hunt
and fish to feed and clothe my family... and... er...
Seriously though, I've had an extraordinarily productive
time over the past couple of months. The third edition of
my book is due at the end of June and it's *blockbuster* material.
I've conducted in-depth, face-to-face interviews with senior
technology staff at all of the major search engines. And boy...
are you in for some surprises this time. There's more info
about the new book and how you can secure your advance copy
right now, further into this issue of e-m-news.
Not only that, I've personally been picking the brains of
some of the web's most successful and influential marketers
exclusively for the pages of this newsletter. In a new feature
called "In conversation with" I'll be sharing with
you the conversations about marketing and motivation (and
sometimes the menu) I've had with these business thought leaders.
In Boston, a few weeks ago, I had mid-morning coffee with
Jill Whalen of High rankings fame, and dinner with Fredrick
Marckini, the eminent CEO of iProspect, one of the world's
leading search engine marketing firms.
Then, it was dinner in Manhattan with the great Larry Chase
of Web Digest for Marketers. Meanwhile, back in Boston it
was time for a beer with top online copywriter and author
Nick Usborne.
Back on this side of the Atlantic I enjoyed a beer or two
and dinner in the excellent company of Andrew Goodman, author
of the best selling Google AdWords report (here on a flying
visit to London).
And on the subject of best sellers: author, consultant and
America's top speaker on Internet marketing, Jim Sterne sat
with me atop London's elegant Oxo Tower restaurant. There
are many more, too many to mention all
in one go. So make sure you don't miss a single upcoming issue
with featured marketing brains... and make sure you forward
this issue to your best online marketing buddy.
Oh, and make sure you print this one out. It's a bumper issue
and has some very useful stuff which I've been trying to get
to you for a while now (NB: Professional search engine marketers
DO NOT miss the piece on WebCEO - it could possibly be one
of the most useful, all-in-one tools on the market right now!
And don't miss the Froogle Feeder either)
Now, where's my toothbrush? It's dinner in Providence, Rhode
Island, this weekend, with Anne Holland from Marketing Sherpa,
and I've a plane to catch...
Enjoy!
Mike.
CONTENTS:
+ I'LL TELL YOU WHERE TO STICK 'EM. Jill Whalen's long anticipated
report on writing for search engines hit the market last month
and its been flying off the electronic shelves. Jill and I
inadvertently found ourselves trying to have a conversation
in some sort of pseudo-lap dancing bar last month... Find
out more about Jill and her excellent guide to writing for
search engines, in the first of my "In conversation with"
features.
+ THE WHOLE TRUTH? NOT EXACTLY. Last issue I wrote a short
piece about what are known as Smart Pages. Are they Spam?
Or are they not? Google "Spam Czar", Matt Cutts
decides.
+ DO I HEAR THE DEATH KNELL FOR THE NOTION OF THEMED WEB
SITES? YES I DO. I hate to hark back to the same old thing,
but I do still get this "themed web site" stuff
thrown at me from certain quarters. The third edition of my
book should put that into proper perspective and add a few
more surprises. Get a little taster today, directly from Google
about "themes" and find out more about what and
who's in the third edition.
+ NEW SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING SUITE OF TOOLS LOOKS LIKE A
REAL CONTENDER. I get so many new search engine marketing
related software tools sent to me for review: I just simply
don't have time to test them all (but I'm trying, I really
am). However, WebCEO appears to be an outstanding new all-in-one
ASP package. Get my overview here.
+ BIG NEWS: BEST SELLING MARKETING COURSE IS STILL... ER...
A BEST SELLER. In the last issue I made just a passing reference
to a best selling marketing course, which, it would appear,
many e-m-news subscribers didn't know about. I got a call
from the Internet Marketing Center in Canada to let me know
about the little stampede that followed.
+ FROOGLE IS GOOGLE'S LATEST INNOVATION. IT'S BEEN BETA TESTING
FOR A WHILE. DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS AND HOW TO GET INTO IT?
Comparison shopping is what Froogle is all about. The power
of Google behind the biggest choice of products and services
online. Getting your own products and services listed in Froogle
is a must. So this new "Froogle Feeder" makes it
so simple.
+ DO YOU WANT TO MEET UP AND HAVE A CHAT? I'm speaking at
the search engine strategies conference in London at the beginning
of June and the eMetrics summit in Santa Barbara, California
mid June, amongst other gigs and events. Meet me here...
+ A ROUND WITH RICHARD GAY. As some readers may be aware,
Richard and I have been commissioned by one of the world's
leading academic publishers to write a book on Internet marketing.
We're both "up to the eyeballs" with research work
- so Richard's back next issue. [Actually, I forgot to ask
for his copy in time - my fault. Doh!]
+ STUFF YOU MAY HAVE MISSED. Includes: At no cost at all,
search engine marketing linking strategy document which beats
anything else you can pay for (probably). Zillions downloaded
already - get yours. Search engine marketing focus edition
of web Digest for Marketers from Larry Chase - probably the
most passed around document on the web a couple of weeks ago.
Second chance to get it, just in case you've been to the moon.
Email Marketing Handbook written by leading expert Ralph
Wilson. He has over 100,000 subscribers. How did he do that?
Find out...
Mega-course on pay per click advertising by a group of world
leading experts, includes Andrew Goodman. How much? Nothing
to you.
___________________
And this just in...
___________________
Overture beats Google for results, control and service. Really?
New law in Virginia will send Spammers to jail.
=======================
In conversation with... JILL WHALEN. - HIGH RANKINGS.
=======================
+ I'LL TELL YOU WHERE YOU CAN STICK 'EM.
In the first of a brand new series called "In conversation
with", I caught up with first-lady of search engine marketing,
Jill Whalen. Regular readers of this irregular (to say the
least) e-rag, will probably have figured that Jill and I are
buddies. However, we played the whole thing straight for this
interview (I only had to edit about four pages of material
which wasn't suitable for my younger readers!)
Jill and I met for a beer in a Boston hotel bar. It was kind
of busy and noisy so we moved out through the lobby and into,
what looked like, a quieter room. As I approached the bar,
I became aware that the girl serving, seemed not to be wearing
any clothes. On closer inspection (yes, it was necessary)
I realised that she was in fact wearing something... It looked
like a necklace, a belt and a pair of shoes!
Feeling largely overdressed for the venue, Jill and I made
a hasty departure and met the following morning for coffee...
Mike:
In time honoured fashion, I have to ask you Jill: "How
did you get started in the SEO business?"
Jill:
Well, I really just kind of fell into it...
(At this point, an oriental waiter decides to provide Jill
with her long awaited coffee and some generally, hard to understand,
chit-chat - totally unaware of the fact she's being interviewed.
Following this, Jill cracks up a little and completely loses
track of whether we've actually started or not!)
Mike:
Let me just have a quick scan for any other low- flying waiters...
Nope - okay, the coast looks clear now. So - do you have a
technical background then?
Jill:
No, I don't have a technical background at all. I just basically
learned how to create a web site for myself. And then I did
a parents room, a parenting web site. And I figured out how
to get it ranked high for "parenting chat" [it was
a parenting chat room].
Mike:
Was that intentional? Getting it high with search engines
for that phrase. I mean did you know what you were doing?
Jill:
Oh yeah. I remember reading about it [search engine optimisation]
and then just trying it. I remember figuring it out by looking
at what was coming up and looking at the code of other web
sites and that kind of thing. You know, just checking it out
and figuring stuff like, well I just need to put these words
on the page. To me that was always obvious. I learned about
meta-tags but it was kind of obvious even then that they weren't
as important. You really had to get the words on the page.
So, I just started doing that and then I was designing sites
for some other people and started to get theirs ranked high
and that's basically how I started.
Mike:
I think its very interesting that, many people come at this
business from a design angle. Whereas with you, it was always
about the words. Of course, many people realise now that,
in search engine optimisation, words on a page are important
because a search engine crawler can't figure out graphics.
So, you were wise to that from the very beginning, yeah?
Jill:
Well to me, once I started looking at how you do it, it was
obvious. You know, you have to say: "this page is about
this... " I just started to try and think like, how would
a search engine think? They have to figure what's relevant
and what the site's about. That's how it's gonna rank high.
So it just kind of made sense. Then you learn about the title
tag and other stuff. But, once you get that understanding
about the relevancy of the words, it just makes sense.
Mike:
You mentioned meta-tags and pretty much dismissed them right
there. Do you still put keywords in meta- tags?
Jill:
I don't spend much time on it. I mean, for my own pages, I
don't do it at all. However, for my clients, I usually do
it because I worry they may think I'm not doing my job if
I don't do it..
.Mike:
[Laughing] Oh right, they only booked you to write the meta-tags...
Jill:
Yeah right. But I've been having trouble writing them lately
because I don't know if they're really gonna make much difference
and I'm not sure what to put in them anymore. [laughs] I sometimes
just give up and don't even bother. It often just depends
what the page is about. So, anyway, sometimes I use them -
sometimes I don't.
Mike:
Meta-tags is still a pretty drawn out conversation in the
search engine marketing field though. Many people [myself
included] don't feel that the meta-keywords tag has any clout
at all anymore. The trouble is, you do still feel obliged
to put something in them just because they're there.
Jill:
Right...
Mike:
Simply because they exist you feel obliged to put something
in them. But, what I tend to find is, that I have to keep
trimming them down when I start work with a new client. New
clients say: "The keywords we're targeting are in our
meta-tags." So, I take a - peek and there's thousands
of them stuffed in there!
Jill:
Oh yeah. I almost always erase what they have in there and
then start from scratch again. I do still use the keyword
tag. Mainly just to put in misspellings and synonyms, that
sort of thing.
Mike:
Do you reckon that, if you stuff your meta-tags with hundreds
or thousands of keywords - even though search engines don't
pay so much attention to them - that you can get penalised
for that?
Jill:
Hmmm... I would imagine they just ignore it. But I Hear some
people say that it may be something that might trip a red
light. I'm not really sure about that though.
Mike:
The relationship with search engines. This is something which
I'm focusing on a bit more with the third edition of my book.
The last edition covered off most of the technology side and
debunking a lot of myths. I know that the technology side
was very interesting for you and kept you awake late at night
avidly reading...
Jill:
[Laughs, feigns yawn and slumps in chair...]
Mike:
Okayyyy - very funny! Anyway, this time, I'm keen to look
more at the business side of the industry and in particular
the relationship between the search engine marketing community
and the search engines themselves. I mean, at one time, search
engine optimisation (as it was known then) was viewed very
much as the black-art. But these days, you travel all over
the world speaking at conferences with the search engines
also in attendance. Yourself, Danny Sullivan and other leading
experts in the field - so how do you see the relationship
now compared to the way it used to be?
Jill:
Obviously, the search engines don't like people who are trying
to trick them in any sort of way. They never have and they
still don't. But, I mean, the things that I've always done
are all about just, make it the best it can be. That sort
of little tagline. It's always the way that I've done it.
I don't think that search engines will ever have a problem
with that. It just helps them to be able to find relevant
sites a little easier. So that makes sense. I don't think
they've ever had a problem with that, or ever will have a
problem with people and companies who are just helping to
develop more "search engine friendly" sites. You
know, just using the right words on a page and such... I think
they're quite happy to get that word out, that this is the
way to do it. And, I guess, that's the main reason that they
come to conferences.
Mike:
Or, one could be a little cynical and say that, considering
the business model for a search engine wasn't particularly
inspired i.e. a business where they don't get paid by their
end-users - where were they supposed to get revenue? So, it
never really surprised me that they started charging for inclusion,
or consideration or per click or whatever. It seems to me
that, we search engine marketers did get a pretty good free
ride from them for a while. Getting a bit of impact on the
bottom line is pretty much a priority with search engines.
So maybe there is a bit more of a commercial reason for them
turning up at conferences - as opposed to just wanting to
promote best practice?
Jill:
Sure, that's definitely got to be some of it because they've
seen that we're making all this money by making pages friendly:
and what do they get out of it? But if that was really the
case, why would Yahoo! bury their directory if the 299 dollars
for consideration was so important to them? If it was so important
they wouldn't be burying it. I mean, obviously, it appears
that they're trying to be a better search engine by using
Google more. They understand if they want more people to come
then they need good results. I think the 299 dollars wasn't
so
important to them and the move away from that has been a step
in the right direction. Maybe they're up to something else
but...[laughs]
Mike:
So, the link from Yahoo! is still a very important one to
have though. That one link from a major directory does carry
some weight. So, nine times out of ten, you'd recommend to
a client to pay for the link. Even if you didn't rank very
highly it's important because it's seen as an important link
by a search engine like Google, for instance.
Jill:
I don't really recommend that right now at all. I was actually
talking to one of the Yahoo! girls just recently and she said
to me: "I know you don't recommend the Yahoo! link right
now." And I said, you know, you have to give me a reason
just to link... I mean, I could submit to Joe Ant and Go Guides
and those places for a link and I get a decent link for my
clients there. But, yeah, if a company is big enough and 299
dollars is just pocket change for them - then sure, go ahead,
do it.
Mike:
So, if you had a site which was currently doing well in Google,
and therefore doing all right at Yahoo! you simply wouldn't
bother...
Jill:
Yeah. Right.
Mike:
But what about if you're not doing so well with a client at
Google? Do you buy the link then?
Jill:
Weeell... yeah, then it might be something I'd consider. But
first I'd do everything else and see how we're doing. And
if we're not doing any better over at Google then, maybe I'd
say alright, let's buy the link, maybe it'll help.
Mike:
Do you think, with the purchase of Inktomi, what we're going
to see is prices maybe hiked up a little bit? You know the
directory side of yahoo! is there and it's built. But there's
money in pay for inclusion, so will there be more focus on
the crawler side than picking up the odd 299 dollars on the
directory side...
Jill:
I don't really know what they'll do with Inktomi. There are
plenty of theories out there. It seems to me that, by using
Google right now they're getting the best results they can
get. And Inktomi, to me, doesn't have as good or relevant
results, so... I think that if they switch to total Inktomi
results they may be making a mistake. But I don't know. It'll
be interesting to see what the real plans are...
Mike:
The plan is to make money...
Jill:
Maybe they'll integrate both sets of results? I think that
may be a move. But we'll have to wait and see.
Mike:
So - you've got your new publication now: The Nitty- gritty
of Writing for Search Engines...
Jill:
Yep! My new report.
Mike:
And you've been threatening (shall we say) to do this for
quite some time. So what eventually got it kick- started the
again?
Jill:
You know, suddenly, over the past couple of months, I had
so many people asking when it's due. I had this link on my
site saying "click here if you'd like to be notified
when it's ready." I had a constant trickle of people
asking me. But just lately it started building up to five
or six enquiries every day. I don't know whether someone had
posted something about it somewhere or what... That's when
I started thinking seriously again. You know, if all these
people really want it, I guess I'd better finish it! I mean
I was half way through, or maybe even three quarters anyway.
I'd just put it to the side because I had so much on with
clients and stuff. I figured that, if I just spent a weekend
concentrating solely on the report I could get it finished.
And that's what I did!
Mike:
So, let's get down to the nitty-gritty. What you're doing
is looking at the way the text is structured on a web page.
You're making sure that you have keywords in all the right
places like title tags and such. But it has to be right for
a human being to read. This is what I call writing for man
and machine. Is that a difficult part as you see it too?
Jill:
Yeah, a little. My report isn't so much about that view. It's
more about finding places to get those keywords on the page...
Mike:
Those "pesky keywords" as you refer to them [laughs]
Jill:
[Laughing] Yeah that's right... those pesky keywords on the
page! But in a way, it should help you be able to do it in
a way that it is pleasing to both humans and search engines.
It's not like a report on copywriting and how to do it. You
have to really have good copy to start with. If you don't
have some decent copy to work with then this may not be such
a great help. You know, I still suggest you need to hire a
copywriter if you can't do your own. Basically I'm saying
it's not a copywriting book. It is specifically about working
the keywords into your existing copy.
Mike:
Keyword research is so important. So what about the actual
keywords... I tried "gastric bypass surgery" on
all of my pages but it didn't work for me...
Jill:
[Creases up laughing at this reference to an "in- joke"
between us.] Yeah! Well that's the thing isn't it? You have
to have the RIGHT keywords you idiot! I mean, my report's
not going to be any good to you at all really, if you don't
know the right keywords. So you need to get yourself over
to WordTracker and start your research. Of course, I do mention
all of this in the report. First of all: find the phrases
- not the keywords. Those being the keyword phrases that are
the most relevant and specific to your pages...
Mike:
It is pretty pointless trying to chase a single keyword these
days. I mean, I get people saying to me: "Mike can you
get me to number one at Google for the word 'money' or something
[bursts out laughing]
Jill:
[Laughing] I know what you mean. Occasionally there are some
single keywords which some companies have to chase because,
for instance, that ONE word really is the one they need. You
know, it's just something so specific they have to be found
on it. In those cases sure, that can be kind of tricky - but,
'money' or 'marketing' or something as general and so competitive...
well... different story.
Mike:
But those words can usually be worked into the copy somewhere,
so that it becomes part of the phrase.
Jill:
Right. Sure. And that's what I recommend and suggest in my
report. Let's do the longer phrases where the important words
are included and that's less difficult.
Mike:
So, what about linkage? Your report is perfect for getting
the keywords worked into the copy. It's clear and concise
about that. But what about the next part... the linkage data
which is so important... any tips to go with that?
Jill:
Links? Well, yeah, if you can get into the directories, that's
a good place to start. With good directory links you don't
have to be reciprocal. If you can get your keywords, for example
phrases that you want to be found on, if you get those actual
words in the links: those are the most powerful links. So
you want to try and suggest that when you're requesting links
from someone. But as for how do you go about getting links?
I don't really specialise in that at all. In fact, I actually
sub- contract that work for my clients. And there are tips
and tricks that these link guys know, but... I mean my own
feeling is, if you have a great site with great information...
my own site has a lot of free information on it with my newsletter
archives, so a lot of people link to it. That's really one
of the most powerful ways to get links. You know, going out
and asking for links: "I'll link to you if you link to
me" stuff just doesn't work so well these days. It's
just a case that people are real stingy with their links [laughs]...
So, you get these really crappy links...
Mike:
I think a major part of the problem, is simply that, the people
you really need to link to you, are your competitors because
they're so "on topic". But they're never gonna link
to you - ever! And if you do get someone who wants to link
to you - they want a link back, so you just end up "diluted".
Jill:
Yeah, right. Exactly. And yet, it does happen with competitors
sometimes. I mean here am I, an SEO consultant with other
SEO companies all linking to me because of my newsletter!
And so, you know, if I had gone and requested those links:
"hey, other SEO company - you wanna link to me?"
it would've been like, yeah, right, sure, [bursts out laughing]
I mean, you could make a kind of directory of say, firms in
your industry or something maybe. There's lots of ways like
that. But linkage is hard work. It takes time...
Mike:
Let's go back to the newsletter for a second here. The newsletter
was launched with Heather Lloyd Martin as RankWrite and it
became very popular, very quickly. I guess that may have something
to do with the appearances you were both making at the search
engine strategies conferences. But then you both went your
separate ways...
Jill:
Yeah, that was just one year ago, in fact exactly a year ago.
Mike:
So, you've had this phenomenal success again as you had to
start from scratch - yes?
Jill:
Somewhat. We each kept the same lists, so I still had nine
thousand subscribers. Nine thousand one hundred
and fifty seven it was...
Mike:
[Laughing] You couldn't be a bit more precise here Jill could
you?
Jill:
[Laughing] Yeah, well... Anyway, so I still had that list
so I just kept on going as if nothing had changed. I was usually
in charge of setting the thing up and getting off to be mailed
and that sort of thing. It wasn't that different. Except I
didn't have an article from Heather to put in anymore. And
I get a lot of guest articles now anyway...
Mike:
And it's got a very good reputation as did the last one...
Jill:
Yeah... and over seventeen thousand subscribers now...
Mike:
Really? And, of course, this enormous archive of material
. So, I have to ask you: "What's the most popular question
you get asked? What do you get asked more than anything else?
Jill:
Well... it kind of goes in trends really. Right now, the question
is multiple sites. You know, multiple domain names. People
are so afraid that they're spamming because they have two
or three different domain names for branding purposes, but
it's really just one site with the domains pointing at the
same IP or something. I do this myself. I have webwhiz.net
which is my old domain name and I also have highrankings.com
but it's the same site. And that's fine. But I get so many
people saying that they're scared that they're doing something
wrong if they do this. But you know, generally speaking, if
you're not purposefully doing something wrong everything's
usually OK. But they get confused and they hear about multiple
domains and mirror sites and that sort of thing and they think:
"I'm gonna get banned!" So, I get that quite a lot.
In fact, I get that one about ten times a day! [bursts out
laughing]
Mike:
So, let's get to the most important thing here: I want to
talk to you about bribery... I hear tell that, all I have
to do is send you some chocolates and that's it... I get the
special treatment...
Jill:
[Chuckles to herself] No, no... I answer all the questions
the same...
Mike:
Okay Jill, it's just been fab to spend this time with you.
But before we raid you chocolate selection here, tell me what's
planned for the future? I mean, when you first started this
stuff, it was a different ball game all together. What do
you see happening in the industry for the future?
Jill:
Well there are changes and people are starting to be more
specialised within the industry. I'm beginning to find myself
in more of a project management kind of role. Right now, most
of what I'm doing is site analysis. I do a full report for
the client on what the current status of their site is. Then
they can take that report and either do the work themselves
in-house because the report's that specific on what "needs"
to be done. Or, they can hire me to do the work. And then
I put a project team together, like copywriter and researcher
and technical back-end guy. Just literally project managing
the whole thing. The whole job is much more difficult these
days. And apart from anything else, right now I'm doing more
writing and speaking and that sort of stuff. Which is good,
because that's what I'm really enjoying at the moment.
Mike:
So, if someone is looking for a high profile search engine
marketer to do some consultancy for them they simply go to
highrankings.com and fill out the form. And if they want to
know where to put those "pesky keywords" - then,
same thing, go to highrankings.com and download it. Jill,
thanks again for spending the time with me.
Jill:
Mike you're welcome it's great to talk to you.
Jill's helped many, many web site owners to get themselves
ranked well in the major search engines. Now you can help
yourself to her special report: The Nitty-gritty of Writing
for the Search Engines - Click here:
< http://www.highrankings.com
>
e-m-n---------------------FINISH----------------------e-m-n
+ THE WHOLE TRUTH? NOT EXACTLY.
I had a lot of people writing in asking about what are known
as Smart Pages just before the last issue. I mentioned that
I'd bought a copy of The Whole Truth, a sort of online promotion
package - which comes fully inclusive of your Smart Page template.
Since then, I've been inundated with people asking about Smart
Pages and Smart Billboards and Smart yada, yada...
Following my mention in the last issue, the piece was then
included in Allan Gardyne's leading, Associate Programs newsletter.
And not long after that, along with all other subscribers
to The Whole Truth newsletter (I guess), I saw a lengthy diatribe
from Stephen Pierce (developer of The Whole Truth package)
aimed at search engine optimisers whose "mouth's"
(sic) he'd like to stick a sock in. And then goes on to say,
something like, these pages don't break Google's rules etc.
Now I don't know Stephen Pierce from Adam. I've no idea who
he is and I don't much need to (I'm certain he'd feel the
same about me). I wish him and his customers nothing but the
very best in their online endeavours. However...
I'll just cut to the chase here as I don't have much time
for this trite nonsense. Personally, I really, really don't
care if Smart Pages are Spam and whether they do break the
rules at Google or not. Why should I? I don't use them. They're
simply not necessary.
You're all grown-ups reading this newsletter. If you want
to Spam a search engine what's it got to do with me? Nothing.
I'm not the police or an undercover search engine agent. Spam
- get caught - don't get caught - whatever - you know the
rules. I don't care - it's your own online reputation you're
dealing with here. But there is one thing I do care about:
and that's the integrity of the information you get in this
newsletter.
So, following an interview for my book at Google with one
of their senior technical staff, I also asked software engineer
and "Google Spam expert" Matt Cutts, to take a look
at a Smart Page template and tell me what he thought. And
this is what he said to me:
"It appears that Smart Pages may be another name for
the old issue of doorway pages, which Google frowns upon.
As Daniel mentioned in his interview, Google prefers to see
what the user sees. We are generally skeptical about any system
or tactic that shows different pages to search engines than
the user would see, or that appears engineered for search
engines rather than users."
You want to use Smart Pages? That's your choice. You want
to know what Google thinks? You just read it: And that really
is the truth.
Here's my final word on this Spam thing. I recently read
an eBook called Revenge of the Mininet written by Michael
Campbell. In it, he clearly explains how to host your sites
on different IP addresses so that you can make it "very
difficult for 'the web map filters' employed by most search
engines, from detecting or penalizing your mininet. He then
explains how to "spoof" whois information as this
will "protect you from those trying to complain about
your mininet to the search engines." What's happening
here is, someone is selling you an idea which search engines
would likely frown upon. Otherwise, why would it be necessary
to "hide" anything from them?
Okay, I've already said what I feel about whether you Spam
a search engine or not. But I really do wish that, guys who
sell this stuff, would be honest enough to tell you that you're
being sold a method of "Spamming" a search engine,
if that's what it is. Just put it right up there in the initial
sales pitch: "We have checked with a search engine and
this is Spam." At least that way, you'd know what you
were buying into. (And you wouldn't have to ask me!)
e-m-n---------------------end-------------------------e-m-n
+ DO I HEAR THE DEATH KNELL FOR THE NOTION OF THEMED WEB
SITES? YES I DO.
Something else which keeps cropping up as I go about my business
and my travels, is the notion of "themed web sites".
In the current edition of my book, I took a look at where
the notion may have started and the amount of confusion which
still appears to be quite prevalent in the industry about
this idea. It's a notion (idea) that I never bought into.If
you're not sure what I'm talking about, the idea goes like
this: to get a better rank at a search engine for your "blue
widgets web site" you should only have pages about blue
widgets, the entire site should be about blue widgets and
the search engine will classify your site as a blue widget
site... yada...
I really want to close the door on this one (forever!) so,
in the next edition, I've asked senior technical staff at
the major search engines to comment. You'll be surprised at
how candid they are about this notion. And more surprised
to discover how a themed web site, could, possibly, even harm
your potential rank. So, just to whet your appetite for the
forthcoming third edition, and taking the example given above,
once again, here's the official word from Google, courtesy
of software engineer Daniel Dulitz:
"I think people sometimes mean different things by "themes."
The statement above -- that somehow your blue widget site
would be "weaker" if it contained apage about Tigers
- is completely wrong. No search engine would want to do that;
having a page on Tigers doesn't affect your ability to be
a resource for blue widgets. We'd miss good blue widget pages
if we excluded the sites that also talk about Tigers.
However, there is a difference between "having a little
bit of content about blue widgets" and "having in-depth
content about blue widgets." Clearly we prefer in-depth
(more useful) content. That's not so much a preference for
themes asa preference for depth.
"Utility" and "depth" really should be
measured by a site's users."
So, the message is simple: you don't need to "theme"
your entire site around "blue widgets" and then
do a separate site for "green widgets". Just know
what you're talking about and be the best blue widgets resource
and the best green widgets resource online. This way, people
involved in the widget industry will point (i.e. link) to
your fabulous information rich pages about widgets. And not
only that... if you know your stuff about Tigers - Tiger people
will point to that - even if it is on a widget site!
The third edition of Search Engine Marketing: The essential
best practiceguideis due at the end of June. If you purchase
the current edition now (still choc full of sound info) you'll
automatically qualify for a free courtesy upgrade to the third
edition in June.
Click here to purchase now before the price goes up in June.
< http://www.e-marketing-news.co.uk/searchdiscount
>
e-m-n---------------------end-------------------------e-m-n
+ NEW SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING SUITE OF TOOLS LOOKS LIKE A
REALCONTENDER.
As I've already mentioned, I get many, many online marketing
tools and software packages sent to me for review. I'd dearly
love to do them all, butpressure of time is a major problem.
I travel backwards and forwards to
America a lot to meet both with clients and carry out interviews
for my research work. This means that I don't find a great
deal of time to sit and play. I'll say that again: sit and
play! By that I mean look at new products and services.
However, I had the charming Vlad Lysik, developer of a new
product called WebCEO, use all of his powers of persuasion
to nail me down for an hour or so to test-drive his new application.
Of course, as my wife is Russian, and spotting Vlad's name
as she did, the fact that she was standing behind me waving
her Kalshnikov may have helped too!
WebCEO is billed as "a suite of power packed solutions".
And it has to be said: it's a very impressive and very professional
toolkit. WebCEO is an ASP model which not only does rank checking
and submitting (as most of these packages do) it also has
its own keyword database to tap into.
As keyword research is so vital to success, I asked Vlad
where the data came from. Much like WordTracker, the data
is culled from searches taking place at what may be classed
as secondary search engines such as Metacrawler and Kanoodle.
However, user input data is just that. And this adds yet another
resource for comparison as well as Overture, Google and WordTracker.
Another very powerful application is the competitor analysis
module. Following a keyword search, WebCEO will pull the top
ten results from all of the search engines and compare your
own pages to those top ranking. You can then use the internal
editor to modify your pages including tags and body copy to
be in line with the top pages.
As it's an ASP model, this means that you are always completely
current and never using out of date software. Each time you
log-in and get going, you're using the most recent data every
time. I haven't had time to put it entirely through its paces,
but I can tell you this for sure: this is a real contender
in the professional SEO stakes. Do yourself a favour and download
the evaluation copy now. I think, like me you'll be very impressed
at its look, performance and future potential.
Click here to download WebCEO evaluation copy at no cost.
< http://www.e-marketing-news.co.uk/webceo
>
[NB: I have an online marketers toolbox, special edition
which I'm working on with a couple of my support guys right
now, coming soon. In this feature length pdf I'll provide
an overview of all the latest software and services that are
currently available for online marketers. More detail next
issue]
e-m-n---------------------end-------------------------e-m-n
+ BIG NEWS: BEST SELLING MARKETING COURSE IS STILL... ER...
A BEST SELLER
.In the last issue I placed a small reminder to readers that,
Corey Rudl, he of the Internet Marketing Center (and gazillions
of Internet bucks a year), was offering a 30 day trial of
his marketing course. Well, little did I know that it wouldcause
such a flurry! And little did I know that I'd be getting a
call about my
affiliate check. No, I didn't quite manage to make as much
money overnight as Mr Rudl himself. But, considering I'm just
so sloppy with this newsletter at times (I'm sorry, I know,
I'm so sorry), I was pleasantly surprised at the sales generated.
Yes, now I hear you asking: "So, are you going to sell
us more Mike?" Well, I'd love to, but I'm afraid that
the offer is finished now. However, as it had been a while
since I last looked at Corey's course, he was kind enough
to drop me a review copy to catch up with the latest version.
I'd almost forgotten just how packed it was with real world
tips and tricks usedby Corey Rudl himself to build his online
Empire. Now, it has to be said: this is not classical marketing
stuff at all. But it is good online practitioner stuff. And
if you're new to it: this is the stuff that will get you up
to speed very quickly and without too much jargon or academic
filler.
It's still pretty much risk free as there's a 100% money
back guarantee when you purchase. And it is quality packaging
too i.e. it's delivered as two hard copy ring binders with
companion CD's.
Take a look over at Corey's site now and check out the full
content of the course; one of the world's longest sales letters;
and pop-ups promoting theInternet Marketing Center which are
still arriving three weeks after you left his site. Yes, he
certainly practices what he preaches!
Check out The Insider Secrets To Marketing Your Business
On The Internet here:
< http://www.e-marketing-news.co.uk/coreycourse
>
e-m-n---------------------end-------------------------e-m-n
+ FROOGLE IS GOOGLE'S LATEST INNOVATION. IT'S BEEN BETA TESTING
FOR A WHILE. DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS AND HOW TO GET INTO IT?
Having already said that I don't seem to have much time right
now for trying out new software -here's another little utility
which I did get time to look at - and I'm glad I did.
Froogle Feeder is a superb little helper for making sure
you get details of all your products which are available for
purchase online, uploaded to the Google database.
If you've not come across Froogle yet, this is the latest
innovation from everyone's favourite search engine, Google.
It's like wandering into the biggest shopping mall in the
world and getting details of the best bargains available listed
right in front of you. This is comparison shopping, which
means you don'thave to go endlessly surfing around the web
looking for sites with the products you want and making endless
notes of prices as you go along. Simply key in the search
terms at Froogle and almost instantly you have a list of products
and prices with links to the relevant sites right in front
of you.
But how do you make certain that your products are included
in the Froogle database? This is where Froogle Feeder takes
away the headache. Download this simple utility, follow the
wizard step-by-step and hit submit. It's as easy as that.
Don't underestimate the power of Froogle: it's going to be
monster - absolutely. It's soon to change the online shopping
habits of millions, so make sure you understand how it works
and how to get in now - before your competitor gets the sale.
Download Froogle Feeder now and get informative articles
and other news on Google's latest innovation here:
< http://www.e-marketing-news.co.uk/froogle
>
[NB: I have an online marketers toolbox, special edition which
I'm working on with a couple of my support guys right now,
coming soon. In this feature length pdf I'll provide an overview
of all the latest software and services that are currently
available for online marketers. More detail next issue]
e-m-n---------------------end-------------------------e-m-n
+ DO YOU WANT TO MEET UP AND HAVE A CHAT?
It's always nice to meet readers of my newsletter when I'm
out and about on the road. There are two very special events
worth mentioning here where we could meet up for a chat.
June 3 and 4 I'll be at Danny Sullivan's search engine strategies
conference in London. On 4 June I'll be joining a panel of
search engine representatives for a short presentation and
a q&a session on: Looking at links.
On the other side of the pond, I'll be at the eMetrics summit
organised by Jim Sterne, one of the world's leading authorities
on Internet marketing. It's held in Santa Barbara, California
23 - 25 June.
These are two of the most influential, not to be missed conferences
around, so make sure to check them out. And I really look
forward to meeting you there.
Click here for more about Danny Sullivan's Search Engine
Strategies Conference in London:
< http://www.e-marketing-news.co.uk/ses >
Click here for more about Jim Sterne's eMetrics Summit:
< http://www.e-marketing-news.co.uk/emetrics
>
e-m-n---------------------end-------------------------e-m-n
+ STUFF YOU MAY HAVE MISSED.
Email Marketing Handbook written by leading expert Ralph
Wilson. He has over 100,000 subscribers. How did he do that?
Find out...
The 371-page E-Mail Marketing Handbook by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
provides a broad look at all aspects of e-mail marketing --
publishing your own company e-mail newsletter, e-mail promotions,
listservers, formatting the e-mail, ad tracking systems, autoresponders,
etc. The book also includes detailed reviews of 8 of the most
popular e- mail listservers and autoresponders, plus 100 pages
of user comments on over 55 e-mail programs. You won't want
to even try e-mail marketing before you read this book. Only
US $21.95. Purchase your copy now.
< http://www.e-marketing-news.co.uk/wilsoncourse
>
oAt no cost at all, search engine marketing linking strategy
document which beats anything else you can pay for (probably).
Zillions downloaded already - get yours.
< http://www.e-marketing-news.co.uk/linkingmatters
>
Search engine marketing focus edition of web Digest for Marketers
from Larry Chase - probably the most passed around document
on the web a couple of weeks ago. Second chance to get it,
just in case you've been to the moon.
< http://www.e-marketing-news.co.uk/larrychase
>
Mega-course on pay per click advertising by a group of world
leading experts, includes Andrew Goodman. How much? Nothing
to you.
< http://www.e-marketing-news.co.uk/searchblog
>
___________________
And this just in...
___________________
Overture beats Google for results, control and service. Really?
< http://www.e-marketing-news.co.uk/overturenews >
New law in Virginia will send Spammers to jail.
< http://www.e-marketing-news.co.uk/spamjail >
e-m-n---------------------FINISH----------------------e-m-n
Editor: Mike Grehan. Search
engine marketing consultant, speaker and author.
http://www.search-engine-book.co.uk
Associate Editor: Christine
Churchill. KeyRelevance.com
e-marketing-news is published selectively on a when it's ready basis.
At no cost you may use the content of this newsletter on
your own site, providing you display it in its entirety (no
cutting) with due credits and place a link to:
< http://www.e-marketing-news.co.uk
>
 |
