Līve Ambitions

Registrar: Namecheap

Registered Date: 10/08/2009

Expiration Date: 10/08/2010

The 1st comment on this post takes the domain.  I will contact the winner with the email provided in the comment.  Free push via Namecheap account.

If you’re a SEO (Search Engine Optimizer), you’re either going to love this idea or hate it.  Google has decided to show personalized results for everyone, regardless of whether someone is logged in or not.  For well-established sites, it may be easier to rank since you already have a good presence in the search engines.  However, if your website is new and has no existing traffic, then it will mostlikely be competing against more established websites.

This decision may have a drastic effect on the current SEO industry.  Since all searches are now personalized regardless of whether a user is logged in or not, the results will be heavily influenced by user search activity.  According to Google, search activity is tracked by an anonymous cookie set in your browser for 180 days.  So, if you visit a particular website frequently, it may show up in your search results most of the time, of course based on the search terms.

While I understand Google’s intent to offer more “personalized” results, it gives an unfair advantage to already-established websites.  This will mean that new websites will have to work harder than older websites to get the same results, even if the new website has better content.  This also means that online mom-and-pop shops may not get discovered simply because they are new and have to compete against the big boys on the block.

I can see arguments from the advocacy side saying users will have a better experience from “personalized” results.  However, I’d rebuttal by saying that users may “miss out” on new websites or opporunities because it’s not being shown in the 1st page.

Personalized search not only affects SEO, but also PPC.  Here’s my logic.  Since new websites won’t get much exposure through organic traffic, they’ll mostlikely have to resort to PPC marketing in order to get any type of search traffic.  I guess if there is an increase in PPC marketing, it can only mean more money for Google and Internet Marketing firms. 

So, I’m a little torn on this subject being that I’m both a SEO and Internet Marketer.

What’s your opinion?

What not to do. Buy a list and email blast everyone and their mom.

Email blasts have become all the rage when it comes to marketing. They’re cheap, they’re quick, but you’ll also be surprised to find out that they’re not as effective as you would’ve hoped.  For starters, email blasts are easily blocked out, very impersonal and at times a nuisance – especially since spamming has become a huge thing.

Furthermore, email blasts are often deleted or ignored.  I think we’re all guilty of this and rightfully so.

Years after the introduction of email marketing, many companies have started realizing (from market and research studies) that email blasts, especially when sent too frequently, actually hurt their reputation and even lead to being labeled as a spammer.

To top it off, many lists out there are outdated or inaccurate because the list isn’t properly maintained.

Like most things in life, there are pros and cons, and email marketing is no exception.  If done right, email marketing can be a business’ best friend.

Do it right. Build your own opt-in list.

Got a website?  Good.  Place a form somewhere on your website where you can harvest opt-in emails.

More than ever, trust has become the primary goal of email marketing.  Readers pay attention to individuals or companies they trust.  Afterall, it’s why people initially opt-in to receive emails.  Once you have created a list of opted-in emails, the odds of your email ending in the spam box or being deleted is slim to none.

Email marketing is ideal for ecommerce sites and retail stores because it allows them to pitch their products and services to targeted consumers who have agreed to receive promotional emails.

It also works well for blogs and forums that want to share information or keep their members updated.

In today’s economy, it’s not easy for small businesses to find a good SEO or Internet Marketer.  There are many hurdles to overcome when choosing to outsource some of your work.  Here are some of them:

• finding a provider within your budget
• finding a provider who is skilled enough
• finding a provider who is meticulous
• finding a provider who cares about quality
• avoiding SEO scams and rip-offs

The SEO market is so saturated, it’s gotten to be quite difficult to find the right one for the job.  You see the resumes and service offerings at nearly every job employment site, freelance job site, classified ads site, forums and even blogs.  So, from all these options, what is a small business owner to do with the little to no hiring experience they have?

Well, unfortunately there is no easy answer.  It comes down to how much time/effort you’re willing to put into the search, and also how much you’re willing to fork out.  I’m not saying you always get what you pay for, but pricing does play a role in the level of service you receive.

Here are some effective ways to find a good provider:

• Employment/Job sites are good for finding highly-qualified job seekers.  However for contract-type positions, you may be better off using a freelance job site.  Employment sites like Monster and Careerbuilder are better suited for businesses seeking a permanent, in-house employee.  And, you’ll mostlikely pay a premium if you hire someone from one of these sites.
• Freelance job sites like oDesk and eLance are ideal places for finding freelance or contract workers.  For some business owners, they like the ability to scan through provider reviews and ratings, portfolios, and being able to see the provider rates up-front.  Because so many service providers are from less developed countries, you can often find bargains.  However, for many others, the process of using a freelance site (middle man) can be quite daunting.  There is usually a learning curve before you can effectively use their system.
• Classified ads sites like Craigslist and Backpage are also good for finding local SEOs and Internet Marketers.  You’ll get a ton of responses, however you may spend a lot of time weeding through emails before you come across potential candidates.  With classified ad sites, you really need to watch out for scams and rip-offs.
• Forums like DP and Sitepoint are great places to find affordable labor.  Start by checking out their marketplace sections, since this is where most freelancers hang out.  Then, try to find a SEO or Internet Marketer who is a regular and trusted by other members.  Many forums have a ratings feature for its members, so you can see how they conduct business and if they’re trustworthy.
• Some popular blogs actually provide a section in their blog where they offer job listings.  The quality of providers is pretty good, but their rates may be on the higher end.

So, the bottom line is you can find legitimate help at most of the job/freelancing sources out there.  The hard part is avoiding scams and screening for the right person.

According to a recent WebProNews interview with Matt Cutts, a Google software engineer, page load speeds may become a factor of Google search rankings. 

In Matt Cutts’ own words:

Historically, we haven’t had to use it in our search rankings, but a lot of people within Google think that the web should be fast.  It should be a good experience, and so it’s sort of fair to say that if you’re a fast site, maybe you should get a little bit of a bonus.  If you really have an awfully slow site, then maybe users don’t want that as much.

While it hasn’t been confirmed that Google will implement this new factor into their algorithm, it does seem plausible.  Afterall, Google currently uses speed as a factor in the Adwords algorithm.

There are 2 primary arguments against this proposed SEO factor.

Certain web pages run scripts which may slow down load times. 

It’s true, but there are ways to optimize the speed of your website even with certain codes running.  Google offers tools and tips to help you speed up your website: Let’s make the web faster

Users are concerned with content, not speed.

Not always true.  Loading times often affect user behavior, such as leaving websites before they finish loading.  Also, slow load times can be a frustrating experience for the user.  SEO is not just about content anymore.  Experience is also a big factor.

Many people have the misperception that all links are the same.  As a SEO, one of the most important things to know are the different types of links out there.  Knowing the difference is critical because it can mean the difference between a success SEO campaign versus one that does not produce any results.

Link discussions can get technical, but since I’m not a programmer, I’ll explain it in layman’s terms.

Static Links

• can be linked from a text or image.
• static links can either be DoFollow or NoFollow.
• DoFollow static links pass PR/link juice.

        Example of a DoFollow static link:

<a href=”http://www.link.com”>Link</a>

• NoFollow static links do not pass PR/link juice.

        Example of a NoFollow static link:

<a href=”http://www.link.com” rel=”nofollow”>Link</a>

Dynamic Links

• can be linked from a text or image.
• dynamic links may or may not pass PR/link juice depending on how the search engines handle the specific link.
• in affiliate links, used to track actions or sales.

        Example of an affiliate link:

http://www.link.com/?affiliateid=123&sid=101

• used in dynamic websites which has not done Apache URL mod rewrites.

        Example of a dynamic link:

http://www.link.com/article/bin/answer.look?language=en&answer=3&sid=98971591358906&query=URL

• Dynamic links are often converted to static links for the purpose of SEO. The .htaccess file is used to perform this task.

        Example of a link conversion:

http://www.link.com/article/bin/answer.look?language=en&answer=3&sid=98971591358906&query=URL

        to

http://www.example.com/article/bin/answer/en/3/98971591358906/URL

As you can see, the dynamic link is not as “pretty” as the static link. Also, the dynamic link is lengthier and contains certain symbols (?,&,=) which make it more difficult for search engines to crawl and index.

For people that write for a living, here is a list of “get paid to write” sites.  Some pay upfront, while others pay based on page views or ad revenue share.

www.helium.com
www.associatedcontent.com
www.constant-content.com
www.digitaljournal.com
www.ehow.com
www.squidoo.com
www.hubpages.com
www.xomba.com
www.bukisa.com
www.qassia.com
www.searchwarp.com
www.suite101.com
www.oondi.com
www.reviewstream.com
www.infobarrel.com

If you know of any others, please let me know so I can add them to the list.

Here’s another email phishing scam to watch out for.

Email Subject Line:

Notification of Limited Account Access RXI033

Email Body:

Hello Steve,

As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the PayPal
system. We recently contacted you after noticing an issue on your account.

We requested information from you for the following reason:

A recent review of your account determined that we require some additional
information from you in order to provide you with secure service.

Case ID Number: PP-766-695-887

This is a second reminder to log in to PayPal as soon as possible. Once you log
in, you will be provided with steps to restore your account access.

Be sure to log in securely by using the following link:
Click here to login and restore your account access

Once you log in, you will be provided with steps to restore your
account access. We appreciate your understanding as we work to ensure account
safety.

In accordance with PayPal’s User Agreement, your account access will remain
limited until the issue has been resolved. Unfortunately, if access to your
account remains limited for an extended period of time, it may result in further
limitations or eventual account closure. We encourage you to log in to your
PayPal account as soon as possible to help avoid this.

To review your account and some or all of the information that PayPal used to
make its decision to limit your account access, please visit the Resolution
Center. If, after reviewing your account information, you seek further
clarification regarding your account access, please contact PayPal by visiting
the Help Center and clicking “Contact Us”.

We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand that
this is a security measure intended to help protect you and your account. We
apologize for any inconvenience.

Thanks,

PayPal Account Review Department

Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you
will not receive a response. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account
and click the Help link in the top right corner of any PayPal page.

—————————————————————-
Copyright © 1999-2009 PayPal. All rights reserved.

PayPal Email ID PP522

The way to tell if this is a scam is by hovering over the links within the email body.  The URL that is exposed looks something like this:

http://www.paypal.com.0qrrxs8jmav.003elsvvwfve4jw6cyx2.com/cgi-bin/webscr/?login-dispatch&login_email=&ref=pp&login-processing=ok

As you can see, the actual domain name is: 003elsvvwfve4jw6cyx2.com, not paypal.com.  This is a sneaky attempt to disguise the real domain.

And as usual, they’ve disguised the “from” field with service@paypal.com.

This is just a warning to everyone.  I received an email this morning which appeared to be a message from Facebook, but in reality is just a scam.  The “from” field is disguised as service@facebook.com.  The way to tell is when you actually click on the reply button, the “reply to” email then changes to ferriess0@topfont.com.

Here’s how the email looked:

Hey steve,

Because of the measures taken to provide safety to our clients, your password has been changed.
You can find your new password in attached document.

Thanks,
The Facebook Team

Along with the email, came an attached file.  I’m assuming the attached file would unleash some sort of malicious virus onto your computer.

Google has officially jumped on the Twitter bandwagon.  According to their press release last week, Google has agreed to include Tweets in their search results.  I really hope Google does this in a way that isn’t obtrusive with the current search interface and layout.  Hopefully, the extent of Tweet results will be limited to Google’s search options.  It would be a bad mistake to include Tweets within the “normal” search results.

What do you think of this deal?