Unusal link baiting strategy

Note the meta description used on the third result.

This is the cheekiest link baiting strategy that I have seen.

Guess it is nice to see some SEO's have a sense of humour.

Twittering on about Skittles

I started work this morning at 9 o’clock. At that time people were waxing lyrical about the ‘intelligent’, ‘innovative’, ‘ground breaking’ or even ‘paradigm shifting’ use of Twitter on the new Skittles website.

There is much debate how Twitter can be used to benefit businesses. I have seen some businesses who use it and use it well. I have a client who I have convinced to use it. It can be more than a gimmick. Twitter can be used constructively to benefit a business.

At 12 o’clock today, before I have even had my lunch it has been announced that Skittles have removed the Twitter related feature from their new site. Apparently users have been flooding it with profanities.

Maybe this is the future of Twitter, a new tool for cyber happy slapping.

The real problem is that by using Twitter as they did Skittles lost control of the conversation. It is ths same story with protecting a brand online, when you lose control of the converation, when you open up the dialogue if you are not careful you will can end up tarnishing a brand.

The secret of Google

It is Friday the 13th today. A day not traditionally associated with luck. Today though I had some amazing luck, I found out the secret of how Google works.

Today a client sent me through an email this morning letting me know that they had been approached by another SEO company who had taken a look at the work we had done and had found in there view some major deficiencies in that work. My initial thoughts were what I have not done or what areas of my work could be improved. Was there anything that I should have done and have not done? Have I always communicated with the client clearly about what I was doing and why I was doing it?

The client’s website has been live for six months. It is in a competitive online market, it is not a gambling site or in a marketplace as competitive as that but it is a marketplace that I realise will take effort to achieve results in.

One of the first things that I did was take a look at the analytics for the site. In six months the traffic has increased. It has increased by several 1000%. I won’t lie, I am happy about that. I had a look at conversion data. When this client advertises in newspapers the cost of conversion is between £40 and £135. The cost of a conversion from the SEO campaign is less than a £1. It is not just the cost of the conversions that looks good, the number of conversions is to use the standard measurement – ‘going through the roof’.

I look at the search terms that delivering traffic. It is the terms that they would want to deliver traffic. I am not hiding between results that come from the brand term, I am using the keywords for which we optimised the campaign.

All of that makes me think that I am doing a good job. I look at the SERPs for some of the major traffic driving terms as well as some of the long tail terms. The site is on the front page for many of these terms on all the major engines, if the site is not on the front page the site is on the second page.

Maybe I am being arrogant. I cannot see what I am doing wrong. I spoke to the client about this. They agreed to send me through the document that had been sent through to them. Sometimes I realise that I cannot see the trees for the wood, or the wood for the trees. This time though I thought what I would do differently, what would I change? Every time I asked this question I came back with the same answer, I would not change a thing.

In the afternoon my client sent me through a copy of the report. This report was done by a company that is doing well for itself. They are a reasonable size and they have a good reputation. I honestly could not believe what I read. In the first paragraph, I quote, “they know the secrets about Google that other people don’t know”. I knew when I read this that I might be in trouble. Then I realised that I had nothing to fear, the secret was spelt out in this report.

According to this company all you had to do to achieve front page listings in Google was to stuff the keywords tag with every keyword that you want to be found on the front page for. In order to hook the client further in they even showed how this would work with four of the main pages in the site. There use of keywords can best be described as very long tail. Very, very long tail. Exceedingly long tail.

I honestly cannot believe at the current moment in time that there are companies that still use this technique. Maybe, just because it is a competitive marketplace that if they are going to do this they should combine this strategy with a seriously heavy link buying strategy.

Does anybody think that I should name this company?

Top 5 Albums for SEO

After another arguement over what we are listening to at work I thought I would open it up for discussion.

What are the top 5 albums to listen to while working on an SEO campaign.

1. Massive Attack - Blue Lines
A perfect album and perfect to work to.

2. Air - Moon Safari
Another chilled album, perfect music for working.

3. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
You have to hand it to her, despite the problems she is an incredible talent.

4. Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
Best album of the year as far as I am concerned.

5. Neil Diamond - Home Before Dark
Brilliant come back album, gets better with every listen.

Other albums that almost made the list would be MGMT, Santogold, Tegan and Sara, Neko Case, A Fine Frenzy and Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip.

Then again, all depends on the mood I am in.

This month

I started this blog with the best of intentions. I fully intended to make a serious effort to maintain it and also publish something worth while reading.

This month though I am willing to let myself off. It has been hectic with new work that we are winning. To be honest, I am not complaining.

It seems that every SEO proposal and pitch that we have put in the last year has been accepted this month.

It has definately been a good month for work. Maybe it means that clients are more open to SEO, or maybe it means that they will try anything during the credit crunch.

Microsoft exec plots Google disruptions

What a fantastic headline - "Microsoft exec plots Google disruptions". This was a headline on the latest iMedia Connection newsletter. My over active imagination had visions of Microsoft involved in some French resistance style campaign of sabotage and subterfuge of Google. At the very least in my imagination they were at least orchestrating a Gandhi style non violence campaign.

In reality all they have done is to name an individual who is tasked with improving MSN's share of the search market. The article points out that Google now makes more money from online ads than Microsoft makes from Windows. I don’t know the how the two companies compare when all the other aspects of their businesses are taken into account but I guess that fact highlights the massive earning power of Google. Its funny though there does not appear to be the same level of venom aimed at Google as that aimed at Microsoft.

The first element of MSN's strategy is the rebate program which has been billed as 'paying the customers to use its search engine'. Next up they are trying out their attempt at engagement mapping. Add some more acquisitions and an upgrade in software technology and you have their strategy neatly outlined.

I can’t help thinking that this all sounds great, but would it not be easier just to improve the search results? How about making it a engine that people want to use because it actually works?

myBlog

I have advised clients of mine to set up blogs for years, for many of these clients I have even physically set up these blogs.

I have never bothered bloging myself though.

This year I made my first purchase online. I am very proud of that. For the past 14 years I have been building, creating, designing, planning, writing and promoting websites. Never really surfed the web though. The internet has always been a job, I never really saw it as something to do for fun.

This is my first attempt at my own website, guess I will see how it turns out.