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This isn’t a hidden fact; link building is the missing piece of most online marketing plans. Onsite SEO and content are just part of the game, but there is no part of code you can change that will have an impact on ranking like good, strong, focused links to your site’s pages. Naturally, link building is the one thing we all hate doing. Most SEOs, when you mention link building, will either groan and put their headphones back on, or just cry. But it is a necessary part of SEO.
Into The Minds of Link Builders
posted on February 24, 2011
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And MySpace Came a Tumbling Down
posted on February 23, 2011
I feel bad for MySpace. They came to us with a plan to socialize the internet. It was an easy way for everyone, from the student to the CEO to get together and share their interests, their thoughts and the ups and downs of their day. With a single click, strangers from across the world could become friends. It’s like that old Coca-Cola commercial where people of every race, creed and color stand hand-in-hand while they learn to sing in perfect harmony.
So what happened? How did MySpace go from harmony to off-key? Is it simply a case of not being the popular kid on the block anymore? Even after the recent upgrades, are they still that far off the mark?
Most People Leave Twitter Because it’s Pointless
posted on February 23, 2011
52% of people who stopped using Twitter said they did it because they realized Twitter was pointless. Imagine that. The stat comes from the latest installment of ExactTarget’s Subscribers, Fans and Followers report. This one is called “The Social Breakup” and it’s all about why people stop following a brand on social media.
Yesterday, we talked about Facebook. Today, it’s all about Twitter.
On the upside, people said they liked Twitter because the messages were short, it provided unprecedented accessibility and even more than email or Facebook, Twitter was seen as a two-way street. Though more than half the people who started a Twitter account have stopped using it, the ones that stay are very active and they’re ready to engage in conversation.
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China’s State News Agency Fires Up Its Own Search Engine
posted on February 23, 2011
“If you can’t get the results from Google that you want you should just go out and start your own darn search engine!”
How many times have we heard that one? Most people just turn tail and hide, resigned to the fact that making a search engine isn’t all that easy. That is unless you are the Chinese government’s press agency! Since Google doesn’t like to play nice the Chinese government has taken search into its own hands.
China’s main government news agency launched an Internet search site Tuesday, giving its own sanitized view of the Web following Google’s closure of its China-based search engine last year over censorship.
The Xinhua News Agency is operating http://www.panguso.comin partnership with state-owned China Mobile Ltd., the world’s biggest phone carrier by subscribers.
Google Collects Part of Kids’ Social Security Numbers for Contest
posted on February 23, 2011
Google can’t seem to get out of its own way sometimes. Of course, it is a big company that may have certain parts doing one thing while another part does another without real knowledge of each other’s plans. That happens in big business. Of course, you would suspect that there is some kind of algorithm keeping everyone in order, right? If it is, it certainly doesn’t have a “WTF?” filter on it.
Apparently there needs to be some good old fashioned human supervision based on some of the decisions coming out of the Googleplex these days. The latest is the fact that Google collected the final four digits of the entrants of an art contest whose entrants were kids. Google claims a ‘no harm, no foul’ on this one but just the idea of it happening is enough for a raised eyebrow or two.
The Ethics of Pay Per Post
posted on February 22, 2011
Suppose you ask me to write something nice about your company. I do it and you give me a $10 bill. If I work for you, then it’s a paycheck. If I don’t work for you, then it’s Pay Per Post and that’s a whole different bowl of noodles. . . or is it?
If I disclose the fact that you paid me the money to write the post as required by the FTC, then I’m in good shape, right? But if I disclose the fact that you paid me, maybe the value of the post decreases because now people aren’t sure that I told the truth.
On Facebook Breaking Up is Not So Hard to Do
posted on February 22, 2011
Getting customers to follow you on Facebook is hard enough, but once you have them, it’s just as much of a chore to keep them. According to the latest Subscribers, Fans and Followers report from ExactTarget, social media followers are like Goldilocks. Too big, too small, too hard, too soft — finding a happy medium that suits the majority of your visitors is nearly impossible according to their stats.
“After liking a company, 51% of consumers say they expect the company to send them marketing messages, while 40% say they don’t expect to receive marketing messages from the company.”
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