How to spend your Marketing Budget online.

A massive subject and one of the most important for any business, established or startup. Its something I experience everyday via clients and of course making decisions like that myself and one of the major hurdles at the start is actually establsihing that budget and sticking to it and deciding over what time line you wish to apply it to. (It alwasy seems to disappear much quicker than you hoped or expected!)

A point I would address is the interns for linkbuilding. In fact, interns for anything in your effort,s should be considered and reconsidered very carefully. They have to learn but putting them in control of something so important makes me nervous and I would alwasy be willing to spend the extra on making sure its done correctly. Of course, if you have interns, then make use of them somehow... like making coffee. ;P

Also in the smaller budgets, make sure you leverage social media properly as a networking asset. It can be invaluable (its valuable at any level if used correctly of course) but for small budgets, a personal hands on approach combined with the spend can work wonders.

Now, back to cutting up budgets. :)

in reference to: How To Spend Your Online Marketing Budget - State of Search (view on Google Sidewiki)

State if SERP

Heavy going there Barry! The comparison of SEO to the banking industry is a little disturbing but I know thats not the point you want coming out in this post. As I see it, in a nut shell, your saying “google please sort your shit out and stop rewarding crap”.

Would that be fair? If so, I wholeheartedly agree but in all honestly do not believe it will ever come to pass as Google themsleves perpetuate the damn problem by making money out of it… a lot of money so really, its only in their interest to control it so that it doesnt override the system but never actually eliminate it.

A bit like bankers I guess. Pity really :)

in reference to: The Rules by Which We Play - Industry - State of Search (view on Google Sidewiki)

Google Yourself

Your delving into the word of personal brand awareness and protection now Wannabe_goddess!

Its not something to be embaressed about, in fact its not even considered vain anymore (it was called a vanity search at one point) but today and in the near future, it will be something that concerns everyone as realisation dawns that when you meet someone in business or go for a job, its not only the social networks that count but the google search results for your name!

Now forget the A-typical fears most people have of dubious "drunken bash" photos appearing and instead consider this point of view as well, what if you haven't done anything worthy or notable, or others with your name have simply done more than you, and you do NOT appear in google at all, how will that affect your prospects? Its as negative as appearing at number 1 but for all the wrong reasons...

So finally people are catching on to the requirements of protecting their name and reputation as much as possible by at the least haveing a website they can attribute to themselves professionally!

Take an example of my name. Google "justinparks" or "justin parks". Its 80% me and the other results in there are all other "me's" who got lucky and thats the way I want to keep it!

Kinda scary eh?

in reference to: The Dysfunctional Life of a Wannabe Goddess: Google Yourself (view on Google Sidewiki)

Why I stopped Defending SEO

I speculated once about the state of the internet if the art of SEO didnt exist. The only conclusion I could draw was that google results would be REALLY shit instead of just being kinda shit if it wasnt for the practice.

Yer man you refer to in this post Barry sounds more like someone who met some bloke down the pub and got SOLD (like anyting in life) the concept of only paying *200 dollars and he would get an amazing retun, then another *200 dollars was required, then *200 more and on and on until he ended up paying more than the professional who oringally quoted him a sum of *2000 euros for the proper service.

Thats not snake oil, thats just being a chump. (Im guessing obviously, but I bet he would claim its snake oil so he dont like like a chunmp!)

Anyway. Theres no such thing as the SEO police. You, me and the rest of us have our ethical level and we have a professional practice of doing business that we try to stick to, no matter how murky the waters can sometimes get!

The more honest of us will be professional and do our level best for clients, at the right price, and hopefully all of us succeed together. That takes more than enough time and effort to do and do properly, never mind trying to set every other person straight.

All in all mate, very well put.

*(figures quoted are for illustration only - they bear no relevnece to real world amounts)

con referencia a: Why I've Stopped Defending SEO - Industry - State of Search (ver en Google Sidewiki)

The great do follow and no follow link debate

Hey Barry. I agree with pretty much everything you have said there except one thing that I have always been a little muggy on. the whole follow/no-follow links idea has always made my head hurt and its for this reason (I know Andy Beard will probably kill me for this but here goes, before I go into it though I like the idea of do follow).

Lets take Wordpress. Standard install it is nofollow all the way along the link structure, be it internal and or outbound. you can pro-actively make the links do follow with plugins or coding. Who does bar the real hardcore advocates?

Look at any "normally" designed website and its links will be nofollow unless it has been definitively decided that they should be do-follow. If this is the case in the very vast majority of websites out there, then ...how can do-follow matter?

The links that people are achieving are working anyway, so why get on the do-follow boat?

con referencia a: SEO: Back to Basics: contested SEO issues, from PageRank Sculpting to Social Media Sites and SEO - State of Search (ver en Google Sidewiki)

Google instant quality research

Thank you for taking the time to do some decent quality research in respect to Google instant and how it impacts (or could impact ) on you and your interaction with searchers and results.

I have been so fed up with all the doom talk this week from, some might say prominent, individuals and experts in the Search and Search Engine Optimisation field who where so desperate to get something wrote and on the internet regrading the launch of Google instant that I wondered if they actually understood what the significance of it was.

Don't worry they just made complete idiots out of themselves by doing so and you have honestly put them to shame, and surprise surprise, your a travel blog.

Great work, and well done.

in reference to: Essential Travel Blog » Blog Archive » No One Is Looking At Google Instant (view on Google Sidewiki)

Auto follow on Twitter a waste of time

Waste your time if you wish with this method. What your suggesting is exactly the same as cold calling alphabetically in the phone book and if your happy to have your professional name associated with this type of practice in twitter then I would expect your account will get banned sooner rather than later. In fact, why do you? even need twitter? Sure why not just carry the phone book directory around with you...its got pretty much the same effect.

You will get 10000 times more value out of a solid network built from the ground up with other professionals and individuals who are willing to pass on your details, information or marketing requirements than you will by shotgun blasting and hoping to hit something.

I'm not expecting that my comment , or indeed Amy, Mark or Chris's, will change your outlook on this but I hope you seriously reconsider your approach now before continuing down this line and understand the value of twitter and social media in general.

in reference to: Details | LinkedIn (view on Google Sidewiki)

How to deal with negative reviews

There is absolutely nothing more that can be said without going into specifics Dawn. This has now become my master list for dealing with negative reviews in the on line environment for myself and my clients. Well thought out, concise and structured. Love it.

in reference to:

"There is absolutely nothing more that can be said without going into specifics Dawn. This has now become my master list for dealing with negative reviews in the on line environment for myself and my clients. Well thought out, concise and structured. Love it."
- Sensei » Blog Archive » How to Deal with Negative Reviews (view on Google Sidewiki)

Think Visibility Tips on Brand Failure

Dace is spot on with his example. Also “Why do we as SEO’s get blamed when our clients don’t follow our advice?” I think that’s the old “the customer is always right” coming into play and its something we as an industry conveniently forget when we quote for new business.

Few of us have the relationships in place (or the brains it seems) to respect each others abilities and ask the previous SEO for advice or input.We quickly forget the last time that a client made us look bad from not following our advice.

I make a point of never admonishing another’s work in any way until I know the project and know the client inside out and by then there’s no point in complaining, its better to just get on with it.

in reference to: Think Vis Unofficial Tips 2: Coping with Failure That Isnt Your Fault (view on Google Sidewiki)

Not Free social media data

Why say "FREE" when its not? Annoyed that its being marketed as free when it is in reality a "7 day free trial". That is really misleading and it just pisses me right off! Not good, especially as it mentions nothing about that until you complete the signup process when it asks you to choose a preferred subscription plan.

Wont be using it or recommending at all now.

in reference to: Get Free, Real-Time Social Media Data and Charts from ViralHeat (view on Google Sidewiki)