Some Days I Wish This Blog Were Private So I Could Share More
December 31, 2007 by DazzlinDonna · 51 Comments
Like the title of the post says, I often wish I could hide this blog from prying eyes so that I could be more open about things. Unfortunately, we are all forced to live with some restraint. I am going to share a tip in a rather vague way here, but I will be happy to share the details if I know and trust you. And if I know and trust you, then you know how to get in touch with me. 
Want to own a cool domain name like Bytchin.com?
December 29, 2007 by DazzlinDonna · 5 Comments
Just a quick note:
I’ve got bytchin.com for sale – auction listed here and here.
9 tricks to get the most SEO benefit from your social media linkbaiting campaign
December 29, 2007 by DazzlinDonna · 8 Comments
The following is a guest post from Dan Zarrella. Thanks, Dan!
- Never Submit your Homepage
Most social sites will allow you to submit each URL only once. So create a unique subpage URL for every social media linkbaiting campaign you do. You’ll only be able to submit your homepage once and if it doesn’t get popular you can’t try again. We’ll show you a few tricks later to maximize the effect of the new linkjuice from a subpage story. - Put your Keywords in the Title and Description
The title you or your viewers provide to the social sites for your pages is the most important element since this is the text that the vast majority of the links you will get will be using, so be sure to get your money keywords in here. The description many sites also require will be syndicated near your link on many sites, so make sure this contains your keywords also. Sometimes getting very commercial keywords onto the frontpage of a social site can be tricky, especially if the niche is traditionally spammy, if this is the case, sometimes you can take an attack angle to the story and make it work. - Get Keyword Rich Comments on the Social Media Site’s Story Page
If a story gets popular on a well known social site, the story’s permalink page on that social site will generally rank very well and provide a link to the target story. It can be helpful to make sure that the comments left on your story contain an array of keywords related to your story, to induce the page to rank for more words and to increase the relevancy of the link your story is receiving. - Put Keywords in the Domain and/or File Name
On some sites (both the original social sites and the syndication sites that re-publish every popular story from a particular social site) will link to the story using its full URL or domain name. If you include keywords in either the domain or the file name of the story page you’ll increase your inbound link relevancy. - Encourage Comments on Your Site
If your story page has comment functionality, like a blog, and you encourage readers to add their own thoughts, comments, or criticisms, there’s a good chance your viewers will create a whole bunch of free, organic and keyword-rich relevant content about your topic. Contests where people must leave a comment to enter are a good way to do this. - Encourage People to Take the Conversation Back to their Blog and Link to You
In addition to encouraging comments on your site, you should also try to persuade people to post about your story on their blog and link to you. Merely asking them to add their thoughts, or answer an opened ended question can go a long way for this, as well as contests where bloggers must post on their sites to enter (like the above suggestion for comments). - Add Keyword Links to the Body of the Story
After the huge burst of traffic from a story going popular on a social site, you can edit the content of your story to include keyword-rich links back into other areas of your site to help funnel some of the new link popularity the story has garnered. - 301 the Linkbait Page to a Keyword Page
If you weren’t trying to get your story page to rank, but instead to boost the links of another page, or whole site, you can do a 301 redirection from the story page to another page or the root of the domain. Again, do this after the traffic from social sites dies down and the new links have stopped (or slowed). - Comment on Blogs that Covered Your Story to Encourage Future Links
After your story gets all the links it looks like it will be getting in the aftermath of it going popular. Visit each blog that re-posted your story and leave a comment thanking them and develop a relationship. Add them to your blog reader and return frequently to leave comments. This will encourage that blogger to link to your content again in the future.
New Year Means New Copyright Dates
December 28, 2007 by DazzlinDonna · 6 Comments
It’s that time of year again when the new year means our sites need new copyright dates. If you still manually change the dates, this is your reminder to do so once the new year rolls around. If you’d rather not have to remember each year, you should probably switch over to some sort of dynamic method. I’m going to make an assumption here that your site uses PHP, and give you some PHP code that will automatically supply the current year in your copyright date. To output the current date using PHP, simply use the following line of code in place of your current copyright year:
One Part Ideas, One Part Marketing, One Part Giving
December 26, 2007 by DazzlinDonna · Comments Off
Those of you who know me, even a little, have probably gathered by now that I’m an idea gal. It can be frustrating to be an idea kind of person, however, because you often don’t have anyone around to bounce all your ideas off of. Family tends to roll their eyes when you say (for the millionth time), “I have an idea”, and while they may feign interest, they’d really rather you’d shut up so they can finish watching their favorite tv reality show.
Comparing Traffic From The Big Three Search Engines
December 23, 2007 by DazzlinDonna · 18 Comments
It’s not often that I can truly compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges when looking at search engine stats. It’s also not often that I rank #1 for a major keyword phrase for all 3 search engines (Google, Yahoo, Live). I’ve got quite a few major phrases that aren’t #1 across the board, but are scattered about at #2, #3, etc. But even one ranking down means you are no longer comparing apples to apples and oranges to oranges. And sure, I’ve got lots of long-tail phrases that are #1 across all three – everyone has that. But the traffic is so minimal for each of those phrases, that comparing stats isn’t very trustworthy at that point. But if a phrase sends a million users/month, and it is #1 across all 3 search engines, I’d say the stats associated with that phrase will be pretty darn accurate.
And The Winners Of The Search Wish List and Predictions Contest Are…
December 20, 2007 by DazzlinDonna · 5 Comments
Congratulations to rmccarley who is the 1st place winner of the Search Wish List contest and SpostareDuro who is the 2nd place winner!
Reputation Management Spreadsheet
December 19, 2007 by DazzlinDonna · 7 Comments
I was reading an article in the latest AMA Marketing News publication in which they were discussing reputation management and how the online posts should be tracked. I took the information they gave and turned it into a simple spreadsheet. It’s nothing fancy, but hopefully, it will help you get started on the tracking process.
Your Search Wish List Could Make You A Winner
December 17, 2007 by DazzlinDonna · 23 Comments
What’s on your search wish list this holiday season? Is there something you want from Santa Baby? (er, Santa Google or Santa Yahoo or … you get the idea). To celebrate the holiday season and the coming new year, it’s contest time! And of course, the prizes are on everyone’s wish list all the time, but we’ll get to the prizes momentarily. (No peeking).
Dont Even Get Me Started
December 14, 2007 by DazzlinDonna · 3 Comments
Google Knol. OMG. Don’t even get me started on what I think of that. Talk about handing the keys to the kingdom right on over to the dictator. Here, you’ve already got 99% of the control anyway, please, take the rest. When does Google “become” the Internet? When we allow them to control it all, that’s when. Knol is one step closer to that reality.
Google Being Backed Into A Corner?
December 13, 2007 by DazzlinDonna · 4 Comments
John Battelle has listed an exhaustive list of questions that a House Representative is asking Google to answer. This representative is “the senior Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has Internet regulation as one of its responsibilities.” I won’t list all of the questions (see Mr. Battelle’s post for that), but here’s an example (after asking a bunch of privacy-related questions about the data Google obtains:
Pay It Forward Link
December 12, 2007 by DazzlinDonna · 1 Comment
Eric Cho of semhints.com has a meme going in which we each link to a search-related site with no expectations of getting anything in return (which means I don’t need to link to Eric and you won’t link to me). Instead, I will link to someone – and I choose Alliance Link as my “pay it forward” link – and hopefully, Debra will then pay that link forward to another search-related site, and on and on. Feel free to go dig up Eric’s original post, but in the spirit of paying it forward with no expectations, I haven’t linked to it, and I don’t expect Debra to link back to me. Just a little holiday gift.
Creating An Instant Classic
December 11, 2007 by DazzlinDonna · 3 Comments
As a little girl, I waited anxiously each year for the annual showing of The Wizard of Oz on TV. That magical movie is a classic. Although the definition of classic is generally ‘first rate’, it also usually implies something with some history behind it – something that has stood the test of time. Some works, however, are so good that they should become instant classics. I just finished watching Sci Fi’s Tin Man, and I’d put that movie into the instant classic category. It was a fascinating take on the story of OZ. I won’t go into details, but I recommend watching it. The story line is mesmerizing, the visuals are captivating, and the ties back to the original film creates an entertaining film. In fact, I’d call it – great content.
