Wingnut SEO

So this isn’t what I was going to write about today.  I was going to write a piece on “Social Media Karma and how down voting your friends that you ask to vote you up is a bad idea” so as I do, I go out to find a fun image to edit slightly and then throw up as my little teaser image.  I get on Google and search images for the word “karma” at least 4 of the images that showed up on the first page were porn.  Not just classy stuff either - I’m talking hard core porn.

Where the hell was this when I was 14.  Finding free porn on the internet was a difficult thing… now all you have to do is type in any word on the Google and blam… Plenty of high quality free porn.  There is no “are you 18″ buttons to click, no credit card info to give away…  This has got to be illegal… Right?  Or since there is the preferences section… it isn’t?

On one hand it’s great - Freedom of search of something - things not being censored… On the other hand THINK OF THE CHILDREN!

Maybe there is a way to lock this on your computer… I’m not seeing one.  All a horny teenager has to do is sign up for gmail… sign in… go back to search and he has his own preferences to set.  Good times.  I hear there are some 3rd party things out there that can lock it… but what average parent/gardian is going to know about these, or know even what to search for?

So I came across a post over the weekend where the goal is to to be the biggest douche bag on the internet.  This has to be my favorite link baiting post ever - Mostly because I know the guy… and he for sure deserves this honor.

This is a very noble quest.  I wish him the best

There is some talk about “SEO Fame” going around started off by Lee Odden and then continued today with a post over on SEOmoz by Rand Fishkin - they both seem to be saying the same thing… It’s not an end in and of itself. Well, yeah, duh… But it sure doesn’t hurt… Both Odden and Fishkin are “famous” - How many people do they have reading every word that they write? Well, just looking at subscriber stats 40k+ between the two of them. How much ad money is brought in, how many clients actually find them because they are famous? Sure does make sales a little more simple when people are searching for you by name.

They do make a good point though - Fame is not your end game. So then, why chase it? For me it is not fame I’m seeking but just powerful networking. The fruits of my social media and SEO network labor are already starting to pay off.

Case in point: I was downsized last Monday from my agency job - Two hours later I had a better paying agency job and started Tuesday thanks to my interviewers knowing who I was because they had seen my blog on Sphinn a few times. Awesome. I’m totally famous, well… not really. BUT I AM KNOWN BY SOME. Cool.

Example 2 of my awesome power of networking: I’m looking to buy some kind of rad 4×4 for escapes to back country mountain camp sites. I get on Twitter and ask “Anyone know what car is good to get for offroading? I’m thinking about a Jeep Wrangler” A couple hours later Dan Perry who works SEO and Online Marketing for Cars.com calls me up and gives me a rundown on what’s good and what’s not - Now that is just straight up cool… I’ll be getting an FJ Cruiser, by the way - Thanks Dan

Becoming “famous” is really just a side bonus of networking. The more people you are nice to and know… the more people will be nice to and know you. That’s what SEO fame is good for. It’s so helpful being known by all the other great SEO’s out there - being friends with - friends help friends out - they will answer questions and help you meet other people… Social networkers are social people… social people are generally good to have on your side.

Well, that’s all I have to say about that. Fame would be nice to have - Do I want it? Sure, who doesn’t. If it helps me reach my goal of not being someones grunt and either running my own agency or just being happy doing freelance because I’m known great… You just have to understand what Lee and Rand both said - Fame is not an end game in and of itself, but it’s one hell of a helpful thing for any career.

As I sit here naked, before I go to bed, I look down and wonder what every man asks… Is my StumbleUpon profile long enough? Sure, it’s O.K. Every time I stumble my girlfriend’s sites she loves it. It totally brings her to about 300-700 more readers. It’s also larger than 60 people, it’s above average… But I want it massive. I want it so large as soon as I pull it out and use it servers fall to their knees. I want small websites to cower in fear before it.

I just wish I knew about the power of Stumble sooner. I have had it for years, been addicted… But I didn’t actively seek friends until about 3 months ago when I made this account… to follow along with the Wingnut brand.

So much sudden traffic for days!!!… Sigh, I just need to go to sleep… But… after just one more stumble!

As we all do on our free time, I was discussing PPC over lunch with someone.  Her claim was that bidding on branded terms was illegal and unethical.  While I respect her opinion as she is highly regarded in the search marketing world - I disagree.

Lets look at the first statement:  Illegal - Nope, Google is not the law… It may be against the GoogleAds TOS, but this does not make it illegal.  Until such time that The Oracle (aka Google) assumes control of the legal system and imposes a curfew and mandatory internet search time - The legality of this is not questioned - It is perfectly legal.  Not only that all it takes to shut down someone bidding on your branded terms is a simple phone call to Google… If you’re not paying attention that’s your companies fault.

Her second point is slightly more ambiguous.  Is bidding on someones branded keywords ethical?  I’m going to have to say it is perfectly ethical - and here’s why:

PPC and SEO are not a game - They are a war.  You are in constant struggle with your competition for top rankings.  Sure, you can play nice and make it a friendly battle… but at the end of the day you are in it to win it.  If you are not in the top of the SERPs you have lost the day - and more importantly -  lost valuable traffic.

You do whatever it takes to drive that traffic to your site.  If that’s pushing the boundaries of SEO or bidding on your competitions branded terms for your PPC campaigns - SO BE IT.

If you don’t look at SEO/PPC as a fierce competition then you are going to lose the war and end up falling behind.

Okay… Seriously.  I am tired of looking at sites when people want SEO and seeing this… so just stop doing it… Hey web-designers - STOP BEING RETARDED

• www/no-www - Pick one or the other and do it when you set up your hosting - from the start NOT HARD
• Descriptions ARE NOT OPTIONAL - Sure they technically might be, if you ride the short bus.  Descriptions not only help with your ranking for specific keywords THEY ARE SEEN BY EVERYONE WHO FINDS YOU ON A SEARCH ENGINE
• <title> - STOP BEING A SELF CENTERED JERK AND JUST PUTTING IN “mywebsite.com” - These are also seen by everyone who finds you on a search engine.  Oh AND it’s a huge factor in where you rank for keywords
  • Sidenote - Also stop being a spammy McSpamson and just stuffing keywords, make them human readable - SO HUMANS CAN READ AND KNOW WHAT THE PAGE IS ABOUT

Actually… I take it all back… keep doing what you have been doing - I like having an easy job.

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