We’re seeing a new trend in the already-burgeoning social media market. As popular as it already is, we’re set to witness social media become an even more important part of our lives with the event of ’social media niches.’ You may be rolling your eyes and thinking ‘oh please–let there be an end to this social media thing…” but we have to face the fact that social media sites fulfill a need and play a definite role in our online lives–for most of us that is.

One niche SM site I’m particularly fond of myself is Danny Sullivan’s Sphinn. This is new, and just for SEO and search marketing-related folks. It has taken off remarkably, and Danny’s done a great job. Highly recommended if you’re in the business (and if you’re not you might learn a thing or two).

Then there’s Blue Dot, which is mainly entertainment. Not my thing, but lot’s of others go for it.
Just yesterday I received an email announcing the birth of another niche SM site: Based on the Sphinn model, Duah4me is just for Muslims, and hardly likely to be of interest to non-Muslims–it’s also taking off like a rocket despite its very recent launch.

The birth of these sites is in direct opposition to SEOMoz’s views on ‘long tail social media.’ I have to respectfully disagree with Mozquarters (Rand what have you started) on this issue. I think the long tail in social media is going to prove the most fruitful in the longrun.
Lee Odden had something to say about the subject too, upon his return from San Jose.

Just for good measure today, here’s a related post about niche social media. Perhaps we should now be keeping an eye out for ‘niches of niches!’

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It can be really hard to find your way in the maze that is SEO nowadays. Most of us read up on what the experts–or whoever it is we consider experts–to help us out. But I’ve noticed lately there’s a lot of divergence in their opinions. In our interview the other day, Rand Fishkin had this to say:

We’ve seen Google take some pretty harsh, direct steps against reciprocal linking…

Don’t miss this great article by Rand on the subject of ‘under the radar’ link purchasing too.

On the other hand, Eric Ward who is widely acknowledged as one of the foremost linking experts in the industry, has different linking advice. I highly recommend you read Eric’s sound linking advice and follow his instructions.

Other search marketing voices who have a say in this subject include Webpro News who have some sage advice for anyone looking for links.

This is by no means an exhaustive discussion on linking strategies, but it’s plenty to get you going in the right direction.

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Rand Fishkin is one of the best-known faces in the search marketing industry these days, and with good reason. He can be relied upon to come up with useful information on any SEO topic, even stuff that’s barely hit the news yet. People like him are molding the industry and deserve to be watched closely.

First I’d like to thank you Rand, for taking the time to answer my questions. It’s wonderful to have such an eminent SEO guest on Marketmou!

It was difficult to try and arrive at a set of questions that might elicit some information no one’s ever seen before:
At least I hope that this information will be helpful to search marketing and SEO people everywhere.

Marketmou: Let’s start with a leading question: Do you think the SEO industry is pretty much saturated with great SEO consultants? Or do you think there’s room for improvement here. I know that many people who come in through SEO copywriting (as I did) perceive the potential to make a good living—but in reality I personally see that there are far too many companies out there who underrate SEO and don’t want to pay what it’s worth.

Rand Fishkin: In my view, there’s a huge lack of talented SEO consultants, and a great deal of opportunity for smart folks who can market themselves well. This is a field that’s still filled with gunslingers - it’s the wild west of the web - and anyone with brains, experience and a proven resume can waltz into a company that doesn’t do SEO well and help them to earn thousands, even millions of dollars very quickly.

Marketmou: First a few questions for people seeking SEO help (as opposed to those within the industry): Do you see any benefits in the introduction of industry standards and certification? There are a few places online where you can get SEO certification and some of them are even ISO-backed, but are they any good?

Rand Fishkin: I haven’t heard great things about any of the existing certification programs. I will say this - it’s something that SEOmoz is looking into, but it’s exceptionally hard to rate SEO skill without seeing actual projects from start to finish. Perhaps a basic set of standards would be good to at least vet the folks who are playing a scam role in the search industry right now.

Marketmou: What advice do you have for an online business looking for SEO help? Do you have any tips for picking SEO consultants who do a great job?

Rand Fishkin: Well, we have the recommended list - www.seomoz.org/article/recommended - but other than that, I’d probably repeat what many others have said in the past. Ask for some references, look at the clients they’ve worked with, ask them to explain the process of SEO and how they see the current algorithms operating. If you can at least familiarize yourself somewhat with how the field works, you’ll be able to see through the scammers and find someone who has a grasp on reality.

Marketmou: There’s still a lot of controversy going on about whether it’s best to get a domain name with a keyword in it, or whether you’re better off focusing on your brand when choosing a domain name. What’s your stance?

Rand Fishkin: If you’re going to build a big brand and have the patience to wait 6-12 months to start dominating for particular keywords, the domain name isn’t much of a hurdle (except at Live.com, who loves keywords in the domain). I certainly wouldn’t spend more than $10-$20K buying any domain name these days.

Marketmou: To be successful at search marketing or SEO, it’s essential to track what you’re doing; do you recommend Google Analytics for tracking website traffic and progress? Or do you think it’s better to go with an independent paid application?

Rand Fishkin: I like the Google analytics, but it is a bit basic, especially when it comes to customized conversion tracking. I’m a huge fan of Indextools, but have also heard great things about a program called “Fireclick.”

Marketmou: Are you for, or against the use of meta tags? What do you say to those who insist that they’re not used by the search engines?

Rand Fishkin: The meta description tag is still used as the snippet by every one of the engines, so I don’t know who would tell you to ignore it. It may not be used for rankings, but it is absolutely used to help you push up your CTR (like the copy of your search ads). Meta keywords is basically useless, though. I don’t recommend that anyone use it - it’s giving away competitive intelligence and in our testing, it had no impact on rankings in any of the engines.

Marketmou: Thanks for clarifying that Rand. It’s a complicated issue. One of your main areas of expertise is link development, and you’ve recently stated on SEOMoz that in your opinion one-off link purchases (as opposed to bulk purchase of links) would most likely go undetected by the search engines. What advice can you give to someone looking to purchase truly useful links?

Rand Fishkin: I actually just wrote an entire blog post answering this question today - http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-art-of-buying-links-under-the-radar

Marketmou: Would you agree that a pay per click campaign can actually help a site’s organic ranking?

Rand Fishkin: In a roundabout way, yes. If you pull in web traffic through paid search, you’re probably more likely to attract some links to your site from folks who might click those links, as well as improve your branding overall. I don’t, however, believe there’s any correlation between paid search and organic rankings at any of the major engines (except Baidu in China and Yandex in Russia).

Marketmou: Everyone keeps screaming that reciprocal links will now hamper your progress with the search engines. Do you agree? Is it still worth pursuing reciprocal links?

Rand Fishkin: We’ve seen Google take some pretty harsh, direct steps against reciprocal linking in specific verticals (like Real Estate). I’d be paranoid to engage in it on any type of large scale at this point - I think you’re setting yourself up for trouble.

Marketmou: Does traffic contribute to page rank? If a site was getting lots of healthy traffic, could it make up for lack of backlinks?

Rand Fishkin: Interesting question - I’ve heard of the search engines in patent applications using traffic as a litmus test for legitimacy, but since none of them can actually monitor a site’s traffic (unless you’re running Google analytics or all your visitors have the Yahoo/MSN/Google toolbar installed) it seem to me a moot point. In an ideal world where they could measure traffic and it couldn’t be gamed, I think they might try to, but for now, I’d say no.

Marketmou: Lastly, is it best to create a subdomain for your blog? Or is it better to have it as part of your main domain?

Rand Fishkin: I’ve seen instances where the subdomain wasn’t treated with the full “respect” and authority as the main domain, so I’d say from a best practices standpoint, keep your blog in a subfolder rather than a subdomain.

Thanks Rand, I really appreciate you taking the time to answer these questions. I’m sure we all agree that there is some really useful information here for beginners and experienced search marketers alike.

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It’s a no brainer that if you want to learn about anything, the best way to do it is to talk to the very best in that particular field. With this in mind I thought it would be fabulous to do a series of interviews with the foremost experts in the search marketing world.

I’m honored that Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz agreed to start us of by answering some questions I put to him. Rand, if you’re reading this I really appreciate it.
I hope that by putting each star interview in a separate post it will make this resource easier to access. Have fun.

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Many entrepreneurs balk at the cost of good SEO consulting work. There have been a number of articles posted online to try to address this situation, but I’ve recently come across an excellent one.

Entrepreneur.com has narrowed down 10 questions that you should ask to see if you’re getting the service that’s necessary for healthy ranking. Since there’s a wide variety of SEO consultants out there, and since the standards in SEO consulting are anything but easy-to-define, you might find this article very useful in helping you to make a decision.

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This is a question that website owners often ask themselves. They wonder if a little work from an SEO consultant could actually help their bottom line.

There are many ways an SEO consultant can help, and not just with SEO!

• First, the creation of great content with lend considerable credibility. The better the writer, the more likely you are to be seen as an expert in your field. This is a key factor in determining how many of your visitors actually go on to become clients.
• Second, advice on web design from someone who knows why, for example, Flash is a bad idea, and why CSS is a great idea, can make all the difference to your search engine ranking–without even doing anything else.
• A good SEO consultant can get you moving in the right direction as far as link campaigns and link juice is concerned. Ultimately, good links can do more than anything else except respectable content to launch you as a force to be reckoned with online.

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Sphinn is a new social news site that Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz says everyone connected with the search marketing world should be using. I agree. But i’d go further than that.

Anyone interested in the world of SEO or search marketing should keep tabs on this site: this site will be giving us a constant breakdown of all the most relevant news in the search marketing world. This is the most relevant social news site yet for anyone interested in online marketing. Forget the others: Sphinn is here!

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Questions about how to optimize a blog are common these days as we’re all anxious to get the word out and make an impact with out daily musings. Stands to reason that if we’re going to take the time to blog we might as well also take the time to make sure as many people as possible read it.

(more…)

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For years many of us have been battling it out online trying to play all the roles in our small businesses. The trouble is this means most of us have little or no spare time for ourselves, and it becomes practically impossible to get anywhere no matter how brilliant we are. It’s like a juggler trying to keep 100 balls in the air
Now, many successful online business experts are sharing that the key to their success was admitting the fact that they couldn’t do it all, and taking on a list of experts to help them with specific aspects of the business they were trying to build.

If this concept interests you, and it should no matter how good you are, read Eben Pagan on the subject. Many other online marketers recommend outsourcing part of your business operation one way or another: Russel Brunson is just one of them.

You’ll see there’s no affiliate code on these links: I’m just passing them on because I think they’re really good business tips for you all–stuff that I found interesting and helpful.

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