Link Directories? DON’T DO IT!

I hate to keep preaching the same sermon over and over… but it’s clear that some of you just don’t pay attention to the preacher. 🙂

 

Ladies and Gentlemen… boys and girls… if I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 20 times.   “DO NOT SIGN UP WITH SITES LIKE THIS!  DO NOT!!!!”

 

Hello;

We are a new web directory targeted specifically at real estate.

Realty Link Exchange is a Real Estate directory which has been developed to help good, relevent real estate websites exchange links for to help achive more relevant traffic, and search engine rankings.

Advantages:

  1. Only Real Estate related websites are allowed to join this directory.
  2. All new members are reviewed by real people to assure a high quality directory.
  3. Relevant traffic to your website, this is a Real Estate directory.
  4. Recipricol Linking helps boost search engine rankings, resulting in more traffic.

 

HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!

 

If this company was up with current technology and search engine algorithms… they WOULD NOT still be talking about old outdated technology that not only no longer works, but actually can get your web site BANNED!!

 

HELLO!!!  ???    Is anyone paying attention here???

 

I won’t publish the rest of their list as to why you need to be in a LINK DIRECTORY…   just suffice it to say, IF YOU FALL PREY to this old outdated tactic and link yourself to a bunch of these directories, PLEASE don’t come crawling to me in 6 months or a year asking, “Why is my web site no where to be found in any of the search engines?”

 

End of (REPEATED) Sermon for today. 😉

 

Ed

 

Why Read This Blog?

Folks, I cannot begin to even tell you how frustrating it is for me that I spend hours and hours and hours, and thousands and thousands of dollars, trying to stay on the bleeding edge of technology, JUST SO YOU WON’T HAVE TO, but then, when it comes to me condensing everything for you in to simple blog posts, over 75% of you won’t take the time to read and keep up.

 

Trust me… I KNOW everyone is busy (at least most of you want people to THINK you are)… however, what I bring you here at this blog is as condensed and up to date as I can bring it to you, and it’s not like I’m asking you to read a novel every day.  Yet, some consider it too much of a burden on their precious time to take a few minutes (sometimes not even that long) to stay current on things here.

 

Case in point (TWICE THIS WEEK), we had technical issues to deal with.  One we are STILL dealing with at the time of this post (The AOL Email Problem).  In BOTH Cases, I posted information at this blog explaining (to the best of my ability) what was (and is) going on, what was being done to correct the problem, and what you should and could expect.  Yet, even posting updates here to the blog, our phones still rang off the hook (IN BOTH INSTANCES) from people calling here wanting to know what was going on, why they couldn’t send or receive email, etc., when all of the answers I could give you were posted RIGHT HERE!!

 

Same goes for the AOL problem STILL GOING ON at this hour.  I’ve had numerous email’s and phone calls today, wanting to know why AOL was bouncing all of their email… thinking “well… this MUST have something to do with the email problem EBAWebs had the other day.

 

Had you just come here FIRST and checked this blog, you would have seen exactly why some (if not all) of your email to AOL, Netscape, and cs.com subscribers, was bouncing.

 

Folks, I don’t post to this blog just because I have nothing better to do with my time… it’s PURELY for YOUR BENEFIT… and if you’re choosing not to monitor things that affect your business, then SHAME ON YOU!!

 

And please understand, when we have issues going on that involve ANY technical glitch or aspect of your web site and / or email…. we already know the issue exists LONG before you notice.  We have alarms in place… we have bells and whistles that go off.. etc…  so trust me… if you are having a problem…  WE KNOW ABOUT IT.

 

If you are experiencing ANY problem with your site or email… come here… check the blog.  If you don’t see anything posted here… the procedure is… FILL OUT A SUPPORT TICKET.  Please do NOT call our office, or just send an email (if your email is working) because that defeats the whole purpose of having this blog and our support ticket system in place for you.

 

As much as you may think I sit in front of the computer 24/7, or sit by my phone ’round the clock, that’s just not possible.  Therefore…  the systems that are in place to monitor your site and your email, are there for a reason.  You calling here, and emailing me… does not accomplish a whole lot…. other than to tie up our lines and manpower that we need to be using to focus on the problem at hand to get it fixed for you as quickly as humanly possible.

 

If a technical issue has been raised that affects everyone, a post will be put up RIGHT HERE at this blog addressing the issue, and what is being done about it.  Calling our office to tell us you can’t send email… and sending faxes, etc., only takes away precious time we need to be dealing with your issue.

 

I can very much appreciate everyone wanting to know what’s going on…  but please try to understand that you are not our only client… and if everyone picks up the phone and calls here to tell us you’re having a problem, without first checking here…  and without first completing a trouble ticket, only serves to slow down our main task, and that is, to restore your service to 100% effectiveness as quickly as we can.  Taking 5 minutes to answer questions on the phone may not seem like a big deal to you… but multiply that times 100 people calling, and look what it does.  

 

So, please, in the future….  check the blog first.  If you don’t see anything here that addresses any issue you may be having, DON’T SEND ME AN EMAIL.  Use the TROUBLE TICKET form (there is a link from this blog just above the RSS Reader ICONS that says “Submit a Trouble Ticket”….  USE IT if you’re having problems.

 

As a reminder… the TROUBLE TICKET system is for JUST THAT…  T-R-O-U-B-L-E….  not for things like “Would you please set up an email address for Joe Schmuck… he just joined our team…..   Trouble tickets go to me… they also go to my 24/7 tech support guys and gals…   so therefore… if you send me an email… and you tell me in that email that you are having a problem…  our tech people will not see that.  At the same time, if you call our office, leave a voice mail message saying you’re having a problem receiving email….  I may not get that message for hours…   whereas submitting that trouble ticket will get your issue to me and our support staff almost immediately.

 

I don’t mean to sound like I’m ranting and raving here, because that is not my intention.  However, this past week, based on the volume of calls we received about email issues, and the number of email’s (not support tickets) that I received, it spoke VOLUMES to me about how FEW OF YOU are bothering to follow the systems we have put in place for you.

 

Check the blog FIRST.  If you don’t see anything concerning your issue (if it IS a technical issue) then SUBMIT A TROUBLE TICKET.  Calling and emailing should be the LAST THING you do… and if everyone would PLEASE follow this system, it will make everyone’s life and job a lot simpler.

 

Thank you for your cooperation.  Have a good weekend!

 

Ed

 

Search Engine Optimization?

Seems that several SEO Companies are starting to “make the rounds” once again in calling and trying to convince some of you that “Search Engine Optimization” is the end all solution to your traffic problems.  So allow me a moment (if you will) to address this topic:
 
I labeled the subject of this post “Search Engine Optimization?” with a question mark, because that’s exactly what it is.  A BIG Question mark!!!

For a good many years, so-called “Search Engine Optimization” companies have done well… and some have actually done something positive for some of their clients.  But for the most part, they are a miserable disaster waiting to happen to your web site.  Let me explain why.
 
Up until November/December 2005, one of the things we offered as a service to our clients was “Search Engine Submission” of your web site each month to the major engines.  We ceased offering that program simply because, “IT NO LONGER WORKS”.
 
Submitting your web site to the search engines USED TO WORK, but not any more.  I have done extensive testing of this.. and have learned from others with much deeper pockets to test than I have.  It just does not work, and in fact, can actually HURT YOU in the rankings.  That’s right… submitting your URL to the search engines on a repetitive basis can (and usually does) HURT your rankings… not help them.  The search engines don’t want anyone TELLING them anything… and that’s what repeated submitting of your site is doing.  You’re telling the search engines… “Hey dummy… I already told you every month for the past 24 that I’m here at this address, and I’m TELLING YOU AGAIN… come visit my site…”
 
Search engines have gotten sick and tired of that… and have stopped listening.  That’s why we STOPPED submitting your sites… it actually does more harm than good.
 
What these “SEO Companies” do when they “SELL YOU” on their services is this.  They go in to your site… and create a TON of “SPAM PAGES”… which are basically just crap pages stocked full of keywords, pages that look like crap to a real person, but SUPPOSEDLY are search engine bait.
 
These so-called “Landing Pages” are then tied to an article they write that gets submitted to the search engines.. and those articles then link back to your specific landing page, which then re-directs the user to some other page at your site.
 
This too USED TO WORK, but the search engines have also gotten wise to this tactic, and it just doesn’t work any more.  Search engines see this as the equivalent to you “Spamming The Engine” with garbage… and Google, Yahoo! and MSN (equivalent to the Big 3 Automakers in the Search Engine World) have all gotten wise to these tactics.
 
You need to understand something here.  Google (and I suspect Yahoo! and MSN have as well) is hiring some of the most highly trained and intelligent people on the face of the earth to come to work for them… and most have PhD’s and Doctorates in Science, Computers, and other technology related fields.  These people are not stupid.. and they are on a mission.  The mission is.. “CLEAN UP THE SEARCH RESULTS!”  And that means… a lot of sites are being de-indexed, many are losing their ranking.. and others are moving up.
 
So what is it they want, and why?
 
Simple.  The engines are all concerned with one thing, and one thing only.  Delivering the best search results to their visitors they possibly can.
 
Let’s face it… if you continually go to Google, or Yahoo!, or MSN, and all you get are junk pages, or pages that make you continue to search for what you went there for, eventually, you’ll look someplace else to find the results you want.  Therefore, these guys are on a mission to clean out the garbage and deliver good content results to their site visitors.
 
Now, if you’re lured and tempted by one of these SEO Companies and promised all these great “Top 10 Rankings” for keywords in your market, and you want to just throw away several thousand dollars to find out what I’m telling you here (FOR FREE) doesn’t work, then I can send you several charities that would benefit more by you sending them your money.
 
The simple fact of the matter is… search engine optimization is a WASTE OF MONEY, and in MOST CASES, (in the long run) will HURT your rankings, NOT help them.
 
The ONLY thing I’ve found (in the past 14 to 18 months) that continues to work consistently at improving your search engine ranking is, BLOGGING!
 
Search engines love content.  They love continuously updated pertinent content.  They love content that is information people want…  and blogging delivers ALL of these variables.
 
Static web sites that never change… and only contain spotty content (at best sometimes) is NOT what they want to deliver to their users.  Therefore, many of these Search Engine Optimized sites are falling in the ranks, because the engines are “Cleaning Up Their Act” in what they deliver to their users.
 
This is the WHOLE REASON our “Blogs for Your Business” idea was born, cultivated, tested, and delivered to market.  It works. Plain and simple.
 
If you have already signed up for our BlogsForYourBusiness, you’ve already taken the best step you could take towards “SEO for Your Site”.
 
Another thing that DOES continue to work, (but SEO companies only seem to have half of the equation figured out) is the writing of GOOD articles, and submitting these to the major Article Directories.
 
Who has time to sit down and write articles?
 
Not many of us.  In consideration of the fact that articles do make good search engine fuel, I am HIRING an article writer FOR YOU!   That’s right.  For those of you who subscribed to our Blog Service when we launched it…  I have decided to hire a professional writer to write articles for you.  NOT FOR YOUR BLOG… but articles that I will be submitting FOR YOU to the major article directories.  Articles that will have YOUR name, NOT MINE, not the author’s, on the article as a resource back to your web site.
 
This is an added bonus I have decided to throw in for Blog Subscribers (at no additional cost).  Not only will we be adding fresh content to your blog on a continuous basis…  but now… we will be submitting articles to the web with YOUR NAME and YOUR web address linked there… which could stay in circulation forever!
 
You see… many web site owners and bloggers are STARVING for content.  Especially bloggers.  Everyone has been convinced of the importance of having a Blog, but suddenly, people are realizing, “They’ve got to add new content to that blog!”  … so they turn to article directories to find this content.  They get fresh articles from these directories, add them to their web site, which in turn, links back to your site (as the author), and gives you one more of the hot search engine starved ingredients… and that is… “One Way Back Links.”
 
Link farms and directories USED TO WORK by you exchanging (reciprocal) links with other sites.  Now… Google (and many of the others are following suit) is putting FAR MORE weight and relevancy on “One Way Back Links” versus link reciprocity.  So, we’ve STOPPED doing reciprocal links, and the best way I know of to get what the engines like to see (other than and in addition to your blog) (the one way links leading TO YOUR SITE) (versus links coming in and going right back out) is to have you publishing articles with links to your web site.
 
I know none of you have time (or the desire) to write articles…  So, as an added bonus (that you didn’t know you were going to be getting), I’m hiring a writer to take care of this for you!!
 
If you did not sign up for a Blog for Your Business, I’m sorry, this article bonus will not be added to your site linking structure.  And I’m also sorry, as we are not accepting any new orders for Blogs at this time.
 
These articles will be added to the Article Directories very slowly over the next 6 months.  Going in and just plastering the directories with a ton of new articles will not work, it has to be done slowly (like a good bar-b-cue) over a long period of time…  and trust me… I have learned the formula and the pace at which this works best.
 
So, in summary, let me encourage ALL of you…  If an SEO Company calls on you… no matter how good the pitch… no matter what great search engine results they promise you… resist the urge to say “yes.”  They will not only take your money… they will hurt whatever ranking you have now.
 
If you signed up for the Blog Service, be patient.  Give the blog a chance to do what it is designed and intended to do.   There is a method to what you see with your blog when it is brand new, and there is also a method behind the things you’ll see coming down the road that gets added to your blog.  Just be patient and watch.
 
More later this week…
 
Ed