OH, and I just realized that I totally blog blocked Scott and his Whiteboard Friday post, so everyone stop reading this, go watch the video, then come back and read this. It's only fair.
Stories, news, and other notable items from the past week:
Two star links (that's right, the inaugural one!):
- A study unsurprisingly shows that what a boss looks like determines how he performs. Isn't this the "dress for success" mentality?
- SEO-Chick Stephanie gives 10 reasons why you should still be using Facebook. It's a nice, optimistic read that stands out among the increasing "Facebook has jumped the shark" posts that have been hitting the web lately.
- The SEMMY finalists have been announced. I think you can vote. Or something. Oh, who am I kidding, I'm more geared up for the Oscars. Juno got four nominations!
- Tamar Weinberg follows the uproar over the announced algorithm changes on Digg. The poor girl was up until the wee hours live blogging the webcast interview between Kevin Rose and Jay Adelson and some top diggers. She does a good job of outlining everything for us lazy schmucks.
- ReadWriteWeb identifies pros and cons of the "work from home" generation. I personally prefer to work in an office--I enjoy interacting with my coworkers and there are fewer distractions (no Wii, Rock Band, or DVR at work!).
- SEO Wrench created desktop icons for his iphone bookmarks, and he made one for SEOmoz. Aw, shucks...
- Wall Street Journal, have you learned nothing from the New York Times? They plan on keeping a significant portion of its content behind its paid subscription wall. Notice the graph of top newspaper websites--hmm, wonder why the NYT is so high...
- Continuing on with the Wall Street Journal's unwise decision, last year a record number of readers visited U.S. online newspaper sites. This is especially interesting because it really poses a growing problem for print newspapers. Subscriptions decrease every year, and fewer and fewer younger demographics are bothering to subscribe to print newspapers. It's fascinating to see how the Internet is altering this traditional news medium.
- Domain tasting should be fresh in your memories if you read Sarah's post. It is rumored that Google will stop monetizing any domains that are less than five days old, which should effectively kill domain tasting.
- Tropical SEO and Sugarrae write counter posts to Rand's post about advice for startup CEOs. It's great to have different viewpoints from other CEOs/entrepreneurs, and they both make valid points.
- Neither Rand nor I were terribly wowed by any big news or stories this week, so I'll just leave you with some babie care do's and don'ts instead.
- Updating Site = Lost Rankings? Agco asks the moz community if updating your site will cause a temporary loss in rankings.
- Track Your Keyword Ranking Results. Fdep reviews a keyword ranking program called Advanced Web Ranking.
- The "Link Monster" Lives Inside All SEOs. Carfeu talks about how all SEOs have a little link monster growing inside them, and that we all love a good opportunity to gain links.
- Bait and Switch - with FAST FOOD? JustFred eases his love of Del Taco into his discussion about how a bait ad switch strategy on your website could ruin the trust you've built and the credibility you've established.
- How to Write for the Web. Nabha gives some great tips on how to capture your reader's attention and engage him/her online.
- Humour - Does it Help or Hinder SEOmoz? SiteMosts ponders to the masses whether SEOmoz's penchant for humor in our posts and throughout our site helps or harms our business and community. (The consensus seems to be "helps.")
- Who Loves Ya, Baby? Lorisa authors yet another well-written post that posits whether we choose our audience or our audience chooses us.
- Using Subdomains Ad-Naseum Still Works?! Surely Not... RichardBaxterSEO finds that Google hasn't truly effectively tackled that pesky subdomains ranking issue.
- SEO Contract Template: A Verbal Contract Isn't Worth the Paper it's Written On. Crash provides us with a thorough sample SEO contract.
- Yes Dear, There is Porn in SEO, and We Can Learn a Lot From It from XMCP is a thumb-attracting post (28 and counting!) that discusses how we can actually learn a lot about Internet marketing by studying SEO for porn sites. It's a very well fleshed out (no pun intended--well, maybe a little) and intriguing post.
No new upcoming events.
New additions to the SEOmoz Marketplace:
Featured job postings:
- SEO expert for contract in Foothill Ranch, CA
- Director of search marketing for Seniors for Living in New York, NY
- Search engine marketing specialist for Spur Digital in Houston, TX
- Director of sales for Search Mojo in Charlottesville, VA
- Internet marketing manager in Waltham, MA
- Senior project manager for SEO and Senior manager of software development for Amazon.com in Seattle, WA
- SEO manager for Classmates.com in Renton, WA
United States:
- Tangent Executive Search in Denver, CO
- Net Smart Media in Nevada
- ROI.works Search Marketing in San Francisco, CA
- Amazon.com in Seattle, WA
- Visual Data Systems in the U.S.
- Vertical Leap in Portsmouth, Hamps, UK
- Zyas in the UK
- Gravytrain in London, UK
- Zen Web Solutions in the UK
- Brainpulse in India
- Website Business Solution in Bangalore, India
- Design with CSS in Delhi, India
- Aaron Hunter is an SEO/online marketer who is looking for an SEO position, preferably in the politics, government, or fund raising niche.
- Bhumika Parikh is an Internet marketer with over 5 years' experience and a specialization in user-interface.
- Travis Cannell is an Internet marketer who loves figuring out ways to increase conversions through creative means.
- Adam Carson is a web manager and the owner/operator of CarsonBiz.
- Julie Schmitt is an e-business development manager with extensive Internet marketing and e-commerce experience.
Rebecca, thanks for pros and cons of the "work from home". I agree with you, I work at home and I miss the interaction with co-workers. That is why attending seminars is a great opportunity that allows you to interact with people and do a little bit of “in person networking”. My experience at SMX Buenos Aires was incredibly good on that aspect.
Yeah, a very good one. I especially like "You never leave work" one - that is just about me :)
That baby care do's and don'ts is hysterical. Nice find.
Yeah, even a bit scary I would say :)
Yeah, you're not gonna want to save that one for future mothering training Ann!
I have :) Actually I will now remember it for the rest of my life :)
I have my first child due in about 3 weeks, so it is definitely helpful/funny!
I somehow came across that baby do's and don'ts page yesterday (probably SU) and about fell out of my chair reading it. Glad it made it on the list. I almost didnt want to stumble it as it was "AdSense" laden, but it was good enough to make an exception.
(edited to actually complete my thoughts)
Wow! There's some really good job opportunities in SEO this week...
I liked Andy & Rae's posts about startup CEO advice, but I'm sticking to my guns on what I said there. I think different styles work for different people, but I wouldn't want to be working for or with a CEO who's after money first and isn't invested or passionate in the business itself. Similar disagreements on some of the other issues mentioned, but I don't want to take anything away from either Andy or Rae, as both have done amazing things with their respective companies.
(edited for spelling)
"Bait and Switch - with FAST FOOD? JustFred eases his love of Del Taco into his discussion about how a bait ad switch strategy on your website could ruin the trust you've built and the credibility you've established."
A most accurate summation. I am shocked at the mention, but thanks ;)
I also am particularly interested in anything where Porn and SEO intersect, and I see you've included some of that so I'd thumb you twice if I could.
I'll take an IOU on that thumb, thankyouverymuch.
HAHAHA...classic.
I was actually just waiting for a comment so I could :P
I heart you Rebecca,
I have just giggled myself to death while reading and responding to...
Humour - Does it Help or Hinder SEOmoz?
Great friggen post. With "potentially" classic responses.
Fun.
Yes, and in case you didn't' have time to go through that comment extravganza again Rebecca, at precisely 2:25am this morning, Pat proclaimed to the entire world "I can fart". Now that's funny!
I like the "Work from Home" article (I looove working from home!!) and the SEO contract template published by Sarah (it is an excellent contribution for me. Thanks Sara!).
Actually, Sarah didn't publish it, Crash (aka Melanie) did. Sarah just added the legal mumbo jumbo at the beginning. :)
great stuff. now i'll likely blow the entire friday reading all of these.
by the way, i love love love the phrase "blog blocked".
We grumble about being blog blocked often here. Most of the time Rand's the offender, but I totally blocked Scott last night, so I had to own up before he got all stabby this morning.
Of course, I've tried many times to explain that blog blocking doesn't happen and that publication of multiple posts in a close time frame isn't damaging (which is why sites like SERoundtable and SELand do it), but I think authors just like feeling that they're post is "on top" of the blog page... Seriously, people, go look at the stats - there's no such thing as blog blocking!!
p.s. OK, there sort of is, but only as it relates to the amount of interaction you draw from the "hardcore" moz commenters. Thus, if you publish a post at 7am and no one publishes anything new until the next day at 7am, chances are you'll have more comments from frequent readers (who seem to alot a certain amonut of their time to SEOmoz each day). That time gets sucked up a little more when there are multiple posts to read. However, when two posts are published at 7am and 8am respectively, the 7am post DOES NOT receive less page views or clickthroughs from feedreaders than it would if the 8am post had been delayed until 7am the next morning.
So, I guess blog blocking does exist, just not in a bad way.
Pffft, whatever, blog blocker. ;)
Better Late than Never. Good Roundup.
Indeed. Thanks for the link back to my subdomains post - i rather like getting the odd shout in the roundup! And yeah on Rand's comment on a few people spending a lot of time on SEOmoz - maybe i should spend a few days away. It's the addiction to Mozpoints! hehe