Posts

An interesting experiment by SEO Blogger Paddy Moogan.

After sending guest post requests to travel related sites, here are his findings, proving the paid link industry is alive and well even after Googles chest beating!

Of 122 emails sent, I got 53 replies
Of those 53 replies 26 would only link to me if I paid for it
Of the 53 replies, 10 immediately said yes to a guest post
The remainder, 17 wanted more information, neither saying yes or asking for money
9 people quoted prices in their reply, the average cost of a link was $285

An Outreach Experiment for Paid Links in the Travel Industry - Paddy Moogan Blog

Must admit, in the post Panda/Penguin world, I worry less and less about pagerank and my link building strategy is little to nothing.

Our Jobsvitae site has a toolbar PR of 1, and has had no link building for the last 6 months and continues to grow traffic and conversions.

Instead I've looked at content, onsite optimisation and promotion.

IMHO, I think the PR and hunt for backlinks strategy is the tactics of yesteryear

In the UK it would be scuppered by the wrong kind of leaves on the magnet... or even at 500km/h they would still be late

Interesting story from marketing land, PR Web, an online press release company inadvertently released a fake press release stating Google was about to buy an ISP for $400m. It looks like it was done to try and artificially inflate the stockprice, and was basically fraudulent.

But the bigger question is why the press release was approved and submitted, and why so many news agencies (including Google news) picked it up and ran with it.

Before the online instant news and twitter culture arrived, journalists would investigate a story like this, confirming it was at least correct, but now it's just a race to get content online.
Most Outlets Duped In Rush To Cover Google-ICOA Acquisition

PR Web has taken some flak, and a follow up article by search engine land is quite funny, showing how supposedly approved press releases are just spammy viagra promo
How PRWeb Helps Distribute Crap Into Google & News Sites

Maybe content isn't always king...

which begs the question, how many out there do! It's only the ones that get caught we seem to hear about

Anyone remember Barings Bank and the rogue trader who brought it down, Nick Leeson?

Well he was surpassed by Kweku Adoboli who was jailed for 7 years last week for fraud and his employer, Swiss Bank UBS was fined over

What an interesting question. I guess the issue is how much is this customer worth to you in repeat business? You've said you often provide services for, so I guess it's weighing up the risk of alienating/losing future business, versus providing a service you are unfamiliar with, making no profit and potentially a loss if the margins are that tight?

It sounds like you haven't got an agreed contract as they never paid a deposit, so could you re-negotiate a deal with a higher price, citing the original price was combined with a bigger order. Or is it possible to offer a cheaper alternative giving you a profit?

I've been asked numerous times to do some SEO consultancy, which I've never done as a paid service for anyone else. Although I've considered it, I know customer expectations would be potentially higher than what I could deliver, leading to extra pressure, and detracting me from my core business. Maybe you could be in a similar position?

So a lazy day then

Remember you can only burn the candle at both ends for so long!

Apps never made it off the to do list for me, so if it works out, let us all know, I'd be all ears

Any competent professional coder/designer can create apps. All down to complexity and budget.

If you don't know any designers, or want to go the budget route, then somewhere like this can be a start...
Find Freelancers & Browse Freelance Professionals | Freelancer.co.uk

But remember engaging any new designer is always a gamble if they haven't come recommended, and I'm a big believer in you get what you pay for