SearchEnginePeople.com: Another Analogy To Explain SEO to the Masses

James Duthie, in his column at SearchEnginePeople.com, explains why analogies are so popular when it comes to explaining SEO. In his words: “People just don’t get it.” He says SEO is still one of the "dark arts" to the average businessperson, so analogies help to ease the learning curve by likening SEO to something with which everyone can identify.
In his article “Yet another SEO Analogy,” Duthie says that SEO is like property investment:

1. It needs a solid foundation: If the foundation on your house isn’t solid, everything else gets compromised. And so it is with SEO. You need a solid foundation for long-term success. Analyze customer search behavior. Study your competition. Lay your foundation for success before you build.

2. You must use high-quality materials in your property structure; With a home, what you put on the solid foundation is equally as important. Think of your website as your online property. Use only the highest-quality website code and content in your “structure.” Custom-craft your SEO to help you stand out from all the others.

3. Build in the right neighborhood: You don’t build a mansion in the slums; it will never see its true value that way. The same is true for SEO and your link building strategy. Links are your neighborhood. Seek out high-quality links. Avoid spammers and other link slumlords that won’t add any value to your property.

Dustin Brady Reports on Building Links the Google Way

In his article “What Google Thinks about Your Link Building Efforts,” FathomSEO.com’s Dustin Brady addresses one undeniable fact: Despite what your SEO firm says is the most important link building strategy, Google has the only opinion that matters. “Google decides which links matter and which don’t,” he says, and with that in mind, he lists the best and worst strategies in the eyes of the search engine giant.

Among the best strategies, Brady suggests becoming an expert in your field and contributing to blogs and forums. However, you need to keep your content useful. Don’t spam sites or shamelessly promote yourself. This is because the best quality links come from developing relationships in communities. Brady also suggests publishing compelling content. This is a very broad category and can include tutorials, white papers, tools, videos, graphics or anything you believe will be linked to by other sites that are relevant to yours.

Brady also suggests using humor for an “immediate traffic bump.” We all know how well humor works in social media. Just make sure that what you post is truly funny, or it won’t get you any links at all. The worst strategies in Google’s eyes include reciprocal links and mass submissions to link directories. For the latter, Google much prefers submissions to relevant directories.

Van Iderstyne at SearchEngineWatch.com Knows Why You’re Not Getting Any Links

Nobody said link building was easy. But if you’ve been at the link collection game for your site for a while, with limited results, Jennifer van Iderstyne at SearchEngineWatch.com may know “Why No One is Linking to You.”

She says one of the most common reasons why your site may not be getting any links is that it doesn’t have any worthwhile content on it. In fact, it’s the most likely reason why you’re failing. These days, it’s simply not enough to have a company history, a product page, etc. Everybody has that. You need to add new, informative content frequently – content that people will want to link to. Coming up with that content may be hard, but link building wasn’t meant to be easy, she says.

Another reason why you could be sabotaging your link building strategy is that nobody knows you’re there. It’s tough to be noticed – and that’s why social media is as popular as it is today. It’s a great way to get exposure. Van Iderstyne recommends reading up on how to get a Twitter following or how to get more friends on Facebook.

Finally, Van Iderstyne cites “technical difficulties”. If your site has broken links, error messages, etc., no one will be interested.

Columnist Cohen Says Twitter Translation Tools Keep Tweets From Being Lost in Translation

Most B2B firms have Twitter accounts these days. However, once they begin to work Tweets into their social media and link building strategy, many firms find themselves the recipient of Tweets from foreign countries that they can neither read nor decipher their purpose. Are they requests for business? Spam? How can you tell? What if you want to Tweet someone who doesn’t speak English? What do you do?

That’s what Jeffrey L. Cohen writes about in his article “4 Ways B2B Companies Can Translate Tweets” on SocialMediaB2B.com. Cohen reviews four of the most popular translation tools available on the internet specifically designed to bridge the translation gap between Tweeters. The first tool he discusses is Tweetdeck, the desktop tool that you may be using already to monitor your Twitter traffic. What most people don’t know, he says, is that Tweetdeck has a built-in language support option that you can find in the “Services” area. It also allows you to “un-translate.” Next, Cohen discusses the hootsuiteiphone app for iPhone. He calls it a “quick way to translate incoming tweets to your native language while on the go.”

Another web-based tool that Cohen likes is Twaitter, an update scheduler that also has Google Translate services embedded into its programming. Type an update, click the language you want it to translate to, and send. Cohen saves the most recent service for last. Tweetmeme, the popular retweet tool, recently announced that it has added Google Translate tools as well.

Garrett French Helps You Maximize Your Link Building Potential

All opportunities to add to your link building strategy can be helpful. Garrett French of Ontolo.com recently revealed 5 steps to maximize the value of every opportunity on searchengineland.com. The first step is to identify link prospects that require some outreach. This includes requesting resource additions to available lists and roundups. These sites may add your link to their site if they find that your content is worth reading and recommending.

It is also important to gather as much information about your potential link partners before you reach out to them. This information is usually easy to obtain but it can take some time to collect and absorb. The next step is to create link building outreach emails that are customized to each company you are trying to contact, with information on why they should connect to your site. Ultimately, you can receive four possible responses: an approval, a refusal, a counter offer or no answer at all. Be prepared to react to all four.

For an approval, immediately send a thank you note and do other things to start building a relationship. Send a note as well to the refusals, and find out what’s keeping them from linking to you. If you get a counter offer, be prepared to send out one of your own. An “ignore” could mean your subject line was lousy, your prospect is away or one of a million other reasons. Follow up with another note calling attention to the fact that you never heard from them. Finally, keep intrinsic notes for further follow-ups with all four groups. These steps will all help you to grow and benefit from your more quickly and efficiently.