DISQUS

An excellent topic, Andy. I am completely against the nofollow attribute, which is being used for purposes not covered by its original creation. Even then it was not a good idea.

My two alternative suggestions are most unlikely to be acceptable to the big G.
a) Forget the whole 'nofollow' bit, or
b) Accept that the big G does not cover the total Web but only that durable part of it where URLs persist. Leave the NOW web to others.

The latter is surely best for Google if it wishes to maximize its business objectives, however I think it is still going after that impossible dream.

Barry Welford's last blog post..The Best (and Worst) In Customer Service

An excellent topic and dear to my heart. It's essential to fit in with the culture of any social media. You can test the boundaries a little and tap the bars of the cage, but if you just don't fit in, you're wasting everyone's time, including your own.

Barry Welford's last blog post..Abu Dhabi Brand Faith News Flash

This is an excellent topic, Andy. Strong competition is the best pressure on such companies to make sure they deliver their best to us.

The problem arises when one company dominates a marketplace as Google now does. Thankfully governments realize the problems and set up bodies such as the FTC to stop predatory practices. Any really big company like Google must ensure that it behaves itself.

Barry Welford's last blog post..Twitter Beats Second Brain For Brainstorming

Steven, IMHO the problem in large organizations is often how to get Focus, Focus, Focus through consensus. If someone powerful felt it was important to keep Live a-live, then who wants to take that fight on. Or perhaps that powerful person wanted to keep MSN around for old times sake. After all, some dinosaurs had two brains, one at the front end and one at the back, I believe. Perhaps one of the reasons dinosaurs died out. :)

Barry Welford's last blog post..Tags Attract Eyes

@Steven Balusik - What counts, Steven, is not how much effort and money Microsoft has put into pushing the new brand, Live, alongside the ongoing brand, MSN Search, but rather the perceptions that build up in the minds of potential searchers. Even Microsofties don't seem to understand the distinction between the two brands. All Microsoft has done is spend a great deal of money to spread confusion.

Barry Welford's last blog post..Tags Attract Eyes

So true, Alan. I think the problem is that many people think that price or giving away discounts is a marketing lever that is easily available. To my mind it's a two-edged sword. Only if you're Walmart and have a real cost advantage can you use it consistently. For the rest of us, you've got to get the price right, but stay away from it as a lever. Your product/service must have its own attraction independent of price to really grow.

Barry Welford's last blog post..Tags Attract Eyes

I agree on this question of community. I DoFollow using the basic plugin so I accept the burden of checking each post that Akismet doesn't automatically mark as spam to see whether I think it falls 'on the right side of the line'. If there is useful comment for subsequent readers, even if minimal, and the URL isn't to an undesirable website, then I'll probably approve the comment. If someone feels I unfairly deleted their post then my spam post policy encourages them to contact me directly.

Of course the Internet is a very crowded "Where's Waldo?" world. So you cannot expect a magic pill like having a blog to ensure your website's visibility among the crowd. Nor can you expect that a cookie-cutter website will do the job either.

I am sure SiteSell does have users that have good traffic. However I would guess the majority of clients will be somewhat disappointed. My question for Ken Evoy would be:
What percentage of your clients' websites achieve more than 25 visitors per day on average?

Following up on your advice, Daniel, I think it's best to do the research on a title before you write the post. Often you will find that others have written on the same topic. This may well spark ideas on other aspects you can include in your own post.

In fact if you use the All-in-one-SEOpack plugin for WordPress, you can independently create the Title, the Headline for your post and the post-slug used to create the URL before you even post. More details here

If Google had any sense, they would encourage the acquisition. It's probably too high a price for Yahoo! as it exists at the moment. In addition, it's like giving Microsoft a tar baby for those who know their Brer Rabbit stories. Microsoft will undoubtedly do entirely the wrong things with Yahoo! if it gets its hands on it. However on reflection it's probably no worse for Microsoft than trying to get that dead horse, Live, moving.

That's wonderful news. Congratulations and best wishes, Bill and Kimberley.

http://twitter.com/BWelford
Internet Marketing Consultant in Langley, BC, Canada

I would like to nominate StumbleUpon http://www.stumbleupon.com and MyBloglog http://www.mybloglog.com. They both have active, friendly communities and through them you can easily expand your Internet horizons.

Some excellent points there, Andy. I particularly liked the idea of correcting whatever points had caused problems. You could even add a comment in response outlining exactly what was done to correct the situation.