Disqus - Latest Comments for John Andrews

Re: Will Publishers Add Cross-Domain Rel=Canonical to Syndication Deals?

John Andrews — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:05:46 -0000

We need to notice that Google mentions indexing very carefully whenever discussing rel canonical. It is an indexing management tool... label a page non-canonical and you tag it for de-indexing. Keep that in mind when considering scenarios.

I can see how Google might like to keep that low profile among the general population (so it can safely drop 2ndary/tertiary content versions from the index), yet go higher profile in the seo/webmaster community (so as to influence the use of rel canonical).

We do live in interesting times.

Re: 2010: the year SEO isn’t important anymore

John Andrews — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:36:05 -0000

You say tomato, I say to-mah-to. Same difference.

Good search marketers know SEO, are expert at technical aspects of competitive web publishing, know how PPC and advertising play along with natural (direct traffic) and organic seo. They understand the roots of social media (word of mouth advertising plus publishing tools suitable for the masses, plus syndication in various forms, including verticalization of audience). They know keywords better than anyone, and they understand Google and Bing.

I'll grant that no one on earth understands Yahoo!, but that's a separate question.

The best search marketers also understand messaging, issue framing, and market shaping... Where Google points, the search marketers go (often in advance). Right now Google is messing around with everything.. it's of serious concern to search marketers.

Argue any aspect of SEO vs. "Social Media" as you like... you're a media talking head.. it's what you do. But when the chips are down, and you state that you want clarity and want to inform your readers of the right path, you should point them to known, respected, and capable competitive web publishers who understand all of these components of the online marketing picture. You'll invariably find them at search marketing meetings and in search marketing forums.

Re: Facebook to supplant email?

John Andrews — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 02:24:52 -0000

I expect Google to attach personas to emails soon enough, enabling users to manage communications with faces in much the same way.

Re: Have You Got an Affiliate Marketing Blog?

John Andrews — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 16:54:38 -0000

I'm into competition, which includes some affiliate marketing of course.

http://www.johnon.com

Re: Now Namecheap Affiliates Can Rip Off Their Readers

John Andrews — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:02:56 -0000

It seems obvious to me that Namecheap has an aff program because people asked for it, not because they want it as part of their business. So then no surprise if they don't manage it well?

Moniker is a solid registrar, but I like them best because I get to know my sales rep behind the scenes. They have to compete as well, so pricing to the public is higher (typically) than pricing to the customers they come to know well. If you get a larger portfolio, you get better pricing and service. It's how business works.. they want to keep you happy, and would rather make money along with you than lose money selling single domains to the general public, competing with companies like NameCheap.

Moniker will even finance a move of a large portfolio to Moniker over something like 9 months without interest.... you have to call them to find out the details, but they pay the renewal fees so it's easy to secure your domains all at once without taking a cash flow hit.

I don't think anyone should start an affiliate program without thinking through the details... if you're not prepared to take care of your affiliates and provide a good incentive, you might do more damage than good.

Re: 5 Stupid Copyright Questions That Aren’t

John Andrews — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:47:55 -0000

As you note, in the US it is virtually impossible to prevent/recover from infringment unless you have filed with the copyright office. So that changes the rules.. practically speaking. The rules follow specific time schedules that flow from the day you "first published" the work, which means yes, there are reasons for paying attention to when you shared your work with others, emailed it, posted it, etc.

On the one hand people blindly follow mythical rules for copyright... yes. But on the other hand, many of those myths are based in fact and those facts might be important practically.

Re: Social Media “Rockstars” vs. “Narcissists”

John Andrews — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:02:11 -0000

Too funny. The irony within the post, within the comments, and the placement of this in the social media space. Nice work.

Given the above images, I wonder about your perspective of women, though. Just wondering.

As for reality,anyone who is actually working in the online space can qualify a talking head within minutes. Never underestimate the positive power of celebrity, or the costs of negativity.

Re: Can Social Media Save a Local Business?

John Andrews — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:44:23 -0000

Oh my more competition in Google for "John Andrews".

Good to see the ideas flowing forth. @chris I was in the audience at Wordcamp and enjoyed your humor. Maybe you could so some stand up at Simply Gourmet? Or maybe John can settle for running some Meetup.com events and tweetups, making sure to invite you ;-)

Re: Sponsor IM Spring Break Road Trip aka SEO’s Gone Wild!

John Andrews — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:40:50 -0000

Choicehotels.com has a dormant twitter feed, but they SO should jump on this sponsorship opportunity. Nearly 2 week roadtrip, cross country, social media marketers and SEO's....

Re: MyBlogLog Reacts to Boycott, Reinstates Shoemoney

John Andrews — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 02:47:23 -0000

The missing piece was PR from MBL (they do have a blog, right?) that might have gone something like

"wow... it's amazing to see so many users adopting our service so fast. We are really excited to see the validation that the MBL platform is capable of so much more, and also how amazingly innovative the blogging community is. We'll have to fix some of the loop holes of course, and we've got great people working on keeping things moving forward, but keep the feedback coming and let us know what we're doing right and what you need from us..."

Instead we get "what planet" comments. Yah.

Re: Google Universal Search - A Major Update to Interface & Algorithm

John Andrews — Thu, 17 May 2007 02:28:25 -0000

Andy,

I have quietly enjoyed reading over and over how "image search doesn't convert" on affiliate and SEO forums, year after year. Truth is, as I have known and Google no doubt determined with the testing it did, some images are magnets for click throughs in some markets. The same has been true for certain aspects of local search, which Google displayed frequently enough during testing for guys like me to see decent volume.

I am not the only SEO ready for this. I'm looking forward to more free impressions from Google, and more volume to test the quality of organic search traffic.

Re: Why Do User Reviews Affect E-Tail?

John Andrews — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 12:24:44 -0000

Disturbing, indeed. The bias behind the copywriting on wikipedia and some other sites becomes more obvious to me every day. Sadly, I suspect that is just a reflection of it being tuned to the mass audience. Whether it is centrally directed or not doesn't really matter.

Any suggestion that "anyone can edit it to fix what might be biased" is ludicrous - because "anyone" doesn't have financial backing to craft such well-crafted propaganda.

Re: 8 Tips for Avoiding an SEO Fraudster

John Andrews — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 12:54:35 -0000

Wow... six hours listening to an SEO consultant on his philosophy of SEO? That's the first red flag. Sorry to hear of your predicament, but seriously. When did you last give 6 hours of attention to a database guy, or a graphic designer, your physician, or your BMW mechanic?

The readers are not sophisticated enough to recognize this as a rant, and I suspect that's why some criticize this appearing on MP.

Re: 8 Tips for Avoiding an SEO Fraudster

John Andrews — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 13:30:27 -0000

Sorry about the name, Doug. I get called JohnJohn over at Sphinn, too. Not sure what's up with that.

I am not as quick to infer intent as you (you say "fact", "people are afraid", "types of members are the majority", "it's very revealing" etc). I've been unhappy with results from many service companies over the years, but that doesn't mean they are fraudulent scammers. It's a bit more complicated than that (I am a perfectionist my self, with low tolerance for poor customer service. Even IBM disappoints me sometimes).

I hope you don't now characterize me as defending a legion of scammers. In my SEO work I see about a 10:1 ratio of clients who don't know their own business to SEOs who don't know theirs. Are the clients all scammers and frauds?

But seriously, who spends 6 hours listening to a professional service provider pitch, and then rants about there not being enough good ones and most being frauds? I will infer that there's way more going on in that office than "there are no good seo consultants".

Re: 8 Tips for Avoiding an SEO Fraudster

John Andrews — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 14:57:51 -0000

Thanks for clarifying your position, Andy.

Doug, I disagree with you on most counts. Every industry has meetings about "reputation management" because it's smart to manage that as a group, and there are always detractors. Those who bad mouth an industry as a whole are problems for everyone, especially if they are not held accountable for their claims. Consumers are easily misled (look how well QuackWatch ranks in Google for just about everything that's not AMA-sanctioned and Pharma-supported). It's SOOOO easy to highlight negative aspects and lead from the back. Skeptics are easy prey. It's hard to lead from the front. Education is expensive, but ignorance is more expensive.

SEO is largely good webmastering, almost comletely accountable to metrics, and highly specialized. I find it very easy to test the caliber of an SEO, just as I can evaluate a designer or coder or database admin (or alarm installer or landscaper or crew candidate for a regatta).

If you really care about the clients, educate them about picking an SEO (checklists, questions to ask, signs to watch for) instead of saying that 90% of them are frauds. That approach hurts everyone. Educating the world about SEO helps everyone. So what's the problem?

Re: 8 Tips for Avoiding an SEO Fraudster

John Andrews — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 15:41:30 -0000

Okay, so "your industry is full of incompetence and worse. As others have pointed out, that is true for almost any industry, and I agree."

I get it. Everyone is incompetent, not just SEOs. Okay. Nothing further to discuss.

Re: Why SEOs Will Kill Wikia Search

John Andrews — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 16:02:37 -0000

I was abut to say your comment about "the market share of Ask" was ridiculous, as Ask has no market share. But then I second guessed myself and checked my traffic logs, and sure enough, I got a visitor from Ask a few days ago. Dang, Pilgrim, you're way ahead of me. Keep up the good work!

Re: SEO Trademarker Responds: Community Standards

John Andrews — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 01:03:48 -0000

this affair is smelling more and more like something Jason Calcanis & Friends would dream up.

Re: SEO 2.0 – Digital Asset Optimization

John Andrews — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 23:42:19 -0000

Wow... 2001 revisited. Ain't SEO wonderful? The more Google changes, the more SEO remains the same.

Re: What Gives SEO A Bad Name

John Andrews — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 01:38:04 -0000

Scott,

You no-follow your commenters contributions. You suggest that by being sub-optimal, Wordpress is actually "dragging down" your rankings. You show little deference to several experienced people who are benevolently offering you free SEO advice, despite your obvious negative bias. You highlight how Natasha posts from a different perspective in different communities, as if it were distasteful (it is actually quite tasteful, and respectful to you). And in the ThreadWatch post you cite as "writing off everyone who doesn't get it as idiots", what Natasha actually stated was "[this] just proves that he should stick to the topics that he knows well."

As noted elsewhere, your post remains published, mis-leading, and anti-SEO. And what about the statement: "They can either go about the hard work of educating people on the complexities of search and what good SEOs do and do not do, so that they are no longer the victims of unfair misperceptions:" but your expressed opinion that, because you don't get it and write misleading, uninformed posts about SEO, we SEOs should work hard for free to educate you?

Most would pass at that "opportunity".

Re: PubCon – Special Guest Keynote – Danny Sullivan

John Andrews — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 02:41:10 -0000

Contextual Advertising is not search. That's a take-away that needs repeating.

Re: Rebecca Kelley Joins the 10e20 Team

John Andrews — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:03:17 -0000

Congrats to Chris and Rebecca and everyone involved. And don't worry about Seattle, we have enough search awesomeness to share with everyone who needs help.

Re: Get Over Yourselves, Youngsters: Old People Can Network Socially Too

John Andrews — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:41:48 -0000

It's really about identity and privacy, not age. Out of site out of mind... once Mom started asking questions about the "boy" in the Facebook photo, reality set it. Do I really have to "friend" my mom? No, you don't... but we need a few more social rules we didn't need before, if we are to maintain civility.

The real fun starts when Mom relaxes and reaches her full social media potential, and little Missy starts reading Mom's stuff.... ewwwww.

Re: Session: Social Media Optimization

John Andrews — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 02:49:11 -0000

I suspect it depends on how competitive things are, Lee. With enough continuing innovation, I suspect that if things got too competitive you would move along to the next avenue, so as to avoid having to be "ugly". Others who stick around just get more and more obvious as the bar is raised. There can only be so many "subtle" commercial wiki links, right? But if there is one there needs to be another from the competitor, and another...

I completely agree with the idea of long term utilization, but I'm not sure these channels have much of a future.

Re: Must Read Search Marketing Blogs

John Andrews — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 16:20:47 -0000

C'mon Lee, which ones are your favorites? ;-)

Re: SEO Clueless Web Developers: Evil or Cash Cow?

John Andrews — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 17:02:41 -0000

So true. I dealt with a top tier design firm account manager recently that was so intent on creating an award-worthy flash nav on the client's tab, he argued his way out of a job. Sad to watch.

I also hate to discover background images used on divs instead of embedded images, because they inevitably end up burying h tags into them in order to make the images clickable. Bad idea to hide H tags.

It's fun to read your blog as you suffer through these real-world team issues, Lee.

Re: SEO Clueless Web Developers: Evil or Cash Cow?

John Andrews — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 13:19:36 -0000

@zach: Listen to Lee. That's a very cost-effective use of an SEO consultant. The ugly URLs that bother you may be low-hanging fruit, or may be relatively minor as pertains to performance. Why guess?

Re: Search Marketing Blogs by RSS Subscribers

John Andrews — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 16:56:04 -0000

Amazing to see so many subscribers, but I would rather see a chart of subscribers over time. I show counts on my little competitive webmastering blog, and it changes 10% on a daily basis. I bet it would be easy to separate those who seek out subscribers from those who build a subscriber base over time. Of course assuming there is no gaming of this new "success metric" ;-)

Re: Advantages of Ongoing SEO Consulting

John Andrews — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 01:20:05 -0000

Nice write up, Lee. This is a perfect article to refer SEO customers after they receive a site audit or a strategy document. Yes it's a good way to get started with an SEO pro, but if it's good work, there should be some sort of continuing engagement.

I am reminded of a choice piece of prime rib; you can thank the butcher for his expertise, but improperly cooked, it's no better than a London Broil.

Re: What Not To Do With Your Business Blog

John Andrews — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:13:05 -0000

Never enough "pissy, whiny tips", Lee. Keep them coming!

I'm guilty of a few myself but it stems from a "blog, not website" mentality. If I thought of my blog as a web site, it would probably have never gotten online since I am a perfectionist when it comes to web sites.

Re: Evaluating Client Search Marketing Readiness

John Andrews — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 23:17:34 -0000

Great post, Lee. I enjoy the inside view.

I find that this sort of communication enables the client to measure commitment without wasting your time with meetings. However, I also find almost every potential client that wants to waste your time will do it anyway. This won't stop those guys, but it will deter some.

I moved from SEO services to business consulting because they really do often need help getting to the point where they can responsibly complete this list. Who better than an SEO consultant to get them ready for SEO?

Re: The Fallacy of SEO Celebrity

John Andrews — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 21:16:16 -0000

Love the post... it can be reposted every year.

There will always be a payoff for being famous, and as long as it pays better than McDonalds there will be people aiming to "be famous". That's an inalienable right, isn't it?

Truth is every word you publish is a potential liability, carrying risk. Publishing just for fame is a folly. But reward often follows risk, so there are reasons to seek fame.

Re: Tribble Ad Agency

John Andrews — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 16:51:48 -0000

"raking in the cash and bilking their clients..."

I missed your point? LOL... so the only thing that has changed is transparency? LOL again.

Re: More Cash For Technorati: Blog Searcher Gets $7.5 Million Of $10 Million Fourth Round

John Andrews — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 04:51:48 -0000

the "Sunk Cost Effect Syndrome"