Disqus - Latest Comments for James Omdahl

Re: SEO Lessons from Zappos.com

James Omdahl — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 18:36:58 -0000

I think you hit the nail on the head Scott.

People expect certain results to appear at the top, and Google tries to make sure that happens. The crazy thing is that while at one time the natural search results were grand equalizer for marketers, now it seems that brand recognition is really driving the search results more than actual optimization (to a certain extent at least.)

This is extremely apparent in the insurance space where affiliate sites that rank well are quickly removed from the first page of any competitive term.

Offline ad spending now heavily dictates online search results in competitive vertical. The rich get richer, etc.

Re: Geek Fitness: Nike + iPod

James Omdahl — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 11:09:33 -0000

Nike rules! I hadn't run since high school, but I thought Nike was so cool I actually started running again. Of course, my runs are more like 2 or 3 miles...not the Jangro 6 mile specials, but hopefully I'll get there ;)

Didn't realize you could grab those widgets from Nike...gonna have to add that to my blog.

As for headphones, I use the Sony MDR-EX70LP Earbud Headphones and they work really well for running. The only thing I would say is to buy the black ones, not the white ones. For some reason the white rubber around the wires gets really soft and falls apart pretty easily...but the black ones don't do that.

Happy running.

Re: DON’T BE AN IDIOT (DBAI)

James Omdahl — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:30:52 -0000

Awesome.

Reminds me of when I was in college and worked as a day camp counselor. I was in charge of a group of 10 kids, and on the first day of camp I told them that in my group, there would be only one rule - DON'T BE STUPID.

It worked like a charm, the kids understood it, and when they did do something bad, they quickly realized which rule they broke.

I'm not saying that bloggers are like kids...actually, I might be, but either way I think the "Don't Be an Idiot" thing has a lot better chance of making working than a â€œcode of conduct.â€

Re: Shoemoney Show Mentions

James Omdahl — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 10:55:14 -0000

Hey Scott - BUMPzee got a quick mention on Danny Sullivan's Daily Searchcast yesterday as well. Congrats - looks like things are really taking off.

Re: Fighting My Worst Addiction: Smoking

James Omdahl — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 12:15:18 -0000

I'm glad you're quitting Vlad. I quit a number of years ago and it is amazing what a difference it makes.

After seeing the dire effects of smoking on my loved ones, I learned exactly why I needed to quit.

If you need moral support, most cities have "quit lines" you can call into - but of course, I'm sure your readers will be there to root you on. :)

Re: Fighting My Worst Addiction: Smoking

James Omdahl — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 12:15:18 -0000

Re: Google Pagerank Penalties A TextLinkAds Killer?

James Omdahl — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:15:12 -0000

You really think TLA is going out of business because of this? Patrick is a smart guy; the writing has been on the wall for a long time when it comes to having an open link purchasing marketplace. I think TLA will survive and thrive because of this change as long as they adapt.

Let's think basic economics - demand is as strong as ever, supply just went down, so what are prices going to do? I'm afraid all Google is doing is pushing the market underground and making the link brokers richer in the long run.

Re: Return on Effort with PPC Campaigns

James Omdahl — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 09:34:36 -0000

Hey Vinny - sorry about the steal! This post does a great job expanding on your ROE concept...I'll get a link up to it in a minute.

The ROE concept really hit home with me since I get the chance to speak with a good number of affiliates, and many of them are spinning their wheels on low ROE projects and wondering why they aren't successful. I've always felt that the best affiliates not only work hard, but work smart...and ROE is a perfect way to describe this mindset.

Re: Yahoo! announces Affiliate Advisory Board

James Omdahl — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 13:13:40 -0000

Very nice. I spent years telling our Yahoo reps that if Yahoo really wanted to make more money with their PPC, they were going to have to embrace affiliates. It sounds like I wasn't the only one making noise about this, and Yahoo is finally listening.

Great news for you and the affiliate world as a whole. :)

Re: Blog cause you want to (and include sex in your headlines)

James Omdahl — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 16:41:21 -0000

Hey Robert - great work at the BBS. I know your presentations on killer blogs and the session you did with Ponzi and Chris were the highlight of my conference. Glad to see the first couple of blogging in action. :)

Re: TripAdvisor Buys Facebook App for $3 Million

James Omdahl — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 17:01:11 -0000

"Where I've Been" was one of my first Facebook apps as well...but I too haven't really done much with it since and don't really look at other people's either.

Whether the rumor is true or not, it would be interesting to know how anyone would successfully be able to leverage an application like this to make a decent amount of money.

Any ideas Andy?

Re: Lemonade Stand: The death of MLM and affiliate marketing as we know it?

James Omdahl — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 12:43:29 -0000

Took the words out of my mouth Michael...Greg, could you maybe write something up to expand on how affiliate marketers will need to adopt Web 2.0 to avoid extinction?

If you don't want to write that, I'd just be interested in knowing what you see affiliate marketers doing right now that they won't be able to do 2, 5, or 10 years down the line.

If Andy won't let you post it here I'd be happy to take it as a guest post on our blog :)

Re: Interview with Eric Ward of URLwire

James Omdahl — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 16:52:39 -0000

Thanks for the great interview.

I have seen Eric speak many times and I enjoy his

Re: What Not To Do With Your Business Blog

James Omdahl — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 15:34:15 -0000

Having to login to post a comment ticks me off every time. I think that might be my biggest pet peeve with Search Engine Land.

Poorly formatted ads that are stuck in the middle of the content hurt my brain as well.

One I'd add is a poorly formatted blog. For some reason I can't stand the header area of AndyBeard.eu - it's great information but annoying design.

Re: Nonprofits in Need of Search Marketing

James Omdahl — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 11:32:40 -0000

Glad to hear about everyone's efforts helping out non-profits. It certainly feels good to help, and often it won't take much time to get some of these organizations to where they want to be (some of them just want to rank for their organization’s name on Google!).

I've recently gotten involved with PTE-China.org, and AIDS charity working in China, helping them out with some of their SEM activities. It's not only nice to help, but it has given me a glimpse into another world of SEM. The experience has been a win-win for sure.

And if anyone wants to check out PTE (Prevention Through Education), please do...and any link love to their site would be more than appreciated. :)