Greg Hartnett, from Best of the Web Directory (BOTW), was interviewed and gives some insightful advice on directories. BOTW was started in 1994 at the University of Buffalo.

Greg has been in the search industry since the beginning. As a matter of fact, BOTW is the first reference in Larry Page and Sergey Brin’s college thesis paper that started Google…

Q: Are there any web directories, or “Spam Directories” we should stay away from?

A: Absolutely. As is the case in any industry, there are some businesses you should work with, and some you should steer clear of. A site owner should do some homework, and make sure that they have confidence in the quality of the directory. Some things that may signal a sub-par directory:

- Run of site links
- Listings of poor quality
- Javascript links to sites
- Overuse of keywords in titles and descriptions
- Directories less than a year old
- Directories with overpopulated top level categories, and empty sub categories
- Directories powered by an off-the-shelf script

Read Full Interview by Shimon Sandler

Also, check out BOTW’s new Blog Directory.

[Found via Marketing Pilgrim]

Todd Malicoat (aka Stuntdubl), a fellow manager at WeBuildPages.com is leaving the company. It has been great working with him and he will be missed. Todd is a great person both professionally and personally. He is one of the few Internet Marketers I would personally recommend to a family member or close friend. I think that says it all!

Best of Luck Todd!!!

This is part of an article I posted at SearchEngineWatch.com on content to attract high-quality links.

We have been hearing a lot about adding content to your site to increase the number of natural links as a long-term link building strategy. I believe there is a misunderstanding about the type of content that attracts links. Simply adding an article to a site does not constitute great content. A great resource that attracts links takes research and time. It solves a problem or answers a question. I suggest creating 5 “great” pages instead of 40 “ok” pages.

Questions to Ask Yourself
-Does the article offer answers to a question?
-Are people actually searching for the answers to that question?
-Do I have to read 500 words to get an answer to something that could have been answered in 200 words?
-Does it solve a problem?
-Does it help your current users?
-Does this page deserve a link from a college?

Andy AtkinsKruger, President of Search Marketing Association UK (SMA-UK), adds

“I think it’s also worth writing about something you believe in - and even though initially it might be hard work - later you’ll find there is a community building up around you.”

Feel free to jump into the discussion with your ideas or observations!

Barry Schwartz, of Search Engine Roundtable and Search Engine Watch, also did two post regarding the topic.
Writing Articles That Get Links
Writing for Search Engines by Copying and Pasting

Debra Mastaler, of Alliance-Link, talks about the speed at which you acquire new links and staying under the search engine’s radar.

This quote sums it up if you are going after long-term results for your website.

“Success usually doesn’t happen overnight in business, linking is no different. Slow and steady wins out in this scenario just like any other!”

Read Debra’s article on Nascar Links.

Wilsonweb defines viral marketing as “any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others.” The benefits of this type of marketing are enormous. Your site gains traffic, publicity and natural backlinks.

People tend to share humor, jokes and cartoons more than anything else by email.

Viral Marketing Ideas
- Cartoons
- Animations
- Jokes (have users submit jokes to increase effectiveness)
- Online Games and Quizzes

Viral Marketing Tips
- Make it easy for people to email or IM a link to your campaign
- Keep urls and links as short as possible
- Give people permission to republish the cartoons or animation. Embed links into the code you provide (remember to use keyword variations).

Once you have a new marketing campaign promote it! Avoid the common thinking of “build it and they will come.”

Promotional Tips
- Contact industry sites or bloggers.
- Ask others to review your new program (people love giving advice).
- Start a Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign to give it a boost.
- Newspaper Ads
- Flyers

If anyone could recommend some quality cartoonists or animators I would appreciate it. Feel free to email me.

Want to learn more about Search Engine Optimization and Pay Per Click? There will be a search engine marketing seminar and workshop in San Francisco on 3/30-3/31/06 by HighRankings.com. You will have the chance to learn from some of the leading consultants in the business. Many of the speakers spoke at Search Engine Strategies (SES) in NYC. HighRankings seminar will be much more personal and focused.

This is an excellent opportunity for someone wanting to market their own website or for a company wanting to take SEO in-house. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to hire an SEO firm. Having an understanding of SEO/SEM will help in selecting the best firm to fit your needs.

A glimpse at some of the sessions:
Keyword Research
Pay Per Click (PPC) Search Engine Advertising
Copywriting Your Way to Success
Measuring Traffic and Conversions
Usability and SEO
Building Link Popularity
Real World Pay-Per-Click
Let’s Write! The Hands-On SEO Copywriting Workshop

Speakers:
Jill Whalen, Scottie Claiborne, Karon Thackston, Christine Churchill, Matt Bailey and Diane Aull

The High Rankings Search Engine Marketing Seminar
Thursday March 30 and Friday March 31, 2006
The Holiday Inn Walnut Creek, CA
Registration before March 15th is $1195.
After March 15th, it is $1395

If your boss is giving you a hard time about the price I can offer my readers a 25% discount (Thanks Jill!). Use the code “JUSTILIEN”

I will be attending Search Engine Strategies (SES) NYC from 2/26 -3/2. I look forward to meeting new people and catching-up with everyone I met at SES in San Jose this past summer.

The sessions look great. Here are just a few I will be attending:

Lunch with the Google Engineers
Search Algorithm Research
Search Engine Q&A on Links
Converting Visitors into Buyers
Linking Strategies
Local Search Marketing Tactics
Local Search Ads

Jill Whalen, of HighRankings.com, published a great article in her newsletter today about Buying Text Links. Jill is a veteran SEO. She started back in 1995.

The article offers great advice and insight.

“There’s nothing wrong with purchasing an ad on a website that links back to your website.…Your advertisements on other people’s sites are none of the search engines’ business and will not get your site banned or penalized.”

Here are some quotes about buying text links from brokers.

“most text link ads and the sites that sell them tend to leave noticeable “footprints” behind in the code. It would be no trouble at all for a search engine to do a little digging into what the latest footprints are, seek out all pages that have them, and simply not allow them to pass any link popularity.”

“For now, if you’re buying text link ads, or have been thinking about it, I wouldn’t really worry about it. Just make a mental note to yourself that whatever boost to your rankings they may provide now could vanish at any time. It’s no big deal if you’re getting real traffic from your ads, or if you’re simply using them to jumpstart your SEO campaign.”

I met Jill at a Google party this past summer for SES. She is full of insight and experience. I highly recommend you read her article and subscribe to her newsletter.

Macalua.com posted about a new study by Sharpe Partners. eMarketer.com highlighted some of the major aspects of the viral marketing research.

Insightful Statistics
- 89% of adults share content with friends, family and associates by e-mail
- 63% of the respondents share content at least once a week
- 25% share daily or almost daily
- 75% forward content up to six other people
- 89% have no adverse feelings to brand sponsorship
- 5% refuse to share content that contains a clear brand message

Read more on viral marketing at eMarketer.com

Implementing specific changes to your web site will enhance its creditability. This will increase your sales conversion rate and attract more natural links. Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility was published by
Stanford Persuasive Tech Lab. They list 10 guidelines with accompanying research.

“Make it easy to verify the accuracy of the information on your site.”

Reference the source of what is stated. We all learned that in school. Some webmasters are fearful to link out to other web sites because of misinformation regarding search engines. If your web site references other expert sites or information it will only increase your credit with Google. Plus it will give your site more credit in the eyes of users.

“Use restraint with any promotional content (e.g., ads, offers).”

Large blocks of AdSense on the top of your articles and resource pages will deter people from linking and even reading your site. Is the extra revenue worth the loss of dozens of links? These are editorial links you could not buy. This could deter important college, government and non-profit sites from linking to your web site.

“Make it easy to contact you.”

Notice how many universities have their physical address on the bottom of each page. Examine sites you highly trust and often their contact information is easy to find. When I started this site several months ago I visited the internet marketing sites I trust the most for information. I noticed all of them have their email address or contact information on every page in plain view. Notice how easy it is to find my email address in the navigation. (Side note: This is a personal site and for privacy reasons I choose not publish my personal phone number and address.)

I suspect search engines factor in many of these guidelines from Stanford into their algothrim. Keep in mind search engine algothrims make use of hundreds of little factors.

Read more of Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility. Feel free to leave your tips, suggestions or thoughts in the comments.