Michael Gray - Graywolf's SEO Blog

Thanks to This Month’s Sponsors April 2010

Posted: 30 Apr 2010 08:00 AM PDT

I’d like to say thanks to the people who sponsored the blog this month, without them there wouldn’t be regular posts here.

Text Link Ads – New customers can get $100 in free text links.

CrazyEgg.com – Supplement your analytics with action information from click tracking heat maps.

BOTW.org – Get a premier listing in the internet’s oldest directory.

Ezilon.com Regional Directory – Check to see if your website is listed!

Brick Marketing – Sign up for the SEO Newsletter

Directory Journal – Get permanent deep links in a search engine friendly directory

Interested in seeing your message here? There are banner and RSS advertising options available find out more information. Be sure to check out our new Sponsored post option.

Here’s a list of some other programs and products I reccomend

Thesis Theme for Wordpress – Hands down the best theme on the market right now, read my Thesis Theme for Wordpress Review.

Scribe SEO – Improve your blog posts with this easy to use built in tool, read my Scribe SEO Review.

KnowEm – Protect your brand, product or company name with a continually growing list of social media sites, read an Interview with Michael Streko.

TigerTech – Great Web Hosting service at a great price, read my Tiger Tech Review.

Advertisement: Need an SEO Audit for your website, look at my SEO Consulting Services #1

This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

Thanks to This Month’s Sponsors April 2010

Thanks to This Month’s Sponsors – March 2010 I’d like to say thanks to the people who...
Thanks to This Month’s Sponsors – February 2010 I’d like to say thanks to the people who...
Thanks to this Months Sponsors – April 2009 I’d like to say thanks to the people who...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Don’t Put All Your Eggs in the Facebook Basket

Posted: 29 Apr 2010 07:12 AM PDT

While Facebook may be a hot marketing tool right now, there is danger in putting too much effort into making it the center of your marketing efforts.

In a recent post I spoke about publishing paths and tailoring your content and selectively publishing it to different websites. It can be dangerous, though, if you take it too far and focus only on building your content on one website (particularly one you don’t have absolute control over) because you leave yourself and your business open to whims and decisions of others. I see this happening withTwitter to a certain extent and now, with increasing frequency, with Facebook.

Facebook should be a tool in your marketing toolbox … just not the only tool.

Now don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with websites like Twitter or Facebook–as long they are part of an overall strategy. However, when Facebook represents all of your marketing activity, you are taking a huge risk. I’ve seen this done with small brands, but I think that, by picking a well-known, national brand, I can drive the point home much more effectively. Let’s take a look at the website for Vitamin Water at VitaminWater.com.

At the time this post was written, VitaminWater.com 301 redirects to a Facebook page for Vitamin Water. I’m all for trying new things, thinking out of the box, and experimenting. After all, I was one of the few people who liked the skittles redirect stunt. But it was temporary. When you redirect your website to a twitter page, facebook page, wikipedia page or any other page not under your absolute complete control, you are no longer your own master. A lot of web 2.0 companies have a spotty track record and have been known to make some really bad decisions in the past, and I’d put Facebook near the top of the bad decision makers list. Anyone remember the beacon fiasco, holocaust denial incident, or recent privacy kerfufle? When you put all your marketing eggs in the Facebook basket you put the fate of your company under the guidance, regulations, and terms of service of a company that has shown increasingly poor decision making with alarming regularity.

Let’s be clear: Facebook wants to rule the web. If you don’t think the deactivation of several high profile Google engineers facebook accounts wasn’t a warning shot across the bow, you really need to open your eyes. Facebook and Google will be at war for the web very soon, and you don’t want to be collateral damage in that war.

Facebook should be a tool in your marketing toolbox … just not the only tool.

Facebook and Google will be at war for the web very soon, and you don’t want to be collateral damage in that war.

In the coming year, expect Facebook to make a concerted effort to bring business onto Facebook. In fact I would expect them to do everything they could to incentivize people to make Facebook their main or only web presence. If I was Facebook, I’d have a team of developers and programmers working on making Facebook pages easier for less technical people to use and update. Don’t fall for the trap.

If you are looking for information on how to get more out of Facebook, check out this presentation from Brian Carter at Pubcon 2010. It’s really good.

Advertisement: Want to see your message here, find out how. #2

This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

Don’t Put All Your Eggs in the Facebook Basket

Really Facebook You Still Don’t Get it Do You C’mon Facebook I really thought we had moved past this...
Facebook and Firefox Since my facebook stalker status has been exposed I figure...
Will Facebook Niche For Dollars Or Food? Ed Berrera contends that as Facebook advertising gets more...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.