I’m attending Pubcon in Las Vegas this week, and there is a poker tournament taking place Thursday night that I want to attend. Interestingly, the organizer chose to tie attendance in with a charity, so I thought I’d tsake this opportunity to write a little bit about a local Portland organization called Snow-Cap.

Last Wednesday, I attended an East Portland Chamber of Commerce meeting that was hosted by Snow-Cap, and I had a chance to hear more about them.

As they did their short 10 minute presentation, I could hear the passion in their voices, and I also witnessed the nodding heads in the crowd, as many of us were already very familiar with them.

Snowcap has been providing food, clothing and advocacy for needy people in East Multnomah County since 1967.

In the mid 1960’s, the basic needs of many in East Multnomah County were not being met by any agency or organization.

The original purpose of Snow-CAP was to discover the actual needs of area residents, then communicate those needs and help organize local church and community leaders to meet those needs.

Snow-CAP was bordered by East 82nd Street and the Columbia River, stretching south to the Clackamas County line, and including Troutdale, Fairview, and Wood Village.

Originally three centers were set up, and in 1968 they merged and were headquartered at Savage Memorial Presbyterian.  A Gresham office was opened in 1967, and by 1980 there were 39 actively participating churches.

By 1983 Snow-CAP was serving 36,000 people, and by 1987, their 20th anniversary, they had 145 volunteers. All this was done with just one-full-time worker and 7 part-time employees.

By their 25th anniversary in 1992, more than one-half million people had been served, and in 2007, their 40th, over 1.4 million people had been served. Wow.

If you’ve had any experience with Snow-Cap, you can leave them a review here and if you’re able, you can make a donation of food or  your time here, or you can donate moneydirectly  online

Again, I admit that I was prompted to write this post by dk, of Purpose Inc.  but don’t let that sway you. Snow-Pac is a great organization, and I’m proud to live in their community.

If I play, and if I happen to win anything, I’m declaring here that I’ll donate 1/2 of my winnings to Snow-Cap.

This Thursday, I’ll be giving a lunchtime presentation for the East Portland Chamber of Commerce about Web 2.0 and “social sites” for people that are not internet marketers.

I’ll be joined by two other local networking experts, Charles Powell – Coaching at it’s Best, and Norm Rice – Portland Homes Online

In the presentation, I’ll cover everything you’ve always wanted to know about Web 2.0, some things you probably didn’t care to know, and still have time left over for questions.

Among the specifics will be:

• What is Web 2.0?
• Why should you care?
• What must you know about participating?
• What are people saying about you now?
• How can you get started?
• How can you be better than your competitors?

When?
Thursday November 5, 2009 – 11:30-1:00 PM

Where?
Georgetown Suites – 1000 NE 122nd Ave – Portland, Oregon

How Much?
Chamber Members $10 / Non-members $15.
Lunch will be provided.

How?
Call the Chamber office to register 503-292-8237

Remember, this is NOT an event for internet marketers, it’s an event for businesses that wantto get more out of their networking, both online and offline. Call the Chamber office to reserve your spot now at 503-292-8237

This weekend, I took some video (of my son being blatantly facemasked with no penalty, and then gang tackled In flag football with a minor 5 yarder), and I wanted to share that video with some other parents. (Yes that’s the kind of guy I am

Anyway, I just needed to get it out of my camcorder and onto my laptop to edit and email, but I couldn’t find Windows Movie Maker to edit the clip under Start > All Programs > Accessories, where I KNOW it used to be.

I haven’t used WMM it in almost three years, and I don’t know where it went, but now it’s apparently no longer on ANY of the 4 XP pro machines our family owns. WTF?

Well it turns out it’s not really “gone” – just my menu item is – but it took seemingly forever for me to finally find this painfully slow video -
showing me how to get it started.

To get Windows Moviemaker “back” on your PC, Go to to the Start Button > Run – and then type moviemk – Press enter or hit OK, and it will open.

Need to make a shortcut?

(In Windows XP)   Right click an empty spot on your Desktop and choose “New > Shortcut”

Then just type (or copy / paste)  the path of the execcutable file – in this case, with Windows on your C drive just use this -

C:\Program Files\Movie Maker\moviemk.exe

Name is as you wish, and press finish

And you’ll get your shortcut back!

The last time I remember something like this happening was when “Microsoft Front Page Express” disappeared from Windows 98 after the version B updates.

If this method doesn’t work for you, then perhaps you simply never had it o begin with for some reason, and you can download it here dorectly from Microsoft
I wonder why the shortcut to Windows Movie Maker  was removed in the first place?

After noticing that I had received a bizarre amount of traffic for a Stuffed mushroom recipe that I posted a couple of years ago, I decided to hunt around and see what other SEO’s may have posted some food optimization tips.

Imagine my surprise when I found that so many SEO’s out there like to cook! Here, in no particular order, are quite a few…

Tessa Wegert is an interactive media strategist with Enlighten, one of the first full-service digital marketing strategy and services agencies, fancy cooking and in her Foodie Web Sites Turn Stylish, she shares her Pistachio Sea Bass with Crab Salad recipe.

Michael Gray, President of Atlas Web Service, located in Long Island, New York,shares his own version of the cold and sweet Black Cow Recipe and his Penne ‘ala Vodka.

Shimon Sandler, an SEO consultant from Pennsylvania, offers a number of recipes on his site, including some spicy chili that sounds pretty darn good, and a Gourmet Meatloaf too!

Jim Boykin, the CEO of We Build Pages, a large well known firm on the East coast, has a recipe for a 3 bean salad that sounds pretty tasty.

Jeremy Zawodny is now an employee of Craigslist, having left Yahoo!’s platform engineering group. He’s been described by many as “Yahoo!’s MySQL guru”. A chili lover, he posted his Jeremy’s Crockpot or Slow Cooker Chili Recipe. and Chicken Tortilla Soup for everyone to try these spicy dishes.

Jake Matthews, a partner at 10e20, recommended a very tasty and easy to cook meal in his blog called Rack of Lamb with Cranberry with Cranberry-Tangerine Sauce and a Polenta with Pancetta and also has some Stuffed Mushrooms to complete the meal.

Becky Naylor, wife of Dave Naylor and co-founder of Bronco spends her weekend cooking for her family and her specialty.. try her Yorkshire Pudding.

Ciaran Norris,  SEO and Social Media Director of Altogether Digital, shares an award winning cake recipe, originally from Account Manager Dan Williams, the Chocolate, Fudge and Malteser Cake

Adam Lansik, Search Evangelist for Google USA, was too lazy to buy something to eat one day and did come up with this Crispy-Spicy Tuna Salad. Still hungry? Grab some of his Fabulous Garlic Fries.

Trent Blizzard, CEO of Blizzard Internet Marketing Inc, (and Amy) insures that a  special birthday wont pass by without a Mocha Cake to share.  Birthdays are not complete

Chris Abraham, President and COO of the social media marketing firm Abraham Harrison LLC, Savory Crepe Recipe and Mama Stamberg’s Cranberry Relish Recipe.

Scott Clark of BuzzMaven Lab shares this refreshing minty cocktail mix called Kentucky Derby Mint Julep. Does a cocktail count as a recipe? Um, ya it does to me,  and it’s my blog

Charlene Li, founder of Altimeter Group has a pasta recipe that she can cook in 10 minutes flat. Care to try beating her clock in cooking the Pasta Mashup Recipe? For dessert, she’s got some Chocolate Mint Bars and Rocky Road Chocolate Bark which sound really awesome.

Floyd Gumpal Buenavente, a SEO/SEM Specialist from Phillipines, shares the recipe for Adobo SEO version. Have you heard of Filipino Adobo? I had it once, and it was awesome.

Affordable SEO Services & More is a “110% Italian” that’s an SEO and a cooking fan. Like Bruschetta? Try out their authentic recipe.

David Dellanave of Dellanave.com says that  Pancakes are deceptively complex things to get right – (Many may know as the REAL brains behind the massive Shoemoney enterprise.

Andrew Melchior, online Marketing Strategies Expert, shares his favorite Thanksgiving and Christmas Cranberry Waldorf Salad recipe.

Christopher Dawson , Technology Director for the Athol-Royalston School District in northern Massachusetts, has 2 vegetarian kids, so for Thanksgiving he roasted some pumpkins,  and made them some Pumpkin Soup, a recipe from his favorite Chef, Emeril.

Stephen Peron of imnotadoctor.com share their favorite family recipe for the St. Patrick Day, and its, Corned Beef Ala Imnotadoctor Style.

Alysson Fergison of SEOaly.com passed along this awesome sounding  Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe. Too bad i don’t bake.

David Leonhardt, owner of The Happy Guy Marketing located in Ottawa, Canada, passes along this Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe especially made for parents.

Know any others I’ve left out? If so, please comment here, and be sure to add a link!

There seems to be a new scam going around, that’s a new twist on an old game.

The old scams set out to steal your domain names under the banner of Liberty names of America“  or “Domain Registry of America“   and the way they do it is to send domain owners what appears to be an invoice for domain registration renewal.

Once paid, then the owners lose control of their domain names, often not finding out for months or years, until they need to change DNS, and that’s when they find out they don’t own it anymore..

This morning I got another e-mail that appeared to be the same thing, but upon closer examination, I can see that they don’t want to be bothered by anything as pesky as owning your domain name, and they have no intention of robbing you year after year.

Instead, this one is merely a solicitation for “search engine registration” and they’re after one thing – your money.

If you read the fine print carefully you’ll see that…

• “This is not an invoice”
• It’s for “Search Engine Registation”
• It’s a “solicitation”
• “This notice is not in any part is associated with a continuation of services for domain registration.”

At least you won’t lose your domain if you fall for this scam, but you will lose up to $295. Here’s what to watch for, by email, with the subject line – “Domain Notification: [sic YOUR NAME] This is your Final Notice of Domain Listing [sic Your Domain Name]

Here’s what the letter contains…

I suppose someone will argue that since they DO specify details, that it’s not a scam, but seriously – “search engine registration”? Really?

If someone from the company would like to reply here and tell people what they do get for their $300, I’ll certainly allow it to be posted…

Simply put, a Link Wheel is a group of pages on different hosts, that are about a specific product, subject or service, which all link to each other, and also link to a particular URL, or “money site”.

Some call them “link wheels”, some call them “authority hubs”, and some, I’m sure, use names I haven’t even heard of.

One of the first advanced search marketing books I read was called Revenge of the MiniNet, by Michael Campbell. In a nutshell, this is the strategy it talked about:

Using multiple domains, build multiple niche websites that are very tightly focused about a specific aspect of your business.

In turn each of those websites would link to each other, and each of those websites would link back to your core URL

You might build multiple websites, one for each model of Sunbeam Toasters, and each of those websites would link to each other, and each of those websites would link back to your primary Sunbeam product page, or toaster page, or main domain, etc.

In doing this, you create relevant content rich mini-sites, that link to other mini sites, and to a central hub, which gets authority from the links within those domains.

The Problem?
The problem with that, was that besides being an awful lot of work, it was relatively transparent, and your new domains had no authority at all, so it took a long time before you might see the benefit.

Also, people were regularly going to great pains to register the domains under different name, host the domains at different IP addresses with multiple hosting accounts, and basically spent a ton of money trying to hide the fact that they were building their own web of links.

A Better Strategy
Jumping ahead to today, many people are doing the same process using some of the Web 2.0 content sites that are out there, which automatically removes most of those transparency factors by having all of the sites hosted on quality domains with lots of trust.

With all the talk about the importance of domain authority and trust, you must know that some domains carry an awful lot of extra weight. I’ve seen this linking strategy be quite effective over the past year, and I know people that have been doing it a lot longer than we have.

For Example:
For example, let’s say the goal is to increase rankings for “blue widgets”, to this URL – http://yourdomain.com/bluewidgets.html

• Create an account at Blogger, Tumbler, Knol, Slideshare, squidoo, Weebly, and Hubpages, to name just a few.
• Go through the process of building a lens, a hub, a blog, a mini-site, or whatever each of those entities decides to call it.
• Ensure that the subject of each one is entirely devoted to specific things to know about blue widgets.
• From each of those, be sure to link to one of the others, and be sure to link to your primary URL
• Be sure to use the anchor text, “blue widgets” as well as other similar variations.
• Be certain that the URL you are linking to is optimized for that particular phrase, with “blue widgets” in the title, header tag, alt tags etc.

There’s probably tons of content you could create, all the way from the history of blue widgets, to specific features, benefits, and even potential future evolution of the product.

The point is to create whatever they offer, and to put up a good piece of original content that actually has some stand-alone value. Do *NOT* be overly commercial, or put up duplicate garbage, or you will likely get your creation declined.

Some people call this “parasite hosting” but that sounds somehow unethical. I don’t believe this is “black hat” or even an inappropriate strategy at all, as long as you are providing value to the end reader. After all, you’re going to get far more exposure at these web 2.0 properties, and educate far more people than you may otherwise on your own domain.

This strategy can be used to build multiple authority hubs to multiple areas of your site, and in 2009, it’s becoming more and more necessary to have these be tightly focused.

A true “widget baron” who is dominating the Internet will likely have multiple authority hubs for every color and style of widget, with their primary for that particular widget at the center of the wheel.

Outsource the process

I’ve actually run across a business that specializes creating these Link wheels, far more economically than we could ourselves, and I just ordered yet another one, when I decided to write this post.

• All the user accounts are created using United States IP addresses
• All of the web properties are created by hand, with no automated software.
• All content is written by authors with a good command of English.
• All of the usernames and passwords provided for your profile completion and future content additions.

It’s really a no-brainer, and I can’t speak highly enough about how happy we’ve been with the quality of the stuff we’ve gotten from these guys…

I’m revising my page, because after a few of these, I realized that ordering these is NOT a “no brainer”, and if you don’t pay attention and provide good details, the quality will suffer.

I assemed it went without saying here that you DO need to intelligently choose your anchor text and backlinks.  You also want to have decent profiles, and then you’ll want maintain these properties later, if you’re not on something monthly.

It’s not some magic bullet that you only do once.   You have to add stuff,  and build them into true mini authority sites, developing trust.  Yes, you basically fool Google into thinking you’re a site providing value by actually becoming one. 

Be sure to provide your link wheel builder with a good name, decent profile info, company description, photo, logo etc. especially if you’re going to do something monthly.

Are you tired of trading your time for money? Are you worried you’re going to run out of time? Well I am, but no, I’m not selling Amway any time soon.

What I’ve assembled below is a list of ways that I can probably be 2 to 3 times more productive than you, given the same amount of time. It’s not because I’m any smarter, so don’t get defensive, it’s just because I’m on this everlasting journey to find ways to become more efficient – i.e. I’m a cheapskate!

In the interest of full disclosure, I do have a financial interest in everything below – they save me a lot of money and time by using them! Some are affiliates, some are not, and some are my own stuff, but one thing they have in common are that ALL are an indispensable parts of my job.

Firefox Session Manager
I have a frequent need to open multiple windows, sometimes as many as 20 or more, going to various parts of a clients website, stats, analytics, PPC, Webmaster tools, various other admin logins, and even their credit card processing windows.

When I get ready to do end of month reporting for a single client, or devote some time to a particular domain, just getting started can be an enormous pain in neck. With FFSM I can instantly open up an entire browser full of tabs, and even multiple window sessions, with tabs in each. I gave it a full review here and you can get the free Firefox add on here. -  (Time to learn? Under 2 minutes)

My Speed – (Play Videos Faster)
I subscribe to quite a few paid membership sites, and these days a lot of them are sharing things with videos. My son and some friends are also constantly sending me Youtube links, and I just don’t have the time!

There’s nothing worse than watching a six minute video to get to the payoff, when I can accomplish the same thing in two minutes or less, or, to listen to a “slow talker” for long periods of time! That’s where this software shines, and lets me get back some of my life for reuse elsewhere!

Using Myspeed, I can play Flash videos at 2x or even 3x their normal speed, without downloading them or distorting the sound, and getting right to the juicy stuff. I have a full review here, and they have a free 7 day trial here and if you don’t think it’s indispensable, I’ll be stunned. -  (Time to learn? Zero – works automatically)

Roboform
Having multiple logins and passwords for multiple sites and multiple clients can be challenging at best, and that’s if you’re using Firefox. Quite often , usernames and passwords simply will not autofill, and as security improves on websites, I’m seeing this more and more. Using Internet Explorer on the other hand, it can be downright impossible, and that’s where this program can save you tons of time.

Roboform easily lets you safely and securely manage multiple usernames asd multiple passwords, and can be used with any browser. You can export a file and import to another PC, and even password protect the entire thing, in case you lose your laptop or thumb drive.. This program has been around forever, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. Check it out here, or directly download it here . -  (Time to learn? Minimal. Add new data as you need it.)

Dragon Naturally Speaking
As a writer, blogger, Tweeter, emailer, and SEO consultant, I have to write a lot. My typing skills are pretty fast, but not nearly as fast as the spoken word.

I first saw speech to text software in the late 1990s, and made it part of my daily routine around 2002. Throughout each incarnation, I’ve grown to love and rely on it to make me far more efficient than I would otherwise be.

Nuance has two versions, Standard and Pro, but I just use the Standard, which does everything I care about… Visit their site -  (Time to learn? Under 2o minutes to be functional, including training)

Multi Task Timer with Assignments & Reporting
I’ve long been a fan of setting a timer to focus on certain tasks, by alotting myself a given amount of time to get something done, then doing nothing but that task.

Going back to my retail management days at Ross Dress for Less and Office Depot, I used to make task lists, assign each task an approximate number of minutes, and then assign them to various employees, including myself.

When I started sitting behind a keyboard all day, I quickly found this simple task timer so I could do nothing but ONE TASK until the buzzer went off, but recently I ran across the Action Machine, and it was truly a life changer, and puts that timer on steroids!

In addition to setting up multiple timers for multiple tasks you can then sort them into groups, even export them for another user, AND get completed task lists back from those you’ve assigned them to. In short, it gives you user reports!

If there is another program that does this, I’m not aware of it, and each and every member of our staff has a copy on their PC. Watch their demo video here. -  (Time to learn? Minor. I was functioning in less than 10 minutes, and within the first day I’d tweaked it completely)

Shortkeys
This is a program that allowed me to easily create keyboard combinations (macros), that will then press the keys I desire, including TAB, ENTER, function etc.

There’s a a simple “designator” that you get to choose yourself, which will set off the macro, and I chose double pound signs ##, whcih can then be followed by as little or much text as I desire. It’s a no brainer!

I began using this program because I didn’t have many .html commands memorized and it was faster. For example, every time that I type ##link my text is immediately replaced by this code <a href=”http://www.domain.com/”target=”_blank”>text</a> and then I simply change the URL and replace the anchor text. Crude, but it was more efficient than opening a notepad file of .html or .php snippets.

As I used it more, I began adding longer blocks of text. For example, typing ##wl will get me an entire welcome letter, that I can simply go back and edit the places I need to.

I made up my own sort of mental code, and while I thought I’d find myself having trouble remembering them, I’ve had very little trouble at all, and when I do, I can pop open the program and search for what I want. After all these years, I’ll bet I have over 100 items in my shortkeys file, which I can export and import to other computers, and even carry around on my thumb drive.

I don’t have to be a programmer. All I have to do is remember what I called it. Finding this program was literally a lifesaver, and my command file probably has 90 different things in it after a few years. Try it out here – (Time to learn? Under a minute to figure it out, then gradually use it more as you discover new uses)

Fast Blog Finder
Anyone that has to go out and search unfamiliar territory for blogs to comment on, should own this amazing software.

More often than not, it takes even more time to track down a decent post on a relevant subject in the first place, than it does to leave the intelligent and helpful comment, and this takes that wasted time out of the equation. Since I pay for that time, everyone on our team has a copy of this one too.

It’s a great program, and it saves a TON of time, and even lets you identify dofollow blogs, and then filter by PageRank etc. I wrote a full review on it a while back, as sort a white hat instant link builder. -  (Time to learn? Under a minute to intuitively begin using)

TechSmith – Camtasia & Snaggit
When trying to explain something or get into details, the written word is often inefficient. Improvements in screen capture tools have been astounding, and as they say, a picture speaks 1000 words.

I’ve been doing my end of month client reporting for nearly 3 years now using Camtasia, and I’ve been using their screen capture software Snaggit almost as long.

When my father calls leaving me a voicemail on how to do some simple task in Windows (that he should’ve learned years ago), or a developer needs to navigate around a Web hosting control panel so his programmer can create a Cron job, I can make a 60 second video and pop it off a lot faster than I can walk someone through it over the phone or type out directions into an email.

The industry leaders are from Techsmith, and both h free trials here of their software. (Time to learn? Expect to invest 30 minutes “training” but it’s well worth the effort)

(There are some other options that didn’t exist when I wanted to begin using TechSmith, and f you have any recommendations on free screen capture software that does both audio and video , please feel free to leave them in the comments below.)

Outsourcing with Odesk
There are over 350 MILLION service providers on Odesk, including over 50,000 in the US alone. If you think outsourcing simply means overseas unskilled labor, guess again, because the Odesk Oconomy is changing the world with its remarkable growth rate. To date, over 96 million dollars in business has been done on Odesk, and the growth rate is staggering. -  (Time to learn?You can get an account created and a job posted in under 10 minutes)

MY New SEO Toolbar
If you’re like me, you probably have several great seo toolbars, and add ons that you can’t live without, and I hope this becomes another one.

I’ve included sections in the toolbar for learning SEO, a menu of my unique SEO tools listed below, and a section of recommended services and products.

The entire toolbar will dynamically update as new content gets added or removed, and when not in use, you can easily disable it from view.

It’s completely free to download, and I hope you like it! – Here are a few screenshots -

The menu’s go on and on, and there’s a lot to look at, but I think they’re ALL useful, and if they cease to be so, they come off the toolbar. Slick, huh?

These are some of my included SEO tools on the toolbar:

• Keyword multiplier Tool
  Setting up a Pay Per click account can be tedious, and you have to consider every possible variation of link text for each and every campaign. This tool lets you put in up to four different columns of variables, press a button, and get back the complete keyword list to place in your ad campaign. Mine is not the only tool that does this, but I’ve not seen many with four columns and match type included. Also, I’ve never seen one that can be asked to leave spaces and special characters, so that’s what I think makes it unique.
• Link Variance Tool
  A spinoff from our keyword multiplier tool, it can be quite handy to have a list of dozens or hundreds of URLs, with dozens or hundreds of varied anchor texts, and this tool we developed ourselves is the only one I’ve ever seen before. Simply paste a link if URLs on one side, the list of anchor texts the other, check a box if you’d like them nofollowed or set to open in a new window, and press a button. Instant link code!
• Multi URL Server Response tool
  I’ve personally only used this three times since I had a developed, but each time, it saved several hours of manually hunting down problem URLs on large domains, where it seemed like new 404 errors were showing up daily in Google webmaster tools. Simply paste every URL you want in the box and download the results.
• SEO Review – Instantly!
  Not much to say about this one! It tells you everything you need to know about your organic on-page search optimization with the click of abutton, and now, it’s even available for the Iphone

In conclusion I have to say that if you think this post is a “not so thinly disguised” plug for my own toolbar, then I’m sorry, but I assure you that it didn’t start out that way.  I couldn’t very well leave it out though, since it not only saves me immeasurable time daily,  but it’s my blog too!

Being productive is all about devising a system and sticking with it inside your organization. Whether you’re a one-man show, or large company, the things I’ve added here should let you squeeze more juice out of each minute in your day.

I had a ski shop in the 80’s, and in the 90’s I was a retail manager with GI Joes, Ross Dress for Less and Office Depot.

I ran my own computer store from 1997 to 2002, and handled hundreds, if not thousands of customer service issues, and each one required using good judgement and some common sense.

There’s an internet marketer named Robert Plank who’s put out some really cool packages over the past year, and I’ve bought several. Sunday though, I was trying to use one of them, and was having some trouble, so I sent an email support ticket to get an updated version. What you see below, is my email chain with him over the past couple of days.

Robert has good products, and can probably teach you a lot of valuable lessons, but few may have the impact of this one, about how *not* to take care of a customer…

Read it from the bottom up, so you can see the progression of this complete waste of time.

________________________________________
From: “Scott Hendison – Search Commander, Inc.”
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 2009 05:30:23 +0000
To: Robert Plank;
Subject: Re: Action Popup 2.3.6 outdated?

Well Clickbank isn’t a payment method, so I don’t follow you… Jeez, you really impressed me before, but I think your success has gone to your head.

Would I really ask for an update on something I didn’t buy? Would anyone? I gave you transaction ID’s for all that stuff I’ve bought from you below, and even a screen shot with the exact date showing of my package download.

If you can’t trust me, fine, screw it, it’s not worth my time, other than to blog about this prime example of how not to take care of a loyal customer. I have to catch a plane at 6am for Elite Retreat NYC, so g’night, and best of luck to you.

Scott

________________________________________
From: Robert Plank
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:49:57 -0700
To: Scott Hendison – Search Commander, Inc.
Subject: Re: Action Popup 2.3.6 outdated?
Scott,

I take both paypal and clickbank.

It’s not running you through the ringer, all I need is a proof of purchase.

Robert

On Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 9:05 PM, Scott Hendison – Search Commander, Inc. wrote:

So Robert, by your lack of response to my last email, should I just assume I’m out of luck?

If you seriously think I’m trying to screw you out of $49 bucks, I have to tell you I’m a little surprised. Believe me, sending you an email about it in the first place was barely worth my time, and I had no idea you’d run me through the ringer like this…

Scott

From: Scott Hendison – Search Commander, Inc. [mailto:scott@pdxtc.com]
Sent: Monday, September 28, 2009 11:06 AM
To: ‘Robert Plank’
Subject: RE: Action Popup 2.3.6 outdated?

I would think it has to have been this one -
(Unique Transaction ID #64997908FC247313N)

But that one says it’s for another product, Enhanced Sales Letters –

I bought it as part of a package I think, a week or two after that one in one of your rotating price sales

Here are all the others I can find for admin@jumpx.com –

(Unique Transaction ID #58L60422ET549384R)
(Unique Transaction ID #43602502DS160741S)
(Unique Transaction ID #8PV30661JP0066532)
(Unique Transaction ID #10328617GF564851X)

Jeez Robert, I know damn well I bought it – did you ever take credit cards direct, or with other payment form than Paypal?
This is crazy – and I think I bought it April 10 with that whole package – I swear I’m not trying to rip you off, Robert…

Scott Hendison
SEO Automatic
Search Commander, Inc.
877.241.4453

From:robert.plank@gmail.com [mailto:robert.plank@gmail.com] On Behalf Of Robert Plank
Sent: Monday, September 28, 2009 10:37 AM

To: Scott Hendison – Search Commander, Inc.
Subject: Re: Action Popup 2.3.6 outdated?

The payment would have been made to admin@jumpx.com… how long would it take to check all the paypal accounts?

Robert

On Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 10:32 AM, Scott Hendison – Search Commander, Inc. wrote:
Aww, I don’t seem to have it – We use multiple paypal accounts and normally I file the receipts, but I guess I didn’t… Theres nothing in my paypal for you on April 10th…

I’ve bought all these from you though – and even WP on Crack too!

Scott Hendison

From: robert.plank@gmail.com [mailto:robert.plank@gmail.com]On Behalf Of Robert Plank
Sent: Monday, September 28, 2009 9:46 AM
To: Scott Hendison – Search Commander, Inc.
Subject: Re: Action Popup 2.3.6 outdated?

Scott,

Send me your paypal transaction ID and I’ll send you a new download link.

Robert

On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 8:34 AM, Scott Hendison – Search Commander, Inc. wrote:

Hi Robert, I’m running Action Popup Version 2.3.6

Settings show this –
You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page.

Where can I get the latest version?

These days, having varied anchor text is more important than ever, and I’ve released a new link variance tool to make it a bit easier, and a lot faster for your writers.

If you’re an SEO that’s  distributing content throughout the web, you should know by now that having too many inbound links with a certain phrase can actually be harmful, and not helpful.

Oddly, many SEO’s are still “playing by the old rules”, and are mistakenly building hundreds of links with similar or identical anchor text in their desire to improve rankings.

The reality is that you do need to ensure that you have a good balance of anchor text coming into the various sections of your website, and they should NOT all say, “blue widgets” anymore.  Any exception to this rule would really only be on your own site.

Not only do you want to ensure that you have a good mix of inbound links,  but you should include phrases like “check this out” and “look at this” so that they appear to be much more natural.

To be 100% clear,  (it’s my belief that) not all of them should come from the body text of relevant articles,  and some should come from weird places with crappy phrases.

Some of your links should be no followed too, because otherwise it looks artificial as well. Think about it  – If everybody links to you with the exact same anchor text, it becomes painfully obvious that you are building links with the intention of improving your rankings.

So let’s say you have a giant website, with dozens of potential link targets, and dozens or even hundreds of potential phrases.  How can you efficiently cover all the bases?

When writing content yourself, or assigning content to employees, or even outsourcing large batches of content to other authors, it’s customary to define the anchor text and landing pages you wish to have them link to in their writing.

Th old way was to tediously hand build link after link, with different anchor text, different landing pages, some followed, some no followed, and give them to authors to start sprinkling in the content.

We recently needed to create over 800 pieces of content, with a few links in each one, and we needed to link back to 30+ different URL’s with tons of different anchor text, and “doing it manually”  was just not a viable option.

Rather than create all of the links by hand, we were able to use our PPC Keyword list multiplier and split half of the code for the links in one column, then put half of the code in the second column,  creating an output including all of the varied URLs and anchor text.

Of course, because my keyword multiplier placed spaces between the phrases, we then had to do a batch find and replace to fix all of the links, but in the end, we were able to create a massive list of code, with every possible variable of anchor text and landing page that we wanted.

It occurred to me that rather than try to manipulate that tool, and be forced to use find and replace, it shouldn’t be all that much more difficult to create a separate tool and that’s what we’ve done.

Simply place your list of URLs on the left side, place your anchor text variables on the right, then choose whether you want them to be nofollowed or to open in a new window, and press the button. Try it out here

Did you get a twitter message that says this? rofl – this you on here? – Then that’s followed by a link to see a video, but is appears as if you’re suddenly logged out of Twitter? Don’t be fooled and DON’T log in !

It’s a Twitter phishing scam to get your password, and then to spam your own followers, to get their passwords!

If you’ve already fallen for it, don’t feel too bad, jsut go and change your password right away.

If you haven’t fallen for it, then please retweet this, and tell your friends to watch out also, because it could get really ugly pretty fast.

If this isn’t perfectly clear to you, and watch the video below…