You can do some amazing designs for your website on Photoshop, however it’s about as useless as a bottle of dried up glue if you don’t know how to convert it into an HTML format. That is where these guys come in and they do it on almost all systems like  Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal and Shopify. So give PSD Center a try! They have a special surprise for ShoeMoney visitors.

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How can you instantly find yourself ostracized by a subset of the SEO community, on a matter that doesn’t have anything to do with SEO? Well, aside from going to work for whatever company is considered “The Enemy” by SEOs that day, it would be opening your big mouth with opinions on certain topics that you should have known to wire your mouth shut over.

And let’s face it, there are a lot of hot topics out there to pick and choose from to rankle people’s ire. Komen pulled grant funding from Planned Parenthood’s breast cancer screening program over the abortion issue. President Obama came out in support of gay marriage while certain states were pulling out the stops to prevent it from ever happening in their own states. Yes, it is all hot topic news and people are debating it endlessly. But you should probably think about how your debate will come across to people who don’t share your opinion – like me.

Someone I respected and considered an expert in the industry ranted about how supporting gay marriage was wrong, evil, that marriage should be between a man and a woman because that was how God intended, those who think otherwise are going to hell, on and on with the whole nine yards. Yep, he went there. And best (worst?) of all, it wasn’t just Joe Webmaster ranting like a lunatic to his subset of “real life friends” who might share his opinions on a personal blog or real-life-friends only Facebook account, but it was Joe’s SEO Consulting jumping up and down with a “Look at me and F you everyone who thinks gays should be allowed to marry.” And let’s just say my paraphrase was worded much more nicely and politically correct than what he actually said. Real professional there “Joe”.

So I did what any pissed off industry colleague would do. I removed all traces of him from everything he was connected with me socially so I would never see his opinions on ANYTHING, whether SEO or gay marriage (and I am sure if I cared to look, I probably would have found some choice opinions he had on abortion too). I will never again link to him as an expert or recommend his expertise to a client, which I regret to say I had done. Not exactly what a SEO consultant who is constantly trolling for clients should be doing. And I wasn’t the only one who felt this way, judging from the comments going back and forth.

If he had simply said “Not happy with the President’s decision today” or “I am not a fan of Obama’s stance on gay marriage”, I probably wouldn’t have batted an eyelash at it – and it wouldn’t have cost him referrals from me and others.  After all, everyone is entitled to their opinions, I just choose not to want to associate it with someone who is so openly trying to force his thinking  upon others.  I would have thought “not something I would come out and say, but whatever.”  But his rant bringing up God, the bible, sexual health, and all the kinds of homophobic slurs that get actors kicked off of tv shows, I am just not cool with.

Heck, maybe he thought his statement would gain him some new contacts/followers from people who agree with him.  Well, it sure got him noticed, but not in a good way.

A couple years ago, another SEM came out pretty hardcore on the abortion issue as pro-life.  And yes, he got the same treatment from me.  It wasn’t just a casual “I am pro-life” comment, but a whole rant about anyone who thinks they are pro-choice are all baby killers and don’t deserve to have kids of their own, sparked by something that had happened in the news I can’t even remember now.  Same thing, everyone is entitled to their opinions whether I agree with them or not, but why try to force it down other people’s throat in a threatening way?

The other thing is this industry is a pretty progressive and young industry.  At any time at a conference, chances are good that you will be sitting in a bar with a pretty diverse mix of straight, gay, transgendered, pro-life, pro-choice SEOs, but the difference is most of us respect each other’s opinions and we won’t try and argue with you about why our view is the right one and how anyone who doesn’t agree with it is going to hell.

Have I ever gone toe to toe with someone over any of these hot topic issues?  Well, having been in this industry for as many years as I have been, I am sure the topic has come up over late night bar sessions at a conference with the drinks flowing. Heck, it could be a pretty lively debate at the bar, but then that is only in front of maybe a half dozen to a dozen people – not the thousands of people who will see your ravings on Twitter or Facebook. And have I ever gone out and tweeted / Facebooked / G+’d it? Hell no. First, it isn’t really anyone’s business and two, I have better things to do than get into a debate over something people usually have very strong and passionate opinions about.  And the fact I can’t even remember having a conference bar conversation about it means either we have more interesting things to talk about than what we feel about gay marriage or the discussion was respectful enough that it didn’t end with someone telling those that agree with gay marriage are <expletives> that should go to hell.

Just like I believe everyone should have the choice to marry whomever they want, or do what they choose to their own bodies, I cannot respect anyone who comes out so vehemently on the opposite side of the fence than me. If that is your opinion, keep it to yourself. And that is precisely what I do, I won’t try and force my own personal opinions on any topic on you.

Still want to get your voice out there without pissing off the masses that have the the opposite stance?  Bring it up casually in the context of something else, as Shoemoney did a few years back when he discussed about who he was voting for in the last election. Pretty non-offensive way of putting your opinion out there on some hot topics without coming across like a douche.

At the end of the day, feel free to harbor whatever opinions you have on the hot topics, I respect the right of anyone to have their own opinions. But keep it to your damn self when it could affect your business and you come off looking like a total douche to those on the other site of the fence from you.  And trust me, now matter how much you rant and rave, we aren’t going to suddenly change our minds and decide the grass really is greener on your side.

And I would love to hear comments – but I really would prefer they are on how you preceive others when they post about these hot topics, rather then your own personal opinions of said hot topics

Added: A couple people commented that I only bring up people who are opposing my personal views on hot topics, but I have definitely given the same treatment to those who share it, because they have gone about it in the same offensive way.  One of them was someone who ranted back at the anti-gay marriage guy with some anti-religious slurs and another was just a non-stop stream of anti-Republican propaganda during the last election.  Like I said, I respect people having their own opinion, what I don’t agree with it is a mudslinging approach to ANY opinion, whether it matches my views or not.

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Last fall Demand Media announced they were cutting back on the number of freelancers they were paying to churn out thousands of articles for their websites. Until then they had been well known for their “content farm,” but the company decided to shift their focus to “more targeted categories and other forms of content such as slide shows, video series and feature articles.” They wanted to build on existing content and make it better rather than continue to pump out a bunch of new basic content. The move is unsurprising–at the end of the day, I feel that the quality of content is more important than the quantity, which is why it is so damn hard to find halfway decent writers.

For a while, the company I work for tasked me with hiring freelance writers to contribute original content for one of our websites (I’ve previously blogged about the vetting process and have also given some tips to freelance writers applying for blogging jobs). It was quite a learning experience, to say the least–I started with a huge pool of writers and whittled a vast majority of them down because most of them weren’t great.

Some of the biggest problems with finding quality talent include:

1. Bad writers, even if they’re free or cheap, still won’t be worth your time. If you don’t care about the quality of the piece you’re about to publish on your site and don’t mind broken or improperly sized images, numerous typos, and formatting issues, then feel free to skip this part. I, however, like having a semi-professional looking website and think shoddy work reflects poorly on the company. The amount of time I was saving by not writing an article was wasted on having to spend an hour cleaning up weaker writers’ work–fixing typos, resizing images, breaking huge walls of text into easily readable chunks, tweaking confusing sentences, etc.

2. Your expectations often won’t be met. A good pitch or a foolproof idea is easily ruined by the execution. I can’t tell you how many times I got excited by an idea proposed by one of my freelance writers, only to have the concept pretty much ruined by weak content and a poor end result. I’d try to guide the writer to a better end product by making some suggestions, but I eventually found out that poor writers, no matter how much guidance or feedback you give them, still can’t spin gold as effortlessly as a naturally gifted one. Eventually I’d cut these writers loose because although I liked their ideas, their execution was consistently lacking and it did me no good to essentially rewrite their work (see Point #1) every time to meet standards.

3. Weak writers lack a voice. Think of your favorite writers. They all have a distinct voice or tone–you could practically pick it out of a crowd or correctly attribute something they’ve anonymously written because you know it so well. Good writers have a natural voice you can quickly pick up and become attracted to. You can feel their frustration, their anger, their humor, their elation. Bad writers, on the other hand, feel stale and stilted. Every sentence feels like you’re running into a wall–it feels disjointed and impersonal. I can tell when a weak writer is unable to establish a voice and when one is trying too hard to force a voice, at which point it just comes off as fake and over the top. You can’t force natural talent.

4. Good writers can be bad, too. Writing is a difficult discipline that requires consistency, even when you don’t feel like it. I’ll be the first to raise my hand and confess to being lazy and uninspired from time to time–my guest posts go through dry spells and my personal blogs occasionally collect dust. It’s difficult, therefore, to rely on contributors for good consistent work. I had a lot of good writers who would go AWOL for a while before occasionally emerging with a good piece of content. Good writing is hard to come by, but so is frequent writing. Combine those two and you’ve practically got a mythical creature that a few rednecks have sworn they’ve seen but leaves you only partially convinced.

It’s extremely difficult to find contributors who you can trust, who won’t link out to shady sites or steal images, who know how your content is supposed to look and feel and can abide by those rules, who can bust out insightful, well-written content in a unique and compelling voice on a regular basis. You can find thousands of writers who would jump at the chance to build their portfolio and write for your site. But ask yourself whether it’s worth your time and your audience’s time to rely on mediocre or so-so content just for the sake of having it. Try to find that mythical Sasquatch writer or someone as close to it as possible, because when you do find him or her, you’ll have a rare talent indeed and your site will benefit greatly.

photo credit: t_buchtele via photo pin cc

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When I was a junior in college, I was one of the laziest bastards ever…

I really had no ambitions in life.  My days consisted of eating like shit, going to class, watching 5 hours of T.V. and then usually going out and getting drunk at night.  I would wake up the next morning all groggy-headed and usually repeat the same thing over and over…

I was content with my life, so I didn’t really care.

Then I read Fight Club and everything changed for me.

I was browsing some forums online, and came across a discussion of Fight Club.  The main idea of the book immediately caught my interest, so I darted to the book store and picked myself up a copy. Up until this point, I had read probably 7 books in my entire life – all of them for school, and none of them interested me at all.

I dove into the book, and finished the whole thing in a few hours.  After the first read-through, I sat there… pretty much stunned at what I had just read.

I realized everything I was doing in my life, and everything I wanted in my life was just like “Jack’s” character in Fight Club.

• I was materialistic.
• I was living a very mediocre life with no real ambitions
• I was looking for everything outside of myself to make me happy
• I never really felt “alive”

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Over the last 10 years I have not really tried to protect my privacy. Its not that big of deal to me.

But I know that a lot of people get pissed when I show them our API from sources we aggregate data from on the PARprogram.

Don’t hate the player… hate the game =P

This morning while building out our system for consumers who wish to opt out, I thought people might find it useful to goto some of the sources directly to remove their data from them selling it.

Lexus Nexis

Lexus Nexis has been the go to spot for students, attourneys and about anyone who needs information about someone. If you have a Nexis terminal you can get an amazing amount of stuff. SSN, Birth, Mothers maiden name, everywhere you have ever worked. (where do you think credit companies get all this info?).

If you want to opt out of the Nexis database you have to go here first.

Nexis terminals are EXPENSIVE. And they want to keep all the data they can. So they do not make it easy for you to opt out of their database.

After you fill out that form it takes you to a page with all your information. You then have to print out that form and mail it to their physical address. They also recommend you fax it.

You also have to provide a copy of 2 forms identification as well as every place chronologically you have worked at for the last 10 years, and a utility bill.

You ALSO have to have a compelling reason why you are asking to be removed. They suggest a copy of a police report of someone threatening bodily harm.

A friend of mine just said that it was an “executive request” and it was all taken out. So I would suggest you go with that.

ADD SIDENOTE – Years ago my old house address was listed on alexa.com and I couldn’t get it off to save my life until Michael Gray suggested that I use the phrase “executive request” for removal. I did and it was removed days later.

So Lexus Nexis is a real bitch but its the most definitive place out there to get peoples info.

The others are easier:

Experian:

Experian is a large data seller and about everyone under the sun either buys or sells data to them. Its MUCH cheaper and we have been a customer for a long time.

They are a great resource to get phone numbers, household income, and tons of other data.

In order to opt out of their send a email to dataselect@experian.com with the subject line “PLEASE REMOVE”.

In the body of the email make sure you put:

• Please do not send me any promotional information from Experian.
• Please do not share my contact information with third parties.
• Include any phone numbers,  emails,  addresses you have lived, aliases and anything else you think is relavent (hey if your putting it together might as well include it).

The do not call list:

Ahh remember that awesome thing that was going to stop telemarketers in their tracks! – https://www.donotcall.gov/register/reg.aspx – Keep in mind that this is a publicly downloadable list and some people will argue that you are providing marketers your information…. thus defeating the purpose?

Here is some other things to opt out while your at it.

Acxiom:

Fill out remove request form
You will receive a “Privacy Guide” which contains the final opt-out form for you to mail in.

You can also request to install an “opt-out cookie” for targeted marketing: http://www.acxiom.com/products_and_services/targetedengagement/displayads/pages/relevance-xopt-out.aspx

Google Phone Directory:

Click here and make sure to enter all your numbers.
Remove all numbers used.

I tried to keep this focused to protect yourself from OFFLINE marketing. If you tried online then… good luck cause every website you visit has a privacy policy most likely that they can sell or do whatever with your data that they want.

Good luck

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This site is currently in the beginning stages but it has the potential to blow up big! LeadFerret is an online data base filled with businesses and their employee contact information that you can get for free.  The great part is if they don’t have a company/person you are looking for just let them know and they will hunt them down for you.

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Trying to increase your Google rank that is like no other?

Ever feel like your friend / enemy (aka frenemy) ranks everything they touch, using nefarious tactics?  Or your competitor keeps beating you in the ranks by spamming?  Or are they ranking and you just know they must be doing something sneaky, but you can’t quite figure out what?  Well, there is a reason some of us call the real definition of spam to be “Sites Positioned Above Mine”.  So how can you out them or get them some extra scrutiny?

First a disclaimer, if you plan to out a competitor, chances are good that your market area could come under the Google spam team microscope.  So even if you aren’t stating “Hey, I am the owner of ABC Widgets and I want you to know that Orange Widgets R Us is spamming” be prepared that all the ranking sites in that space could get some extra special attention by the powers that be at Google.  Those in glass houses should not throw stones ;)  And of course, there is that whole thing about karma to be reckoned with.

There is also the whole ethics thing where some people claim it is unethical to out any website while the other side of the coin is people claim it is unethical to NOT report spam.  To each their own.

But if karma be damned and you want to do some butt kicking to your competitors and frenemies, here are some things you can do to see your competitor banned from Google.  Do note that this will only work if they actually are doing something spammy.  If their ranks are from white hat SEO, these tricks won’t work.

Google spam report

In a world where your Google account ties you into this, it is best to find a nice proxy or coffee shop, sign up for a throwaway Google account and use the  spam reporting tool.

Google does use the reporting tool for spam checking, so particularly if it is a clear cut case of regular old spam that just hasn’t tripped the spam filter yet, this should be your first stop.  Google has asked for more reports post-Panda and post-Penguin, so include as much details, hit submit, then start watching.

For posting post-Penguin spam specifically, you should read this tweet from Matt Cutts, head of Google spam.

To report post-Penguin spam, fill out https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/spamreport and add “penguin” in the details. We’re reading feedback.

Drawback to the Google spam report method is that it can take a long time to have any effect, it it does at all.  So really, if you want to see that site crashing and burning, you need to do one of these more, ahem, extreme spam reporting tactics.

Slip a note

Slyly hand Matt Cutts (or anyone else on the spam team) a piece of paper with the URL if you run into any of them at an event .  While webmaster central team members can be used, note that they deal mostly with webmaster problems, and not so much with the spam end of things.  But it can be effective, especially if it is some new kind of spam.

@reply Matt Cutts

Matt seems to read most of the @replies he gets.  Use a throwaway Twitter account, and make sure you use a tiny URL type service (preferably one that does a blind redirect), because your competitor can discover what you have done if you go this route (along with all those people who follow all @mattcutts activity, both send and received) even if they can’t figure out who you are.  Bonus points if you use a tracking URL shortener that shows you the click stats.  Wait until you see clickthroughs originating at Google, then nuke the @reply spam report.

And it is always fun to have a look at some of the @mattcutts tweets (and comments on Google+) and see what is getting outted, there are usually a few anytime you take the time to look.

Send an anonymous hat tip

There are some SEOs who refuse to participate in any outings (at least until the outing has been done, then it’s considered fair game) while some love to do nothing more than get the publicity by outing someone, especially if it is a large site or big brand.  Find one of those who love the publicity and notoriety of being the one to out someone, and send them the anonymous tip.  Proxies and anonymous email addresses are your friend, unless you don’t care if the person you chose tries to figure out who you are – after all, that person just might know the owner of the site you are attempting to out.

Go to a conference

A conference is a great place to bend the ear of industry celebrities and Google employees.  Choose a few targets, carefully drop a “You wouldn’t believe what ____.com is getting away with.”  Be sure to mention things like “really sneaky” and “never seen this kind of spam before” to arouse curiousity and ensure they remember to look.  Everyone loves to check out cutting edge spam that hasn’t been caught by Google.  To remain truly anonymous though, flip your badge around or do your dirty work in the bar

Post on your favorite SEO forum

Again, proxies and anonymous emails/usernames are your friend.  Post on forums with titles like “check out this clever spam that is ranking”.  It might hit the spam bin, ironically, for outing a website, but chances are enough eyeballs will see it and even more people will report that site to spam or someone will out it more visibly.

Post on your favorite SEO blogs

Same with forums, leave a comment on a high traffic SEO blog.  Just make sure it is either an edgy blog that will publish an outting comment or someone who will do the outting for you after reading it.

Report to the hosting company

Is the spam obviously spam?  Report it to the hosting company, as many hosts will disable accounts hosting clear cut spam.  Might not solve the problem permanently, since hosting companies are a dime a dozen, but will cause some headaches and could see the site deindexed for a while if the owner doesn’t notice it has been disabled (you would be surprised how often that happens, especially if it is a huge spam farm network).

Go big or go home

Is your competitor a big brand or well known name?  Public outings in the New York Times successfully saw JC Penney go down in a (temporary) firestorm.  If the name is big enough, contact reporters who have done outtings in the past.

Trace the spam

Don’t forget to trace back the spam – and trace it forwards.  You never know where it leads, and even the best spammers can leave an accidental footprint.  The bigger story might not be the site that is giving you problems in the rankings, but the well-known SEO company or consultant that is behind the spam.

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