It was time to vent last week on our sister site, Sphinn. Though there were several active discussions going on, none generated the interest and participation as our question that invited members to share their SEO frustrations.
And it wasn’t just about SEO, actually. Our “Discussion of the Week” asked, What Frustrates You Most as an SEO/Online Marketer? There are 18 replies there already, and you’re welcome to add yours into the mix, too. I’m finding it impossible to pick out a single, favorite comment, so here’s a quick sample of some of the frustrations mentioned in the conversation:
- DMOZ
- sites hit unfairly by Panda
- unqualified/uninformed people calling themselves SEOs
- clients that don’t listen/follow-through on recommendations
- not setting goals, or setting unrealistic goals
Meanwhile, an article showing examples of A/B split tests and offering tips on split testing was the most popular story amongst our Twitter followers last week. That and all of last week’s Sphinn activity is recapped below.
Most Comments
- Discussion: What Frustrates You Most as an SEO/Online Marketer? – When things are going well with clients and self-created projects, SEO and online marketing can be a blast of adrenaline. Nothing like the joy of seeing success and watching goals be met. But what about the other side of that coin? In our "Discussion of the Week," we want to know what frustrates you the most as an SEO, social media consultant, analytics guru or whatever online marketing work you do. Ready to vent?? The floor is open!
- Google and Bing Disagree On Rel=Canonical Implementation – Google & Bing disagree on how best to implement the rel=canonical tag, despite the canonical tag being a "joint effort" supported by both engines to reduce duplicate content. Matt Cutts chimes in to explicitly disagree with Bing's Duanne Forrester on the proper implementation of the tag.
- How to Optimize 7 Popular Social Media Profiles for SEO – If you want to strengthen your personal or business brand’s visibility, then one of the top things you will want is to have strong social media profiles that rank in the top results for your name along with your website and blog. Having a strong online reputation that is comprised of nothing but content that highlights the best about your personal or business brand will allow you to keep undesirable results at bay, such as bad online reviews or mentions.
- 7 content promotion strategies for healthier website traffic. – A solid piece filled with tips, links to a bunch articles, and very actionable conclusions for those of you that are into organic conent and influencer marketing.
- Dear Brands, Be Edgy Without Being an Idiot – How about a Dr. Pepper Ten to cool you down? Oh wait – sorry ladies, you’ll need to go powder your nose or go re-vacuum the stairs. This extreme beverage is only for men – no women allowed. I know because it says so right in the advertisement.
- How I Found 400 Qualified Link Prospects In Eight Minutes – Nice tutorial on how to use technology and automation to scale your SEO link building efforts.
Most Tweeted (not already listed above)
- The Importance of Split Testing a Prospect Conversion System – If you're spending money on advertising online, A/B testing should not be overlooked.
- Legality of Automated Outreach for SEO – Looking at the wording on the FTC compliance guide, it may be that harvesting is not illegal, but if you use the output of that harvest to engage in email practices that violate the CAN-SPAM act, that you’re increasing your violation. This could result in heavier fines and imprisonment.
- Can Yelp Help Independent Restaurants Drive Chains Out of Business? – "A one-star increase in Yelp rating leads to a 5-9 percent increase in revenue." That’s a big deal right there. When consumers have information that they trust (especially from multiple users or particularly detailed reviews) it influences decisions.
- 70 Percent of Companies Ignore Customer Complaints on Twitter – Despite increasing numbers of customers using Twitter to publicly complain about brands, the vast majority of companies respond in the exact same way….with the quiet of contempt.
- How To Take Your Keyword Research To A Higher Level – Good actionable post detailing keyword research beyond initial Google Keyword Tool usage.
Hot On Sphinn: October 10 to October 16, 2011
- This Is Why You're Stupid, or How to Deal with Criticism on the Internet – Blogger Susannah Breslin writes, "I’ve been writing online professionally for over a decade and blogging since 2002. Once you start writing on the Web, you discover that a necessary skill for survival is developing a thick skin."
- I think we need some time apart, it's not me, it's you – Really good data driven post about customer engagement in social media.
- Demand Media to writers: we don't need you (as much) anymore – The day had to come when content farms realized there are only so many articles they could churn out about how long to let paint dry or how to get a bump out of a sweater before they – and everybody else – had had enough. For Demand Media, that day came last week.
- 5 Holiday Marketing Ideas to Boost Sales – In this article, you'll find five marketing ideas that could help your business in this important shopping season.
- Phrase Based Indexing and Semantics – Justin Briggs talks about phrase based indexing and semantics.
- Ultimate list of PPC advertising tools – Here’s a peek at the tools that can help you manage a successful online advertising campaign. Today’s list is limited to PPC advertising tools. Tomorrow, we’ll have an ultimate list for social media advertising tools. And soon, we’ll circle back around with display and ad network advertising tools.
- Link Building Tool Review: Raven Tools – My review will focus on tools under the SEO and social media categories you can use to build links. Link Manager What it does: Link Manager, a management and database tool, lets you save pages/links you’re interested in and assign tags for follow-up.
- 10 Cardinal Sins of Paid Search Marketing – There are only 7 deadly sins, but there at least 10 that can put your paid search campaigns into the red.
- The Social Dangers of Guest Posting – Danger! The author lists the 4 major pitfalls that could await the less savvy guest poster.
- 20 Variables Every Marketer Should Be Testing – Good post outlining things to test across multiple internet marketing channels.
- 5 Step Strategy For Handling SEO Pagination Problems – SEO pagination got you confused? Somtimes the tried and true methods are still the best.
- 10 Bizarre Things That Influence Customers Online – Nice post outlining a items that move website shoppers.
- 98% of online US adults aged 18-24 use social media – 98% is one eye-opening statistic for any reader, but that’s how many adults aged eighteen to twenty-four in the United States are reportedly using social media in a typical month.
- Five-Step Strategy For Solving SEO Pagination Problems – An extremely actionable post that can be quite useful for folks managing product-driven sites.
- Best Social Media Metrics: Conversation, Amplification, Applause, Economic Value – A way to definte the value of social media participation.
This is the latest in a weekly look at the stories that were “hot” on Sphinn in the past week. We’ll post these recaps every week.
Related Topics: Channel: Other | Features: General | Sphinn
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