One of the more popular Webmaster and SEO forums, WebmasterWorld, has been sold today to Jim Boykin's Internet Marketing Ninjas. Jim Boykin has been acquiring several forums this year, including all of the Developer Shed network including SEO Chat forums and Cre8asite Forums from Kim Krause Berg. Cre8asite Forums has been around since 1998 as a modest sized forum but WebmasterWorld has been around since 1999 as one of the larger webmaster focused forums on the internet. Many forums have come and gone over the years but those two remained live and vibrant. I spoke with Brett Tabke, the [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | SEM Industry: Acquisitions | SEM Industry: Blogs & Forums | Top News

Our friends, Loren Baker, David Snyder & Jordan Kasteler have launched a new video site named IM Broadcast. IM Broadcast, as Loren describes it, is "YouTube for Internet Marketers." In short, it is a video sharing site focused around the Internet Marketing industry. The focus is not just to upload videos on Internet marketing topics, but to also create a social networking site around those videos. Why not for our industry? We already have dozens and dozens of discussion forums, we have our own Sphinn site and we have WebmasterRadio.FM as our radio site. IM Broadcast will be liv [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | SEM Industry: Blogs & Forums | SEM Industry: Community

When we launched our Sphinn social news site for search and internet marketers last year, we quickly were hit by a huge number of Japanese-language submissions. Unfortunately, we had to go to an English-only rule, as we had no easy way to moderate those submissions, such as checking for spam. Now, problem solved -- Sphinn Japan has launched. Congrats and big credit to Kenichi Suzuki and his developer Sera Hiroyuki, who've worked hard over the past few months to bring the site to life! [...]

Related Topics: About Search Engine Land | Channel: Industry | SEM Industry: Blogs & Forums

Lee Odden wrote Word Visualization on Search Marketing Blogs, where he used a tool named Wordle to show what the search blogs are actually talking about. Wordle forms a tag cloud of the most used words and phrases on a particular blog. The neat part is that Wordle allows you to select different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. So what are we talking about? Here is Wordle on the Google Blog: Lee has gone through 10 well-known search blogs and has done this for each one. It makes for a quick and fun read. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | SEM Industry: Blogs & Forums

This Thursday, June 19th at 5pm (EST), Google will be hosting their second live chat session for webmasters. The first event, which took place in March, turned out to be a pretty big success. To register for the event, go here and click on the "register" link on the left hand side of the page - you won't want to miss it. SEMPO is hosting the "Great SEMPO NY Debate" at Stitch in New York on 247 West 37th Street. The event is tomorrow at 6:30pm on Wednesday, June 18th. The topic of discussion is, "Which is the best way to manage search engine marketing, In-House or Agency?" To register fo [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Webmaster Central | SEM Industry: Blogs & Forums | SEM Industry: Community | SEM Industry: Conferences | SEM Industry: Organizations

The fix is in, the votes have been counted, and the winners determined in the 2007 Rubber Chicken Award for Humor (aka the Columbo) in the search industry. And the winners are: The Judges' Choice Award: Top 21 Signs You Need a Break From SEO (2007 version) Matt MccGee - Small Business SEM The People's Choice Award: Google Interiors: The day my house became searchable - Sandra Niehaus - Closed Loop Marketing Runner Ups (in no particular order and for the purposes of this contest tied for 2nd): 13 Things to Do When Your Loved One is Away at Conferences - Mystery Guest, SEOMoz The Sphinn Awar [...]

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Like the work we do here on Search Engine Land? Then we'd love your vote in the 2007 Search Blog Awards that Search Engine Journal is having. We're nominated in several categories, as are some of our people here at SEL. Here's a rundown on the awards overall: Best SEO Blog of 2007 (our news editor, Barry Schwartz, also runs Search Engine Roundtable, which is nominated in this category)   Best Search Industry News Blog of 2007 (Search Engine Land is nominated here, and your vote is appreciated!)   Best Overall Search Marketing Blog of 2007 (Search Engine Land is also nominated her [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | SEM Industry: Awards | SEM Industry: Blogs & Forums

Patrick Sexton at SEOish created a Sphinn Google Gadget that you can add to your Google Personalized Home page. The Sphinn Google Gadget displays the most recent hot items at Sphinn, the what's new items, and also the most recent comments. To add the Sphinn Google Gadget to your Google home page, click here. After you click on that link, Google will take you to a confirmation page that looks like this: After you confirm by clicking "Add to Google," Google will take you to the Google home page with the gadget on your front page: Don't use Google's personalize home page? Well, Patrick [...]

Related Topics: About Search Engine Land | Channel: Mobile | Google: Gadgets | SEM Industry: Blogs & Forums

I've meant for ages to put a plug in for Search Marketing Standard, the print magazine that Boris Mordkovich started in 2006. Since then, it has continued on each quarter, and it's pretty cool to see search marketing articles playing out in print. Boris is on a readership campaign with some special offers and has one for Search Engine Land readers that gives you an annual subscription for only $4.95 ($6.60 outside the US). Plus, each subscription purchased through the offer will generate a $1 donation to the Toys For Tots charity. So, need some print reading material? Go here and use 67SEL as [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | SEM Industry: Blogs & Forums

Loren Baker and Search Engine Journal are once again holding nominations for the annual Search Blog Awards. The categories are below, and we'll happily accept your nomination for any you find relevant. In particular, if you'd especially liked a particular blog post on Search Engine Land, we'd encourage you to put that in the running for Best Search Blog Post of 2007. Plus, be sure to pitch your favorite blogs in some of the other categories: Best SEO Blog Best SEM Blog Best SEO Plugin for Wordpress Best Search Agency Resource Blog Best Link Building Blog Best Social Media Marketing or Opti [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | SEM Industry: Awards | SEM Industry: Blogs & Forums

We've had a huge blogroll on Search Engine Land since we started last year. Inspired by some recent posts, I've now organized that massive list into categories, to make it easier for those looking to find some good blog reading. Below, a guide to our blogroll, designed to help those who want to seek out information directly. I'll also cover some new tips and resources in tuning into search news via blogs along the way. Search Engine Land Blogroll Categories I'd resisted organizing the blogroll beyond basic alphabetization for ages, mainly because it's so hard to stay on top of lists like [...]

Related Topics: About Search Engine Land | Channel: Industry | SEM Industry: Blogs & Forums

It's official. Sphinn (we pronounce it like "spin"), our social news and discussion site for internet marketing, is now out of beta. OK -- so the logo still says beta at the moment, but that will change in a matter of hours. Since we launched back in July, we've been working out bugs and improving features. Not every bug is gone, but things are stable enough that we decided to stop calling it a beta. Nor are we done with development. We have a wishlist of features that we'll be implementing over the coming months. We've also already released a number of new features since Sphinn laun [...]

Related Topics: About Search Engine Land | Channel: Industry | SEM Industry: Blogs & Forums | SEM Industry: Community

I mentioned last week that Eric Enge was working an interview with me as part of a series he's been doing with various search industry people. The interview is live now, a long one that covers how Search Engine Land has been evolving, the growth and development of our Search Marketing Expo shows, the launch and goals for our Sphinn social news and networking site (you can Sphinn his story there if you like), plus where I see search marketing going in the face of things like universal/blended search and personalization. [...]

Related Topics: About Search Engine Land | Channel: Industry | SEM Industry: Blogs & Forums | SEM Industry: Community | SEM Industry: Conferences | SEM Industry: General

Aaron Wall of SEO Book has posted a new interview with me. I normally don't highlight these type of interviews here on the blog, but Aaron asked a lot of interesting questions that really got me thinking -- and I thought readers here might like a heads-up about it. In the interview, he asks me about the transition to Search Engine Land, the reasons behind launching Sphinn, issues in covering the search space for 11 years now plus what's my favorite doughnut? Coincidentally, I did an interview with Eric Enge yesterday for a piece he plans to do in the near future. Like Aaron, he had a ton of gr [...]

Related Topics: About Search Engine Land | Channel: Industry | SEM Industry: Blogs & Forums | SEM Industry: Community | SEM Industry: Conferences | SEM Industry: General

When Search Engine Land launched last December, I talked about liking the name in part because it sounded like "a community, where people can meet, talk, discuss and network." I promised to upgrade the site to help a community thrive. It took much longer than the original "month or so" I envisioned to make this happen. But today, we're happy to unveil our new social site, Sphinn. We pronounce it "spin" despite the strange spelling, which I'll explain further below. But first, here's what Sphinn is intended to provide: Better Commenting For Search Engine Land Over [...]

Related Topics: About Search Engine Land | Channel: Industry | SEM Industry: Blogs & Forums | SEM Industry: Community | SEM Industry: Conferences | SEM Industry: General

Ask SEMpdx: What is the best way for a Newbie to learn Search Engine Marketing? from Search Engine Guide covers a variety of ways on how new search marketers can go about learning the the trade. There are plenty of good resources and tips worth checking out. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Search Marketing: General | SEM Industry: Blogs & Forums | SEM Industry: Community | SEM Industry: Conferences | SEM Industry: General | SEO: General

Aaron Wall, owner of Threadwatch, has announced that the blog/forum will be closing down this Friday. Threadwatch went live in early October 2004, with a focus on finding threads from forums as "less of a blog and more of an alert system," Nick Wilson, the founder of Threadwatch told me then. Since then, Threadwatch took on an identity as being known as the "edgy search news" source. Nick Wilson's dry humor set the tone for the site even after he sold it to Aaron Wall in November of 2005. Aaron cited several reasons for closing down the site. Best of luck to Aaron and his team - we will [...]

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Ten years ago today, I created Search Engine Watch. Now I'm here at Search Engine Land, but since I ran SEW for 95 percent of its existence, I thought it would be nice to look back and cover how it evolved and changed over the years. So here's a stroll down memory lane. Some of those who know my work might be thinking that this 10 years thing sounds familiar. That's because on April 17, 2006, I wrote My Decade Of Writing About Search Engines. It covered my personal 10 year anniversary, which started with the predecessor to Search Engine Watch, "A Webmaster's Guide To Search Engines." [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | SEM Industry: Blogs & Forums | Stats: History

Kevin Ryan was named the vice president of global content for Search Engine Watch and Search Engine Strategies, by Incisive Media today. Ryan in the past worked as the vice president, Interactive Media for the Interpublic Group agency, Wahlstrom Interactive and CEO of Kinetic Results. He also founded Motivity Marketing, a strategic consulting firm. He held a position at iMedia Communications as the search editor and worked for both Did-It and DoubleClick. Kevin wrote in a post at the Search Engine Watch blog, "My mission is to guide, direct and assist the tremendous team here in the conti [...]

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Elisabeth Osmeloski, editor of Search Engine Watch, is leaving to become director of online media for the Zonder.com Vacation Rentals site. Her last day will be this Friday, and she has a departure announcement here. Elisabeth and I worked together to get the Search Engine Watch Forums launched nearly three years ago, then she became managing editor of the site in April 2006, then she took over as editor when I departed. It was always great working with her, and one of the saddest parts of leaving was saying goodbye to her as a work colleague. Barry Schwartz, Chris Sherman and many of the c [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | SEM Industry: Blogs & Forums