For those of us who have not only studied w/ Eric Ward, but use his holistic link building strategies in our own link building services, it is exciting to report that his LinkMoses Private is available to industry professionals!

If you’re looking for short cuts and unethical link building strategies, don’t bother… Eric is the real thing and is privately sharing his experience and knowledge.

I’m passing along a well written article, Managing Your Online Reputation in the New World of Social Media, written by one of my colleagues Vanessa Capozzi - published by Aesthetic Medicine News.

Definitely worth the read…

Vanessa Capozzi is vice president of Interactive Marketing for MD Communications, Inc. MD Communications provides aesthetic medical providers with a single, experienced source for effective, efficient and ethical medical marketing results both online and off-line. MD Communications represents the Skin Center Medical Spa based in Pittsburgh, PA.

WOW, the power of Word-of-Mouth Marketing… in this case, using YouTube’s viral marketing properties.

I recently received this email in my personal email account and thought this to be an excellent example of word-of-mouth marketing and its power.

It’s actually a true story and you can read (and listen) to the whole story on http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/ubg/.

The email that is circulating among friends:

Subject: United Breaks Guitars

This is clever way to “pay back”… notice over 7 million hits on this YouTube video…. a company spends millions on advertising and screws it up with one error like this. There used to be a business axiom that said “If you do something right, the customer will tell 3 other people; when you do some wrong, the customer will tell 20 other people”. This guy made the odds even worse for United Airlines.

United breaks guitars…….a gem!

A musician named Dave Carroll recently had difficulty with United Airlines. United apparently damaged his treasured Taylor guitar ($3500) during a flight. Dave spent over 9 months trying to get United to pay for damages caused by baggage handlers to his custom Taylor guitar. During his final exchange with the United Customer Relations Manager, he stated that he was left with no choice other than to create a music video for youtube exposing their lack of cooperation.

The Manager responded : “Good luck with that one, pal”. So he posted a retaliatory video on youtube.

The video has since received over 7 million hits. United Airlines contacted the musician and attempted settlement in exchange for pulling the video. Naturally his response was: “Good luck with that one, pal”. Taylor Guitars sent the musician 2 new custom guitars in appreciation for the product recognition from the video that has lead to a sharp increase in orders..

Here’s the video …. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

Really enjoyed the recent SEO Book blog post about DIY SEO.

Aaron Wall posts a review of DIYSEO - an SEO tool created by Patrick Gavin and Andy Hagan.

About a year ago, a friend said to me, “You know, you’ll never make the “big” money “just” being a consultant. You have to create a “product” (or products) that will generate residual revenue so you can sit back and not work so hard.”

But truth be told: I LIKE being a hands-on SEO / SEM Consultant. I LIKE seeing the results over time from a process that takes effort. I LIKE developing relationship with clients. I think it’s what has made SEO Web Consulting successful.

We live in an age of instant gratification and it’s getting more “instant” by the day. And, yes, it is getting more difficult to educate clients and prospective clients that SEO is a process that takes time and commitment.

But I have to ask, at what cost? Quality suffers and the instant-mentality perpetuates and reinforces mediocrity - if not a total sub-standard.

I do share Aaron Wall’s suggestion about Google Adwords - with one exception: Yes, it’s a cheap Search Marketing strategy for small & local business, BUT you MUST keep the keyword lists to more obscure long tail terms to keep it cheap. Otherwise Adwords is not advantageous in a more competitive market because of the fact that Google controls the ad distribution in a smaller budget campaign - no matter HOW WELL the campaign has been set up and optimized. I can expound on this in another post later…

Businesses that DO understand that investing in their web presence to expand their revenue, will usually commit to SEO and SEM for the longer haul. And in time, WILL see a return on investment (ROI) from their investment. Statistics prove this time after time.

The other issue I have is so many small business owners who want to take the cheaper “easy” way out, purchase SEO tool after SEO tool - or monthly subscriptions! - in an effort to get their business site optimized. They just don’t realize the knowledge and expertise needed and in the end: The time and money wasted could have been invested towards a 6-month SEO project with a reputable SEO Consulting Firm with MUCH better results and ROI.

I have actually tried (and subscribed) to some SEO tools to see what they offer and have to honestly report that I am surprised at what professionals are putting out there… and share Aaron Wall’s statement about some SEO tools being “designed by marketers looking to sell something that would be easy to sell at scale… not created out of passion to solve a real problem with the desire to help make a difference in people’s lives.”

Also liked the closing paragraph for Better Small Business SEO Solutions. If you are business considering SEO tools vs hiring an SEO Consultant, be sure to check out this valuable blog post.

Loved this article There’s No Way To Blog over at Search Engine Land.

There are many different reasons a company may want to implement a blog - and often the hard-core bloggers are the first to jump that there is a right and wrong way to blog. I think it needs to be left up to the individual company and their chosen blog strategy.

Maybe blogging for one company is strictly for CONTENT BUILDING - to attract traffic from strategically planned targeted keyword phrases.

Maybe blogging for another company is strictly for RELATIONSHIP BUILDING - to attract traffic from strategically planned interaction and conversation.

Maybe blogging for yet another company is strictly for BRANDING - to reach out and build brand authority.

And yet another company may want to use blogging for social BUZZ.

Blogs and blogging can be great for all of the above or one of the above… each will have their own method of madness and it’s OK… because there is no right way to blog.

Ok, I thought I’d post several helpful Twitter Tips & Resources for those starting out on Twitter. This is actually from a previous SEO Web Consulting blog post, but am transferring some content over to this site blog…

Please keep in mind, before setting up a Twitter account for your business, intelligently plan out your goals and strategy for using Twitter for your business.

Twitter Resources & Tips for Beginners:

After setting up your account, be sure to fill out your profile. Be sure to add your website and a professional, captivating bio. Even witty bios are better than no bio!

Consider customizing your Twitter background to reflect your business profile. Have your web design team design a suitable Twitter background for your business. You can always check out TweetPages for freebies.

You only get 140 characters for your Twitter posts, so become familiar with using URL shortening to reserve your character count.

URL Shortening Services:

http://bit.ly/
http://is.gd/
http://tinyurl.com
Here’s a good URL Shortener Resource: 11 Best URL Shortening Services to review different features of each shortening service.

How do you find Tweeple to follow?
There will always be those you know on Twitter who can get your ‘follow’ list started, but what happens when you max-out that list?

Reach out!
Sometimes when you follow people in your niche, they follow you back. So reaching out - even to competitors - can not only be a good way to learn how other businesses are using Twitter, but it can be fun to start and nurture online business relationships.

– Use the Find People function (top right navigation link)

– Use the Twitter Search function (either on right navigation or footer link). Use the search function like you would a search engine. Use your niche keywords to target others in your business niche.

– Participate in conversations. Comment, Retweet, Ask questions, conduct polls / contests / surveys

Be selective! Don’t follow just anyone. Follow those of specific interest to you and your business - or those who consistently offer interesting information.

What do you Tweet to attract followers?
– Interesting articles you’ve read or written

– Interesting industry blog posts you’ve read or written

– Breaking news that you want to share w/your Twitter following

– Industry news

– Use Twitter #hashtags to attract more followers in your niche. DON’T ABUSE #hashtags!!! It will turn tweople off!

– Use the Twitter Search function to find business-niche Tweeple and follow them (they may review YOUR tweets and want to follow you back!)

– ReTweet!! If you see a Tweet from someone you are following - and think YOUR following could benefit - RETWEET! (i.e. RT @vdcseo How Mayo Clinic Uses Social Media http://bit.ly/9djiC WELL WORTH THE READ!!)

– Post your Twitter badge on your website, blog, email signature and all online (& offline!) marketing - inviting people to follow you on Twitter

– Again, participate in conversations. Comment, Retweet, Ask questions, conduct polls / contests / surveys

Keep checking back for more Twitter resources and tips - whether you’re an experienced Twit or new to Twitter! And in the meantime, I invite you to follow me on Twitter!

In addition to this great Twitter Resources for Businesses blog post from MarketingExperiments ( @MktgExperiments ), they provide free web clinics for any business to “discover what really works in sales and marketing optimization through testing and research”.

This MarketingExperiments blog post is a great Twitter resource for business. It includes articles and Twitter tools… bookmark this for future reference!

Twitter Resources / Tools / Articles:

10 Ways Twitter Will Change American Business

Twitter Brand Smackdown: the winners and losers

12 Twitter Tools, Tips, Tricks, Techniques and Twoubles

10 Ways To Decide If Your Business Should Tweet

5 Twitter Marketing Experiments

3 Ways a Small Business Can Use Twitter

10 Twitter Tools to Organize Your Tweets

MarketingExperiments Twitter Resource web clinics and a special eWorkshop: How To Use Twitter to Boost Your Business Results

Where is blogging on your priority list? And are you making the effort to optimize your blog to get the most from your blog?

Quite honestly, while I know how benefitial blogging is not only for SEO, but for building brand, buzz and reputation, I have found it difficult to personally blog. It’s time consuming… time, I usually do not have.

While I preach and consult all day long about blog optimization and it’s significance for business, I can’t always find the time to do it myself. When I’m not working on client projects - and have the time to step back from work - that’s exactly what I want to do: step back from work!

As an SEO Consultant, I’m suggesting, advising and recommending all day long about blog optimization… so the last thing I want to do when I’m on my own time, is blog. Shouldn’t I want to? Shouldn’t it be a burning desire? ‘fraid not. So WHY do I beat myself about not blogging?

Some options are:
1. have a ghost writer write the blog posts and all I do is proof and add any blog optimization

2. hire and train staff to do the mind-numbing basic SEO tasks to free me up for blog writing

3. hire an already skilled person to take over the blog writing and blog optimization

Folks who blog and twitter all day (or what seems like it!), clearly have a staff large enough to cover these time consuming tasks… so they are free to actively strategize and engage in their company’s social marketing campaigns?

So what do I need to do for more blog optimization success? We will weigh our options and perhaps put the word out ‘for hire’ - on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and our blog - for an acceptable skilled person to help w/our blog optimization efforts. :o)

In the meantime, I will try to stay true to my 2010 resolution on offering blog posts targeting helpful SEO, web usability and search marketing tips to our readers!

Till next time.

Happy New Year!

One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2010 is to recommit to blogging. Yeah, yeah, I know. I’ve said it before, but feel pretty committed to the few resolutions I made for SEO Web Consulting this year… all very doable in the limited time I have.

Quality, not quantity… and to bring readers good info in the ever-changing world of SEO, Search Marketing and Social Marketing… as they say… one-day-at-a-time.

I plan to start by posting 1-2 times/per week, that enough? Need your feedback. Too many blogs in this arena and I want to provide good, training type info for readers… and not the same-old-same-old we see on blog after blog in this industry. Let me know thoughts.

Check back and keep me honest by letting me know if the content is helpful. If one post is too basic, check back again for more advanced info down the road as I have a fairly wide range of SEO-SEM readers.

There you have it. Next post will be on track for training and helpful tips for SEO and Search/Social Marketing. Stay tuned.

Check out a new SEO blog post on our new SEO business blog - a great article and valuable Web Usability Resource for you!