The SEO Coach

The SEO Coach's Newsletter
Must See Video From Former MSN Search Employee

I hadn't planned to send another newsletter until Thursday night, but this is just too good to pass up.

Andy Edmonds used to work at MSN Search (yeah, that one). Now he's a member of the StomperNet faculty, and he's recorded the most amazing video I have ever seen. Andy's one of those extremely useful academic types who actually understands business.

Anyway, he's developed this incredible software that does this eyeball tracking thing with websites... ah, heck. I can't explain it, words don't do it justice. Just go watch the video. You will never look at your web site the same way again.

This is ground breaking stuff, folks, and Andy's showing it in public for the very first time right now. (Oh yeah, there's some other stuff in the video, like a few "Adwords Ninja Secrets" from yours truly).

Get a pen and some paper and get ready to take notes - a lot of them.

(Click Here To Watch)

Still reading instead of watching? Why!?

This is a 33 Minute PURE CONTENT video that introduces a totally geeked-out "Cognitive Psychology-Based" web site design method that will dramatically increase the magnitude of your customer interactivity.

(Yeah, that's a lot of big words all strung together - here's what it means:)

The first part of the video is from Andy Edmonds, StomperNet's Chief Experience Officer and a member of the teaching faculty. Among other things, he teaches a technique of web design based on "Foveal and Peripheral Vision" data.

In this video, they actually measure how the human eye and brain interact with your web site design elements. This is pure science backed up by tons of analytical data.

***This stuff isn't being taught - ANYWHERE, not in any eBook, or any other video.

And then they publish the test results.

If you just change ONE element of your web site based on these results, you could see a 12% increase in conversion. Here's a hint: It's your NAV.

(Click Here To Watch)

--- Then, there are the other 4 parts to this video, each from one of StomperNet's faculty.

--> Leslie Rohde unleashes his white hat technique for structuring Page Rank Distribution by creating separate site navigation for Humans and Spiders. It's called "Follow Your Tail". You would not believe how many huge web sites are already doing this, but Leslie shows you how to find out.

-->Dan Thies (that's me) demonstrates Ninja Ad Words Split Testing techniques that allow you to test huge amounts of creative WITHOUT disturbing your already successful campaigns. If you're running Adwords and you don't know these techniques, it's costing you money... simple as that.

-->Don Crowther introduces the 3 Critical Metrics that you need to analyze to find out EXACTLY where your prospects leave your site and exactly WHAT position your advertising should be in.

-->Jerry West shows how to identify Rank-Destroying Duplicate Content on your site (99% of sites have it) AND exactly what files to drop onto your site to re-capture ALL of your wasted Page Rank, Link Reputation and Link Popularity.

(Click Here To Watch)

That's just Part 1... Part 2 gets released May 2 - 3 more videos from Sherman Hu, Ed Dale, and Dave Taylor plus another member case study that may shock you...

-->A Multi-Million Dollar business case study from a StomperNet member who currently ships more USPS packages to her customers than any other business in Orlando.

She does so much business that the Postal Service is creating a custom box to ship her material in. She'll let you peek inside and tell you the dead-simple strategies she learned in StomperNet to make it happen.

Here's a direct link you can copy and paste:
www.stompernet.net/jvp/aw.aspx?A=84


Contact Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Publisher: Dan Thies
Phone: 214-550-1359

The SEO Coach's Newsletter
SEOFS2K7, Creating A Sustainable Business, New Videos Released
April 30, 2007

I spent yesterday at the Renaissance Festival, in my best pirate outfit...

That's my mother in law on the left there - one of the best people you could possibly bring to a party. It was nice to get out and relax, because I have been working a little too much the past few months.

I think you'll be pleased when you hear what I've been up to.

SEO Fast Start 2007 Launches May 3, 2007

OK, OK, I get it!

You all love SEO Fast Start, but the 2004 publication date makes you nervous about following my advice. Everyone has been asking when the new edition will be released.

I've actually been working on it for two years... it just hasn't been finished until today. Besides being incredibly busy working on my pirate outfit, a couple things have held me back.

First of all, the basic strategy of SEOFS still works. That's because the system wasn't designed to exploit flaws in the search engine's algorithms, it's designed to keep working through any kind of changes the industry's players may make.

Second, I didn't want to just tweak a few things for this update, I wanted to make it better than anything else out there. I think I've done that. The step-by-step instructions have been improved and expanded, with flow charts for every step.

There's a whole big philosophy behind it, to make the new system work for beginners, experts, or anyone in between. No matter what your skill level, SEOFS will make you more efficient and effective.

So, why wait until Thursday? Well... there's more to this than just a free book now.

A lot more. I'm committed to spending thousands of dollars every month to bring you the best information I can... and there's one piece to the puzzle that you need to know about.


The SEO Fast Start Community (Don't Worry, It's Free)

Keepingup to date with the latest in SEO can be difficult, to say the least.

Every day, we see thousands of forum and blog posts, news articles, new products, people screaming for attention... raging controversy about the future of the industry, and even the best bloggers can't seem to resist posting pictures of their cats.

When it comes to SEO, the web is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Somewhere in that raging storm of noise, posturing, friendly backslapping, and self promotion... there is actual information. Something you need to know. Something you could act on. Good luck finding it.

This problem is called the "signal to noise ratio," and I think I've finally solved it.

Last fall, I got so sick of reading junk, that I decided to do act. I hired a programmer to create this great tool. Hundreds of RSS feeds are collected into one source, then ruthlessly edited until only the "signal" remains.

First, we remove anything that's completely off topic. Matt Cutts' cats are cute, but off topic. Then we remove a bunch of stuff that's just not useful, pick the most important items to publish, and add our own editorial descriptions.

In the end, what remains is useful, actionable information.

When you register to download SEO Fast Start this Thursday, you'll get more than just a great ebook. You'll also get:

• A weekly newsletter, with a feature article on an important part of the SEO process, and links to the latest items from my personal news feed
• A subscribers-only blog, providing updates on strategies, tactics, and tools for every stage of the SEO process
• Exclusive access to audio podcasts, teleseminars, and video tips and tutorials to help you every step of the wayDid I mention that this is all free?

Some of you might be asking why I would spend thousands of dollars and countless hours to give you all of this, without asking anything in return. My wife asked the same question, but trust me, I'm not crazy - I just have a bigger picture in mind.


What's In It For Me
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I release SEO Fast Start on Thursday, it's going to make a lot of people stand up and notice.

Not only are all of you going to get an invitation, but I'll be appearing on Webmaster Radio to discuss the whole thing with Jim Hedger and Dave Davies on "The Alternative," a great show about the cutting edge of search.

With an audience of half a million webmasters and SEM professionals, Webmaster Radio is the perfect platform to get the word out, don't you think?

I fully expect to get over 50,000 subscribers in the first month, because I will be announcing this thing everywhere. Think I can't get that many? Don't underestimate what we can do together.

Remember, I sold thousands of copies for $29.95 when this thing was just an ebook, and I was a nobody working alone... Now we're offering a whole lot more, it's free, and I have a lot of friends in the SEO community (including you) to help me get the word out.

What can 50,000, 100,000, or more of us do together? With all of these people gathered together into a community, we can influence the market in ways that are impossible for an individual.

The bigger it gets, the better it gets for all of us.

I'll be able to get you great deals on all kinds of information, tools, and events. We'll be able to guide the development of leading-edge tools, because that many people demand attention, and respect.

We'll be able to put on our own live events, and get the speakers we want, because they want to get in front of us. When I imagine the possibilities...

Anyway, you still want to know what I get out of it?

• I will have something to offer from time to time - home study courses on DVD, for example. If you don't need it, don't buy it! For me, the large numbers make it work no matter what. Those who do buy my products will know that they're getting something great.
• Because we're getting so many people up to speed on the basics, and bringing cutting edge information to everyone, I expect to build a very large community of street smart marketers in a very short time. Your feedback alone will be priceless.
• I've told you all about Stompernet before - it's the private membership community that took the internet marketing community by storm last fall. Some of you will join us there, when you're ready to take the next step in building an online business.

The cool thing about this, from your perspective, is that you don't have to buy anything.

You can ride this train for free.

On Thursday, May 3, I will tell you how to get started.


Stompernet Corner - Oh, My!

I wish I could have told you about this sooner, but I was out of town at a private seminar last week, when all this got started:

Stompernet is reopening soon, for a short time, and this time, they're offering a trial membership so those who are skeptical (if you are skeptical, you are smart) can get a look inside without making a huge commitment to get in.

I want you all to know that I truly believe in Stompernet. When they invited me to join the faculty, I jumped at the chance. We are building something here that must be seen to be believed. Heck, you might have to see it to even *understand* what it is.

SN founder Andy Jenkins has been a friend for many years. When Stompernet launched last fall, they had hundreds more members than they ever expected. They could have taken that big windfall to the Bahamas, but they didn't. Instead, they invested in faculty, staff, and systems to help these new members succeed.

There's a big secret there, for anyone who missed it - they could have simply taken the money (millions) and delivered what they sold, but they decided to re-invest and over-deliver, and now they have a great business that will last for years to come.

How do I know? Because I work there, and I get to see what's happening every day.
People are becoming successful and financially independent because of what they learn inside of Stompernet.

Anyway... If you missed the "Going Natural" videos they released last fall, you missed some great information. Fortunately, we've had more than six months to work with Stompernet members, and they've got some great stories to share.

In fact, Andy told me that they have collected *hundreds* of success stories, and they're starting to share them. So I had to ask, you know, when can we see them?

He sent me a link to the first one last week - the email simply said:

"Watch this."

Here's a direct link to the video:
www.stompernet.net/jvp/aw.aspx?A=84
This video showed how one of our members literally went from ZERO to $15,000 PER MONTH, working only 2 hours a day... and he is not afraid to tell you how he did it.
Kudos to anyone with that kind of "help others on your way up the ladder" abundance-minded mentality. That's what this thing is all about.

The video is free to watch -- you don't even have to opt-in or anything -- click the link below to see it while it's available:
www.stompernet.net/jvp/aw.aspx?A=84

Update: that video I mentioned is actually just the first of a series - they have
2 more online now, and the last one nearly brought me to tears, to think that I can have something to do with changing people's lives like that. When you see it, you'll understand why I was so happy to join this team.

My advice is to watch all of these videos, all the way through. You will learn something from every one.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Contact Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Publisher: Dan Thies
Phone: 214-550-1359

Here at SEO Research Labs, we've been doing keyword research for years. We've already changed the way we report data twice. You can see a description of the current reports here.

It's time to redesign the reports again, and develop a new set of metrics. I'm posting our list of factors to consider here on the blog, to invite your comments on what we should do next.

1. Search volume forecasting: since the beginning, we have relied on search volume data from Wordtracker for our reports. Over the past two years, we've been monitoring the accuracy of Wordtracker vs. Keyword Discovery, based on actual search count data obtained from partners' pay-per-click ad campaigns.
   
   We still believe that Wordtracker is the most accurate source when it comes to forecasting the number of searches, but the gap is very narrow at this point, now that Keyword Discovery's premium database has come online.
   
   Some decisions we need to make include whether to offer a choice of data sources, or to include data from both Wordtracker and Keyword Discovery in our reports. My first impulse is to pay what it costs to include both, but some folks may find the "dueling data sources" confusing.
   
   The other big decision is whether to forecast the search volumes on the major search engines, based on market share data. The public sources of market share data report a very wide range of scores - depending on who you believe, Google's market share may run anywhere from 28% to 70%. To me, that says "useless information." My first impulse is to eliminate the market share forecasting altogether, since we can't be certain of its accuracy.
   
   Your thoughts, please.
   
   
2. Click-through traffic forecasting. We have included a traffic forecasting tool in our reports for some time, which I have always found useful. However, this report is often a source of confusion, because its correct use is not well understood. We made some adjustments to the methodolody early on, to make this a more "pessimistic" forecast. We've made changes to the documentation to explain things better.
   
   The forecast is based on extensive data mining with real web sites. I've been running this analysis every 6 months (it's an expensive process). The last time we ran the analysis, the range of values on expected click-through rate for specific ranked positions was so broad, that I am just about ready to drop this report.
   
   Since this tool is already based on market share estimates, my first impulse is to stop trying to forecast, and offer a tool that will allow users to input their own estimates, perhaps pre-populated with "default values" from Netratings and our own data mining effort.
   
   Your thoughts, please.
   
   
3. Competitive landscape - how many competitors? Right now, we use three metrics to report on the number of competitors. Total # of matches for the search term, total # of "in title" matches (search term in title tag), and the number of matches with the search term in the title and inbound links (title+anchor).
   
   I still like these metrics, but I am not completely happy about how we have to collect the data. Google's API allows us to collect this data fairly easily, although we are not able to collect data for more than 100 search terms in each report. We have frequent requests to collect more data, but it's just not possible.
   
   We've also included a "KEI" calculation for each search term, based on these metrics. My first, second, third, fourth, and fifth impulses are to stop reporting KEI in any form, since it is completely useless. We included it two years ago because a lot of SEO clients expected to see it, but if the market hasn't gotten any smarter about this since then, maybe we need to stop helping people stay ignorant.
   
   Other than dropping KEI, my first impulse is to leave this report alone. My second impulse is to stop collecting the data ourselves, and build something into the spreadsheet that would allow users to input their own Google API key and collect their own data. Would the trade-off be worth it? Would users be willing to wait 2-3 hours to collect the data? Would we end up with a tech support nightmare? Would requiring Microsoft Excel be a problem?
   
   Your thoughts, please.
   
   
4. Pay-per-click bids: we've included bids from Yahoo/Overture, collected by Wordtracker, for years. This hasn't always been perfect because the search term Yahoo uses may not match the exact query found in Wordtracker, and sometimes we get no data on some terms. Now, it's academic. Yahoo no longer publishes this data, so we're dropping this report.
   
   One of the challenges with PPC reporting is that we can't (OK, won't) "steal" data. We won't screen scrape in violation of a search engine's TOS. So, unless there is a legal way to obtain the data, we aren't going to do it. With that said, it still might be possible to add another metric, for PPC competition. Would it be useful if we could report on the number of advertisers? Any other metrics out there?
   
   Your thoughts, please.
   
   
5. Link competition: Big report right now. We take the top 10 results from Google, for the 100 most popular search terms, and we present a backlink count from Alexa, which is based on the number of web sites linking in to a ranked site. Sound complex? It's not, but it's a pain to explain.
   
   A hiccup with Alexa recently has forced us to reconsider this report, even though I like the number they give us. I am not sure we can rely on them. I also think it's just too much information for the average user to digest.
   
   My first and last impulse is to turn this into a "top sites" report. In other words, we're going to do it... Since we're pulling the Google rankings for 100 search terms, we can "stack rank" the top performing sites in the market fairy well. The current plan for this report is to show the top 100 sites, based on their overall presence in the search results for the 100 most popular search terms.
   
   Along with each site (listed by domain), we would show the total presence (# of times a page from their site appeared in SERPs), breadth of presence (# of unique URLs that appeared in SERPs), # of incoming links from Yahoo, and the # of sites linking in from Alexa.
   
   We can also show the same data for the client's URL in this report, so that users can compare their own presence to the top sites.
   
   Your thoughts, please.

Thanks!
Dan

"Smart Link Building," he calls it... he charges $1500 for 20 one-way links, embedded in articles that he will create, and post on his web sites. We're assured that these are all on different class C IP addresses, different hosting... at first glance, he sounds like a spammer, but at least a reasonably competent spammer.

There's no way I'm going to buy into it, but I keep reading the sales letter, and he has links to example articles, on his own site. I start to think maybe the guy has a screw loose, because if those are real examples, then he's exposing the identity of several clients. (As it turns out, they are real examples).

But it gets worse. At the bottom of the sales letter, he has a list of the domains, IP addresses, and actual links into the article directories. He has actually published the location of every site in his link farm... this is hilarious. Go ahead and give the search engines a map to your link farm, dude. That's awesome.

My advice, when you see a scheme like this, is to just walk way. My advice, when you see a scheme like this, run by the world's dumbest link farmer, is to run, not walk.

Sorry, Jim. Congrats on "winning" a #1 ranking for elursmebble n7v or whatever, but I think this proves you don't need to have the slightest clue, to win an SEO contest.

Wow.

Microsoft is big. Really, really big. So when the folks at Microsoft decide to change the way one of their core applications works, it affects a lot of people.

So here it is - the HTML rendering engine in Outlook 2007 has been replaced with the MS Word rendering engine, removing the Internet Explorer engine used in previous versions.

This is bad, people... although the idiots who were screaming for IE to be removed from MS Windows probably think it's really really super great.

Why is it bad? Well, it's bad because many (most?) email newsletter designs will break in the new version of MS Outlook. Now anyone who is publishing email content (newsletters, for example) with HTML now has to go back and check their designs in the Outlook 2007 / Word 2007 rendering engine...

We all have to figure out redesigns that will work in IE, Mozilla, Safari, Word... oh joy, it's like doing the 1990s browser compatibility nonsense all over again. And we all have to go get Outlook 2007 so we can check them.

The only good thing about Microsoft's dominance (monopoly if you like) in operating systems was that you could count on most applications using IE as the HTML rendering engine. You would think Microsoft would be the last to break with this, but, well, big does not mean smart.

You can read more on ZDNet and SitePoint Tech Times, which contains a reference to Microsoft's documentation of the changes in Outlook 2007... that last one is a depressing read if you have to deal with email design.

My official position as of today: Microsoft Sucks. This does not imply that anything else (e.g. Linux) rocks. Actually, I think Indi rocks, but since it's going to be a commercial product, it probably will only rock as an idea, before being swept aside by something cool and free with open source code.

This isn't evil, just stupid. Really really stupid.

I've told you all the good things, but you may also like to know...

What's wrong with Stompernet?

So I'll tell you, at least from my perspective.

1. Some of the SEO content on the "brain transplant" is a little bit basic. Mostly the link building stuff, where they're talking about reciprocal links a bit more than I would. To provide some balance, Leslie Rohde is recording a link building class inside the portal, and I've given them my own advanced Link Building Clinic videos. It's still important for people to understand reciprocal linking, even if it's not a big part of their long term strategy.
   
   
2. Leslie and I found an error in one of the workbooks. It says that using keywords in the title attribute of images and links will help with rankings. As far as Leslie and I can tell, none of the search engines indexes this attribute any more. We've posted our findings in the portal, so nobody has to waste their time with this. I mention this for the sake of complete disclosure.
   
   
3. Leslie and I are like Darth Vader and Yoda. He thinks I don't understand the power of the dark side. He refers to his aggressive SEO methods as "more advanced" than my brand of natural optimization, when it's obvious to me that he just needs to see the light of natural SEO. But hey, it's great to talk with someone who has discovered all of the same advanced techniques that I have, who actually understands PageRank, Latent Semantic Indexing, etc. Now if he'd just put down that light saber and listen to reason...
   
   
4. There is almost too much information. Andy Jenkins has described the initial 15-DVD box set as "drinking from a fire hose," and it's very accurate. All of the new faculty agree, and we are working overtime to collect everything into a more traditional "academic" arrangement, with courses on different topics, for different levels of expertise. It's a good problem to have, and it's why we have so many top-flight instructors.
   
   
5. You actually have to do the work. This isn't a "system" where you push a button and money falls out of the sky. Stompernet won't research a market, build an online store, write your grand opening press release, get you into the right directories, distribute your articles to get links (actually it sort of does), manage your PPC campaigns, run multivariate tests to increase your conversion rate, etc. But, it will teach you how to do all of these things yourself.
   

That last bit is the most important thing. You can outsource a lot of things, but one of the core principles we Stompers live by is that you should never outsource expertise.

That doesn't mean you would never hire someone to help with your online marketing... but it does mean that you need to develop real expertise inside of your own business. Even though I am an absolute wizard with Adwords, I've still hired other people to manage campaigns. It's easy to train them, if you already know yourself.

Anyway, the lau