Guy Kawasaki is amongst the most respected professionals in both the internet marketing and technology worlds. He was one of the first Apple employees, and was largely responsible for marketing the Macintosh way back in 1984. He is often noted for bringing the concept of evangelism to the technology business sector, and while at Apple, he focused on creating passionate user-advocates for the Apple brand. Clearly, it worked. Apple still has one of the most loyal user bases in the tech sector.
Guy Kawasaki has written a number of books on the subject of marketing, including:
- The Art of the Start (2004)
- Rules for Revolutionaries (2000)
- How to Drive Your Competition Crazy (1995)
- Hindsights (1995)
- The Computer Cumudgeon (1993)
- Selling the Dream (1992)
- Database 101 (1991)
- The Macintosh Way (1990)
He has a blog, which is updated almost daily at blog.guykawasaki.com, and features the latest marketing news and commentary. Currently, he is the managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, which is an early-stage venture capital firm. He’s also a columnist for Entrepreneur Magazine, and is very well-educated, having received a BA from Stanford University, an MBA from UCLA, and an honorary doctorate from Babson College.
Check out his blog and maybe even pick up one (or two, or three!) of his books. This guy really knows his stuff, and we could all stand to learn a little something from him. Afterall, he’s a marketing genius.
Posted by admin @ 12:41 pm PST
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The web has lots of crappy web directories that are here one day and gone the next. There are also a number of good, quality directories that do stick around and provide exceptional services to their customers. If you’ve got the notion of starting up your own web directory, I’d hope that you plan to invest a lot of time and money into making it a successful venture.
One of the first things you’ll need to do before you start your directory, after purchasing your domain and setting up hosting, is figuring out what kind of directory script you want to use. Do you want a free script or a paid script? Are you interested in PHP directory scripts, or something more compatible with a Windows-based server? Deciding this is of the utmost importance because once you’ve gotten going, switching over to another platform will be real pain.
Free directory scrips can work out just great, depending on your needs. If you need more advanced options and support, then you may want to seriously consider buying a paid script with the options that you need. But before you go out and buy one, check to make sure what kind of server you’ve got with your host to make sure it will be compatible with PHP, ASP, or whatever scripting language you end up using.
Posted by admin @ 10:59 am PST
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Previously I mentioned the importance of submitting your websites to quality web directories, such as the Umdum Web Directory. Another such quality directory that should be at the top of everyone’s list of “must submit to” sites is the V7 Directory.
The V7 Directory is recognized through the SEO and webmaster industries as one of the leading web directories. It features human editors that review each and every submission to ensure that quality guidelines are met, and has as nice, unique directory structure. The PageRank of the main index is a 6, while many of the sub-pages, such as the Shopping Directory at V7N, are at least a 5. All links are kept to one page, and you’ll never have to worry about getting stuck on a second page. The V7 Directory also has something that a lot of other web directories does not - search traffic. Because of the carefully placed V7 Directory search boxes around the web, the directory actually gets real human traffic. So not only will you benefit from the quality linkage, but you might even get some actual human visitors to your site from the V7 Directory.
Another point of interest is the V7 Directory’s Partner program which pays you for each and every completed referral to the directory. All you have to do is sign up for the program and put a banner or link on your site with your referral ID, and when someone clicks to the directory and purchases a listing, you’ll get some cash.
Posted by admin @ 10:50 am PST
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Aaron Wall perhaps best known in the SEO world for his SEO blog SEOBook.com. As the name of the site suggests, yes, there is an actual SEO Book. However, it’s actually actually something that is constantly being updated and revised, and includes all of the information presented on the blog in a book format. So why buy the actual book? Well, for one, the book format is much easier to navigate and study, and because it is constantly being updated, you’re able to get the new updates for free once you’ve purchased it initially. Aaron Wall’s SEO Book is perhaps one of the best resources to learn about the constantly evolving field of search engine optimization.
SEOBook isn’t the only thing keeping Aaron Wall busy, he’s also acquired the Threadwatch community which focuses on the latest search news and speculation. He’s also got his own search engine project - Myriad Search Engine, and has been mentioned in world-class publications including the Wall Street Journal, The London Times, BusinessWeek, and others. He also does consultancy on a limited basis.
Aaron Wall’s SEO Book has been used as course text for MBA classes, which is pretty cool, and he’s spoken at numerous industry conferences. If you frequent SEO forums and communities, you might also catch Aaron joining in from time to time. Only in his late 20’s, Aaron’s already made a name for himself and the future looks very bright for him.
Also check out Aaron’s DirectoryArchives - proudly hosted by V7 Inc cPanel hosting.
Posted by admin @ 9:59 am PST
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Submitting your website to directories is a good way to get backlinks. However, when you are looking at directories to which you’d like to submit your site, you’ll want to check a few things to make sure that it is worth the effort and money. Some factors to take into consideration include the overall PageRank of the site, as well as the PageRank of the category and sub-category pages. Alexa rank is a good indicator of the amount of traffic that the web directory receives, and if the directory does get a lot of traffic it is possible that you’ll get some click-throughs to your site. SEOMoz created a tool that measures something called PageStrength, which basically just measures the same factors as PageRank and gives you some other arbitrary number. PageStrength is another thing that directory owners like to refer to when talking about the quality of their directory.
Other things you’ll want to take a look at in the directory include the overall category structure, and other entries already added to the site. Does it have a unique category structure, or is it the same, premanufactured structure used by thousands of other directories? Are all listings on one page, or do some of the more popular categories carry over to another page? If it goes over one page, you might want to refrain from using it as the value of a link from a page further down won’t be as much as one up a level.
One such website that meets all of the criteria I just mentioned is Umdum Web Directory. Umdum is the creation of Loren Baker over at SearchEngineJournal.com, and is one of the highest quality directories that you can submit to. The prices are reasonable and then service is excellent. Umdum should definitely be on the top of your list of directories to submit to.
Posted by admin @ 9:28 am PST
Filed Under: Directories | 1 Comment »
If you’re looking to stay up to date on the latest technology and internet news, then check out the V7 Tech Blog. It’s written by yours truly, as well as some guest writers. The blog also features commentary and opinion, and cool gadgets. Product reviews are another thing that we love to do, so if you or your company is looking to get your product reviews, get into contact with us and we’ll work something out.
I’m also on the lookout right now for some new contributing writers. The position is voluntary, but benefits if writing for the V7 Tech Blog include a PR6 link to your website and exposure to thousands of readers. If you’re interested, contact me via the V7 Forum.
Posted by admin @ 9:16 am PST
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I mentioned earlier about how important it is to get quality web hosting for SEO purposes, and one of the other things I spoke about was spreading out your hosting. If you have multiple websites, you’ll want to make sure you have a good webhost and that you host your sites with different hosts in order to maximize the SEO potential.
I’ve tried a lot of different hosts over the years, and by far my favorite one has been through V7 Inc. V7’s web hosting plans come in three sizes: the V1, V2, and the V3. They range in price from $19.95 per month up to $79.95 per month. Best of all, you can pay with PayPal, and the customer service is outstanding. There’s even a referral program where you can get paid for referring other people to V7 Inc. How cool is that?
Posted by admin @ 8:53 am PST
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As the search engines have moved away from looking at “on-page” factors, link building is perhaps the single most important aspect of search engine optimization today when it comes down to rankings. Now if you think you’re going to go out and get a bunch of links and then magically rank higher in the SERPs, you’ve got another thing coming. Ranking in the search engines and ranking for certain for your keywords, requires gaining linkage with much more care and planning.
Search engines have progressed, and can now effectively spot and devalue many paid links. They avaluate links coming into your website for quality, devalueing links coming from “bad neighborhoods.” There are so many factors that go into effective link building that it would be worth your while to check out some good link building tips before you embark on a new link building campaign. Good places to start would be V7, blog.v7n.com, and other top SEO websites such as Search Engine Watch. You might even want to attend an SEO conference such as Search Engine Strategies or Search Marketing Expo.
Posted by admin @ 9:01 pm PST
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If you’ve got a SEO business set up and are looking for new leads, or want to find yourself some SEO jobs, you’re in luck. The V7N Marketplace features job listings for SEO, as well as website design, graphic design, programming, script installation, writing/copyrighting, and many other services that business and webmasters might be in need of.
On the flip side, if your business is looking to hire, you might also want to consider placing a listing in the Marketplace. It’s free to add your project listing, and adding it to the V7N Marketplace will get your job exposed to the many highly qualified web professionals that visit the V7 Network daily.
Posted by admin @ 8:38 pm PST
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Peter Da Vanzo is a leading search marketing strategist and commentator based out of Wellington, New Zealand. He is currently doing a writing stint at the V7N SEO Blog, but first achieved success with his own very popular SearchEngineBlog website. Peter’s writings are not only highly informative and insightful, but they’re also entertaining and easy to read. He’s got a great style, and it’s no wonder that he’s brought both SearchEngineBlog and the V7 SEO Blog large followings.
Peter Da Vanzo, however, is not just a commentator and casual observer. He also runs an independent consultancy (GoFish Media Ltd.), and knows firsthand the workings of the industry. Having experience in the field gives Peter an edge in that he actually knows what he’s talking about really, really well. What I’d suggest is that you read this interesting interview John Scott did with Peter Da Vanzo, and then head on over to the V7 SEO Blog for some great reading.
Posted by admin @ 8:12 pm PST
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