Most Hair Cuts 6.99$ by a4qpa.

Last week I went to the barber. Actually she’s a female barber so should I say hairdresser then? I paid 25 Euro for approx. 45 minutes. That’s quite but not very expensive. A haircut for a man costs 8 to 40 Euro here and takes 1o minutes to an hour usually unless you like the really fancy stuff.

I not only paid 25 instead of 8 Euro I also waited three weeks to get an appointment with my hairdresser.

Usually you can just “cut and go” with many cheap barber shops

but I chose to look like a hobo for three weeks because I had needed a haircut badly already three weeks ago. My wife is always short of filing for divorce and people on the street almost give me money for looking that desperate.  I’m always late when it comes to cutting hear.

Now why the hell do I wait so long or pay more than elsewhere? Don’t get me wrong, I’m quite a frugal person. I’ve even tried several of the “cut and go” 10+ Euro barber shops. I’m not a snob either. I went once or twice to the 40 Euro barber but wasn’t satisfied with the results.

I always go the the same hairdresser whenever I can. She’s my favorite for several years now. I remember when she worked for someone else 5 or 6 years ago. She then moved on to open her own barber shop, she did open it with another hairdresser. I followed her to the new location. By now they are 5 I think. I still stick with her even if the others can a more timely appointment.

Why do I tell you all this boring crap about hairdressers in an SEO blog? Well, last week I got an email from someone representing a British language school wanting me to work for them. I get a few offers like that per week and I basically can’t even reply them. I don’t have the time.

Client work and my own projects plus family life are enough for an eight days week.

From time to time a project or client sounds interesting so that I reply anyways. I did last week. It took me one hour to send the guy a more or less sound offer. I shouldn’t have bothered though. He wanted German and Polish SEO and just sent me the English keywords to be “translated”.

Of course you can’t simply translate keywords. Also I always perform my own keyword research, even if a client sends me a list of keywords. Clients almost always err when it comes to best keyword combinations. Clients can do SEO as much as they can do design themselves. In the case of web design they can for a bigger logo, when it comes to SEO they want bigger keywords.

Now this guy was too stingy to pay me 4h keyword research (which is the absolute minimum) per language and he stated that the other SEOs already send him the translated keywords in their offer. He was willing to invest in just one hour per language in keyword research.

The older I get the more moderate I get. I didn’t even get angry. I didn’t cry. I almost laughed. I didn’t write him to go to hell and stop wasting my time. I was very polite. I only wrote him that I don’t offer “quick & dirty” SEO. I offer quality optimization.

How do you want to build a stable house if you are not willing to pay for a decent foundation?

Without proper market and keyword research your SEO project is broken from day one.

Now I will explain the barber story above. I’ve been to the “quick & dirty” barber shops a few times. It never really worked well. Either I looked bad from the start, or a few days or weeks later. Once a cheap hairdresser did quite good work but next time I went there she wasn’t working there anymore.

A few weeks ago I wrote that SEO is craft. SEO is similar to cutting hair in a way. A good hairdresser isn’t necessarily quick and dirty. It takes time and money. You have to wait longer and pay more to be satisfied with the results.

When you pay for quick and dirty you get quick and dirty.

Whether it’s a haircut or SEO. Even if you’re very lucky and you pay for quick and dirty and you get quality you won’t be as lucky the next time.

I only serve a few clients and I work for years with most of them.

What you certainly shouldn’t do is approach a quality SEO practitioner and ask for quick and dirty SEO.

I don’t like huge corporations so I don’t charge 500$ an hour like many of the top SEO experts do. So my services are affordable. Still: You wouldn’t ask a barber for a “bad haircut” either, would you?

Related posts:

1. 10 SEO Client Archetypes
2. The Dirty Dozen of Funny SEO Techniques for Lazy Bums
3. SEO 2.0 Services 3.5$/h

1. 10 SEO Client Archetypes
2. The Dirty Dozen of Funny SEO Techniques for Lazy Bums
3. SEO 2.0 Services 3.5$/h

The Search Marketing Standard is not only the oldest search marketing print publication I know of, it’s also the most focused and probably most popular one. Over the years I’ve enjoyed reading numerous issues of the magazine.

Recently I had the opportunity to conduct an email interview with Frances Mary Krug, associate editor of Search Marketing Standard magazine about

the past, present and future of SMS, print publications, SEO and search marketing.

I have added emphasis on some passages in the replies I personally think are important.

Tad of SEO 2.0: Hello Frances, it’s almost two years since Search Marketing Standard (SMS from now on) has been acquired in summer 2008. You are still here so it seems to have worked out. Tell us a bit more about how your magazine has developed since then.

Frances Mary Krug: It’s certainly been an interesting last two years. Moving from a small office in New York to being part of a much larger business was a big step. We had some turnover in staff, including our editor-in-chief, who completed his college degree and left to pursue other goals. But we’ve managed to make the transition successfully, even in the midst of a huge, continuing economic crisis.

SEO 2.0: It seems everybody out there is bemoaning year after year the agony of print journalism. SMS started out as a print magazine in the middle of the ongoing print crisis and it seems to fare quite well, what’s your secret? Are the subscriber numbers stable, rising or rather stagnating?

Frances: It’s kind of funny, actually. Right after the acquisition, we decided to transition from an advertising-based model to a paid subscription base, which certainly turned out to be the right move given the general collapse of print advertising through 2009. It has enabled us to get by even though advertisers choose to increasingly put their ad dollars into online.

As far as our subscriber numbers, we are moving away from the “free subscription” model to the “paid model”, which entails some flux in the subscriber count. Our paid subscriptions are growing steadily, which is an encouraging sign when you see print magazines failing daily. Giving away magazines is a lot easier that charging for them, but paid subscribers provide a better picture of what’s really important to readers, since they are willing to pay for the content. That’s helped SMS focus on what’s really important to readers in the industry.

SEO 2.0: I’ve noticed a significant change in the last issue of SMS. For the first time I remember you have a “cover girl” or rather boy. It’s analytics guru Avinash Kaushik. How come? Do you plan to focus more on people than tools and techniques?

Frances: The change in design for the cover page isn’t meant to indicate a shift in focus of the magazine content, though we do want to recognize key industry contributors by providing attribution on the cover of our magazine. We’ve even had non-subscribers who are fans of Avinash purchase individual copies of the Summer issue of the magazine to add to their collection of Avinash material.

SEO 2.0: You told me beforehand that there are some changes to come up in the near future at SMS. What are they? Have you already introduced them in the current issue? My impression is that you don’t focus on one topic anymore as much as you did in the past.

Frances: One of the biggest changes will be the debut of a digital edition of the magazine with our upcoming Fall issue. Even though our primary purpose and selling point is the fact that we are a print magazine,

there is no doubt that digitization of the magazine format is inevitable.

We still believe, however, that a print version will remain as a preferred format for a significant group of people, and we intend to continue offering a print edition. A digital edition will also help mitigate the increasing problems we’ve seen with mail delivery to some international destinations, which are a large part of our subscription base. We can’t speed up delivery of the mail, but we can offer an alternate way to access the magazine if an issue goes astray or is continually chewed up by the machinery.

Another big change is a redesign of our website. The main goal of the redesign is to organize and present our content in a more logical fashion that better reflects the topics and subject areas that our readers are interested in. For example, if you are interested in seeing all the posts written by a specific author, you will quickly and easily be able to get to a listing.

The past few issues have had a more generalized approach in content. What we want to avoid is having readers glance at the cover of their issue, see that everything seems to be focused on one general topic (be it International Search, Mobile Search, Social Media, etc.) and feel that there is nothing in the issue to interest them if they have no wish to read about that topic. In reality, even in issues where we have focused on one topic, we still have articles and columns about other topics, and we don’t want to give the impression that it is otherwise. Since we are only a quarterly publication, a subscriber certainly wants to feel that in each and every issue there will be something of interest to them.

SEO 2.0: You have covered the search marketing landscape for a few years now. What are the most significant changes lately?

Frances: Wow, that’s a very tough question because there is so much that could fit into that category. I think, however, that the changes to the Google SERPs are both a symptom of the ongoing change in the industry, as well as a factor in that change.

The days of being on the first page of Google results and ranking first for a keyword on Google are gone.

Universal search and so many different kinds of results (not just web pages) competing for the attention of searchers has led to an overcrowded, visually unappealing results page. Real-time results, while providing relevancy, have the power to change the entire approach toward SEO.

Another enormous factor, I think, is the local/mobile search powerhouse. Technology has finally hit the nail on the head and although there will be winners and losers among app builders and developers, the real winners will be searchers. The battlefield is going to be bloody, however, and even Google is realizing that if they provide a less-than-perfect solution for too long, a competitor may find something to exploit.

SEO 2.0: Do we still have standalone SEO these days or is it always part of the bigger picture as in “search marketing”?

Frances: I think it has to be part of a larger picture. It’s no longer enough to make sure the mechanics of a site are working and the necessary tags have been optimized. Ranking on the first page of Google is no longer the gold standard in the same way as it used to be.

It used to be that we didn’t really consider it “search marketing” unless you were actively advertising online via AdWords or more traditional display advertising.

Now, however, in order to compete, you need to be involved in social media marketing, email marketing, etc. We’re not just in the business of optimizing websites so that search engines can read them and judge relevancy to specific search queries – although that is certainly still a vital part of the business. Now, we need to ensure that all parts of the equation are covered and tracked. What will be interesting is to see how some SEOs adapt (or fail to adapt) to some of the skills needed to succeed in areas like social media.

SEO 2.0: How do you combine online and print efforts? Your business model is still selling the magazine isn’t it? Does the website actually sell subscriptions? Or do you get new subscribers via the print issue itself?

Frances: Juggling online and print efforts is a huge challenge, especially with the general downturn in the economy through 2009 and the resultant advertising crisis. Because of the subject matter of our magazine – the search marketing industry – we feel that our website cannot just be a place for people to manage their subscriptions. We need to have a site that offers more than that – that’s why we have a number of contributors who write informative blog posts, a twice-monthly newsletter, an extensive online events calendar, we have put together webinars, white papers, etc.

New subscribers come from all different sources.

We exhibit at some conferences and distribute free sample copies at others, which helps get the word out. Others see the magazine on a coffee table at their web designer’s office or read commentary about an article in a current issue on a blog.

SEO 2.0: When will I be able to buy SMS at my newsstand along Newsweek and Wired here in Germany?

Frances: Tad, I’m sorry, but there are no plans to take SMS to the newsstands in Germany or any other country for that matter. I think that would be a tough business model to sell in the current challenging market for print.

SEO 2.0: How would you define SEO 2.0? Does it mean something to you more than this blog’s name?

Frances: Well, it certainly IS a clever name for a blog, but SEO 2.0 is much more than that. It’s really the next logical step in the development of the industry. SEO is no longer just a set of “rules” that you can follow and put in place and expect to see concrete results from.

SEO 2.0 is about optimizing Web 2.0 content, and as such, includes an emphasis on creativity and social behavior

and how to use the new tools available (such as Twitter) to optimize and boost visibility within search engines and other online destinations.

SEO 2.0: Thank you very much Frances for taking the time to inform the SEO 2.0
readers.

Frances: Tad, thanks for inviting me to speak and letting me share some of my thoughts about why the online marketing world needs a print publication!

SEO 2.0: As you see there is still a way to earn money with print publications in a quite small niche like ours. I’m very impressed. Take note for full disclosure: I was both a contributor (once) and an affiliate of Search Marketing Standard some time ago.

What are your thought on the future of our industry and print media?

Related posts:

1. 3 Search Marketing Magazines in Print
2. New Search Marketing Standard Issue Out: International Search Markets
3. Google Suggest Effects on SEO, Search Usage and Business Predictions

1. 3 Search Marketing Magazines in Print
2. New Search Marketing Standard Issue Out: International Search Markets
3. Google Suggest Effects on SEO, Search Usage and Business Predictions

Steven Snell is a professional blogger who also runs a design business. He is the man behind Vandelay Design, DesignM.ag and Traffikd. Especially his two flagship design blogs have been very succesful in the past both by the sheer numbers as well as financially.

A few days ago he has sold one of his design blogs, DesignM.ag. I asked Steven a few questions about the blog, the sale, his overall business and blogging of course. The interview was conducted by email.

Tad Chef of SEO 2.0: Hello Steven, congratulations on your recent blog sale. You sold Designm.ag for 50k US $. Are you satisfied with the outcome of the auction?

Steven Snell of Designm.ag: Thanks Tad. First, for clarification, the winning bidder on Flippa actually wasn’t able to buy the site for personal reasons, but I was able to find another buyer at almost exactly the same price. I have mixed feelings about the outcome of the auction. I don’t have experience buying or selling established sites, so when I was planning to sell I reached out to some friends that I know are pretty active in that field. The feedback I got was that it could sell for a good bit more than what it did, but of course it all just depends on finding the right buyer. So honestly,

I wasn’t that excited about the price, but I’m confident that it was the fair market value

because I had about 4 people who were seriously interested and all were right around the same price. I’m really excited to be able to move on and have some time in my schedule now to be able to do some different things, but it will be weird not to be working on DesignM.ag anymore.

Tad Chef: You own/ed and lead/led at least 3 flagship blogs Designm.ag, the Vandelay Design Blog and Traffikd. Did I miss one? How did you choose which blog to sell?

Steven Snell: I have a few gallery sites, but yes, those are my three blogs. The decision to sell DesignM.ag was made because it took a significant portion of my time to manage on a continual basis and because I thought it had some value and would be of interest to buyers.

Tad Chef: It took you two years to sell Designm.ag – How long does it take for a blog to make sense financially in your opinion? Are 6 months of daily work enough?

Steven Snell: I think the amount of time it would take depends on the type of blog. For small niche blogs that are mostly set up to make money with AdSense or affiliate products you could probably sell at any point, assuming your able to make money with it. For the first year of DesignM.ag’s existence it really wasn’t monetized very aggressively,

my focus was on establishing a reputation and sustainable traffic.

A few months ago once those things had been accomplished I started to pursue some new monetization methods to increase the value of the site. For a blog that takes a similar approach (I guess you could call it an “authority blog”), it seems to me that you would want to wait at least a year before selling. I’m sure you could sell it earlier, but the early days of establishing a blog like this take a lot of work and usually generate only small amounts of income. So if you sell early I don’t think you’ll be maximizing what you can get for it.

Tad Chef: Of course not all blogs succeed inspite of the time (and money) invested. What were the most important factors for your business blogging success? Can you name them?

Steven Snell: I think one of the keys to DesignM.ag’s growth over the past two years was consistency. There were no gaps of more than a couple of days without new content and I was always working on new posts and new ideas.

I approached the site as a business and was willing to invest time without making much money in the early months.

The other big factor is the community aspect. When I launched the site I wanted it to be more than just a blog. The community news section has always been of interest to a lot of people, especially other design bloggers that are looking for some exposure. At the time I launched the site I thought that feature would be somewhat unique (CSS Globe and Noupe had news sections at that time) but in the past two years countless design blogs have added news sections, so it’s really not unique at all.

Tad Chef: Traffikd seems to be for some reason the least popular of your blogs. Why is that the case? Or is it just the obvious numbers and it earns much money behind the scenes?

Steven Snell: Traffikd is definitely the least popular, I think for a few reasons. First, it gets almost no attention. When I launched Traffikd I had been blogging actively at Vandelay Design for about six months and I’d learned a lot about blogging and social media. I was very active with social media at that point and I wanted to have a place to share some of the things I was learning.

Over time I’ve become less active with social media and now my efforts for promoting my blogs is just to focus on content.

So that leaves me with less ideas to write about and less interest in the topics covered at Traffikd. I removed ads from the site a while ago so that I won’t have the need to publish new content at any particular frequency.

Tad Chef: Working on so many high quality blogs wasn’t the only thing you do, you also have a design business and client work. How do you manage to do all of this? 80h work week? Employees?

Steven Snell: My client work is pretty limited right now, that may change after selling DesignM.ag. I have a few clients that I manage on an on-going basis and I take new projects when there is a really good fit. I have been working really long hours for 2 or 3 years (not really sure about numbers of hours) but I’m hoping to cut back a little bit and get a better work/life balance. I have no employees and outsource very little. At this point I don’t really have any desire to manage employees or deal with all that comes with it.

Tad Chef: Do you still have time to read other blogs and participate in social media beyond blogs? If yes, what bogs do you read, where are you most active on social media?

Steven Snell: I check a lot of blogs in my feed reader and on Twitter, but I mostly scan and wouldn’t say that I spend a lot of time reading blogs. I stay up-to-date with other design blogs so I know what is going on in the industry, but I don’t do as much reading as I would like. My activity with social media is also very limited. I get a lot of requests for votes on various sites, I post links on Twitter, and sometimes I submit my own posts to niche social media sites. A few years ago I used to spend much more time on social media sites, but now my voting is usually done from the blogs/sites I’m visiting, such as clicking on a Digg button or a Tweetmeme button.

Tad Chef: You are one of those bloggers who use lists/listicles extensively. It seems to have worked for you. On the other hand I notice that the Web is full f lists nobody can digest anymore. Are the days of successful lists over? What are the alternatives?

Steven Snell: You hear a lot of people say that they don’t like lists, but if you have a good list that really is helpful you will get overwhelmingly positive comments. There are so many design blogs now, and most of them publish lists. It’s definitely a challenge to keep the content original, but in my opinion there is still a place for lists.

There’s a big difference between a list for the sake of having a list and a list that is well-researched and helpful to readers.

One of the reasons I’ve used more lists on Vandelay Design in the past year is because of the time that I was spending on DesignM.ag. Now that I’ll have more time available I plan to diversify the posts a little more, although lists and inspiration posts will not be going away.

Tad Chef: I’ve noticed that you focus on church websites with your design agency. Are you a religious person? If yes, does being religious help you with being determined to succeed in the sense of the protestant work ethic? If not, why churches, accidentally or did you seek out a special niche like that?

Steven Snell: Yes, I am a Christian. I chose to focus on churches because it was an area of interest for me, and because there is a large market for church websites. I’m sure that my faith impacts my work ethic, I think it impacts all aspects of my life. Also, I’m a pretty competitive and stubborn person, so if I want to accomplish something I’ll usually keep working at it even after failures and setbacks.

I’m certainly not the most talented person in the world, but I do work hard and I’m commited to being successful with my business,

and I hope to be able to do it in a way that pleases God.

Tad Chef: Do you have something to add, something you want the SEO 2.0 readers to know?

Steven Snell: I had a few people ask me if it was my plan all along to sell DesignM.ag. The answer to that is no, I planned to keep it for the foreseeable future and make it a major part of my business. However, in recent months I really wanted to make some changes in my daily work (managing two active design blogs can lead to burnout!) and also wanted to free up some time for other things. I did start DesignM.ag with the intent of making money, but honestly I thought I would sell my other sites before selling DesignM.ag. I chose not to sell Vandelay Design because it’s really more of a business, whereas DesignM.ag is just a blog.

Steven started his blogging career around the same time I’ve started SEO 2.0 so I was able to watch him closely. We’ve been on he same social sites as well for a while. While I have focused on blogging for clients Steven has followed the path of independent flagship blogs. I think say it wasn’t a bad move. What do you think?

• Was it worth it?
• Did he sell below market value?
• Is this a success story others can repeat?

Add your thoughts in the comment section below.

Related posts:

1. Common Blog Business Models: What Works What Not?
2. 7 SEO 2.0 Lessons: SEO for Humans Instead of Spiders is Not About Google and “Content is King”
3. 3 Phases of Flagship Blog Growth or How to Fall in Love with Blogging

1. Common Blog Business Models: What Works What Not?
2. 7 SEO 2.0 Lessons: SEO for Humans Instead of Spiders is Not About Google and “Content is King”
3. 3 Phases of Flagship Blog Growth or How to Fall in Love with Blogging

This week SEO industry veterans Patrick Gavin, most known for launching Text Link Ads a few years ago, and Andy Hagans have launched a new major project. It’s called DIYSEO and is a new kind of SEO software or actually

a web app that enables small business owners to optimize their sites themselves.

I asked Patrick Gavin of DIYSEO a few questions about this new SEO tool. The interview has been conducted by email. I added emphasis in bold here and there.

SEO 2.0: Hello Patrick, congratulations on your new project, DIYSEO. Was it difficult to raise money for an SEO project like this? My impression is that SEO is going truly mainstream in 2010.

Patrick Gavin, DIYSEO: Thanks Tad. It was a lot of hard work by our team to get DIYSEO to market and we are very happy with our product at launch and now look forward to building on the foundation. On the funding side it is definitely not an easy market to raise money although I do think it is thawing out a bit. There is great data around SEO and the disproportionate spend on PPC versus SEO that make for a great pitch to investors and its a pitch we fully believe in.

SEO 2.0: Your target market are small business owners according to your own blog post. How small or how big? Freelancers or also businesses with 30 employees?

PG: Yes our target market is small business owners. We think the smaller the better. We envision and are seeing a lot of local businesses on our platform, ie businesses looking to rank for “san francisco divorce attorney” or “Iowa City party planner” etc.

SEO 2.0: What websites are supported by your system, static HTML ones or dynamic database driven websites like blogs and e-commerce sites as well?

PG: All of the above. With our initial product the “on page” tasks are done by the site owner so there is no limit in the platform type that we can service. We are working on strategic partnerships that would bring a tighter integration with specific platforms for each of use for our clients.

SEO 2.0: Does DIYSEO also work for non-US and non-English sites?

PG: Today’s DIYSEO is for US based sites only. The technology and tasks are designed to help US based sites in the US search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc). We envision non US versions of DIYSEO but not in 2010.

SEO 2.0: Who should not use DIYSEO?

PG: For starters I would say the “Fortune 10,000″. We are not an enterprise solution for large businesses with large websites. I would also say if your business can afford a $5,000/mo+ SEO consultant, this product is probably not for you. We are really looking to service the small business owner with a limited budget but wants exposure in the organic search results.

SEO 2.0: What parts of search engine optimization does DIYSEO actually automate, keyword research, on site optimization or link building or all of them? Can you really automate those?

PG: DIYSEO helps automate the keyword research, on page optimization and link building aspects of SEO. There is always going to be work to be done by the site owner. It will never be 100% automated, hence the “do it yourself” nature of the software. It is designed to take you as far as software can take you but it will still require some sweat by the user.

SEO 2.0: Who are your real competitors, I think the Techcrunch article got it wrong mentioning “Conductor, Marin Software and Kenshoo.”

PG: We don’t think there is currently any products on the market that take the same approach as DIYSEO. We think we service a different segment of the market: the SMB space and approach it in a task based system that is unique to the market.

SEO 2.0: How do measure success for DIYSEO from the user perspective? Higher rankings, more visitors or more conversions/ROI?

PG:

Success should be measured by higher rankings that drive more qualified traffic to our client site that in turn drives more sales/conversions.

SEO 2.0: Imagine a DIYSEO user after a few weeks or months who claims that DIYSEO hasn’t helped to optimize your her or his site. How do you reply? By offering a refund?

PG: We offer users a 7 day free trial and after that it is a month to month service so the user has a very limited investment if they wish to cancel at any time.

SEO 2.0: Your last big venture Text Link Ads has been very successful until it was basically killed off over night by Google. Aren’t you afraid that Big Google will go after you again? Why or why not?

PG: DIYSEO is a 100% white hat solution. Because of that we have no reason to worry about Google and think they would agree with the SEO course we are sending clients down.

SEO 2.0: Do you have something to add I haven’t asked you about?

PG: Thanks again for the opportunity Tad!

Thank you Patrick. Good luck for you and DIYSEO! In my opinion DIYSEO is a good choice for many webmasters who don’t have enough money to pay a reputable SEO company or enough time to learn SEO by themselves.

Also the SEO arena is still full of often ludicrous “autopilot” SEO solutions that in most cases are simply a rip off or violate the Google Webmaster Guidelines.

Thus I’m glad that well known industry insiders like Patrick Gavin and Andy Hagans offer a non-bullshit solution like DIYSEO. Have you tested DIYSEO already? Tell us about it in the comments.

Related posts:

1. Software for SEO: Tools, Why & How to Track Rankings in a Personalized Search World
2. Freemium for Blogs
3. Authority and Trustrank

1. Software for SEO: Tools, Why & How to Track Rankings in a Personalized Search World
2. Freemium for Blogs
3. Authority and Trustrank

My dog by armaggesin.

You might have wondered why SEO 2.0 has been so silent over 2009. I’ve promised much but couldn’t make it all happen. That’s life.

I got a puppy in early 2009 and that has changed my life.

During the first two months I had to go on a walk each hour and still the dog’s pee or poo ended up on the floor, in many cases stinking in my room for a while before I discovered it entering the room.

On the other hand a dog makes you move.

The stationary lifestyle of a geeky SEO blogger doesn’t make much sense for your body.

A dog is the healthiest choice you can make.

My dog is now one year old and instead of having to go for a walk every hour, every two or three hours I only have to go out 3 times a day, only once during business hours. So, as you can imagine, I have more time to blog again. The blog vs dog game starts anew. In 2010 the blog will probably win.

My mind hasn’t been completely off business blogging. In September I’ve almost managed to get a full fledged sponsor for the blog. I wanted to make it more popular again before I make my final offer but failed to spare enough time to do so. Two well known SEO companies were willing to sponsor me though. Maybe I manage this year.

I’ve considered 3 other ways to finance this blog so that I can keep blogging here without having to work more for money on other projects.

1. crowdfunding/microfinance
2. additional services
3. paid content/premium features

As you might know I blog at 3 other business blogs for clients, two German ones not related to SEO (one about gadgets, one about cycling) and of course the fabulous Oxford SEO company SEOptimise. So I’m still learning more and more on how to blog for money and so that money gets earned, both for me and the clients. It works quite well for all 3 of them.

I’d like to share more insights on how profitable business blogging works in future. I know I have promised it last year already but then I still did not know yet that I would become a dog owner. In fact I had been wary of dogs for years during my youth and

at 20 I have even been bitten by a small black dog.

I didn’t get hurt but this in a way confirmed my aversion to dogs. Now guess what color and size my dog is?

A few months ago I have even started to write a post called “7 Business of Blogging Clues a Puppy Can Teach You” but never finished it due to my manifold obligations. I guess I will finish it now.

In case you ask yourself whether I will introduce one of my three blog financing models I favor #1 and #2. I won’t make you pay for straight blog content. I might find a way to offer you something you might want o pay for though. I might start by crowdfunding an ebook.

What do you think: Would you pay a few dollars for an upcoming SEO 2.0 ebook? I’d prefer to keep free or rather donation based instead of selling it afterwards for a fixed amount of money.

I can’t follow in the footsteps of SEOMoz or SEO Book though. I won’t offer tools or forums. I have to come up with my own model that will fit me personally best.

Related posts:

1. In 2009 SEO 3.0 Arrives!
2. The Right Blog at the Right Time – 1 Year SEO 2.0
3. 7 Business & Blogging Clues a Puppy Can Teach You

1. In 2009 SEO 3.0 Arrives!
2. The Right Blog at the Right Time – 1 Year SEO 2.0
3. 7 Business & Blogging Clues a Puppy Can Teach You

Over the years I’ve tried numerous ways of speeding up Firefox. Most posts on that topic make you change some hidden preferences and such. I say: That’s bullshit! I’ve never experienced much of an betterment.

There are few reasons why your Firefox is sooo damn slow and you have to tackle these issues.

I use Firefox ever since it has been called Phoenix in the 0. versions. Back then the most important reasons to switch to FF were it’s light weight architecture and low load plus fast loading both of the software as well as the pages. Nowadays FF is more of a moloch. It takes up huge resources and can make your whole system slow. It freezes and crashes often etc. Back then 20k RAM taken up by a browser was much. By now FF uses sometimes 300k and more.

Nonetheless it’s still an indispensable tool and I won’t switch to a Google spyware called Chrome or an Apple bug called Safari. I use Opera only privately, it lacks important features for business use. Don’t even consider thinking about Internet Exploder as a browser. Yesterday I once again cleaned up my Firefox as it has been almost unusable already. Now it runs smoothly again.

So forget all the bullshit about messing with hidden preferences, this is simple advice here not only for geeks on how to speed up Firefox:

Remove those useless crap extensions!
The sheer number of extensions or add ons slows your Firefox. I know, I use up to 50 of them in peak times. Remove all of those that you don’t use daily or at least a few times a week. If you still have more than 20 then remove all those who don’t make money for you or in other words those you don’t need for work. Some add ons are even broken and cause memory leaks. Monitor the memory use on your Windows Taskmanager (n case you use Linux you probably know how to monitor it ;-)
Each extension is almost like standalone software. It uses lots of resources.

Delete those stale downloads!
Why take your whole luggage with you all time when sight seeing? Remove downloads from the downloads list by clicking “clear list”. Otherwise they load each time you start your browser.

Close those hundred tabs!
Come on, you can’t use more than one tab at once. You don’t need to keep all the others for later either. So close them down once you leave. A dozen of tabs should be the maximum. otherwise you forget anyways what’s in them.

Leave that bloated Flash page!
Some people still assume that a website is a movie. Flash animations use much more memory and CPU than any other website. Using them or running them in the background means heavy load. You don’t watch Flash animations? What about YouTube, Vimeo, LastFM or Aupeo? All of them are heavy load Flash media players. In Firefox 3.5 some of them run alternatively on HTML 5 but still they most probably cause your FF to slow down. Also many web apps run on Flash.

Restart that bastard!
Did you know that Firefox still runs the processes you already closed? Closing down a tab does not mean they don’t drain your memory. You have to restart your FF after closing those 100 tabs. Otherwise you still have the load of them.

Dump Firefox 2 and 3.5!
Do you use Firefox 2 or the early versions of FF 3.5? Firefox 2 is much slower than FF3 but FF 3.5 to 3.52 has a bug (or rather feature) that makes it incredible slow at startup. It has been in Firefox 3.53.

You see, no hidden preferences voodoo needed. Just apply some common sense to speed up your Firefox. Do you know some similar ways of speeding it up? Tell me in the comment section or on Twitter. Twitter comments beyond links get fed automatically into my comments.

* CC image: Need for Speed by Amnemona.

Related posts:

1. Attention! SEO 2.0 Was Spreading Malware Yesterday
2. 7 Reasons Why Google Chrome, the New Google Browser is a Bad Idea
3. Top 10 Firefox Extensions for Search, Website Optimization and SEO I Use

1. Attention! SEO 2.0 Was Spreading Malware Yesterday
2. 7 Reasons Why Google Chrome, the New Google Browser is a Bad Idea
3. Top 10 Firefox Extensions for Search, Website Optimization and SEO I Use

What premium offer makes sense for a SEO blog or rather a SEO 2.0 one?

I recently joined Contenture, a  micropayment service that basically allows you to turn a blog or site into a freemium model publication with ease. The payments are facilitated automatically by Contenture so that users just pay once and then the money gets divided between the publications they really read.

They suggest some basic modes of distinguishing the free from the premium features of a blog. It’s suggestions like:

• removing ads for paying members
• granting access to the archives for paying members only
• commenting only for paying members only

I can’t really recommend those. All of them have some big drawbacks.

In the SEO industry we have plenty of examples of successful freemium business models. SEOmoz and SEO Book are just two of them. Both of them offer a

• membership forum
• premium tools

besides the free content and tools they offer.

Now I don’t program tools myself and to be honest I do not believe in tools. I use them myself but they are worthless even in SEO if you do not have the basic knowledge and social skills to do SEO. In SEO 2.0 we deal more with humans than with software. So how do you imagine premium offers or services in a SEO 2.0 context? Any ideas? You know, I might come up one day with some and offer them so rather tell me right away what you need.

To be clear: I don’t plan to create a membership forum any time soon. My time is very limited and I don’t think this is the business model that will work for me. Still it’s a viable option for some both the users as those offering such forums.

A question for everybody: What premium features would you want to see on SEO 2.0? Don’t make me put ads all over place so I can remove them ;-) !

Related posts:

1. Blog vs Dog 0:1
2. Does Blogging for Money Work or Not? 6 Noob Mistakes
3. SEO 2.0 Virus Spreading

1. Blog vs Dog 0:1
2. Does Blogging for Money Work or Not? 6 Noob Mistakes
3. SEO 2.0 Virus Spreading

CC: True Fans by Vanderlin.

Recently a Newsweek article by the “fake Steve Jobs” [Daniel Lyons] blogger basically denounced blogging for money or in other words depicted problogging as a myth. Well, not really, it said

you can’t make “huge amounts money” or “grow rich” by blogging.

I’m a professional blogger by now, that is I earn most of my money blogging. Although my path to become a professional blogger was rather unique and I tried to achieve that since at least 2005 it shows it’s possible. Also along the way I learned what works and what not.

The author of the Newsweek article tried to earn money blogging as if blogs were the same as main stream media. Blogging is different and requires a different business model.

There are many different business models out there that work, the old media copycat business model does not work apparently. I want to outline why. Also I will tell you what works instead.

The Newsweek author was blogging for huge non targeted traffic and monetization by Adsense: It was not enough, just pocket money.

He did 6 things wrong here:

1. Blogging for just one blog
2. Blogging all by himself
3. Blogging for huge traffic.
4. Blogging for non targeted traffic.
5. Blog Monetization by Adsense.
6. Nothing to sell/offer

He could have done better by changing one or a few things.

Blogging for just one blog
You won’t make a living by blogging for just one blog. This is a fact. You need a few blogs. Even the original Problogger has at least 3 of them.

Blogging all by yourself
Most successful professional bloggers work in teams. Either they are paid writers on group blogs by companies that pay them and/or other people blog for them either for free or for low pay.

Blogging for huge traffic
Monetization of huge traffic works best by CPM (cost per mille/ thousands page views) ads. Huge untargeted traffic means people flock to a site take a short look and leave to never come back. They especially don’t click ads. With CPM ads they don’t have to. Just the act of opening a web page and seing the ad completes the required action to get paid.
Most bloggers won’t have such huge traffic though. Most people will have to aim lower. Thousands of visitors are already many for bloggers.

Blogging for non targeted traffic
Nowadays the mass market does not work whether it’s in music, art or writing. It’s all about the niche. You have to find a niche, a following of people who really care for the subject and for you as an author, the so called 1000 true fans.

Adsense
Apart from the people who’d subscribe to your blog you need to write for Google, that is for search traffic. In case you want to use metaphors as headlines it won’t work. You have to name things. In the best case you write about products, mention their names and people searching for them find your blog and buy them through your blog. For this purpose Adsense is not the best option.
In case your blog is really crappy or spammy Adsense might work, but for real blogs it does not. The only way it might work is when people coming via Google search do NOT find what they seek and they click the ads hoping to find it there instead.

Nothing to sell/offer
Once you have your 1000 true fans you have to offer something of value to exactly these people. Be it

• consulting
• a digital product like an ebook
• a membership forum

or anything else that might be of use to them. These things might vary. It depends on your niche. You could sell videos in the health niche for instance.

This is not the whole story, just a short overview of the typical 6 noob mistakes when it comes to blogging for money. Stop acting as if blogging is TV, radio or print.

Related posts:

1. The Right Blog at the Right Time – 1 Year SEO 2.0
2. Common Blog Business Models: What Works What Not?
3. Top 10 Most Awesomely Amazing Creative & Funny Reasons Why Blogging for Social Media Sucks

1. The Right Blog at the Right Time – 1 Year SEO 2.0
2. Common Blog Business Models: What Works What Not?
3. Top 10 Most Awesomely Amazing Creative & Funny Reasons Why Blogging for Social Media Sucks

CC: Cheers 2009! by vv.

Hello Everybody in 2009!

In 2009 SEO 3.0 arrives! Just joking, SEO 2.0 stays SEO 2.0 – only the year has changed.

I’ve been away for a few days and before that

I’ve been pretty silent due to my expanding blogging business.

I offer business blogging for a new client now which is pretty much the biggest blog project of mine to date.

It combines both the organic SEO campaign with the business blog so this will be a real flagship blog. The blog is in German so that I won’t link it: I will just report how it develops and enable you to reenact the steps that will be successful and omit my mistakes.

I preached blogging as a must have for a while now so it’s only logical that I offer my clients business blogging services instead of good old SEO 1.0 link building.

By now I’m more of a business blogger or problogger than an SEO.

Meanwhile another blog project of mine turned profitable last year, that means it earns more money per month than it costs (the time I work on it included). So here also I will be able to teach you how to set up a profitable blog without much effort. Indeed it was easier than expected once I got it right.

On my SEO 2.0 blog I will add more topics I focus on:

• I noticed that Twitter turned to one of the most important platforms and over at SEOptimise I started a whole Twitter optimization series, part 3 is coming soon.
• Ethics will be a major focus in 2009.
• I will feature blog monetization techniques and the SEO 2.0 blog itself will become profitable this year.

What more do you want to see covered in 2009? Add your ideas and requests in the comment section!

What about SEO 3.0 then? Well, who knows! I’m always on the look out for innovation, maybe I’ll find out that there is more than SEO 2.0 going on out there?

Happy new year!

Related posts:

1. Blog vs Dog 0:1
2. SEO 2.0 Reality Check: What’s True What Not?
3. The Right Blog at the Right Time – 1 Year SEO 2.0

1. Blog vs Dog 0:1
2. SEO 2.0 Reality Check: What’s True What Not?
3. The Right Blog at the Right Time – 1 Year SEO 2.0

Ignore this by Reeuwijk. The main message of many designers’ websites.

Are you a graphic, industrial or web designer? Do you want your website to look good? Do you ignore, hate or forget SEO and usability? Well, I can help.

Designers often do not implement the simplest website tweaks and do not employ the easiest marketing methods that can drastically improve your performance in Google and bring you more clients.

Here are the 10 simplest website tweaks for designers, 2 of them actually off site.

1. Change your page title from your name or portfolio to what/where/who or in other words [offer city - name], example: “Graphic Design Atlanta – John Doe”, use descriptive titles for each page
2. Use CSS or image replacement like sIFR, Flir and typeface.js for navigation, headlines and links instead of pure Flash or images
3. Rename your navigation links from works, portfolio etc. to web design, print design, logo design etc. Use your name instead of about me
4. Do not display solely one image per page, nobody clicks 10 times. Make lists of 10 images per page and create a page for each image. Forget thumbs, clients who can’t afford broadband probably can’t afford design too.
5. Display your content right away, don’t make me think or click (no “enter” pages, navigation only homepages), every links costs you visitors
6. Display contact information right away and every page, a form is best, a phone number, email and IM at least
7. Display your name and/or URL on your images so that when they get redistributed the still advertise for you, best example Glennz
8. Join a community like Behance to share your work and to to spread the word
9. Submit your well designed site to CSS galleries (or mixed ones if you’re into Flash)
10. Start a blog and link out to all your friends and people you admire for their work

Stop ignoring SEO and usability both of which are two sides of the same coin. Design is not about fancy graphics it’s about findable and usable interfaces.

You want more of this? Check out my posts on URL design, CSS SEO tricks and findability crimes this post is a follow up to.

Related posts:

1. Image SEO for Photographers and Other Visual Artists
2. The 10 Worst Findability Crimes Committed by Web Designers & Developers
3. The Best Flash SEO Tutorials

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2. The 10 Worst Findability Crimes Committed by Web Designers & Developers
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