Sometimes I run across an article that explains something a lot better than I ever could, so below you will find an article that fits that description perfectly. With her permission, here's an article from Jill Whalen's High Rankings newsletter. It comes from one of her readers, so it's in a Q&A format. Here it goes...make sure to consider Jill's answer before you spend a dime on SEO software...

Hi Jill,

Hope you can help!

I am coming across a lot of offers for software for SEO. A lot of them are offering different sorts of analyzers, etc. -- which I'm not sure are helpful. Is there any sort of software that is real SEO software and actually does some actual SEO work to your site?

I know this is probably the silliest question you've ever had, but I am looking for software that does this, if it exists! If you don't ask, you don't get.

Regards,

Nadeem

++Jill's Response++

Hi Nadeem,

Don't worry, this is certainly not the silliest question I've ever had; in fact, it's a fairly common one. If such software existed, it would certainly make all of our lives easier! But the truth is that it would be impossible for such software to exist, because of the very nature of SEO -- regardless of what the software vendors try to tell (sell) you!

Let me explain.

Although one would think that since search engines are using a formula for determining how to rank websites in the search results, it follows that the formula could be reverse-engineered. If that were the case, then yes, someone could invent some SEO software to do that very thing. In fact, back in the olden days of SEO -- I believe it was sometime in the mid-90s when Inktomi was being used as the backend for a few search engines -- someone had developed a specific template that could allegedly be filled in with your keywords of choice and it would basically guarantee you a high ranking!

Back then, search engines weren't even close to being as sophisticated as they are today.

Today, the formulas (or algorithms) have so many aspects to them, with each factor possibly affecting other factors, that you can't just follow any specific set of rules to gain rankings.

Let me be very clear on that -- there are no specific rules that will always provide you with a high ranking in the search engine for your keywords of choice for any given page. None. Nada. Zilch.

And that includes Google's webmaster guideline "rules" and all the stuff you read in SEO articles, as well as the information provided at conferences.
You will never find that quick-fix, automated, magic-bullet list of specific things that will work for every site/page every time. SEO is simply not black and white, and what the so-called experts tell you is generally just their own best guesses based on what they've experienced. It's exactly that experience with hundreds of different sites that enables them to fit the perfect SEO strategy to the site in question.

This was illustrated recently in a survey given to some prominent link-building consultants at Wiep.net (http://wiep.net/link-value-factors/).
Nearly every aspect of link-building that was asked about showed disagreement amongst the experts. Now, if all these experts who have been link-building for years couldn't agree on the answers, and in fact, were even sometimes contradicting each other, how the heck could there ever be any software that could do SEO?

There couldn't be and there isn't.

We've all seen software packages out there that purport to be able to SEO your pages. Do not believe them, and do not waste your money on them, unless you have extra to waste.

Along with being a scientific endeavor, SEO is largely a creative endeavor, and that's where the software fails. Most of SEO is done through creative
means. First, knowing exactly what the specific site in question needs.
Second, thinking of a unique and interesting strategy that makes sense for those needs. And third, understanding how to implement that strategy.

Every site is different. That's the key point to remember.

This is not to say that there are no SEO tools out there that can automate
some of the repetitive SEO tasks -- because there are plenty of those. And
there are certainly some that can help evaluate a current site and help with some advanced research. But you'd be living in a dream world if you believe that there could ever be a software program that could be set to SEO a site without any knowledge or effort on your part.

Hope this helps!

Jill

CEO and founder of High Rankings®, Jill Whalen has been performing search engine optimization since 1995 and is the host of the free High Rankings Advisor search engine marketing newsletter, author of “The Nitty-gritty of Writing for the Search Engines" and founder/administrator of the popular High Rankings Search Engine Optimization Forum. In 2006, Jill co-founded SEMNE, a local search engine marketing networking organization for people and companies in New England.

Posted by James Omdahl at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I’m not sure if this goes for all verticals or just insurance, but our friends over at Yahoo! are having a really tough time filtering Xanga spam sites out of their search results. Here’s an example of our site in a Xanga sandwich:

The funny thing is that it looks like Xanga has already deleted the spam insurance blogs and thrown up a page to explain the blog is gone, and Yahoo! has indexed the deleted page. Funnily, the pages still remain at the top of the results at Yahoo! (in the case above the Xanga spam blog is #1 for the term “home insurance”).

If there is anyone out there from Xanga, do us all a favor and slap a “noindex” meta tag on your “Site Status Message” pages. And if you are a Yahoo!, don’t you think it’s time to get this cleared up? If I was a normal searcher and I saw results like this, I would think your search engine was broken.

Maybe easier said than done, but with the way things have been going at Yahoo! recently, you’d think they couldn’t afford search quality issues like this.

Posted by James Omdahl at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Prepare for a self congratulatory post folks…

I’m excited to announce that the InsureMe Affiliate Blog (yes, this blog) was chosen as one of the top 10 affiliate blogs of 2007 by AffGoo’s Durk Price. Having the chance to meet Durk a while back and getting to know a bit about him, I’ve got to say that inclusion on his list is quite an honor.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you may already be a reader of the other blogs on Durk’s list. If not, here is the top ten list so you can add all of these affiliate related blogs to your feed reader (I know there are a couple on the list that I hadn’t seen before):

1. Jangro.com
2. Affiliate Summit Blog
3. Carsten Cumbrowski (ReveNews)
4. CooperativeAffiliates.com
5. Avantlink
6. Mike Allan
7. 5 Star Affiliate Programs
8. AssociatePrograms.com
9. This blog (YAY!)
10. AffGoo

Thanks again for including us Durk!

Posted by James Omdahl at 04:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Julie Mason put together a great article that outlines the importance of using landing pages for the online marketing of both products and services. Since I know affiliates tend to have little time for reading this time of year, I figured the article may be more appealing and easy to scan as a list, so I took the liberty of converting it.

Here they are, Julie Mason’s 9 tips for better converting landing pages:

1. Every time you create a landing page, consider its purpose


2. Every landing page should give your prospect a reason to convert, enable them to do so, and resolve any concerns a prospect may have


3. Landing pages should provide relevant, focused, and detailed information above the fold (no need to scroll to see it)


4. Always consider who your landing page’s audience is – create multiple pages for different demographics if necessary


5. Include a prominent call to action on every page


6. Design is important – make sure look and feel is consistent across all marketing channels


7. Promote trust by building professional looking sites


8. Remember that your headline and page title are two of the most important elements of a landing page


9. Never be satisfied – always be testing new and improved versions of your landing page’s headline, call to action, and design

To read Julie’s full article which includes some interesting research findings, go here.

Posted by James Omdahl at 01:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Word came out today that Google is putting together a potentially new offering called Google Knol, which may be a lot like a Google’s version of Squidoo, except with zero penalties and more link juice flowing through it.

Danny Sullivan has the scoop over at Search Engine Land if you want the good, the bad and the ugly of the project. And as Danny points out, Google is not sure if it will ever introduce Google Knol to the world, as it’s just a concept being tested internally right now.

One thing I will say is if you’re an affiliate who’s willing to try out new platforms, and you’re not afraid to build content, you might want to keep a close eye on Knol. Early adopters (and beta testers) could profit handsomely from it.

Posted by James Omdahl at 03:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I’ve got to admit, I’m a big fan of brainstorming. Whether it’s with a group or alone somewhere in a coffee shop, I like trying to think up new ideas and solutions to problems. I’m a firm believer that in the affiliate world (and the business world in general) is shaped by the ideas of people who were willing to take the time to think about doing something new in a innovative and exciting way.

One of the biggest challenges most of us face is getting outside of the day-to-day minutia to take the time to unlock the more creative portions of our brains. Even if we’re in a brainstorming session, you can find ourselves trapped in short-term, small picture thinking and can’t get the innovative thoughts flowing.

Luckily there are some tools that are made to help you get your brain working towards innovative ideas. One that I really like is Oblique Strategies, a tool that was developed by musician Brian Eno.

Oblique Strategies started as a set of cards that had cryptic sayings printed on them. The idea is that when you are stuck in a brainstorm you can flip over a card and use the saying (for example “twist the spine” or “go slowly all the way round the outside”) to interpret your problem or ideas. While some of the cards may be a little too out there for your brainstorm, like “infinitesimal gradations,” some of them can get new thoughts flowing in ways you would have never imagined.

The cool thing about Oblique Strategies is that you can buy the cards if you want, but you can also just go to the Oblique Strategies website and get the same thing there. Also, if you’re a Mac user, some kind soul has created an Oblique Strategies dashboard widget (my favorite).

Thanks to Web Worker Daily for pointing out this tool, as well as some others you can read about here.

Posted by James Omdahl at 03:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There has been some chatter over the last few days regarding an announcement made by Matt Cutts at the WebmasterWorld conference regarding how Google has changed the way they are handling subdomains in the search results. The change that was made basically makes it so subdomains of a site (for example auto.insureme.com) would be handled similarly to subdirectories (for example insureme.com/auto) in the search results – meaning there can be only two listing per site showing up in the search results for both subdomains and subdirectories.

I’m guessing this has a lot to do with some online marketers using subdomains to dominate particular search results, which in Google’s eyes, reduces search quality. Makes sense, but it brings up this question – if you are an affiliate trying to rank well in natural search, when should you use subdomains or subdirectories (a.k.a. subfolders) or just build out separate domains?

Based off of the following quote from ex-Googler Vanessa Fox, it sounds like we might have an answer:

If you have completely separate topics, consider creating separate domains. In most cases, you’ll want to stick with a single domain, but there are times when multiple domains make sense. I’m thinking of starting a social media blog, and I’ll likely start it as its own domain rather than as a subfolder of my existing one.

Generally use subfolders to organize your content, as it’s much easier and is treated in a very similar fashion by Google as subdomains. Try to create a flat subfolder structure and don’t create a complicated hierarchy that goes down too many levels.

Use subdomains when you have very disparate content that you feel searchers would feel relevant. For instance, videos are very different from articles, so it may make sence to separate those into subdomains. If you have a travel site, it may make sense to use subdomains to categorize cities. Someone searching for a particular resort may want to see the various locations that reort is located in.

Vanessa does an amazing job digging into this topic in her Search Engine Land column…make sure you check it out.

Posted by James Omdahl at 01:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

If you are a full time affiliate who works alone, there is a good chance you still have a team of people that you work with on a regular basis. Your team most likely includes insurance agents, an attorney, a banker and an accountant – all people who you must rely on to keep your independent affiliate lifestyle running smoothly.

But if you’re one of the lucky people who is just now going from a regular 9 to 5 gig and moving into the affiliate world, you might not know how to select the professional team you will need to make your affiliate dream a reality.

Well, you’re in luck - the Web Worker Daily blog has a good post that shows you how to select the best professional team available. Check it out and start getting your all star team lined up.

Posted by James Omdahl at 05:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wiep.net has just come out with the results of a survey that polled top search engine marketers to find out what linking, on page, on domain, and dampening factors have the most weight with the search engines. The report is well worth the time for anyone who does SEO.

The top factors for each category were:

• Link Factors: Anchor text
• On Page Factors: Page authority (in inbound links)
• On Domain Factors: Domain authority (in quality of backlinks)
• Dampening Factors: Robots.txt excluded page

Aside from ranking and variance numbers for the factors, the survey also includes comments from the various search experts that adds a lot of insight to what they think works and doesn’t work. I know I came up with at least one optimization tactic to add to my to-do list from digging through the comments.

One thing I found interesting was that once you got past the main factors listed above, there were a lot of differing opinions about what factors mattered and how. It’s a good reminder that all SEO tactics work better for some sites than others.

One word of warning – if you decide to download the .PDF of the report, please remember that the background is black, and that is how it will print. I’m pretty sure I burned through a toner cartridge printing it out. (Who makes a .PDF with a black background anyway? CRAZY!)

[Thanks to Barry for the heads up on this one.]

Posted by James Omdahl at 03:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I don’t get Forrester. I mean, they describe themselves as a “market research company that provides pragmatic and forward-thinking advice to global leaders in business and technology.” But then you get a blog post from one of their top marketing analysts that says this:

When I kicked off the research for Forrester's 5 -year Interactive Marketing Forecast this past August, I had originally intended to also include affiliate marketing in the projections. I got a great run down on current trends in the space from Steve Denton at Linkshare and John Ardis and Dave Osmon from Commission Junction. However, in the end I ended up cutting affiliate out of the overall sizing…

However, I continue to get a lot of inquiries about affiliate marketing. So, it seems a relevant area to address through some dedicated research. The inquiries I get are often around how to set up an affiliate network, what pricing to expect from vendors, how to manage affiliate marketing alongside other CPC or CPA-types of marketing (like search or behaviorally-targeted ads). But I'd love you to help me gauge the interest in this area. What are the primary questions you are asking about affiliate marketing? Is it a hot or cold area for your company? I'm crafting my final Q1 research agenda and would like to think about how/whether to include affiliate marketing as a doc topic. Many thanks! (see the full post here).

To me, if I am a company that is all about “forward-thinking advice for global leaders” I would think at some point before the year 2008 they would have produced at least one report focused on affiliate marketing. Actually, scratch that, I would expect that they would have produced some research before the year 2004.

I’ve been on a couple calls with Forrester, and when it comes to online marketing, they always seem to be up to date on the news but a year or more behind the trends. I kind of understand it, since Forrester analysts are researchers, not people actually involved in the online marketing business, but c’mon, just thinking about researching affiliate marketing now? I bet there are a number of Forrester clients who are missing out on millions in revenue because they are waiting for Forrester to validate affiliate marketing as a channel in the online marketing mix (although I could be overestimating Forrester's influence).

It makes me wonder why anyone looking for online marketing advice would spend thousands for their service. You can get better information from keeping an eye on Search Engine Land.

End of rant...everyone have a good weekend.

Posted by James Omdahl at 01:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Eye tracking test tend to be too expensive for most affiliate marketers to afford, but the insights gained from them can often mean the difference between abandonment and conversion. Thankfully, some of the people who can afford to run eye-tracking tests have been kind enough to share 23 best practices they discovered in their test. They include:

• Text attracts attention before graphics
• Type size influences viewing behavior
• Readers ignore banners
• Shorter paragraphs perform better than long ones
• Ads placed next to the best content are seen more often
• Bigger images get more attention
• Clean, clear faces in images attract more eye fixation

For more detail on these and 16 more eye tracking tips, check out the full post from the Virtual Hosting Blog.

[Thanks to Seth for pointing this out]

Posted by James Omdahl at 01:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As of today, Askville, Amazon’s question and answer service, has been officially launched…or at least relaunched as Vallywag reports. While there are questions of whether its slightly incentivized business model (you can earn Amazon gift cards for giving answers) will be enough to unseat Yahoo! as the king of questions and answers, the real question for affiliates is whether they can make money by dropping affiliate links in Askville answers.

If you ask me, I’d say yes…so long as Askville can build up its users, and as long as people are asking questions about stuff related to the products that an affiliate promotes.

A search for “insurance” at Askville shows that there are insurance related questions being asked, so I bet some affiliate traffic could be drawn from that. My real question is who will be the first person to start dropping InsureMe affiliate links into Askville answers?

Anybody willing to give it a shot? If so, let me know how it goes.

Posted by James Omdahl at 03:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For most of us, the end of the year is a great time to look ahead and plan for the future. Although January first is really just another day when it comes down to it, we all look forward to our annual new start, and the opportunities the New Year brings.

But as we all know, what happens in the past usually dictate how things will develop in the future (unless you’re a financial planner, who are required by law to disagree with that statement), and as the overused George Santayana quote goes, those of us who forget our past are destined to repeat it.

With that in mind I thought today would be a good day to point out Andrew Goodman’s post about how fat the search industry has come since 2003. Andrew, who is currently attending Search Engine Strategies Chicago, is reflecting on the themes, sessions and topics of the Search Engine Strategies conference of 2003, and comparing it to what’s happening in 2007.

Read Andrew’s post for a trip down memory lane that includes mention of directory submissions, the recognition of blogs, and getting to know the (nails on chalk board) portals.

Posted by James Omdahl at 01:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)