Search engine optimization and marketing is generally classified into two groups, white hat and black hat.

White Hat

What hat is that which abides by the generally accepted rules and regulations that search engines have created.  This generally includes original content and a clear indication of whether or not something has been paid for (reviews, links, etc).

Black Hat

Black hat is that which does whatever it wants regardless of what search engines say.  Black hats generally include spam, cloaking, and other techniques to mislead and trick either users, search engines or both.

Generally people think that white hats are good and black hats are bad.  While that is a common misconception, it’s not true.  Since there are no laws regulating the search industry, what black hats are doing is not abiding by a companies rules.

Imagine the black hat situation like this, if Pepsi called you tomorrow and told you to stop drinking Coca-Cola products or else you can’t drink Pepsi any longer, what would you do?  You would most likely get angry that Pepsi thinks they have a right to tell you what to do, and then start drinking whatever you feel like.

Search engine marketing is the same way.  Google (a company) tells people what to do (use NoFollow for paid links, don’t sell links or reviews, don’t cloak, give people exactly what they’re looking for, etc) and if you don’t do what they say, you’re not allowed to drink their Pepsi (or be in their search engine).

Sounds a little crazy doesn’t it.  Keep in mind that in this industry, Google has the only drink that tastes good, everything else is crap.  That means that if you don’t play by the rules, and Google finds out, you’re forced to rely on traffic from other sources, those crappy sources.

White hats on the other hand pump out quality content for most of their lives and usually don’t make the kind of money that black hats can make.  Black hats are constantly working because if they don’t work they stop making money.  White hat sites keep making money for years to come because they have high quality (think Fresno) content and trusted links.

So in my mind black hats aren’t bad, they’re just different.  If I had the technical skills and ability to write code who knows which side of the fence I’d be on.

Why Is PageRank Irrelevant?

As an internet marketer and someone living in Fresno I get asked this question a lot. Many people know that pagerank (Google‘s visual indication of how many incoming links a site has, and how valuable the site is) is irrelevant and outdated, but why?

Personally the only reason I care about Page Rank is because other people care about page rank. To me, the most important part of owning a website is making money. If I’m make $2,000 per month, who cares about the PR? If I’m making $2 per month and have a PageRank of 6, does it really matter what my page rank is?

PageRank is completely irrelevant because although Google would like us to believe that it is how they rank pages, I have plenty of websites with 0 or low PR (1-3) that rank in the top 3 for their targeted key terms. Since they rank so well, why do they have a lower PR than the sites below them? The answer is that page rank is irrelevant.

I’m not the only one who believes PR is dead, check out these posts from other people “in the know” (even though they don’t live in Fresno.

Search Engine Journal – PageRank is dead and NOFOLLOW will NOT Save it. NoFollow has only made it worse.

SearchNewz – Google Page Rank Is Dead

Robert Scoble – Google Page Rank is dead and has been for quite some time … I think 2006 is quite some time, especially for internet time.

Real Estate Marketing Blog – Page Rank is Dead. Another one, I couldn’t agree with more.

Brandon Hopkins – Page Rank Isn’t About Links. It’s true, page rank isn’t about links, it’s about Google’s silly idea that people are easily manipulated…maybe that idea isn’t so silly.

ZeroMillion – Google Page Rank Is Dead. Indeed, PR is completely dead and has been since 2006.

StuntDubl – PageRank is Not Dead… It’s Just Stupid. We’ll just have to agree to agree. Page Rank is stupid…And dead.

Writing may not be one of your favorite past times, but writing can definitely make money online. There are about 10 different easy ways to make money with writing, but the first place to start is by actually writing. Find a topic that you like writing about and write 10 articles (300+ words per article) about different aspects of that subject.

For instance, if you love writing about cars, your 10 articles could be topics like, top selling cars of 2007, most reliable cars, 5 ways to save money on auto repairs, etc.

Once you have those 10 articles there are a lot of different ways to make money. In the next few articles I’ll give you a few ways to make money by writing. This doesn’t have to be done in Fresno, the beauty of making money online, is that no matter where you live, Fresno, Clovis, or Alaska, you can still be part of this!

Part One: Make Money By Selling Your Articles

Part Two: Make Money With a Website of Your Own

Part Three: Make Money With Associated Content

Part Four: Make Money With Writing Partnerships

Many times when buying and selling websites (not all about Fresno, but some), I don’t like to publicize the fact that I’m selling a website.  Most of the time I want to sell the website under the radar, meaning, you have to know where to look to even know the website is for sale.

I prefer the transactions to take place either via email or through PM in a forum.  In the case of email and PM, there is nothing visible noting that a particular website is for sale.  One of the reasons I like to hide the fact that a domain or website is for sale is because if the sale doesn’t go through, a future buyer can find the listing or thread (even in Google Cache) that shows the site for sale and then know the old price and information.

If the traffic has declined or the price has gone up, the potential buyer will want to know why.  Instead of starting with a clean slate, you start with at least one strike against you.

So if you’re going to sell a website in a forum, use your signature.  Say something like, “Website for Sale, $125 monthly income, 5000 uniques, 400 indexed pages, PM for more info.”

You’ll get a lot of people asking about the site, but more importantly you take the conversation immediately to a location (PM or email) that search engines and future buyers can’t find!

If you’re looking to increase incoming links to your site, commenting on Jagdu – Blog about Fresno, CA is a great way to do it.  We only approve related comments so make sure your comments contributes to the content and theme of the site and you’ll get a free link back to your site!

It’s easy to do and the box is already checked, go ahead, try it, you can’t beat the cost!

Jagdu Fresno is a blog about Fresno, California and the surrounding communities including Clovis, Madera, Visalia, Merced, Chowchilla, Bakersfield, Reedley, Sanger and Parlier.  I know, I didn’t really mean Parlier, but I couldn’t think of any other bigger cities.

We have a variety of topics including Fresno jobs, Fresno Homes for sale, Fresno State stuff, and more.

Improv is the art of spontaneous comedy.  Imagine a completely unscripted version of Saturday Night Live.  The general idea is that you have an idea and take that and make it funny.  That isn’t at all what we’re talking about with Improv Everywhere, but it’s still hilarious.

Improve Everywhere is a comedy team of volunteers that stage large pranks usually on large groups of people.  They have a few scenes that are just fantastic like this one where the repeated the same scene 12 times in a Starbucks.  My favorite is the fake Ben Folds Five last night in town.  In this scene one of the guys pretends he is Ben Folds from Ben Folds Five and has believers all over a bar.

This has nothing to do with Fresno, but after you watch some of their videos you’ll be glad you did!

One of the best methods of getting traffic to your website is through social marketing.  Social marketing includes using websites like StumbleUpon and Technorati.

Since you want to not only be on those sites, but be listed at the top of the search and static rankings, that takes time and purpose.  Technorati is about incoming links, if you can get more links you can do better on Technorati.  Roseate Marketing has another way to get links, link to each other.  If you link to their site, they’ll link back to you and everyone will benefit.

A Search Engine Weblog has a few other ideas including my favorite, be interesting.  If your blog is interesting, people will link to it because you have a lot of great information.  Linkrain suggests you buy blog posts.  As most people know that has been a bad idea for about a year or more.  Google has ways of tracking paid posts so unless you’re buying under the radar links, be prepared to get Google Slapped.  Memwg suggests you claim your blog, always a good idea, but also to ping properly.  If you’re going to ping a site, make sure you’ve already linked to them.  That will place a trackback on their site, another link according to Technorati.

There you go, good luck increasing that Technorati rank!

While there are many companies all over the internet that provide website design, there is much to be said about a company that provides website design and is local to Fresno.  Fresno website design is one way to get your company name on the internet and also find customers that you never would have found with traditional offline marketing methods.

With current website design companies in Fresno, you can usually expect valid XHTML code and a clean layout.  When you find a company in Fresno for website design, make sure they know all of your specifications and know what you’re looking for when you start with your web design.

I got a truckload of about 10 used Gateway computers towers.
233MHz or 266MHz Pentium IIs and all come with hard drive, 64meg or more memory, CDROM, Floppy drive, 10/100 Network card, Sound card, USB, and Video Card. No Keyboard, mouse, or monitor included.

I have some 17″ monitors for $20 each if you need one.

All computers are working and come with no warranty. I installed these computers in a elementary school over 5 years ago. The specs on each computer varies.

Hard drive will comes with existing Windows 98se or 2000 operating system.

Joe (559) 438-7580

If you currently have a domain name with Brinkster and want to transfer to another registrar, good luck.

First of all, you can’t email support. You have to enter live chat. Secondly, you can’t do it through your control panel. You only can do it through live chat. Thirdly, they ask for your password!

Sending my password in clear text through a third party company does not seem like a good idea. I’d rather send it in an email than through LivePerson’s chat server.

My problem was the email address listed on the Whois record was an address that I no longer had access to. I changed my email address in the Brinkster Control Panel, but they apparently won’t send it to that address, only the address listed in the Whois. Of course that was the address that I didn’t have access to.

Brinkster buys their domains through Wild West Domains and said:

Douglas: If the contact address is changed the domain will be locked for 60 days.

Vince (ME): i thought that only applied if the domain is transferred

Douglas: If the name server are changed, or if the contact information is updated.

Vince: not true according to icann

Vince: “Yes, you may change the registrar sponsoring your domain name (beginning 60 days after initial registration). “

Vince: http://www.icann.org/faq/#changereg

Vince: that is your policy

Douglas: That is ICANN and it does apply to us. But there is additional requirement place by the register.

Douglas: They state that if the contact information is updated, the domain is locked for 60 days.

Douglas: This is to prevent a domain from being “hi-jacked”.

Vince: where?

Douglas: Once it is transferred out there is nothing that can be done.

Vince: still waiting…

Vince: all I see is this page

Vince: http://www.icann.org/transfers/policy-12jul04.htm

Vince: section 3

Douglas: I am looking for the TOS of the domain register.

Vince: 8. A domain name is in the first 60 days of an initial registration period.

Vince: your TOS says nothing about the 60 days

Vince: http://www.brinkster.com/AboutUs/UTOS.aspx

Douglas: It says that you are bind by the terms of the register, we are not the register.

Douglas: Do you want to to make the changes.

Vince: I’ve read both of Wild West Domains TOS pages

Vince: http://www.wildwestdomains.com/gdshop/legal_agreements/show_doc.asp?plvid=1387&pageid=domain_nc

Vince: http://www.wildwestdomains.com/gdshop/legal_agreements/show_doc.asp?prog_id=wildwestdomains&pageid=TRANSFER_SA

Vince: neither say that

Douglas: Do you want me to make the change?

Vince: the only thing it says is this:

Vince: The domain name may not be transferred to another registrar within 60 days of the completion of the change of Registrant transaction (the “Transfer Prohibition Period”).

At that exact moment I received an email with the EPP code that I needed to transfer the domain from Brinkster to Namecheap!  Strange, since my email address wasn’t listed anywhere on the whois, and the domain is locked…right.  This should also work if you need to transfer your domain to Godaddy, Yahoo, or any other registrar (not register Douglas).

Sounds like someone didn’t know what they were talking about and was completely outwitted and out researched (thanks Google).

For the record, doesn’t every company have to play by ICANN’s rules?  Saying that their rules don’t apply to your company in particular is against their agreements right?

In the end, avoid Brinkster and you’ll be fine.

One of my favorite websites to check before I buy a website is the Wayback Machine. This internet spider takes and records websites at different intervals throughout time. It then archives that version of the website for all to see. The reason I like the Wayback Machine is that it gives me a glimpse into what the website used to look like before it was with the current owner. One little secret, if the website still looks identical to what the internet archiver show for a few years ago it’s probably a good idea to buy the website!

You can tell that Jagdu used to be an article directory before I shut that down.  Now we’re back and definitely improved.  Take a look around and leave a comment!

Everyone has that stuff that they bought at one time with the intention of using a lot more than they actually do.  You know, those bicycles in the garage that haven’t seen the open road in three years.  What about the treadmill that you have had shoved under the bed since last New Year’s when you only kept your resolution for 7 days?  Time to clean out your life and garage!

I’m as guilty as you, but that’s no excuse for not cleaning out the clutter in our lives.  Consider this, most people have at least $500 worth of stuff they don’t actually use in their house that could be sold!  Now is a great time to sell some stuff on eBay or my personal favorite, Craigslist.

If you don’t believe me that you have stuff that you could sell that people actually want, open up eBay and Craigslist and give it a chance.  Type into the search box that item you don’t think anyone would want.  Mine is an old graphing calculator.  Craigslist shows two graphing calculators, one of them is my model and is listed at $85!  eBay shows 599 current graphing calculator auctions from $.99 to $700!

That was just one item I have but haven’t used in 10 years.

Writers block is a common term in the writing and publishing community. Bloggers block is basically the same premise just with blogging instead of writing (paper and pencil book style). Since blogging is generally a little easier than writing a full book overcoming bloggers block is equally a little easier.

For me, it happens after about 10-12 posts per day. I don’t know what else I want to write about and begin to slow down. Instead of my posts taking 10 minutes they begin taking 20-30 minutes each. When your goal is 20 posts per day, you don’t have time for 30 minutes per post!

Here are a few great tips from Liz about overcoming writers block.

• Get out of your head and away from your computer. Ideas form and grow in our subconscious — quit thinking. The harder we try to access ideas the less likely we are to get through.
• Get moving. Physical movement — walking, taking a shower, unpacking boxes, cleaning the refrigerator — gets our thinking mildly distracted by tasks we know how to do. That releases our subconscious — the proverbial back burner — to use the information we already have to think something new.
• Get some input. Call a friend. Read a book. Go to a movie. Immerse yourself in something rich with thoughts, story, and color. Leave the quest for ideas back with your computer.
• Get some perspective. Go back to read your archives, even if your blog is only one month old. You’ll see how you’ve grown and while you’re reading, you’ll remember what sort of ideas draw you in.
• Get some sleep. Take a 20-minute power nap. Don’t sleep longer. It’s not an escape. It’s a task. Before you close your eyes, ask yourself to have a passel of ideas when you awake.

Great ideas and should definitely help. There are about a million other ways to overcome writers block and everyone seems to have great input on the subject of overcoming writers block.

Good luck with writers block.  Don’t forget to do things you normally don’t do, just as Liz suggested!

Well, I have a goal for this site. Although the goal is small, it will be achieved without spending a dime. My first goal is to have this site generate 100 page views per day. That goal seems easy, but with a new blog, not spending any money on branding or links, it makes it a little more difficult. This is a fun goal because it encourages me to comment on other websites and send trackbacks which are good for my site (content) and their site (links).

In the end, the goal of this website is to generate revenue. You’ve got to start somewhere and without traffic you’ll never make any money. Starting with 100 page views and keep that goal through the end of the year will be difficult with all of the family activities coming up. Maybe I should plan to schedule some posts to keep people coming back. After only two days I have 10 rss subscribers and almost 150 unique visitors. Not bad for just two days to a brand new site!

Any suggestions?

Lorelle has a great post (also old) that talks about ideal posting time of the day.  For me, I’m going for posts any time of the day I can write them.  I figure it’s best to get the content online asap for Google and searchers.  The quicker it’s online, the quicker it gets indexed.  The quicker my unique content gets indexed the faster it shows up in the search engine ranking pages (SERPs) and the quicker I start making money from it.

For me, the ideal time is ASAP.

Lorelle has a different idea and I must say, my ideas aren’t based on any specific research like Lorelle’s are, so take that for what it is.

Lorelle VanFossen says, ”

I have several blogs on various and diverse topics, so you would expect their traffic patterns to be different. They were not. They were fairly consistent across all of the blogs. This is what I learned.

• The highest traffic in a month comes in the first and third weeks of a month, with more hits during the end half of a month.
• The highest traffic days of the week are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
• The highest traffic in an average day comes during 0800 – 1400 PST (1300 – 1800 GMT).
• Most comments are posted between 0900 – 1400 PST (1400 – 1800 GMT).
• People are more likely to comment on a post on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.”

That is great to know, although I think I’ll stick with my “get it online as quick as possible schedule”, I think many people can benefit from slowing down and taking a look at when your having traffic highs and coordinating that with your posting schedule.