Beanstalk's SEO News Blog

Go ahead, admit it. When you wake up - if one of your major tasks for the day is link building you're likely to hit the Snooze button, pull the covers over your head and procrastinate for just a few more minutes. We all know it's important - but I don't think it's anyone's favorite task.

Well to make your life easier (and maybe the link building a bit more interesting) I've found an interesting article over on Search Engine Land by Julie Joyce on just this subject. After polling some link builders she's written up an article outlining 6 methods for finding good quality links. Of course there are more than 6 but when I read the list - it was a good refresher on some things I knew but "forgot" and hit on a couple things that I hadn't thought of in the way she wrote about them. I didn't have high expectations when I saw "yet another link building article" I was pleasantly surprise to find this one. It only takes a few minutes to read and it well worth the time.

You'll find the article over on the Search Engine Land site here and while you're there - you might just want to peek at some of the other great content they have. It's like Danny Sullivan knows his stuff or something. :) (for those of you who aren't SEO's - Danny has been reporting on search engines since the first one was composed of mammoths scrawled on caves and helped start Search Engine Land and the always enjoyable SMX events)

Labels: link building, seo article

The lastest article by Beanstalk SEO has been published today. Written by Matt Tuens, the article outlines why your company needs a blog. It might seem pretty obvious but if you don't have one - it's a must read.

I won't bbother outlining the points from the article in this post. The article is only 1031 words - a pretty easy read. Watch for the next articles from Matt where he'll be sharing tactics for creating successful blog posts.

You can read his current article here and his others at http://www.beanstalk-inc.com/articles/matt-tuens.html.

Labels: blog, matt tuens, seo article

Today Jim Hedger and I hosted Webcology on WebmasterRadio.fm. Every week we have a great time covering the latest happenings in the search engine and search marketing world but today, rather than amicably discussing the issues - we battled it out over Net Neutrality.

Net Neutrality is a subject that both Jim and I have enjoyed debating over the years. We first did so in front of an audience back at SES San Jose 2008. Jim takes the pro-Net Neutrality side and I take the anti-net neutrality side of the debate. In truth - both of us fall somewhere in the middle but a debate is sure a lot more entertaining to watch than two fence sitters discussing their ambiguous feelings. :)

When I first entered the debate I was pro-Net Neutrality. Now I tend to lean towards an anti-Net Neutrality perspective but with an understanding of the need for consumer protection. The same consumer protection that exists currently and seems to be doing a fine job.

You can listen to the argument by downloading the podcast from the Webmaster Radio site at http://www2.webmasterradio.fm/webcology/2009/fcc-backs-net-neutrality/.

We also discussed the hacking of Jim's Twitter account and how to safeguard your information. Seriously - if it can happen to Jim, a 13 year veteran on the Internet, then it can happen to anyone.

For those of you who head over to the show - enjoy and be sure to listen next Thursday at 2PM EST (11AM Pacific) for another great show. We might even have a great guest or two. :)

Labels: jim hedger, net neutrality, twitter, webmaster radio

I've always been one to give a thumbs up to SEO's who do good work. Well today I'm giving the thumbs up based on clever link baiting and viral marketing as opposed to SEO (thought they may be fine SEO's ... I have no idea) to Creare. They did an excellent video for the song, "The SEO Song". Very well done and my hat's off to them.

So when you've got a few minutes to kill enjoy. :)

Labels: seo video

As our regular readers may know though may not have noticed, I try very hard to avoid comments with political leanings. In our office we have staff from a full spectrum of opinion on the subject and our clients as well (most of whom reside outside of Canada and thus have a completely different political environment). Today I have to make an exception to this rule though it's not to support or denounce any particular political party or leaning - it's to oppose a tax that will not affect the vast majority of our clients but which will affect those whose geographical location is closest - our fellow British Columbians.

The current administration here in British Columbia is pushing forward with their plans to introduce the well-named (from a marketing standpoint) but detrimental HST (Harmonized Sales Tax). Now I'm sure this tax has it's perks (like generating more revenue) but is essence it will take all products and services that the national GST (Goods and Services Tax) and apply a provincial tax to it.

The reason this affects us and our clients is that we would now have to apply a additional tax (provincial) to our service only to those clients located in the same province. Basically, this "harmony" will cost residents of British Columbia an additional 7% towards SEO services as well as a variety of other items - many of which are essential, either for life or for business.

I'll end this "rant" here as it has such a very fixed target but invite all residents of this fine province to sign the petition to stop the HST located at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/stoptheHST/.

Labels: hst

As expected, this are fluctuations occurring in Google's results with different rankings coming in depending on the datacenter hit. it appears that they are testing out some additions to the algorithm based on Caffeine results. things should settle down by Monday or Tuesday is all goes as it generally historically does.

Hang on to your hats and hope the update treats you well. :)

For those of you not yet away - you can view your results on Google's Caffeine server at http://www2.sandbox.google.com/.

Labels: google update

For those of you who regularly visit our blog or are our client - you'll be aware that for a couple days, our toll free number was not working. It was apparently going to take up to a week to get back online but mentioning that it's actually faster to change to a new provider for telephone services got the matter dealt with in just a few hours.

We whole-heartedly apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused and we thank you for your patience.

In lighter news ...

This day be International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Grab ye a pint of meed and rowdy mate and get ta celebratin' the day. For those among ye who be not sure how this be done ... put yer eyes ta this ...

Labels: talk like a pirate day, telus bc phone

As a special notice to our clients and visitors that our toll free number is down. Rather than calling 877-370-9750 you'll have to call 250-370-9750 temporarily.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Labels: telus bc phone

Best Of The Web (my personal favorite paid directory) is offering a 20% discount on submissions to their directory and other services for the month of September.

Since DMOZ has become all but useless, Best of the Web (the oldest running directory) has become the most valuable and through directory on the web. For the price of a listing (less than $240 for a lifetime listing with this discount) it's higher on our list than even the Yahoo! directory which is, of course, a solid directory as well though a bit overpriced for a lot of people's needs and budget.

To submit to BOTW and get the discount you simply need to find the correct category and use the discount code SINCE94.

You can view their directory and/or submit your site at http://www.botw.org/.

Labels: botw