Beanstalk's SEO News Blog

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

Today on Webcology (a show hosted by Jim Hedger and myself on WebmasterRadio.fm every Thursday at 2PM EST) Jim and I discussed the issue of net neutrality legislation with SaveTheInternet's Timothy Carr.

Jim and I had the pleasure of having Timothy on our show previously and it was great to have him on again. When we first had hom on the show both Jim and I were solidly in the net neutrality camp. When I was invited to speak at SES San Jose last week Jim and I took opposing sides in what turned into a debate on the issue. After doing a ton of research into it I found my leaning towards the anti-net neutrality side and so it was a great show with some tough questions and some enlightening info from Tim.

Of course, a lot of you reading this are wondering what a ton of people at the conference were wondering ... What In The World Is Net Neutrality ?!!?

To answer this questions I spent a few days and wrote an article answering just that.

The article, titled "What In The World Is Net Neutrality?" is (in my opinion at least) a good read to understand the core of the issue but I would highly recommend to educate yourself further. There are links in the article to some great resources and of course, you can listen to the Webmaster Radio podcast here.

Labels: jim hedger, net neutrality, timothy carr, webmaster radio

Once again I've been given the great opportunity to speak at SES San Jose. This SES is by far my favorite. New York is great, don't get me wrong but there's something about being a geek in Silicon Valley that's just awesome.

This year I'll be speaking on an extremely important topic and that's Net Neutrality. And best of all, I'll be on stage with my WebmasterRadio.fm co-host Jim Hedger from Metamend and being moderated by the lovely Cindy Krum from Blue Moon Works. You can read more about the session here (Note: link removed as the page no longer exists).

On top of that I'll be meeting up with two very interesting clients and having a meeting with Richard Stokes from AdGooroo. Hopefully I can sneak an interview with him in there.

I hope to see many of you there. If you are - feel free to say hi. if I'm at the Google Dance - you might have to say "hi" again the next day. ;)

Labels: cindy krum, jim hedger, net neutrality, ses sj 2008, webmaster radio

The fine folks over at SaveTheInternet.com are at it again. Thanks to Rep. Ed Markey the Net Neutrality issue is back on the table. For those of you who don't know the net neutrality issue, you can ignore this unless you have a website or an Internet connection.

I'm not going to get into a lesson on net neutrality - it's a huge topic that's been better covered by others. Here are some links to important information on it:

• Wikipedia
• Google
• Webmaster Radio

If you agree that net neutrality is an important issue and show be the law (read: if your website and/or Internet access are important to you) then please sign the petition on the SaveTheInternet.com site here.

Labels: google, net neutrality, savetheinternet, webmaster radio, wikipedia

Today of Webmaster Radio Jim Hedger and I discussed (for the entire show) the topic of Net Neutrality and why we need to keep equal access to the Internet available for all. We interviewed Timothy Carr, Campaign Director for SaveTheInternet.com. Tim helped us cover why Net Neutrality is an important issue and he provides us all with methods to be heard and make sure the Telcos don't have their way. Following Tim was Senator Dorgan who introduced the 'Internet Freedom Preservation Act' into congress.

It was likely our best show to date and covers an extremely important topic. Anyone with a website should give it a listen and then get their voices heard. You can download the show on the Webmaster Radio site here.

Labels: net neutrality, savetheinternet, senator dorgan, timothy carr, webmaster radio

I had the great pleasure of chatting with Senator Dorgan yesterday for a few minutes. The content of the interview will be aired tomorrow on my weekly Webmaster Radio radio show with co-host Jim Hedger. Mr. Dorgan introduced the 'Internet Freedom Preservation Act' into congress to help preserve net neutrality.

On the show tomorrow we will also be speaking with Craig Aaron from SaveTheInternet.com, a website and coalition dedicated to preserving net neutrality. It'll be a great show.

Now I'm going to admit my bias, I support net neutrality but with that I have to give fair time to each side so here we have clips of Senator Dorgan (supports net neutrality) and Senator Stevens (against). You be the judge:

Senator Dorgan speaking in support of net neutrality:


Senator Stevens speaking against net neutrality:


See ... I might be biased but I feel it's only fair to give time for each side to voice their opinions. ;)

Labels: net neutrality, senator dorgan, ted stevens

As our regular readers will know, I host a show every Thursday with Jim Hedger on Webmaster Radio. Today we discussed a few alternative engines that I like including:

• Everyclick.com - they give 50% of all their prifits to charity and are the fastest growing engine in the UK.
• WhoToTalkTo.com - an interesting take on job search engines that require people looking for job to post one they know about before they can search.
• Wize.com - a very interesting shopping engine with a great product ranking system.
• Cranky.com - A search engine for people 50-100. This is the only engine where you'll find "jobs after retirement" as the #2 most searched phrase and "sex" at #10.

We then discussed the new proposed Internet Freedom Preservation Act which helps protect net neutrality. This is important news for anyone with a website. This cross-party act seeks to protect us from having the major Telcos offer competitive advantages to those with bigger wallets regarding how all those 1's and 0's move around the 'net.

And Then Mark Joyner

It was after our news segment that Jim and I had the privalege of chatting with Mark Joyner, Internet Marketing guru and, as we found out, all-round good guy.

While I expected and prepped for an interview based more on the functional aspects of Internet Marketing and his rise to the top, we spent more time discussing how to better your life and the lives of those around you, him military past and some new offering he's providing to help him fund his philanthropic endeavors.

His new course (free) offers a variety of tips on how to be more effective. As I discovered in watching the first couple lessons: a lot of it istuff you do or should know - you've just learned to ignore the obvious (I know, I do too).

A lot of what he says makes a lot of sense and while every person's opinion is just that (their opinion) the free courses are definitely worth the time to watch (and hey, at that price all you stand to lose is an hour of your life and that's if you watch them all).

Here are some links from My. Joyner:

• Mark's blog
• Simplocity 101
  (note, there are some paid options but you get some good courses on the free ones)

So it was a big show. I would highly recommend giving it a listen (it will be posted on the Webmaster Radio site sometime tomorrow).

As an aside:

And in other news, there has been a Google update for existing sites (sites with PR0 will not find increases). This appears to be an updating of internal pages more than a full-blown update. We have not noticed much in the way of ranking changes.

Labels: cranky, everyclick, internet freedom preservation act, jim hedger, mark joyner, net neutrality, simpleology, simplology 101, whototalkto, wize

On my daily journey through some top webmaster resources I stumbled upon an article feature over at WebProNews on net neutrality. It's odd that I didn't think to cover this in a previous post as I did touch on it on Webmaster Radio last week. The issue at hand was the neutrality of the Internet which, while the Republicans held Congress the fate of the democracy of the Internet and the way it functions was being threatened. Republican Senator Ted Stevens lead the charge though, as WebPro author Jason Miller so delicately reminded us, he has no real understanding of the way the Internet function referring to it as,"a series of tubes." And as Jon Stewart would point out, "that's OK, he's only the one in charge of regulating it." (See the video below if you're up for a chuckle)

The issue at hand is the placing of control over the Internet and how all those 1's and 0's are handled into the hands of the major telco's such as AT&T. What this would effectively do is allow them to charge for preferential treatment to those who could pay for it giving enormous advantages to major corporations and reducing those who can't afford to pay the extra to settle for slower access to their websites from visitors. Hosting companies should fear this as should small companies that couldn't afford to pay the extra fees (and we all know how "fair" telco's are when they hold monopolies right?)

There is still a chance that the bill could be pushed through in the time it takes for the Democrats to takeover in the Congress and Senate however this may be difficult as any opposing Republicans (and there were some) are more likely to vote with their conscience rather than tow the party line.

While I try keep away from politics in the blog (though I love it as a hobby) I'm truly grateful that the Internet just might maintain its democratic structure. We might not always like what we find there but when we do, it's almost worth the 300 spam emails we had to weed through to find it ;)

The article by Jason Miller on the issue is definitely worth a read and can be found here. You can also find a number of interesting information on the subject through Google News here. And now, enjoy the video. :)

Labels: net neutrality, ted stevens, webpronews