The perception of threat is often a sign of vulnerability. The more vulnerable you are, the more you will take an active stance at “protecting” yourself. Google must feel very vulnerable to what it perceives as “unethical” linking practices for cracking down so hard on them and sending out so many mixed signals aimed at confusing webmasters. Is this a sign that its algorithm is heavily dependent on link networks connecting websites to one another? Probably. This is actually no secret as Google itself mentions it in its Webmaster Guidelines.

Networking with others is essential in building one’s visibility, in the real world and online. Now that Google wants to regulate this basic aspect of human interaction, what should we take out of it? Is the online giant with such humble beginnings taking itself too seriously… to the point of now wanting to police people online, setting out guidelines as to what is acceptable and what is not?

Search engines are dependent on websites because those same websites are at the essence of their own existence. Most websites are now dependent on search engines because of the immensity of the Web, yet the necessity to attract traffic. Is this a case of one versus a bunch, but the bunch is unorganized and indecisive, while the one stands strong as a single entity?

* Jennifer Laycock, from Search Engine Guide, wrote an interesting article on this issue. Please click here to go to the article.

David Reich, Interim Executive Director (IAOC), asked me to spread the word on the Fall 2007 season of “This Week on IAOCblog.com:” 

The International Association of Online Communicators (IAOC) has just begun the Fall 2007 season of the popular educational blog show, “This Week on IAOCblog.com.” The program is free and open for PR, marketing and online communications professionals, educators and students, as well as anyone interested in discussing hot topics and trends in Internet marketing communications.

The Fall season kicked off September 24 with guest blogger Peter A. Gloor of MIT’s Sloan School of Management, who blogged about analyzing workplace communications. The season continues Oct 15 with computer communications expert Dave Taylor answering that menacing question: Is it okay to get paid to blog?

The blog show features a different guest blogger each week. Our guests are renowned professionals, educators and authors in the field of online communication.

Here is the Fall lineup:

October 15-19, 2007
GUEST: Dave Taylor, Blogsmart, Ask Dave Taylor
TOPIC: Is It Okay to Get Paid to Blog?

October 22-26, 2007
GUEST: Ted Demopoulos, Blogging for Business
TOPIC: Should CEOs Blog?

October 29-November 2, 2007
GUEST: Dianna Huff, Marcom Writer Blog
TOPIC: Writing Search Engine Friendly Copy

November 5-9, 2007
GUEST: Lois Kelly, Foghound
TOPIC: Conversational Marketing: Mood over Matter?

November 13-16, 2007
(Nov. 12 is Veteran’s Day)
GUEST: Shel Horowitz, Ethical Marketing Expert
TOPIC: Blogger’s Code of Ethics: News or Ruse?

“This Week on IAOCblog.com” takes place at http://www.iaocblog.com/. For more information, please visit this site or contact dreich@tulane.edu.

Starting ventures or projects online have their rewards and difficulties.  One of the major hurdles is to create a space for oneself amongst all the competition.  How to get noticed when there are literally billions of websites out there?

The subject of this entry is not to discuss how, but “when.”  Most projects start with a hope.  A hope to make it someday…  That hope, however, becomes reality when from “soliciting” attention, people come to you to offer partnerships or to present themselves.  Of course, your responsibility as the owner or webmaster is to always increase the visibility of your site, but as people came to me, that was the triggering point for me in telling myself… “well, this project of mine is starting to show potential.”  Potential because others, in addition to myself, are starting to see “something.”

When you receive validation, that is a real morale booster.

For those looking to diversify or considering dropping Adsense/ Yahoo’s Publisher Network, WidgetBucks came up with an interesting pay-per-click program which is supposed to produce $3 to $6 CPM versus the $2 CPM for traditional ad networks.

The account is very easy and fast to set up and the ads look pretty nice compared to the text ads normally associated with pay-per-click programs.

Microsoft is known for being one of the, if not the major player in the software world. Yet, with Google entering the field by offering products online and free of charge, that led Microsoft to readjust its business model.

vs.

From CDs that most people buy to install their programs, Microsoft will slowly shift towards “software delivered as a service.” This means that consumers will not necessarily have to pay for the cost of the software upfront. Instead, Microsoft will earn revenues through many streams, such as subscription revenues, transaction revenues (like PayPal, for instance), or ad revenues. Don’t we love those advertisers?

Microsoft Powers Up for Change, Telegraph.co.uk

BlogRush launched its service recently, allowing bloggers to cross-promote their blogs. Some bloggers gave their approval to this service while others resisted the temptation. Amongst the few that added the widget to their site are: John Chow and Shoemoney. That being said, ProBlogger opted not to display the widget. What’s the rationale for their decision?

Note: Out of the three, John Chow is the only one to use MyBlogLog.

This goes to show that “online blog promotion” also depends on the personality of the blogger. For most bloggers, blogging also has a personal component to it. Promoting a blog online therefore is not the same as promoting a website. There is not that same emphasis on staying true to your image/ vision of things when promoting a website.

Also, different people have different perspectives on things. These three bloggers must not see the same advantage or benefit in using BlogRush/ MyBlogLog.

If you are a blogger, you already know that inspiration is not always there. The easiest way to be inspired is to have passion for what you write about or to write on a subject you’re familiar with. If, for instance, you have a hobby, why not start a blog discussing your hobby? It won’t take much more of your time and will be something you enjoy doing. Don’t start a blog with the idea that it will bring you income. It won’t.

Many webmasters make the mistake of searching for which Adsense keywords pay well and starting a blog on that basis. If, for instance, each click pays on average $2, they just need a few clicks a day to pay for their stipend. The problem is that just to get a few clicks a day is not that easy, although it may sound like it. The result? Many people start blogging dreaming of earning additional income online, just to give up a few months down the road.

One of the biggest lessons I learned as a webmaster is to be patient. Nothing comes easy or fast online. This stands is stark contrast with most people’s attention span when they surf the Web. What an irony.

“To Blog or Not to Blog, That Is the (Real) Question”

Most webmasters are faced with this simple question: how to monetize their sites and keep their sites user-friendly? There are no strict guidelines regarding the amount of ads that should be displayed on a page, but following are some considerations to keep in mind:

1. The number of ads that is acceptable on a site largely depends on the quality of the site. A good site that provides useful information is normally allowed to have more ads. Why? Because somehow the site is more credible and people tend to be “fine” or “ok with it” when they see ads on credible sites.
2. The number of ads is important, but also critical is the quality of the ads displayed. Poor quality ads look spammy and tend to be very distracting. How to avoid spammy ads? Choose what ads to display carefully and only display ads that are relevant to the theme of your site. Good ads can actually form part of the content of your site. Why do so many people buy those “trendy” fashion magazines? To read the articles? No, to look at the ads. When your ads integrate so well with your content that they form part of it, you know you’ve done a good job. Along the same line, a good way to integrate ads to your site is to give a review of a product with an affiliate link at the end of the review.
3. Diversify the type of ads displayed on your site (pay-per-impression, pay-per-action, pay-per-click, text-links, you name it).
4. The number of ads that are displayed on a site should grow as the site grows. At the beginning, your main preoccupation should be building content and traffic. In any case, most of the good ad networks won’t accept sites into their program unless those sites have reached a minimum level of traffic.
5. Choose your ad units wisely and tailor your ad units to fit the theme and feel of your site.
6. Spread the ads over the page so that they are not clumped together. As surfers go through your page and scroll down, they should see the “ads landscape” changing.
7. Some ads are more spammy than others. Choose the right type of ads. I would personally avoid pop-ups.
8. It depends on your site’s theme. Some themes are more “ads friendly” than others.
9. Be creative.

To conclude, let’s face it. We need ads to keep providing good content. If some people don’t understand, tough luck… After all, the reason they have free access to all this information on the Web is mainly due to those same ads that they despise so much.

SearchEngineWatch.com has an article on how bloated pages can have negative consequences in terms of user experience, search engine rankings, and Web analytics: Surfers, Crawlers Find Bloated Pages Hard to Digest.

* Slow loading pages are like long line-ups, except that in the real world, people are more patient… going to another store actually requires them to walk. Online, however, the next website is only a click away.

Hard to believe, but Google was only started 10 years ago, by two Stanford University students. Look where it is now!! Google is considered by some as the heart of the Internet. Indeed, search engines are where people go to find information and are at the core of Internet traffic.

This brief article gives a recap of the past 10 years: Google, at Age 10, Is the Official Heart of the Internet.