PORTAL PARTNER PRESS April 2003

========April 03, 2003===================
Subject: PR AD Network Newsletter 4-3-03

Date: Thursday, April 03, 2003 11:48 AM

From: bobking bobking@searchking.com



THE PR AD NETWORK PRESS
This newsletter is published for the sole purpose of educating, entertaining and exchanging information with those who believe webmasters have as much right to legally profit from their own content as those who use that content without benefit of contract or compensation. It is sent only to those who are either advertisers, inventory partners or like-minded interested parties of the PR Ad Network and those people are known only to the publisher and staff of this newsletter and will not be disclosed to any third party for any reason.
We are not anti-google or anti anything. We are simply very PRO- Ecommerce.

Date 4-2-03
IN THIS ISSUE
• My take on the short term future of SEO
• Ask Bob

MY TAKE ON THE SHORT TERM FUTURE OF SEO
First, let me start by saying that what I tell you now is nothing more than my own opinion. I have no control over anything any search service, (other than SearchKing of course), may do at any time. What I tell you is visible to me today could very possibly be gone by the time you go look for yourself. What works today may stop working tomorrow. Always remember that we all have the right to choose what and whom to believe and the smart business person will develop a sense of just the right mix of reading, listening and considering the words of others, but will put their faith in experience. Their own experience! My best advice is to accept that there may be those who will gladly tell you where they think the gold lies, but it is always up to you to do the digging.
There was a thread recently a popular webmaster forum where a person known as googleguy haunts. The thread was about PR for sale. It went to 13 pages long with more and more people accepting that PR is a currency and it is was made that way by Google. Once the tone seemed to be shifting to a little of a disgruntled with Google feel, the management of that site decided it had no further use and closed it.
Like always, there is more to be learned from what is NOT being said as opposed to what is. If you notice GG's response was nothing more than a thinly veiled threat of possible impending doom, (without saying what he was specifically referring to), and a plea for help with a spam report. He is telling you one thing above all others. Google has a real problem!
PageRank is Google's crowning glory. It is the essence of their marketing hype. It is the foundation of their oft-touted algorithm. It is the backbone of everything they claim to be.
It is also their Achilles' heel. PageRank, as an algorithm, is very good, but it is not perfect. Google seems bent on not having to admit that. In many ways, they simply can not admit that.
With each new filter, with each new algorithm or policy change, they are telling everyone just how important PR is. Naturally, google feels like Page Rank belongs to them and they want to feel like they are smart enough to control it. Maybe they are smart enough to control PR, but they have created a market for a product that does not belong to them and that opens the door to free enterprise. As I've said so many times before, if there is a market for something and it is not illegal to provide a service to satisfy that market, that is free enterprise and there will be those who will attempt to legally capitalize on that market and there isn't anything Google, or anyone else, can do to stop it.
Link popularity does not belong to Google. The system for measuring that link popularity may belong to Google, (personally I believe that could be challenged as well), but you measuring the thing does not make that thing belong to you. Link popularity from your web site is yours to do with what you will. Google may be able to penalize you for doing something they don't like, but that does not alter the truth of the statement or the concept and penalizing you for doing anything legal with your own property is a mistake on their part and they will, at some point, be forced to deal with the fact and the consequences of the actions and decisions they make in an attempt to control the legal practices of others.
Obviously, I can be called a spammer and everything I have worked to build be brought into question because I had the audacity to speak those beliefs, but history is proving me right as we speak. Just because it is the internet, the laws of supply and demand are not changed, only hidden behind a veil of technology and that can only go so far.

SHAMELESS PLUG
Control your own domains! Running your own server is much cheaper and faster if you maintain more than just a few domains. More importantly, your server, your domains under your control. You decide how to set up MX records, designate sub-domains, manage re-directs and scripts. Get secure before you lose your placements or PR. Get control of your domains and your clients' domains now!
You can run your own hot rod server from just $299 per month with 10 unique IP#'s from 2 class C's. We can manage and maintain it for you for just $149
For details, call Ronnie K at 1-888-956-7672 and get secure today!


Now, more on topic, PR is more valuable than ever, but NOT just the number in the toolbar. The RIGHT PR is the key. The question has been asked over and over why a lower PR page can outrank a higher PR page in the Google search results. That answer is now easily visible to those who care to look and see.
I told you all several months ago that off site criteria was getting to be far more important than on site in regards to top search engine placement. Off site criteria, for all intents and purposes, IS the SEO of 2003 and beyond.
I'm telling you now, as I told you then, don't take my word for it. Prove it to yourself. Do a search for just about any keyword and then look through the top 10 sites for the number of times that keyword/phrase shows up on the page. Do it with all top ten sites. The smart SEO will quickly realize that the title on your page isn't nearly as important as the title on the page you want a link from.
Now, search the backlinks for the same sites and see the difference in how many references to the keyword/phrase there are on those pages and see for yourself what sites gets what site placed under what keyword. >From this day forward, SEO has much more to do with PR planning, procuring and maintenance, than all the meta tags and keyword density for on-site optimizing put together.
The next clue is checking the backlinks for how many of those links come from domains that are not affiliated. That does not mean domains that sell something as an affiliate of someone else. That means sites that have different domain names that can be easily associated with each other. As usual, when googleguy announced on WMW that PR was no longer being passed from expired domains, he was telling us a lot more than just that Google was trying to improve their search results.
He was telling us that
• , anyone who was in the business of brokering, finding or selling/leasing expired domains was having to face the possibility of extinction virtually overnight at Google's whim. Not that I'm defending the selling of expired domains. I agree that most were of low quality and the purpose of buying these domains was questionable at best. However, not all expired domain purchases were dubious and none of them were illegal. Google has shown before how easily they can accept the consequences of collateral damage.
• , They were telling us that they are now able to adjust the value of PR based on Whois records. All of us who own, or control multiple domains, now know that the PR value of crosslinking our own domains is not long for this world.
THEY WERE NOT TELLING ANYONE THAT PR IS NOT THAT IMPORTANT!! They are telling us that PR from AFFILIATED sites is not that important but that PR still is the key.
As always, you are free to believe whatever you like, but my advice is to stop hunting for PR and start hunting for "the right" PR. An on topic PR is worth more than a general topic PR. Also, you don't need hundreds or thousands of links. In fact that is a very easy way for anyone to flag your site. The quantity of links has virtually nothing to do with anything.
Need more money from your site? Like to get some paid ads on your site to help defray the expense of doing net marketing? If you have a PR 4 or higher, start looking for available ad money from people who need the link from your topic.
The days of begging people for links is fast coming to an end. PR Ad Network pretty much put the last nail in that coffin. The open marketplace of links is here and it is here to stay until such time as Google either loses dominant market share of finds something to replace PR. I believe that text links have more value than the vast majority of affiliate programs out there. Not many affiliate programs can pay you a minimum of $500 a month for 10 text ads! I predict over the next few months you are going to see everyone and their dog offering every kind of PR generation program you can imagine and the more Google tries to control it, the deeper the hole they will dig themselves into.
I find the whole thing more than a little ironic. All I ever wanted from the very beginning was a way that webmasters could expect to be compensated for their efforts if they built a quality niche directory. Google has done more to make that happen than I ever did. As I have said so many times in the past, they are creating the very beast they claim to be fighting.
Life is good!

SHAMELESS PLUG #2
Secure hosting for your promotional domains. Unique Class C IP#. We help you with your domain registration. Set up on an anonymous server. Unique DNS. Unique MX records. All the whistles and bells with 150 megs of space and 10 gigs of burstable bandwidth.
$25 a month or $199 a year
For details call Ronda at 1-888-956-7672 and get secure today!

ASK BOB
Some of you probably knew of me before the PR Ad Network through my Ask Bob columns I wrote for Terry Dean's Web Gold and The Internet Marketing Chronicles as well as few other lesser known ezines and newsletters. I wrote those columns for almost 4 years, (still do write one for Terry Dean), until I just no longer had the time to devote to it.
Basically, I was kind of a Dear Abbey of SEO. People would write in with their questions, they would be sent to me, I would answer them and those answers would get published in the next issue.
There seems to be as many questions about PR these days as there ever was about SEO in general so in spite of the fact that I don't relish the idea of giving up yet more of my time, I do think there is a need.
I can't guarantee you that I can answer every question. I can't guarantee that I will always tell you what you want to hear. Hell, I can't even guarantee you that anything I would tell you would even be right. What I will guarantee is that I will tell you the truth. At least the truth as I see it.
You can ask me anything you like by sending your questions to bobking@searchking.com and putting PR Question in the subject line. I will never disclose your identity unless you give me explicit permission to do so. I will post the question as you send it to me without any information about you personally. I will then answer your question as best I can, or ask the readership of this newsletter, in the next issue of the PR Ad Network Press.
Remember though, no matter what I say, if you act on my advice or answers and it doesn't do what you expected or even if it has some negative effects, I accept no responsibility whatsoever. BUT, if you do something on my advice or recommendation and it works, I expect to be given full and unconditional credit.
That should do it for now. Thanks for taking the time and thanks for your support.
See You at the Top Bob

SHAMELESS PLUG #3
Did you know that we build and maintain promotional domains, hosted on our servers or yours, for as little as $689 set up for up to 5 pages, including any and all secure pages or scripts, and maintain the site for as little as $249 per month. This includes a complete objective and strategy based on your own goals that YOU approve and at least two pr 5's to the site to get your toolbar glowing.
Our maintenance covers up to two hours a month for anything you need. We will build keyword targeted interior pages. We will consult with you in regards to marketing strategy. We will secure and maintain links until we reach our PR objectives. We will research your keywords and/or your competition. We will manage your PPC campaigns. Most importantly, we will monitor and review with you monthly, the logs and stats to ensure that we hit our numbers and MAKE MONEY with the site.
We have multiple hot rod servers, full time programmers on staff and 7 full time employees. We can install cgi scripts. We can locate, evaluate and install off-the-shelf software for you. We can even write custom scripts. When it comes to internet marketing and website development, we are a one-stop shopping source! Also, we pay $200 for referrals and offer a reseller plan.
Details ? You know who to call.

==========Vol. 5, Iss. 5 April 21, 2003=======================
Subject: PR AD Network Newsletter 4-21-03

Date: Monday, April 21, 2003 6:01 PM

From: bobking bobking@searchking.com



**********************************************************************
Portal Partner Press Vol. 5, Iss. 5, April 18, 2003
**********************************************************************
Inside this issue:

• Editor's Message (Lynne Scott)
• Product Review: Turbo Seek
• Interview with Debra Paynter, pt 1

**********************************************************************

Editor's Message
I hope everyone had a blessed Easter, or Pass Over, or whichever holiday you celebrated this weekend, and that nobody has over-dosed on the droppings left by that rotten Easter Bunny.
Housekeeping: There have been many requests to restart the Portal Partner Chat. A simple php chat room has been installed at http://portalpartnerpress.com/chat/phpMyChat.php3 This room will be available for scheduled chat on Thursdays, at 7 pm central time.
Thanks to Portal Partner Planet Doom for suggesting this week's product review. You can find him hanging around the Portal Network Forums, where he moderates several topics or in the forums on his sci-fi portal, Planet Doom. ( http://planetdoomportal.searchking.com )
As promised last week, today we start a series of articles and interviews on the subject of niche portals, building and running them, making money with them, using them to build a related business, and a whole slew of related topics. 
**********************************************************************
Portal Network Forums: pop in and say hello, read up on what's happening, tell us what you think, or just lurk and learn http://www.searchking.com/skboards/ikonboard.cgi 
**********************************************************************

Product Review: Turbo Seek
• FocalMedia.net
• Price: Shareware License: $169
• Minimum Requirements
• System: Unix / Linux
• Access: Telnet or SSH, CGI bin, sendmail
• Language: Perl 5.002 or better
• Optional: MySQL
• (source: http://www.focalmedia.net )
Turbo Seek appears to be a big step up from other directory programs in its price range, with features usually not found until you reach the over $500 level of software pricing. It includes banner rotation software, the ability to generate html directory pages, and a fairly complex online admin panel.
Documentation for Turbo Seek is relatively easy to follow, with full tutorials available on the FocalMedia.net website. Although Telnet or SSH access are specified in the system requirements for this program, documentation and tutorials don't mention anything where these are absolute musts. It appears that full ftp access is sufficient. If there are problems with the install, Turbo Seek includes an online troubleshooter that can help get any bugs resolved.
According to FocalMedia.net, Turbo Seek is a set of 40 complex scripts that will allow you to build a complete Yahoo-like directory / search engine. Online documentation supports this contention, and installation should be relatively straight forward for anyone comfortable with ftp and setting file permissions. For those who prefer to take over after the install is done, FocalMedia.net offers full installation for an additional fee of $25. Registration (payment for the shareware license) includes free email support, patches and upgrades for the life of the version registered, 1 hour of template customization, etc.
Details at: http://www.focalmedia.net/index_tb.html
**********************************************************************
Lynne Scott is a graphic designer and partner in Optical Resolution, a Winnipeg, MB design house. She runs the Graphic Design Portal ( http://www.graphic-design-portal.com ), Eye on Winnipeg, and KidsEdLinks.com. as well as serving as editor for the PPP. You can reach her at graphicdesign@opticalresolution.com
**********************************************************************
Portal Partner Ad
Webmasterbids - Online Auction for Banner Ads
http://www.webmasterbids.com
**********************************************************************

Debra Paynter on Niche Portals
**********************************************************************
This week we talk to someone very well known in webmaster circles, who has some strong opinions on the subject of niche portals, or hubs as she likes to call them. Many of you will be familiar with paynt, from the Webmaster World forums ( http://www.webmasterworld.com ), where she moderates the 'link development' and 'content and copywriting' topics. Read on for part one of an interesting interview with Debra Paynter, of Strategic Web Ventures ( http://www.strategicwebventures.com ).
PPP: You have been known to express strong opinions on the subject of niche portals. Do you believe they make a contribution to the internet? What is that contribution?
D.P.: First, it doesn't surprise me that I have a reputation for strong opinions. I've often commented at Webmasterworld on my obsession with niche portals. Generally I format them in terms of a hub but the fundamental principles I express are the basically the same. The question of whether I believe niche portals contribute, of course [they do]. There are several reasons, each a full article, so I'll attempt to summarize starting with the obvious enormity of the web. Combine that with more people, searching daily for specific information. As good as Google is for bringing up relevant results, with the growing impact of new visitors to the web looking for information, interpreting those needs takes more than what a list of even a hundred sites in a row can offer. With the vying for placement in those positions daily captured through intense strategizing, the actual searcher is often confused, and a comfortable niche portal or topical hub can be seen as a safe harbor in the storm of information.
If you give me that point then I'll suggest even a great search engine like Google respects the fact and results are littered with examples of hubs and niche portals. I believe on multiple levels [that] niche portals serve a vital purpose on the web. Of course, that's my take from the searcher and the engine perspective. What also attracts me are the promotional benefits for the marketer, the corporate benefits for the multifaceted business enterprise, not forgetting the educational opportunities for presenting focused information. Anyone entering the web today must consider the pros and cons of announcing their online presence with their own portal, if only to organize their own operations.
A niche portal can be a tool. Any organization can use it to manage their empire, from its feeble beginnings on through domination. At some point in time maybe all the ideas will be used up, but for now the way I see it I guess I don't understand controversy surrounding niche portal development. It seems to me this can be the core to build from, with even the simplest niches. There are so many untapped opportunities on the web today. Soon everyone will need a website, like we need business cards at the very least. If you are a part of a niche then it makes sense you'll be draw to that when your time comes to jump online.
One of the ultimate appeals of the web is community building. A niche portal is the perfect foundation to build a community around. Many communities start from a hobby heavy with bookmarks. A normal progression from that is to develop a small directory. Add communication to the mix and you have the start of a community. Is community building a contribution which niche portals can make to the web? I believe so.
PPP: Given the current trend to centralization of search technology and massive general databases, how do you see the future for small niche portals?
D.P: Like wants to draw together, a possible key to niche portal success. That and how you organize information. Niche portals don't succeed because of the software or the bells and whistles; often they survive in spite of it. What a massive general database can't offer is the specialization, unless they channel information, which, in a sense, creates a niche portal within a mega structure. Even with that we will always find a place for a niche within a niche.
A beautiful thing about niche portals is that you can have several within an industry, run by different businesses or hobbyists. They can dance around each other in that same industry and still find success. It takes creativity, certainly, to find your place in an industry where niche portals abound. Take the financial industry or the health/medical online industries. Probably those, more than any besides hobby sites (who have had it figured out forever), make use of the niche portal as a means within their strategy. The Real Estate industry tries but it's ugly, really pitiful and needs a good shaking clean up.
What is the future of a niche portal? I think it's like the two car garage. Everyone will have one. I see them as the standard not the future. The future is here now. This newsletter will be popular, for standard operating information about website development. There is room for discussion.
**********************************************************************
Be sure to read next week's issue for part 2 of this interview, and your opportunity to talk back to paynt.
**********************************************************************
**********************************************************************
Feedback: your comments, suggestions, beefs, bouquets, etc. are very welcome. **********************************************************************
Ask Bob: send your questions about search engine positioning, community building, etc. 
**********************************************************************

This publication is edited and distributed by Optical Resolution http://www.opticalresolution.com

=========April 21, 2003=========================
Subject: PR AD Network Newsletter 4-21-03

Date: Monday, April 21, 2003 6:01 PM

From: bobking bobking@searchking.com



**********************************************************************
Portal Partner Press Vol. 5, Iss. 5, April 18, 2003
**********************************************************************
Inside this issue:

Editor's Message (Lynne Scott)
Subject: PR AD Network Newsletter 4-21-03
Date: Monday, April 21, 2003 6:01 PM
From: bobking bobking@searchking.com



**********************************************************************
Portal Partner Press Vol. 5, Iss. 5, April 18, 2003
**********************************************************************
Inside this issue:

• Editor's Message (Lynne Scott)
• Product Review: Turbo Seek
• Interview with Debra Paynter, pt 1

**********************************************************************

Editor's Message
I hope everyone had a blessed Easter, or Pass Over, or whichever holiday you celebrated this weekend, and that nobody has over-dosed on the droppings left by that rotten Easter Bunny.
Housekeeping: There have been many requests to restart the Portal Partner Chat. A simple php chat room has been installed at http://portalpartnerpress.com/chat/phpMyChat.php3 This room will be available for scheduled chat on Thursdays, at 7 pm central time.
Thanks to Portal Partner Planet Doom for suggesting this week's product review. You can find him hanging around the Portal Network Forums, where he moderates several topics or in the forums on his sci-fi portal, Planet Doom. ( http://planetdoomportal.searchking.com )
As promised last week, today we start a series of articles and interviews on the subject of niche portals, building and running them, making money with them, using them to build a related business, and a whole slew of related topics. 
**********************************************************************
Portal Network Forums: pop in and say hello, read up on what's happening, tell us what you think, or just lurk and learn 
**********************************************************************

Product Review: Turbo Seek
• FocalMedia.net
• Price: Shareware License: $169
• Minimum Requirements
• System: Unix / Linux
• Access: Telnet or SSH, CGI bin, sendmail
• Language: Perl 5.002 or better
• Optional: MySQL
• (source: http://www.focalmedia.net )
Turbo Seek appears to be a big step up from other directory programs in its price range, with features usually not found until you reach the over $500 level of software pricing. It includes banner rotation software, the ability to generate html directory pages, and a fairly complex online admin panel.
Documentation for Turbo Seek is relatively easy to follow, with full tutorials available on the FocalMedia.net website. Although Telnet or SSH access are specified in the system requirements for this program, documentation and tutorials don't mention anything where these are absolute musts. It appears that full ftp access is sufficient. If there are problems with the install, Turbo Seek includes an online troubleshooter that can help get any bugs resolved.
According to FocalMedia.net, Turbo Seek is a set of 40 complex scripts that will allow you to build a complete Yahoo-like directory / search engine. Online documentation supports this contention, and installation should be relatively straight forward for anyone comfortable with ftp and setting file permissions. For those who prefer to take over after the install is done, FocalMedia.net offers full installation for an additional fee of $25. Registration (payment for the shareware license) includes free email support, patches and upgrades for the life of the version registered, 1 hour of template customization, etc.
Details at: http://www.focalmedia.net/index_tb.html
**********************************************************************
Lynne Scott is a graphic designer and partner in Optical Resolution, a Winnipeg, MB design house. She runs the Graphic Design Portal ( http://www.graphic-design-portal.com ), Eye on Winnipeg, and KidsEdLinks.com. as well as serving as editor for the PPP. You can reach her at graphicdesign@opticalresolution.com
**********************************************************************
Portal Partner Ad
Webmasterbids - Online Auction for Banner Ads
http://www.webmasterbids.com
**********************************************************************

Debra Paynter on Niche Portals
**********************************************************************
This week we talk to someone very well known in webmaster circles, who has some strong opinions on the subject of niche portals, or hubs as she likes to call them. Many of you will be familiar with paynt, from the Webmaster World forums ( http://www.webmasterworld.com ), where she moderates the 'link development' and 'content and copywriting' topics. Read on for part one of an interesting interview with Debra Paynter, of Strategic Web Ventures ( http://www.strategicwebventures.com ).
PPP: You have been known to express strong opinions on the subject of niche portals. Do you believe they make a contribution to the internet? What is that contribution?
D.P.: First, it doesn't surprise me that I have a reputation for strong opinions. I've often commented at Webmasterworld on my obsession with niche portals. Generally I format them in terms of a hub but the fundamental principles I express are the basically the same. The question of whether I believe niche portals contribute, of course [they do]. There are several reasons, each a full article, so I'll attempt to summarize starting with the obvious enormity of the web. Combine that with more people, searching daily for specific information. As good as Google is for bringing up relevant results, with the growing impact of new visitors to the web looking for information, interpreting those needs takes more than what a list of even a hundred sites in a row can offer. With the vying for placement in those positions daily captured through intense strategizing, the actual searcher is often confused, and a comfortable niche portal or topical hub can be seen as a safe harbor in the storm of information.
If you give me that point then I'll suggest even a great search engine like Google respects the fact and results are littered with examples of hubs and niche portals. I believe on multiple levels [that] niche portals serve a vital purpose on the web. Of course, that's my take from the searcher and the engine perspective. What also attracts me are the promotional benefits for the marketer, the corporate benefits for the multifaceted business enterprise, not forgetting the educational opportunities for presenting focused information. Anyone entering the web today must consider the pros and cons of announcing their online presence with their own portal, if only to organize their own operations.
A niche portal can be a tool. Any organization can use it to manage their empire, from its feeble beginnings on through domination. At some point in time maybe all the ideas will be used up, but for now the way I see it I guess I don't understand controversy surrounding niche portal development. It seems to me this can be the core to build from, with even the simplest niches. There are so many untapped opportunities on the web today. Soon everyone will need a website, like we need business cards at the very least. If you are a part of a niche then it makes sense you'll be draw to that when your time comes to jump online.
One of the ultimate appeals of the web is community building. A niche portal is the perfect foundation to build a community around. Many communities start from a hobby heavy with bookmarks. A normal progression from that is to develop a small directory. Add communication to the mix and you have the start of a community. Is community building a contribution which niche portals can make to the web? I believe so.
PPP: Given the current trend to centralization of search technology and massive general databases, how do you see the future for small niche portals?
D.P: Like wants to draw together, a possible key to niche portal success. That and how you organize information. Niche portals don't succeed because of the software or the bells and whistles; often they survive in spite of it. What a massive general database can't offer is the specialization, unless they channel information, which, in a sense, creates a niche portal within a mega structure. Even with that we will always find a place for a niche within a niche.
A beautiful thing about niche portals is that you can have several within an industry, run by different businesses or hobbyists. They can dance around each other in that same industry and still find success. It takes creativity, certainly, to find your place in an industry where niche portals abound. Take the financial industry or the health/medical online industries. Probably those, more than any besides hobby sites (who have had it figured out forever), make use of the niche portal as a means within their strategy. The Real Estate industry tries but it's ugly, really pitiful and needs a good shaking clean up.
What is the future of a niche portal? I think it's like the two car garage. Everyone will have one. I see them as the standard not the future. The future is here now. This newsletter will be popular, for standard operating information about website development. There is room for discussion.
**********************************************************************
Be sure to read next week's issue for part 2 of this interview, and your opportunity to talk back to paynt.
**********************************************************************

=====April 29, 2003=======
Sent: Subject: PR AD Network Press

Date: Tuesday, April 29, 2003 3:23 PM

From: bobking bobking@searchking.com

THE PR AD NETWORK PRESS
This newsletter is published for the sole purpose of educating, entertaining and exchanging information with those who believe webmasters have as much right to legally profit from their own content as those who use that content without benefit of contract or compensation. It is sent only to those who are either advertisers, inventory partners or like-minded interested parties of the PR Ad Network and those people are known only to the publisher and staff of this newsletter and will not be disclosed to any third party for any reason. We are not anti-google or anti anything. We are simply very pro ecommerce.
*************************************************************************
Goodbye April '03 Issue
Date 4-28-03
IN THIS ISSUE
• The Trouble with PR 9's
• Embedded Links
• Good News

*******************************************************************************************************************************

THE TROUBLE WITH PR 9'S
• There aren't enough of them. 
In our daily net excursions around the PR jungle, we are not seeing any new PR 9's being awarded. This would indicate that the ones that are there are kind of grandfathered in. Google can't just reduce the PR of these sites without having to face a possible devastating backlash due to extreme collateral damage. Try to imagine the number of sites that would be effected if just 50 PR 9's all of a sudden went to 8's. I don't recall where right now, but I do remember reading something in a newsletter about three years ago, (long before the toolbar), about every website on the planet being no more than 16 clicks away from anywhere. At first I was very skeptical until I realized it's kind of like the 6 degrees of separation thing. No matter how you look at it, we are all connected by links. You may not link to me but I bet a dollar to do-nut, that you could get to me from your site within 16 clicks or less. Probably a lot less. 
The point is that very few sites, VERY FEW, have a tremendous amount of perceived power. With so few PR 9's, identifying them, scrutinizing them and watching them closely is very easy. 
If I can't afford it or don't understand how to use it, obviously anyone that can afford it or does understand it must be a spammer and I should snitch. 
You've heard the old adage, "those that can do and those that can't teach"?. 
In the world of website promotion, a new axiom has arisen. Those that can do and those that can't run to WebMasterWorld to snitch to google guy. 
It is too easy for so called SEO's to find PR9's and if they can't afford the links or don't have the marketing skills to know what a return on investment means, then obviously, anyone who can afford it or does understand it, must be spamming. By telling google about competitors, they don't have to accept that they aren't a marketer or an SEO at all, they can keep on telling themselves they are "ethical SEO's" just trying to help google. What a joke! I have little respect for those who claim that people in the same business they are in, are not as ethical as they are and I don't care how many forums they moderate or how many "tips" newsletters they write. Anyone charging a client money for placement and snitching on someone else doing the exact same thing is a hypocrite. Anyone claiming to be promoting their own site and their idea of success is to get everyone above them busted as a spammer is an loser. Just my opinion. 
Google seems to like this type of character as they acknowledge those who make these stupid posts. Does anyone really think google has respect for these people? That does not alter the fact that they will act on some of the information passed on by these people. As I said, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to find the 9's. You don't have to know anything about the difference between java and php. You don't have to know anything about reverse engineering anything. All you have to know is how to post in a forum and you have the power to alter perception. That is validation and that makes it OK to tattle.
• Who do these PR 9's think they are? $5,000 a month for any reason, including PR, without having the targeted traffic to justify it is absurd. Who set these prices???? It isn't hard to see how this over-valued asset came to be. Everyone wants to get rich the fastest, easiest way possible. If a PR 7 is good, then an 8 is better and a 9 must be GREAT! The fact is, the fastest, easiest way to get rich is to develop an objective and a strategy, set your goal and hit your numbers. It actually has nothing to do with PR other than just a means to an end. 
When we first launched the PR Ad Network, we established a value on those links of $600 a month because we felt that was a fair price for the inventory and the advertiser alike. Quickly, greed set in and it wasn't long before a one-eyed monkey could easily spot the sites that had gone crazy. One, now famous, site with a PR9 had over 80 links at a rate of $2,000 a month on the front page alone. 
I'm the first to admit that $160,000 a month is going to tempt just about anybody short of Jesus himself, but that doesn't change the fact that over 80 unrelated links on your front page is just a little stand-outish in anybody's book. As soon as it became the hot topic among the "if you're on top of me you must be a spammer" gang, google had little choice but to do something. 
That is not to say that those 9's aren't still EXTREMELY valuable. For those of you who like wasting your days, (and nights), reverse engineering backlinks and then checking the sites to find target keywords and then checking the SERPS for placement, you will find the same as I did, there is still a lot of power in placement for those PR9's. Almost every link was an 8 just two weeks ago. Now they are 6's and a few 7's. Coincidence? 
When checking the backlinks and discounting the interior links, maybe the one 9 is what got them the PR of 6. Also, and more importantly, check the target keywords in the anchor text and the metas of the target site and then check out the placements. Right there on the first page! I'm not saying every webmaster paying for the link picked the right keywords for anchor text, but all the ones I checked were right where you'd think they would be. When you are talking about keywords like New Orleans hotel reservation, maybe 2 grand is a bargain. 
Remember kids, the harder google tries to dominate and control PR links, the more they validate the importance of PR in the SERPS ! 
Who do these PR 9's think they are? Maybe they think they are a very small group of members in one hell of an exclusive club. A club that really can change the lives of the people they choose to lend their support to. So, what kind of a price do we put on that? The price I put on it was $600 a month, but it would appear the sites that have that coveted 9 think the price should be much higher. In this game, they pretty much have the ball. 
As always you are free to make up your own minds, but my advice is to cherish that what makes you money and cast off that what does not. Just be sure which it is first.

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EMBEDDED LINKS
It simply means links that are embedded within the text of a web document. Instead of just seeing a page with a list of short text links, you would see an optimized content page with links inside the text.
I personally feel that optimized PAGES with links to one or more target sites are going to accomplish two objectives. Better placement for the target sites and less likelihood of being the subject of the next ethics debate at WebmasterWorld.
As I've mentioned in past issues, we are finding more and more that the site you find in the top 10 results for a keyword search seem to have very few, if any, of what we would all consider the basic optimization techniques employed on the site. You can do a lot of searches for some of the most competitive terms and find many sites in the first 10 that don't have any reference of the keyword in the title, H tags, or even any mention of the keyword anywhere on the site !!! How can that be??? Well, the answer, (there is always an answer. We are not dealing with fairy dust or some magic potion. We are dealing with only a computer program.), lies not with the target page in the SERPs, but it lies in the anchor text and the optimization of the pages linking to that target page in the SERPs. Don't take my word for it, check for your self. I could be wrong ---------- but I'm not.
This little discovery certainly makes a guy go HMMMMMM.
Google has made it very clear that they have every intention of trying to dominate and control page rank. They have also made it clear that their concern for so-called collateral damage is not that great. They may discount the value of PR from expired domains, the may program filters to catch affiliated sites, they may even figure in percentages for too many incoming links or too few outgoing links and on and on. When it comes to hunting fleas with elephant guns, google seems to have the biggest guns of them all.
The one thing that no one, even the mightiest flea hunter of them all, can ever do is start discounting source documents within a domain. If the page is graphically, aesthetically and conceptually integrated into the look, feel and theme of a site, this, above all other strategies would be the most effective online advertising vehicle making the least amount of noise. The only downside is the length of time to get indexed may be longer depending on exactly when the index updating began. It would require two dances to get the target site updated and placed. This means it could take two or three months to start producing the desired results. In my opinion, a small price to pay if I'm right.
I'm looking for a few advertisers and a few inventory partners to participate in this experiment. If you have a gambling nature and feel I have proven to you over these past months that odds are I do know what I'm talking about, then I will run these ads for half price for up to 90 days. If you feel the results are not producing EXACTLY what you expected within the 90 days you may cancel and not have lost more than the half price for the PR you chose. If you realize it really is doing what we think it will do, I'll only charge full price from then on.
As for the optimizing part. You may or may not know this, but I happen to be one of the best at the old search engine game. If you are not confident of your own SEO skills, I'll have my people do it for you for $250 a page of up to 200 words including up to two graphics. If you make your own page, it has to have no more than two graphics and no more than 300 words and no less than 150. It has to load fast and still be subject to all the other rules of the PR Ad Network.
Whether you make the page or have us do it, we will then send the page and one interior link with the anchor text in it to go on the inventory's main page as well as the url for the inventory link. So, ----- anybody game?
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GOOD NEWS!
The good news is that as much as I hate seeing so-called SEO's run and discuss every thing they don't understand or can't afford with google guy, it still amounts to little more than word of mouth advertising for the network. We just keep growing.
This past three weeks, we have picked up three great new PR 8's and over 40 7's covering a wide variety of themes including the pharmaceuticals. These are some very nice sites we are very happy to have as inventory partners.
We have not picked up any new 9's and don't count on that changing. We can still get you 9's just not for the $600 a month we started out getting them for. I honestly feel a site would place better with less risk by spending the money on a mixture of lower PR's with the proper anchor text.
Oh yeah, one other thing in closing.
You know how we all keep hearing about on theme links? Well we agree with the concept, it is just common sense not to put monoxidil ads on kids clothing sites, BUT, we see NO evidence of that making any difference at all to google at this time. It looks to me, (just like it has from the beginning), a link is a link and the more you have coming into your site the better. The higher PR of the incoming link, the better. Get every link you can get anyway you can get it and if it you don't have to give a link back that's even better!
See You at the Top!
Bob 
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The good news is that as much as I hate seeing so-called SEO's run and discuss every thing they don't understand or can't afford with google guy, it still amounts to little more than word of mouth advertising for the network. We just keep growing.
This past three weeks, we have picked up three great new PR 8's and over 40 7's covering a wide variety of themes including the pharmaceuticals. These are some very nice sites we are very happy to have as inventory partners.
We have not picked up any new 9's and don't count on that changing. We can still get you 9's just not for the $600 a month we started out getting them for. I honestly feel a site would place better with less risk by spending the money on a mixture of lower PR's with the proper anchor text.
Oh yeah, one other thing in closing.
You know how we all keep hearing about on theme links? Well we agree with the concept, it is just common sense not to put monoxidil ads on kids clothing sites, BUT, we see NO evidence of that making any difference at all to google at this time. It looks to me, (just like it has from the beginning), a link is a link and the more you have coming into your site the better. The higher PR of the incoming link, the better. Get every link you can get anyway you can get it and if it you don't have to give a link back that's even better!
See You at the Top!
Bob 
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