tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-182104512008-03-16T10:54:47.030-07:00Dan ThiesBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-3904584658377796882007-05-02T07:39:00.000-07:002007-05-02T07:44:17.810-07:00

The SEO Coach's Newsletter Must See Video From Former MSN Search Employee I hadn't planned to send another newsletter until Thursday night, but this is just too good to pass up. Andy Edmonds used to work at MSN Search (yeah, that one). Now he's a member of the StomperNet faculty, and he's recorded the most amazing video I have ever seen. Andy's one of those extremely useful academic types who

Dan Thiestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-78240148272541012922007-05-02T07:30:00.000-07:002007-05-02T07:38:28.655-07:00

The SEO Coach's Newsletter SEOFS2K7, Creating A Sustainable Business, New Videos Released April 30, 2007 I spent yesterday at the Renaissance Festival, in my best pirate outfit... That's my mother in law on the left there - one of the best people you could possibly bring to a party. It was nice to get out and relax, because I have been working a little too much the past few months. I think

Dan Thiestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-1171038361613450652007-02-09T07:53:00.000-08:002007-02-12T07:53:36.563-08:00

Here at SEO Research Labs, we've been doing keyword research for years. We've already changed the way we report data twice. You can see a description of the current reports here. It's time to redesign the reports again, and develop a new set of metrics. I'm posting our list of factors to consider here on the blog, to invite your comments on what we should do next. Search volume forecasting:

Dan Thiestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-1170870078593535822007-02-07T09:30:00.000-08:002007-02-08T11:00:15.430-08:00

"Smart Link Building," he calls it... he charges $1500 for 20 one-way links, embedded in articles that he will create, and post on his web sites. We're assured that these are all on different class C IP addresses, different hosting... at first glance, he sounds like a spammer, but at least a reasonably competent spammer. There's no way I'm going to buy into it, but I keep reading the sales

Dan Thiestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-1169056724050789072007-01-17T09:35:00.000-08:002007-01-17T09:58:44.116-08:00

Microsoft is big. Really, really big. So when the folks at Microsoft decide to change the way one of their core applications works, it affects a lot of people. So here it is - the HTML rendering engine in Outlook 2007 has been replaced with the MS Word rendering engine, removing the Internet Explorer engine used in previous versions. This is bad, people... although the idiots who were

Dan Thiestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-1167838354315442712007-01-03T07:05:00.000-08:002007-01-03T09:57:46.883-08:00

I've told you all the good things, but you may also like to know... What's wrong with Stompernet? So I'll tell you, at least from my perspective. Some of the SEO content on the "brain transplant" is a little bit basic. Mostly the link building stuff, where they're talking about reciprocal links a bit more than I would. To provide some balance, Leslie Rohde is recording a link building class

Dan Thiestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-1167793832788447042007-01-02T18:52:00.000-08:002007-01-03T09:24:26.413-08:00

One of the hardest parts for me about moving inside of Stompernet, to be honest, was "ego adjustment." When you get a bunch of experts together, we don't always agree. When I had my own little coaching program, I didn't have to deal with someone else trying to teach my students something different. Whether my students were really better off that way, well, in my opinion they were. We discussed

Dan Thiestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-1167792262350468432007-01-02T18:25:00.000-08:002007-01-03T14:04:06.296-08:00

I'm no good at drama, so I'll just level with you. It's $797 per month, for a year-long program. Now, that might sound like a lot to some of you, and it is a lot to ask for, "site unseen." (Pun intended). But you aren't going into this without a guarantee. I'm not sure what the exact details will be this time around (we're still haggling over dates). (Update: There will be a 30-day guarantee

Dan Thiestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-1167790591246026102007-01-02T17:44:00.000-08:002007-01-02T18:22:56.676-08:00

This will be the first in a series of posts... I've had a lot of questions about "my new venture." I want to start of by letting you know that it's not my new venture... there are a lot of people involved at this point. So, what the heck is it? StomperNet Is: A private membership coaching programA members-only website / portalA year long program, with continuing membership beyond thatFree

Dan Thiestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-1167512711714563242006-12-30T12:34:00.000-08:002006-12-30T13:05:14.033-08:00

During my "retirement party" teleclass the other night, I revealed why I am shutting down my SEO training programs... but I wasn't able to tell you about everyone who is joining me, because they hadn't all told "their people" yet. Well, today I can let you in on a few of the real identities behind those code names I gave you last week. "Mr. Blue" is none other than Leslie Rohde, developer of

Dan Thiestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-1167266809508981502006-12-27T16:31:00.000-08:002007-01-24T09:33:49.263-08:00

You know I'm not one for drama ...so there's a good reason for that subject line. Here's the scoop... A few days ago, I sent an email out to my newsletter subscribers, telling them that I'm closing the doors on my training business. Ever since then, I've been flooded with questions like, Where are you going?Why are you quitting?What are we supposed to do now?All of your questions will be

Dan Thiestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-1167265791458258032006-12-27T16:23:00.000-08:002006-12-27T16:29:51.470-08:00

Hi folks, long time no posts... been buried in work. Two posts for you today - the first is to let you know that I've recorded a free video, that will show you how to boost the traffic from your existing Adwords campaigns without raising your bids or rewriting any ads. The technique is called "permutations." It's not a secret, but very few advertisers actually bother to do it. The basic concept

Dan Thiestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-1159829601277201072006-10-03T15:43:00.000-07:002007-01-17T15:03:18.876-08:00

No, I didn't attend SES Local in Denver, but my friend Mike Belasco did, and he's posted a nice summary and notes on his blog - see Mike The Internet Guy for the scoop. Speaking of local advertising, one of my students (we'll call him "Jim" because that's his name) has been doing pretty well by using Google Adwords with local targeting, using the contextual advertising network (aka Adsense).

Dan Thiestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-1156981757051565442006-08-30T16:34:00.000-07:002006-10-06T06:32:35.890-07:00

Andy Jenkins and Brad Fallon are getting ready to launch the new version of their "Stomping the Search Engines" course, which has generated a little excitement around the world of the web already. The official launch date isn't until late in September, but they're releasing some stuff now, including a free online video. I'm still waiting for my box of DVDs to arrive so I will have a more

Dan Thiestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-1151333490976073832006-06-26T07:42:00.000-07:002006-08-21T07:08:26.003-07:00

Found a great website this morning, via a post by Chris Allen in the LED Digest. Robert Middleton's Action Plan Marketing is primarily focused at service professionals, but a lot of the information in his free samples would be useful for anyone. I'm looking forward to receiving Robert's newsletter, and the fact that I didn't get an issue as soon as I subscribed reminds me of yet another item

Dan Thiestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-1150556566726119732006-06-17T07:33:00.000-07:002006-10-10T22:15:41.113-07:00

Most readers are probably well aware that there are some issues with Flash and SEO... but many folks actually believe that there is some sort of ranking penalty or other major drama that ensues for those who use Flash. The problem with Flash as "content" for search engines isn't that search engines can't read them. The major search engines can all read Flash files. The problem is pretty simple:

Dan Thiestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-1149352918662760602006-06-03T09:21:00.000-07:002006-06-03T09:41:58.713-07:00

In the first week of my link building class (Flash video), I go over a spectrum of "link types," based on the idea that search engines really want to see natural links of pure love, those that are created by web authors who really like the web resource (site, page) they're linking to. There's another type of link, though, that probably counts for just as much in boosting the authority of a web

Dan Thiestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-1149176984721396562006-06-01T08:40:00.000-07:002006-06-01T08:49:44.770-07:00

Posted (and updated) from last week's SEO Coach newsletter: What's Up, Big Daddy? How Google's latest move affects you, me, and them With all the talk (and occasional hysteria) about Google's "Bigdaddy" update, I thought readers could use a little help understanding it. There's been a lot of crazy speculation, and the real story is both simpler and more complex than what you've probably heard.

Dan Thiestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-1149111848221044602006-05-31T14:31:00.000-07:002006-05-31T15:14:06.890-07:00

Marketing Sherpa published a very interesting little book called the Ecommerce Benchmark Guide 2006 that contains some interesting information on eye-tracking studies. One of the nice little tidbits contained therein is a study showing that people's eyes are drawn to images, especially images of people's faces. Not surprising perhaps, but it might be useful. If anyone would like to have some fun

Dan Thiestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-1148689809630596312006-05-26T17:06:00.000-07:002006-05-26T17:37:41.966-07:00

I've been using Constant Contact for my newsletter mailing list for quite a while, but unfortunately I need to find another service to handle it... here's why: CC allows you to create nice HTML emails, they have a variety of templates, it's easy to edit the templates... so far, very nice. CC converts URLs in the email to tracking links, so that you can count click-throughs. Again, so far, so

Dan Thiestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-1148670121257573162006-05-26T11:55:00.000-07:002006-05-26T12:02:01.336-07:00

Those of you who know me, know that I like to try different things when it comes to marketing. I am offering a free SEO training class this Tuesday from 7pm-8pm US Central time. Space is limited. I don't know if it will fill up or not, but if you want in, I'd suggest that you register ASAP. Yes, I know it's a holiday weekend in the US... that's why I'm trying something different to see if I can

Dan Thiestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-1147358961750485602006-05-11T07:16:00.000-07:002006-05-11T07:49:26.810-07:00

Google rolled out their Sitemaps service last year, and if you haven't checked it out, you're missing something really cool. If referrals from organic search results are an important part of your online business, you need to use this service. If you wonder why so many people think Google is really cool, take a look at what they give webmasters for free, and compare it to what you pay for with

Dan Thiestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-1145571876167174092006-04-20T06:11:00.000-07:002006-04-20T15:24:36.170-07:00

One thing for today: locate the delete key on your keyboard. Yes, my secret to handling link exchange requests is to delete them, 999 times out of 1000. If you don't delete them, be very careful about which ones you accept. Linking to anyone and everyone is a recipe for trouble. Search engines have a low opinion of certain types of site, especially those offering bulk email (spam) software,

Dan Thiestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-1144958766976745362006-04-13T12:51:00.000-07:002006-04-13T13:12:14.366-07:00

Okay, one quick thing for today that a lot of sites have gotten wrong. Start by answering this simple question: What's the URL for your home page? Your answer is probably something like http://www.example.com/ Okay, now go look at your website. I'm sure you have lots of links to your home page from all over the site. There should be one on every page, right? Now, answer the next question - is

Dan Thiestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18210451.post-1144798972512121032006-04-11T15:37:00.000-07:002006-04-11T17:03:39.300-07:00

Today's post is a good example of what happens if you aren't playing the game right. Instead of posting first, I checked my email.... and I never got free all day long to just write a post. The funny thing is, I actually answered two emails with questions about title tags today, when I could have just referred them to this post. Funny. Not really. One thing for today - if you aren't making the

Dan Thies