Adam Alter

Lame things in my industry you just gotta wonder about…

#1 GURUs. Are you selling information? 50% cut and pasted, the other 50% made up and titled “SECRETS REVEALED” for $39.99 marked down from $1,000,000 for the next 1,000 buyers only! Everyone is a guru it seems, I got my website to rank #1 in Google for “b2b online marketing specialists in austin texas by the river next to the big road”. Give me a break, rank #1 for something that actually gets search volume and hold the position for a year+ and we’ll talk. REAL SEO experts have dozens of 500,000+ per month search phrase #1 positions under their belt as well as many thousands of long tail phrases. They’re not bragging about it because:
A- They’re smart enough to realize staying under the radar as best as possible helps shoo off any penalties Google has to put in place to cut back on the spammers who reverse engineered your work and are exploiting it.
B-They’re not trying to make up for where else they may lack in their panties

#2 Yahoo Answer spammers. I go to Yahoo Answers to give helpful replies with info and drop a link where appropriate. Whenever I go to an insurance related question, it’s full of replies saying crap like “Great question, I’d suggest reading the info using this link: http://acrappywebsitewithnotraffictryingtogetyoutofilloutaquoteformsotheycansellyourinformationtoanagent.com” Basically full of losers trying to pimp their crappy website that will likely be a dropped and parked domain within months while providing no value to the question. They have and will continue to ruin it for those others representing a company trying to give good advice.

Yesterday I saw a question from a lady saying she was bleeding from the crotch and wondered if she should get immediate help or if it was something that could be normal while being pregnant. Now, I’m not commenting on the question or the person asking it, however, the first answer was “Interesting indeed, for more information, follow this link: ” and the link was to a *how to make tons of money fast* blog.

I understand they’re trying to make a fast buck off suckers, but why not focus the effort on creating a legitimate website and company to morally promote without spam techniques? Are they too scared they won’t cut it in the real world of an honest living?

#3 Reciprocal directories and bidding directories. A directory can be classified in 2 categories in the eyes of Google (IMO) 1) a legitimate attempt to provide valuable resources for people in attempts to get them to use the directory for their needs. 2) a link farm and/or attempt at striking a bit of cash for the least amount of work required (free directory script, default graphics). So, how can a directory be a good resource if they require a reciprocal link? Do you think Dell, Sony, Amazon, Zappos, Ford and the many thousands of other quality sites are going to give them a link back to be in their directory? How is it a good directory full of resources if it doesn’t include those major websites?

Then bidding directories, the top bidder gets top position on the home page which usually means a PR4-PR6 homepage link to their site. Guess what the results are! Yes, a bunch of online casinos on every bidding directory homepage that has decent PR. Is that a quality resource? Please try and convince me how it is of use to the public. Most quality sites wouldn’t want to be caught within miles of a bidding directory loaded with casinos which nearly all are.

Just had another meetup yesterday in downtown Austin @ the Spaghetti Warehouse. For those of you that don’t know, every month my wife and I put on a meetup which many local business owners attend to network, learn and discuss avenues of marketing on the internet. It’s on the first Wednesday of every month and each session covers a specific topic which yesterday’s being email marketing and the speaker was Jason Boehle.

Our first meetup was in May and every month the group grows. We’re outgrowing venues very quickly and have to put a cap on it. We’ve had sponsors approach us which we’ve considered for reasons of getting a larger location, but we’re holding off because the fun and free atmosphere is very important for us to maintain. The initial meetups Laura and I covered all the speaking, but lately others have been stepping up and covering their topics of expertise which has been a great help with our busy schedule. The meetup profile can be found at: SEO Austin

Unfortunately, I didn’t even make it. I left the office at 5:30 to be there by 6:00 and there must have been a wreck on Mopac because traffic wasn’t moving at all. I turned around and went home after hardly moving for over 30 minutes and let Laura know she was doing this one solo!

Sorry everyone!

I’ve been using this domain mainly for my AdamAlter.com email for YEARS now and keep getting poked to put some content on it, so what the heck.

I’ve been purposely flying under the radar for a long time now in hopes of not being identified with the many self proclaimed gurus in SEM, SEO, E-commerce, ect. I won’t waste anyone’s time trying to look any smarter than I really am. Ok, I admit I do use spell check, but give me a break, I grew up in hickville Indiana where I warshed my clothes in a muddi crick!

Just gonna have fun with it and if something useful gets posted then, oops.
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