I know good SEOs, but I am a modestly talented amateur at most. As such, this page is really an SEM 101 post, not a revelation from heaven. Maybe it’ll help somebody, but if not, reading it won’t make you walk away dumber.
———–

Then vs Now
In what now seems like the dawn of time, in the late 1990′s+ I took a site to PR7 thru trial and error. Back then, white-on-white keyword laden text was considered skill, not something to laugh about, and sending 50 adds a day to the same sources every day was “persistence”, not spam. Things I did then would get me banned by Google in a heartbeat today. At one point I had a lock on some SERP s I could sell for enough to retire on if it were done today. That was then, this is now, and the system is vastly changed.

Dusting off the Webmaster Suit
Recently I needed to rejoin the webmaster workld because a friend had an emergency that required assistance, both medical and financial. Her daughter was facing cancer for the third time and needed a bone marrow transplant. The insurance co-pay alone is predicted to run around $80,000… and I was volunteered (by my wife, who else?) as the guy to help make the financial side of it happen. Not having $80k laying around, it seemed that taking the case to the web was the answer.

Last week I built a site… Got-Marrow.org, for the purpose of fund-raising. My first website was built using Microsoft Word, and soon-after enhanced using MS Frontpage. You can laugh all ya want guys, but we didnt have WordPress, Dreamweaver, CSS, Joomla… and I wasn’t a code-kid who could write HTML code on sheet of text. This time I have WordPress to work with (thank heaven).

If You Build it, They Will Come
LOL. That is the movie version of the old saying… “Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door”. Unfortunately it’s horse-hockey, and as a professor told me in a college marketing class, a helluvalotta guys with great moustraps died broke. A mediocre moustrap that can be found sells faster than a perfect one nobody’s heard of.

Using ALL the Golf Clubs
Being something of an addict to webmaster forums, I’m constantly amazed to see people get into heated arguments over whether you oughta use this directory over that one, or should you use Social Bookmarking or Blog comments… or are you better off using sig links or banner ads. To me that’s like asking if you should go to the golf course with a driver or a putter… or should you just take a sand wedge.

DUH! You go to the golf course with every club you can fit in the bag… and you’ll probably need all of them.

We have a limited time to work with in the case of the blog I’m promoting, so we’ve used a shotgun of SEO tactics that’d run one man ragged. Medical emergencies have a short timeline, but on the bright side, it’s easier to get volunteers to save a life than it is to promote a blog about Audio-visual Equipment Reviews. Manpower hasn’t been our limitation, we’ve had many volunteers and  LOT of donated directory links, sig links, FB mentions, etc.

What have we done? Just about everything that can be done fast and easily, and in large quantity. Sig links, Facebook links, a FB group, twitters, re-tweets, press releases on multiple venues, Digg adds, you name it… we have a guy doing it. We added a How Can I Help page and have volunteers and amateurs assisting. We’ll take more if you’re up for it.

The Response?
We started the site midweek. By the third full day we were getting visitors from 43 countries, and money was starting to come in. Not in huge chunks, but little donations add up. It helps that it’s pretty apparent that it isnt a scam site, and I’ve been hesitant to put adsense on it for fear somebody’d think it was an MFA.

That’s a hard call to make because adsense might help boost the bottom line for the cause, but if it jaded the view of onlookers it might have a reverse effect. That one is still under consideration. Bottom line, the traffic is growing rapidly and the site is indexed and starting to generate SE traffic in addition to the direct and referral traffic that started it off.

The Lesson I’ve Learned
There are a lot of folks in web forums that offer advice. Some will solemnly intone that directories are dead, or that Twitter has seen its 15 minutes of fame. Others will tell you their pet profile spam method is the only thing needed to move into the ranks of SEO.

What I’m seeing is there are more ways to boost a site than ever before, and anyone that doesn’t take advantage of as many white hat methods as possible is missing results he could have seen. We have not touched on any complicated methods… there are no radical link schemes, no fake forum IDs, no blackhat, just simple stuff that tends to snowball.

INCIDENTALLY…
Another thing I’ve learned in the process is that people in the webmaster community are pretty much the same across the world when it comes to humanity, and they’re generous to a fault in giving their time and skills. Can’t thank them all here, but they know who they are. I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention the guys at the V7n forum community, cause they’ve busted their rears helping.

Should YOU have a similar project… Let BOTW Help
Don’t forget that BOTW offers a free add for Charity sites. Go to the applicable category and click on the BOLDED submit site button (not the light one at the top of the screen) and you’ll see …

That queue has been drastically reduced recently, but obviously still gets more spam than the commercial queue where we are required to respond in a certain timeframe. If you have a charity website sitting in the free  add queue…  you have my personal invitation to drop me an email.  I’ll see that it is tracked down and reviewed. If you’re willing to put in the time and effort to help, so is Best of the Web.

My thanks again to all who have assisted ~ Rob Jones

UNCLE BOTW WANTS *YOU*
In the past BOTW began a program for volunteers to edit in the blog directory… basically like Dmoz, Wickipedia, JoeAnt, et al… a cool way for the OCD among us to bring order to chaos and categorize a little corner of the web. This program had gone dormant of late, so we’ve learned from the experience, built ‘em a new fora, and started fresh.

Before working for BOTW, I volunteered at Dmoz for 8 1/2 years. I’m not new to the concept, nor suggesting anyone do anything I havent done. Executed correctly it’s pretty fun and very educational, and not a bad form of networking either.

GROUND FLOOR OPPORTUNITY
This effectively puts those we approve now in a charter member spot… not dissimilar to being one of the first eds at Dmoz or Wickipedia. This is a good opportunity, especially for those that’d like to see how a top-notch directory functions. We will of course be happy to see those that contributed before as well as new applicants.

FTR – It probably doesn’t look bad on a resume either. Most of us in this industry waste a lot of time on the web, being seen giving back in a visible volunteer capacity isnt a bad thing.

CAN WE ADD OUR OWN SITES?
Needless to say such volunteer programs have some fringe benefits in that they also allow those participating to include their own qualified sites. If you have sites that qualify, if you don’t add them it’s your fault, not ours. We just ask that you add other quality sites as well and treat ALL sites fairly.

Don’t join JUST to add your own of course, it is totally unnecessary. We already have a free review queue, and even the express queue isn’t expensive enough to warrant a ruse for a serious webmaster… so it’d be a waste of your time and mine.

REQUIRED CAVEAT RE: Abuse of Login
Important Safety Tip: If someone appears to be present ONLY to add their own sites, or tries to become their own discount “paid review queue”… their login will be summarily executed, and the big UNDO button comes into play. This is an opportunity meant for “the good guys”.

One Other Potential Benefit
Prior to this we’ve mostly relied on folks we knew from other directories when filling holes in the contract editor (ie – paid editor) ranks for BOTW’s Main directory. I had a great opportunity when I got involved with BOTW, and I shared it by bringing over a sampling of the best and brightest web editors I knew.

My hope is to build this volunteer program in the BLOG Directory and grow our own… then we can as opportunities arise plug holes in the paid ed ranks with the stars we find. The ideal applicant has some experience with directory structure, a passion for blogs, and is an active forum participant. Forum participation helps immensely and is the heart of such a program. Like to get some good folks to help grow the community.

TO BECOME A BOTW VOLUNTEER BLOG EDITOR
Go to the BOTW Blog Directory, click on a category of interest, then hit the “Become a BOTW editor” button. The app process is pretty simple, takes a few minutes.

Note that BOTW is an English only directory. Not a slight, we just don’t have staff versed in a lot of other languages. As such, a mastery of the English language is required (even if you can’t always tell I fit that criteria either).

When I get an opportunity, my first thought is to share it with friends. Hope to have some of you aboard.

~ Rob Jones

ZERO SUM GAME: A contest in which there are a finite number of points, and the acquisition of a point for one player is the equivalent of a loss of a point to the other(s). You can only have one winner.

EX: THE CAKE
If I get a large piece of cake, it decreases the amount YOU can have.

The directory industry has two constituencies; submitters and surfers. In both cases the number of potential individuals is too large to quantify. Even if they were in small supply, neither will limit themselves to one provider. If a surfer can’t find what he wants, he looks elsewhere. Neither will submitters avoid all other directories because they’re in ONE. If you get good traffic or lots of submissions, it doesn’t stop me from doing it.

THE ZERO SUM ADVOCATES
Sometimes one might get the impression that our industry is a zero sum game. Everyone’s seen a poster passionately detail the evils of some directory… only to find the speaker is affiliated with another directory, and speaks ill of ALL other directories.

We can’t agree on everything… but is it necessary to denigrate other directories? Didn’t dad always say if you sling mud, you’re gonna get some on you? We tar each other, we diminish the whole group.

THE GOOD NEWS: Heroes Still Abound
Fortunately there are plenty of folks that work and play well together. As an example, before coming to BOTW I noticed their results page offers the surfer links to the same same category in several other directories. Basically… “If we don’t have it… you might try these guys“. What? You pointed them to a competitor?! Cool.

I’ve always been impressed by the “rising tide floats all boats” people. Feels good to be around those who know putting others down won’t make ‘em any taller. Shows a confidence that doesn’t require bluster to support it.

It’d be nice to see *more* of this exhibited in forums, there are so many ways we’d all benefit. That said, there are a lot of heroes out there on the web that live the rising tide credo daily. To them I say Hey… I wanna be like you guys when I grow up. Thanks for being there!

We unofficially launched the volunteer program about 10 days ago, and have since received more than a few applications. Now that some of the bugs have been worked out, we felt we would officially announce the volunteer editor program. (Not to suggest all the bugs have been taken care of.)

So what is it, and why should you care?

The goal of the BOTW Blog Directory is to build the most comprehensive collection of quality blogs online – a colossal undertaking. Much like the BOTW Web Directory, each listing in the Blog Directory must meet a set of minimum listing criteria. In a nutshell, all listings must contain unique content, and be relevant to the category in which they are listed. By holding ourselves to a high level of listing criteria, we are able to consistently provide our users with timely, relevant results from the blogosphere.

Blog Directory Editors should be experts in their respective field of editing. We are looking for people who are active bloggers, proficient in their area of interest. Ideally, you’ll have some experience editing at other directories (DMOZ editors welcome!), be an active member of other online communities, and generally feel very comfortable online.

Please don’t see this as an opportunity to stuff your blogs into the directory. First of all, you don’t have to become an editor to get your blog listed. Just submit it. It’s free, so you don’t need to feel compelled to put on some big charade to get your blog listed. Secondly, editors don’t get special priviliges to stick any blog they want in. Every blog enetered has to meet the minimum site criteria, regardless of the owner. Any editor that abuses the responsibility will be dismissed.

Of course, you are allowed to put your own blog in – provided it meets the guidelines and is relevant to the category. You can put all your friend’s blogs in too. And every other blog you find that fits the bill. That’s what we are looking for. Once again though, any editor that abuses the responsibility will be dismissed. We refuse to compromise on the quality and integrity of the directory.

So why should you care? Well, you have the opportunity to get in early on what promises to be a fantastic project. You’ll be able to work with some pretty cool people building a valuable resource. If that’s not enough, editors are given an Editor Page on the BOTW domain where you are free to list personal details or other projects you are involved in. Additionally, you’ll be able to add it to your work experience, and impress all your friends and coworkers

Though the editor forums are a little thin, and the editor wiki still needs some attention, we are off and running. As it goes with any new project, I don’t know how this will ultimately pan out. But you are invited to come along for the ride.

Find out more about becoming a Blog Directory Volunteer Editor.

At Caslyn Analytics Profile, statistics and studies are presented which seem to support BOTW in this criterion: “Several studies indicate that most blogs are abandoned soon after creation.” Technorati presents many up-to-date statistics on the blogosphere. Dave Sifry in an article titled, “State of the Blogosphere, April 2006 Part 1: On Blogosphere Growth” discusses several statistics that relate to our six month rule. He states “19.4 million bloggers (55%) are still posting 3 months after their blogs are created.” (This is out of the 35.3 million blogs tracked by Technorati at the time of that posting.)

Blogging requires one of the most precious commodities in a person’s life: their time. As with any activity that requires time, people often start out very excited about an idea, but the excitement tapers off after the initial action. Since we realize this aspect of human nature and statistics back us up, we firmly stand by our six month standard. This rule also benefits our users, because when utilizing the BOTW Blog Directory, you know you will find active blogs in our directory.

If you receive a reject notice for lack of a six month history, please let us know when you reach the six month mark so we can review your blog again. Since only 55% are maintaining their blogs after 3 months, if you can hold out for six months you will have certainly earned your blog a second look.

Anyhoo, we don’t have a lot of fancy charts and graphs yet like the other guys, but statistically speaking, I can tell you that we just passed a cool quarter of a mil blog post entries that power the Blog Directory Post Search. Incidentally, I linked you to a page you may or may not be aware of. It’s the default tab on Blogs.botw.org: “Posts”, but since it’s the default, you never really click on it and hence, never see how cool it is to watch new posts get spidered. Of course we’re caching them for performance so it’s not necessarily an immediate update, but still, you can see what went in within the last couple minutes. Pretty cool to think that *right now* X amount of people are finishing off an entry in their blog. I’m sure we’re going to address this, but for now you’re on the inside track, my friend.

I’ll admit that it’s a challenge to filter out the various sorts of HTML tags that most posts contain; one problem we’re having is that if the text in a link within the post is a match to your query, and then we filter out that link, then it isn’t readily apparent what exactly in the post matched what you searched for.

It looks easy until you try to build a usable blog post search; there are many many inconsistencies regarding the different feed formats and how folks are implementing said formats. But regardless of whether or not our search capabilities need more work, I think it’s readily clear that our results are still fairly high quality over a wide range of searches. You want to find who’s talking about something specific, in as recent a history as possible; well I’m pleased to report from our stats that folks are doing just that. Aside from our index, the post search “page” is among our highest trafficked pages. And of course our sponsors benefit from being displayed when a query matches any of the terms they’ve set up when they signed up to sponsor. They get relevant traffic, and we get some cash to fund the next project, which adds value in turn. And around and around we go.

Well, my tequila sunrise has just about “set” if you will. Drinking on a thursday? Ehhh… Well, close enough to the weekend anyway. I met my BOTW Blog post quota so my boss will be happy. (Just kidding: there is no quota; But I can tell you that everyone who posts believes in the project and having a quality well-known and well-respected resource). So, until next time…

In any case, if you load up the blog directory at http://blogs.botw.org you’ll notice that you’re now able to see and search through the majority of posts from the blogs listed in the directory. Not only that, but you can search for posts by “tag” (ie how the author chose to categorize their post) and you can also search by blog title. We also threw in the latest searches being done on the site and all of the hottest tags (ie what the majority of authors are tagging their posts as).

All this of course is beta and your mileage may vary, especially since we will be dedicating some equipment to the cause to boost performance instead of sharing it with other applications as is being done now. So there will be some growing pains in the near future, but I think it gives you a taste of what we’re doing and where we’re going. Yahmon!

Oh wait, I did forget one other thing we do. We write posts in blogs like this one. Do we have time to do it? Of course not. But I think there’s something to be said for the Wizard of Oz stepping out from behind the curtain and saying Hi on occasion. (something positive, that is). So my pre-new year’s resolution is to spend a little time here and there providing some insight and witty banter, and just generally goofing off and not working. Wha? Huh? Did I just say that? Perhaps I need a Disclaimer like some of the other guys out there.

It does seem like a fine line between talking shop about various BOTW projects in the works and giving secrets away to the competition. If any slugworths out there would like an everlasting gobstopper, let’s do lunch and talk about it (your treat). However, you’ll have a hard time topping the extraordinary Wolfgang Puck cuisine which we feasted on at our last company outing, at Postrio, his fabulous restaurant in Las Vegas. Until then, mums the word methinks.

Well, without further ado, let’s all give me a hearty welcome to the Botw Blog! Yahmon!

-Dave

In an effort to speed the review process up a bit, we will soon require all submissions directly to categories – no more uncategorized submissions. Look for this change within the next few days. If you would like to help your chances of receiving a speedy review, take heed of the following tips:

• Submit your site to the most relevant category – If a blog is not submitted to a category, during the review process, the editor needs to go pick the most relevant category, drastically increasing the time. The queue shows which submissions are categorized, so editors can quickly scan the queue to see which blogs will make for the easier edit.
• Properly title your submission – your title should be the name of your blog. Short and sweet, with no marketing of superfluous information.
• Descriptions matter – the description should let the user know what they can expect to find if they visit your site. A brief (one or two sentences) message highlighting what the user will find on the blog – a great idea is to incorporate your categories into a sentence. For example, for this blog an appropriate description might be: “Online media company provides information on company development, human resources, products and services, industry news, marketing, and promotions.”
• No hype – don’t put any marketing hype into either you title or description. Nobody wants to hear that your blog is the “best blog about my industry”.
• Check your grammar and spelling – you should care enough about your listing to take a moment to check the spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Following the above tips, as well as ensuring that your submission meets the minimum criteria guidelines, will make our job a bit more efficient. If you make it easier for us to approve your submission, you increase the chances that we will get to it quickly.

BOTW Blog Directory – submit blog

The most recent article, published today by Bill Hartzer at searchengineguide.com is a great read. Kudos to Bill, and some pretty good quotes from Greg. Read the article – Best of the Web Launches Blog Directory.

Other notable mentions this week:

Stay tuned for more news…