NOT!

But what do you think about the design of this blog and the Frog Engine Web Directory?

~ Mike

P.S.: Check out my latest creation where I give Daily SEO Tips and add me as a friend here!

here are some highlights from this blog

interview with Darren Rowse from problogger in 2006

In a last attempt to resurrect Blogger Talk, here is a thread I have started on the best ways to promote your blog.
Please make only meaningful posts and don’t try to sell your services.
If you want to be a moderator or help out in any other way, go here.

Blogger Talk - Send an Email to the World!

Last chance, the price is about to go up!

Submit your sites!

This seems to become more and more popular, so go check it out:

More info on wide circles is coming up on
wide circles
wide circles
wide circles
wide circles
wide circles
wide circles
wide circles

So you get the point, stay away from wide circles and your life will be better.

Explode Business Credit

Every once in a while you have to break your own rules. This is a new post and I cannot let it slide despite the fact that I have promised not to post anymore.
Without further ado, read this.

Sign up here and tell them Fire Town sent you.

Stay tuned for Tico Paradise.

you will be able to read more here.

Added: You can also go to the final destination which is right here.

Go check it out and leave some comments!

I sometimes wonder why so many people out there don’t really understand how Google works. There are questions about the next PR update, where to buy links, how to change your site and what else can be done to move up in the search engine.
I got ranked by Google before I even tried to figure out Google and mainly because I asked myself what I can do to increase affiliate sales with the traffic I’m already getting.
Back in 1999 I’ve registered 400 domain names and was led to an affiliate program which I redirected many of the domain names to.
I started making money and a friend of mine suggested he’d host one of the domain names and I started building a few pages redirecting my domain name traffic to them.
So let’s say I was getting traffic related to diamond rings.
I would add a cj text link, a little bit of text and from there build new pages about flowers and added another banner.
Soon Google would start sending me traffic, sales started coming in and eventually I started ranking for gift related terms.
Google loves to send traffic to sites that seem to have a lot on whatever people are looking for.

If there is one thing Google provides, it’s variety in search results.
Try typing in “cigarettes” in msn and you will see 10 pages of sites selling the same cigarettes.
Do the same in Google and you will also find a lot of results with government information, anti smoking related subjects and wikipedia.
A page from Fox News is popping up as well.
I’m looking at the top result below wiki and Cig Outlet pops up, a site with tons of content.
If Google sees you as a site with a lot to offer, it figures the likelihood of web searchers finding something they’re looking for is high and they are willing to get you listed for terms that strong. It enables them to give variety, because how many pages of the same thing do you really need?
Not only do you get authority sites, when the term is commercial, adwords will provide additional results.
For the life of me I cannot figure out why the other search engines haven’t tried harder to please their visitors and the only explanation I have is that msn and Yahoo! are just so lazy and complacent, they simply don’t have to work hard on providing good results.

Google aims to please.
Google has for years made a lot less money and focused on increasing quality. Now this has changed, but Google still is superior to the other search engines and will remain to be just that.

What should you do if you have a site and want to make money with it?

It sounds simple, but you need to forget about Google and just do what you believe will convert traffic into sales. Also give people a reason to come back again and again and provide information that not everyone has.

In this day and age, the directory link sales are in full swing and it’s created a big mess. I am often surprised by how much money some companies put into buying links not even understanding how much more effective it would be to find links that help you with direct traffic as well.

A couple of years ago me and “incredibill” rode in my car from the Las Vegas Hotel to the Webmaster Convention and one of the points made by him was how important it is to NOT depend on Google. His insight on how Google rewards you for “real links” was priceless and even though I haven’t spoken to him since, the conversation with him is one of those that will stay with me for the rest of my career.

Many of the newbies in the forum circuit are drawn in by the devil of lights, the “success stories” of web directories getting 100 submissions daily and they don’t seem to understand the effort that needs to be put into a project to really make it successful long term speaking.

BOTW, Go Guides, Yahoo!, Business.com, Joe Ant … all of those make huge bucks from submissions. So do some DMOZ editors.
Will those directories ever get canned?

No!

Why?
Because they have been around for ages. The other day I have come across this thread and made a comment here.

This comment I stand behind 100%.
You can make a web directory about anything and be financially successful.
But you need to have something to offer.
Starting a general directory is not recommended unless you really have a cool concept or something going for yourself that hasn’t been done better by 100 people before you.

The Digitalpoint Directories section is over and done with and posting your signature may do more harm than good if it’s just another web directory in there.
Take it from me, I know!

Mike

This just cracked me up

I hope you told him to move Blogspot blog
to his own domain name. I’ve tried to tell him on his blog once in a comment and he said “nah, I’m cool Mike”.

Added: Talking about Hammer, this cracked me up as well: