Congratulations to Howard Conklin, the winner of a free full conference pass to WebmasterWorld’s Boston Pubcon.
Don’t worry if you didn’t win. We are giving away three more passes. Just listen to GoodKarma for the clue, then go to WebmasterWorld.com and find out the title of the thread we are looking for and submit the answer here. Good luck and congratulations to Howard Conklin.
A warm GoodKarma welcome to Vanessa Fox of Google Engineering. Listen to her Google Sitemap interview at WebmasterRadio.fm
After the link development show with Todd Malicoat ended I emailed him some follow-up questions and here are his answers. Enjoy.
If you were Google how would you police link development?
I wouldn’t try so hard to condemn it. Link acquisition is part of a good internet strategy now. Why combat small business owners and SEO’s when the time could be better spent on improving algorithmically to combat the commercial exploitation issues that new algorithms sprout. I think the scales have tipped a little to far to one side with trying to discourage folks from buying links. I can understand wanting them to be on relevant sites (which is open to interpretation anyhow), but not buying links at all? Why not just outlaw all advertising? I’d work on relevance, user experience, and improving the technology and AI for a international business. Buying and selling of text links is a byproduct of something that they produced Buying links has become unacceptable only in a few instances - even in those instances you really have to question why. Everything on the web is a link, therefore there are multitudes of ways to BUY a link on the web. Some are valid for quality results and some are not. I would work on quality signals for link growth within a given sector or vertical, not non-scalable solutions to a temporary problem.
What are your words of wisdom on how to deal with link rot?
Keep good links as long as you possibly can. Sometimes link development for sites that link to yours is not a bad idea.
If you were in the hospital who would you want to take over your link building? Read the rest of this entry »
GoodKarma is happy to announce Vannessa Fox of Google Engineering is joining us to talk about Google Sitemaps on February 23rd at 4pm EST (9pm GMT). At the end of the interview, Vanessa will be placed in the “hot seat” and answer questions from the WebmasterRadio’s chatroom.
You can learn more about Google Sitemaps on their official blog, where Vanessa is a frequent writer.
Also Greg Niland will be announcing the Week 1 winner of the GoodKarma/Webmasterworld Conference Pass Giveaway and giving the clue for week #2.
As always, I’m working hard to get great giveaways for my listeners, and this time, Brett Tabke of WebmasterWorld.com stepped up to the plate with an offering so big, I have to make you work for it. GoodKarma (thanks to the generousity of WebmasterWorld) is proud to announce the 2006 Boston Pubcon Giveway. That’s right. Passes to the Publishers Conference cost $449 dollars, even with an early bird discount. But, if you listen in and participate in the contest you have a chance to get to one of the best SEM conferences out there for FREE.
FREE. You heard me. And we don’t just have one pass to give away. We have four. So over the next four weeks, four lucky winners will win a full conference pass to attend the three-day educational conference and industry trade show for Internet marketers in Boston, Massachusetts on April 18-20, 2006. I promise you that it is a lot of learning and a lot of fun.
Starting February 16th, the GoodKarma Internet Radio Show on Webmasterradio.fm will announce a section of WebmasterWorld.com and a member name. Contestants then need to go to that section, find the title of the thread started by that member and submit their answer along with their contact information (name, company, address, phone, email) via the GoodKarma contact form by the answer deadline (see schedule below). Each week one winner will be randomly selected from all correct responses. Contest Schedule
| Clue Provided | Answer Deadline | Winner Announcement |
| Thu. Feb. 16 | Wed. Feb. 22 | Thu. Feb. 23 |
| Thu. Feb. 23 | Wed. Mar. 1 | Thu. Mar. 2 |
| Thu. Mar. 2 | Wed. Mar. 8 | Thu. Mar. 9 |
| Thu. Mar. 9 | Wed. Mar. 15 | Thu. Mar. 16 |
The contest will be selecting recent threads in WMW. Winners need not be listening to the live show to claim their prize. GoodKarma is archived in iTunes under the podcast name GoodKarma and at WebmasterRadio.fm. Conference pass can not be transferred, sold, exchanged or traded. (But who in their right mind wouldn’t want it for themselves?)
Remember folks. Four passes. Four clues. Four drawings. Four lucky winners. And all because you did the smart thing and tuned into Webmasterradio.fm and the GoodKarma show. I try. 
Good luck to everyone.
On February 16th, Todd Malicoat aka Stuntdubl, an experienced SEO consultant, search conference speaker, forum moderator and acknowledged Lord of the Links will be on GoodKarma. We’ll (thats Mr. Ploppy and myself, GoodROI) be talking about the many different aspects of link development on the web. How do you value a link? How do you develop new links? You’ll have to tun in the find out. Join us at 4 p.m. EST - and be sure to log into the chat room, because as always we’ll be taking live questions from you guys during the show.
Oh, and one more thing… at the end of the show you’ll get the first clue for the Pubcon Giveaway Contest - so don’t miss it!
Excellent.
I’ve launched this new blog to help povide information for listeners of the GoodKarma Radio Show on http://www.webmasterradio.fm/. I’ll be posting information about upcoming shows, guests stars and weekly prize giveaway information. You can still use the Good Karma contact form to send private messages.
I also would like to apologize in advance for any mistakes I will make on this blog. It has been almost two years since I last blogged, so I am a little rusty. Yes I am getting a better design very soon.
