Yesterday Google Sitemaps announced a big round of improvements and tweaks which were based on user input.  Congrats to the Google Sitemaps team on a job well done.  Here are the highlights.

New verification method - Google now will allow you to verify ownership of a site by adding a meta tag to your homepage.   SITE OWNERS TAKE NOTICE.  Most sites don’t need to worry.  But this could open up certain sites to be verified by non-owners.  If someone verifies they own your site they can see alot of interesting data from Google about you.  Here is an example of what to look for.  Read the rest of this entry »

A problem some people have is identifying quality, relevant sites to partner with.  There are many solutions that you can do to get around this.  One solution is to use the Google Directory.  The Google Directory is DMOZ but it is sorted by PageRank.  Read the rest of this entry »

Tomorrow I will be joined by Todd Malicoat aka Stuntdubl to talk about how search engines may be using clickstreams and user data to influence the search rankings.  As always it will be an open discussion and we’ll be taking questions from the WebmasterRadio.fm chatroom.

The concept of ranking search engine results based on the amount of users visiting a site is not new.  This is what DirectHit focused on when it launched in 1998.  DirectHit ranked sites based on how many users clicked on your site in the serps and how long they stayed on it.  Here are some good and bad points on using user data for ranking.  Feel free to add to it.  Read the rest of this entry »

Last week I was at Pubcon in Boston and presented on the affiliate marketing panel.  Since I am a big believer that there is always room for improvement, I am looking for feedback of what I did POORLY.  I have faith that a cold hearted person was in the audience and would love to share their criticism of me.  Read the rest of this entry »

personal story - no educational value  - gonna be a waste of your time reading further

I should have known better.  I have six sisters.  I have a fiance.  My best friend is female.  Yet somehow I made a cardinal sin in the female world.  I am not going to embarrass myself even more by repeating exactly what I said.  Let’s just say that I told a lady that her hair was not perfect.  Read the rest of this entry »

I am cheap and I am proud of it.  Don’t get me wrong.  I am happy to pay my fair share of bills but if there is an easy way to save money I see no reason why not.  Here is a tip for anyone looking to save money on hotels. 

Hotels almost always have some sale or special discount going on.  Naturally they don’t normally promote it on the front page because they want people to pay the full price.  They only want special people to see the offer but aren’t we all special?  To find these offers just go to Google or Yahoo and do a site: search and use the keyword “special”, “discount” or “sale”.  This will help you to find the any pages on there sites with information about the special sale. 

If they have a lazy webmaster you can also find webpages for sales they offered a long time ago that just were never deleted.  Happy savings

Many people complain that DMOZ is corrupt and outdated.  Yet they still would love for their site to be listed in it.  If you would like to be listed in DMOZ don’t submit your site, instead apply to become an editor.

If you become an editor you can control the anchor text, site description and can make as many subcategories as you like.  You will have to review a bunch of other sites so it doesn’t look like you are just getting in your site and leaving.

How do you get approved to be an editor?  Find a category that doesn’t have one.  Then fill out the editor application.  Just remember they are looking for people who are unbiased, with a volunteering attitude and passed 8th grade english.  So fill out the application with this in mind.  If you do become an editor just remember to show a little link love to GoodROI your favorite link whore.

Who knew people are so interested in weird bar conversations?   In order to please the masses I will share one of my favorite all time bar stories.

A long time ago in a land far far away, I actually had a social life and went out partying 6 nights a week.  One of these nights I was chatting with a cute girl who was about my age, was single, had a decent job, no observable mental disorders and I actually had fun chatting with.  She was definitely scoring high on my “girlfriend checklist”.  Then somehow in conversation it comes up that she is a virgin.  I am shocked.  Someone this attractive  and still a virgin in their mid twenties is an endangered species in Manhattan.  Read the rest of this entry »

Google Alerts is a very helpful tool for tracking what people are saying about you or your company.  Here are my favorite ways of using it

1) Track competition’s backlinks by entering in the searchterm box link:http://www.your-competition’s-website.com and select the Web type.  Now whenever Google updates your competitions backlinks you’ll be notified right away and you can then go contact those sites and try to also get a link for yourself. Read the rest of this entry »