SEO Tycoon

**VirtuosiMedia** · 02:12 PM

After reading all the article directory, forum signature, and blog comment posts for building backlinks (unless it's relevant, it's spam), I decided to write this. Follow me, if you will, on a little trip to the Land of Logic and a city called Cost/Benefit Analysis.

Imagine, for a moment, if, INSTEAD of spamming other websites or feeding their business models while neglecting your own, you create new content for your site.

Now consider the following:

A link is a link is a link. Google will follow a link no matter if it's on a different site or your own site. This means that if you create a new page on your site and link to another page on your site, it will be followed in the same way as writing an article for an article directory.
You 100% control the content, links, anchor text, and rel attributes on your site. This is not the case with sites you do not own.
A larger number of pages on your site make for a larger search engine footprint. This means that more people will come directly to your site. With an article in an article directory, they go to the directory site. Some will go to your site too, most won't.
Because the content is on your site, you can serve ads or otherwise monetize your visitors. Again, in most cases, you can't do that if your content is on someone else's website.
Regularly adding new content gets you indexed more frequently. For most people, if you're indexed once a day or even once a week, it's enough.
Regularly adding new content ALSO helps you build an audience. If your content is good enough or popular enough, people will talk about it, which will result in the so-called "organic backlinks".
Having an audience also means that people RETURN to your site. Isn't the whole point of SEO getting people to your website? If they come back, you can do something with that.

Save yourself some time, make more money, and help improve the quality of the internet. Stop spamming your links and promoting article directories. Work on your business and your website, not someone else's.

**chrishirst** · 02-03-2010, 05:44 PM

Stickied!

**VirtuosiMedia** · 02-03-2010, 08:46 PM

Feel free to add to the list.

**jamestl2** · 02-06-2010, 02:57 PM

You mean if I want a good site, I am actually supposed to work on it rather than a different one? Where do you come up with these crazy theories?!?!

(Nice post, BTW. I wonder how many people actually READ stickied threads before posting in the appropriate forums?)

**dWhite** · 02-06-2010, 04:26 PM

Agree, all I ever see in the types of threads is just the same responses over and over.

And greenhats spreading false SEO information too.

**KennyGee** · 02-07-2010, 10:53 AM

Sometimes it might be a good idea especially for newly start up sites that you submit the content to article directories which are crawled more often. Of course when your own site establishes itself, it is better to contribute the content to your own rather than putting it on someone else site. Anyway, even if I were to submit, I'll never put the best content or I'll just submit a half complete article so that chances that reader follow back to my site is more.

**VirtuosiMedia** · 02-09-2010, 01:48 AM

Why would a user follow a link to an author's site if the article they are reading is horrible in the first place?

**edgray** · 07:49 AM

Of course I totally agree with all of this. But there are some other considerations to make:

Firstly,you could have a site with hundreds of pages of simply the best content ever, but without some initial links and promotion, how would anyone find it and start linking to it?

One might actually extend your theory here to include extending your site beyond your domain. I've recently taken a course in Social Media Marketing, and it's been very helpful, and one of the ways of looking at social media, is that you're increasing the ways people can find you, much like the idea of making your website larger. This diagram explains a little:

In that sense, using the "web2.0" sites like YouTube and FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter etc, you're increasing the potential doorways that people have to find you through. Plus, the links from those sites could help bolster your pages in the search engines.

You can't control these 100%, but they increase the chances of finding your customers, and your customers finding the right info about you.

Just my thoughts. I like and agree with your theory, but I think it's only half the picture of a successful website.

**jadeslair** · 02-14-2010, 12:52 AM

I agreed with you up until I saw the three links in your signature.

**VirtuosiMedia** · 02-15-2010, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jadeslair

I agreed with you up until I saw the three links in your signature.

Believe it or not, those aren't there for SEO. They're actually meant to be useful to people on this forum.

**lynxus** · 05:55 PM

Couldn't agree more.

I think some people ( Ok most people ) seem to spend FAR to much time on one kind of SEO / LinkBuilding / Whatever to get visitors to their site.

Yes, It sounds like common sense that if your website is about new exiting stuff going on , Then YES you should update it OFTEN and with decent content? But a lot of new web-masters etc. don't seem to posses such a sense.

Applying this to RSS feeds etc then help other re-publish your work without you lifting a further finger. So thats great!

Forum sigs, I also agree. Its pointless ( me for instance ) posting my sig on a winter Olympics forum would be pointless ( not from SEO, but because the audience just wont care or understand ).
I know it doesnt help SEO, However we are all webmasters and its just another resource that people may find useful. Even if they dont use it. It helps get the word out about such a technology.

Regarding directory's, I also cant see a problem with this. As long as people post to relevant ones then great. Google for instance... I personally dont think they care if the directory is not relevant, However isn't it the end user that will care? So what's the point in posting a Tech related site on a "how do i grow bamboo" directory?
Its a waste of your time and no one elses.

SEO is well overrated also. Unless your on frontpage for YOUR terms then you wont see much gain from it.

As agreed with the 1st poster.
If you have useful info with easy ways for people to interact and gain knowledge and use from your posts then you will get recurring visits.

And this is what people want.

No SEO is not good SEO.
Targeted SEO is bad SEO.

People need to find a perfect median for SEO and not go overboard before you get obsessed with it.

**VirtuosiMedia** · 08:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edgray

Firstly,you could have a site with hundreds of pages of simply the best content ever, but without some initial links and promotion, how would anyone find it and start linking to it?

Quite true, and I was hoping someone would say something to this effect. You do need the initial marketing. For some sites, it's not that hard as their content will fit easily in the subject matter of many social media sites. For others that don't, I'd actually recommend <gasp> advertising over and above the usual article directory nonsense. Unless your personal time is worth nothing, it will be more economical and effective to just buy ads.

Quote:

Originally Posted by edgray

In that sense, using the "web2.0" sites like YouTube and FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter etc, you're increasing the potential doorways that people have to find you through. Plus, the links from those sites could help bolster your pages in the search engines.

You can't control these 100%, but they increase the chances of finding your customers, and your customers finding the right info about you.

As part of their initial development, StackOverflow viewed the search engine results pages as part of their user interface. I agree with you that Twitter, Facebook, etc. should be viewed in a similar light.

Nice graphic, by the way.

**w3bmaster** · 02-17-2010, 11:10 AM

The best solution is to combine
Creating a good site/content also work on backlinks ...

**lynxus** · 02-17-2010, 03:28 PM

Oh here we go again.

Seriously ? Is PR the only thing people care about?

**edgray** · 02-18-2010, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lynxus

Seriously ? Is PR the only thing people care about?

you mean there's something else we should be caring about instead?!?!?!?!

That little green bar is my life...

**VirtuosiMedia** · 02-18-2010, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edgray

That little green bar is my life...

You're talking about the Talkupation bar here on WT, right?

**edgray** · 02-19-2010, 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VirtuosiMedia

You're talking about the Talkupation bar here on WT, right?

either/or really, both seem to be pretty stagnant for me right now...

**FenceGuy** · 02-20-2010, 08:06 PM

Great post! While I agree with most of it, I use social media to network not to build links, I have never used article marketing, well, because I am selfish with my content, but I also think that a link is a link is a link is not completely true. Links in forums or other sites that get indexed more than a new site can hopefully help get your newer site indexed faster (I think I read about that somewhere on this forum, stated by a mod), and links can obviously help get your brand and referral traffic too. While a natural link from another related site and quality anchor text can boost you in the SERP's for the keyword (at least that is the way I understand it, and I am no expert).

Awesome stuff man.

**sachinvass** · 03-02-2010, 09:57 AM

Beginners need some link love to get up and face the tight challenge of climbing Google ladder. They have to take some steps to build link until they are established themselves. Later they can relax and concentrate more on quality content.

**4layouts** · 03-04-2010, 07:01 PM

Great thread. Its good to know that a few webmasters out there realize that promoting a site is more than SEO optimization and PR. Personally I could care less about a sites PR when I choose to exchange links. I go for content.

SEO can be important, but I don't focus on it too much. Why? Because in my main sites lifespan since 2001 search engine traffic at any time is between 8-12%. Even when I redesign and update with all the latest SEO tips and tricks, it doesn't change much. If you want traffic, a great way is to get similar, high quality sites to link to you.