I’ve been banned and blocked from enough websites to know it’s bad business to have strict ban policies.  I’ve been banned for a number of reasons,  some unknown.  However, I maintain my innocence! *wink*

When you start a website with a strict ban policy you essentially are telling your users screw you.  It is understood that you are trying to keep a clean presence and friendly user network but in essence all you are doing is discriminating against others by hiding behind ban policies, because in many cases the ban policy has little to do with SPAM but more to do with personal ethics.

Let’s take for instance, a while back I was banned from SEOChat forums because my first post on the forum board was a reply to a someone who was looking for SEO services.  Here’s what the forum member  posted  to the board:

Hi,

I am basically looking for someone who can do the SEO For my site URL.

The keyword I have in mind is competing against 11,600,000 on Google. The site is already indexed and appears to be listed on page 2 of ‘Wholesaler Forums’.

Any contact would be great, I’m looking for someone to start right away.

Here is my response to their post — this is what got me banned!

Hi,

I can assist you with your SEO needs. Please PM me your website URL and I will respond with a FREE MARKETING PLAN REPORT. I look forward to hearing from you.

That’s it!  My account was banned.  Matter fact here is the thread of the post that got me banned,  http://forums.seochat.com/seo-professionals-57/seo-professional-wanted-138458.html

I know I was a little cheesy! LOL!  But, who cares — I was on topic, relevant, and responsive to a member post.  And what’s worse forum moderators had the audacity to flame my post and question my authority because I said FREE MARKETING PLAN and I was not an active member on their forum.

FREE MARKETING PLAN is a part of my everyday quote  — it just shows the details of the project scope.  Maybe I shouldn’t have used the term,  but its use shouldn’t of gotten me banned — I didn’t say or do anything out of line, a moderator just did not personally accept me or agree with my post and therefore I was banned.

I did a web search for “seo wanted” and at the time that  post was on the first page of Google search results.  I simply clicked-through read the post and left a comment, doing that got me banned!  I said FREE MARKETING PLAN which is a free quote, I didn’t say FREE MARKETING.

Anyway, since that day I haven’t returned to SEOChat, haven’t recommended them to anyone, and whenever  I hear someone mention them I turn my nose up.  The forum moderator could have simply just removed my post (which they did) if they didn’t agree with the post or send a friendly email explaining policy — if I broke any.

I also was banned from DigitalPoint in the past for multiple user accounts, but I was already an active member of DP for years before being banned, so I wanted back in.  There are legitimate reasons for having multiple accounts.  For me I have different online personalities which each serve different purposes.

Another place I was  banned  which rubbed me the wrong way was at MailChimp,  being accused of  spamming  — I had only 7 subscribers at the time  and  they were all  opt-in so I never understood their  complaint.  I always felt this was more personal, because  the content  of my emails weren’t well liked by the general public so its possible they put an end to my account  due to personal reasons.   When I emailed them for an explaination or some  proof of spamming — I of course didn’t hear a response.   What’s  worse than banning  someone from  your website is being a coward banner.

I’ve even seen

Website ban policies can leave a bad taste in someone mouth who is a legitimate and influential individual.  Making someone feel alienated because you want to steer the direction of  your website to serve your own beliefs is discriminatory and I wouldn’t  be surprise if a  case pops up sooner or later  where someone is banned from a website  then they file a lawsuit for discrimination.

Many websites ban members who monetize or attempt monetization from their profiles.   I don’t understand this practice, because I think every opportunity on the web can be leveraged if done right.

Webmasters have tunnel vision and don’t allow room for growth by having strict ban policies.  I think banning should be done when someone is posting irrelevant content, but if it answers someone question then allow it, even if someone tries to monetize, as long as its in moderation.

Take a closer look at your ban policy and make sure you are not alienating any particular group or person.  You want your website to bring people together not discourage participation or make someone feel ill about your website.

Being banned is a part of life in the webmaster/affiliate world because you manage so many different accounts online it’s almost impossible not to get banned and with affiliate marketing you have to be extra careful.  But regardless when or how you get banned it always make you feel a certain way inside

Google celebrates anniversary of Sesame Street November 2009 with homepage logos starting from November 4th 2009.  Check ‘em out,

I started a new website, SEO Referrals (http://www.seoreferrals.com).  The thought behind it is to have a centralized and dedicated location for finding and posting search engine optimization jobs or projects.

The way it works is simple, if you have an SEO job to fill then you sign up for a employers account here then create a project for providers to bid upon.  If you are looking for work then you browse SEO projects and sign up for an account here then place a bid on the SEO projects of interest.

It is the perfect solution to outsourcing your SEO services and finding the right freelance talent for the job.  There is also a section of the website where you can place job ads when you are seeking in-house talent.

It is 100% free to post SEO projects, browse projects, and bid on projects.  The only cost comes when accepting a provider or project.  If you as the employer accept a provider then it will cost $1.  As the provider it will cost $5 to accept a project.  Just for signing up, I will add $5 to your account so sign up now!

Otherwise, you can always get a free quote for SEO services from me here!

SEO expert, Anthony Onaf (http://www.antonaf.com) is offering free keyword research to all website owners for a limited time.  This is the perfect way for website owners to get a solid list of keywords which they should be targeting and using for website optimization.  Included with every keyword report is a list of top ten keywords, estimated Google Adwords cost per click, estimated monthly Google search volume,  estimated monthly traffic, and suggested daily budget for keyword targets.

In case you don’t know, keyword research is one of the most important aspects of SEO also known as search engine optimization.  If someone does an online search  for keywords related to your business then being listed on the first page for the search queried keywords is important.  The only way to know if the keywords you are targeting is popular and a wise target is to perform keyword research.

When done right, targeting the correct keywords will drive mass amounts of traffic to your website pages.  Each page of your website is an opportunity for keyword targeting.  Targeting the wrong keywords will prove to be a waste of time, money, and effort.

Anthony Onaf analyzes website pages and provides a list of the top ten keywords which relate.  Each keyword suggested by Anthony will be an opportunity for targeting and creating content pages.  Do you know the top ten keywords to target in your industry?  If not, then this is especially for you.  To get your list of top ten keywords, simply contact Anthony Onaf via his contact form, mention you want keyword research performed for your website and he’ll respond with a list of keyword targets, http://www.antonaf.com/contact/

Ant Onaf Search Marketing & SEO is a Raleigh SEO company specializing in search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and pay per click management.  Ant Onaf is dedicated to driving targeted traffic and increasing rank.

Some people who buy into an SEO solution for their website don’t have a minimum or maximum SEO budget. They just wing it! There is no SEO budget and no SEO plan. This is a common mistake.

Having an SEO budget (and plan) is essential. But the SEO plan can come from your outsourced SEO company. The problem with exploring SEO without a budget is most search companies have different ways of pricing and prices can differ greatly depending on the company. If you don’t have a SEO budget in mind then you can easily be thrown into a loop.

Knowing when to hire a full-time employee instead of a consultant can get tricky, but a good rule of thumb is to hire employees when the position directly relates to your core business and hire a consultant when you need assistance for something outside your direct business.  An example would be a web design company would find great use in hiring a full time web designer, but a construction company may not have a need for a full-time web designer, therefore a consultant will be a better choice.

At current the normal going rates for SEO is (somewhat) as follows,

US/UK/CA SEO Consultant – $25-$200 per hour
Offshore SEO Consultant – $10-$50 per hour

Entry Level SEO Employee – $25K-$50K per year
Junior Level SEO  Employee – $40K-$75K per year
Senior Level SEO Employee – $60K-$125K per year
Principal/Executive  Level SEO Employee – $80K-$250K per year

Here’s some things to consider when creating a SEO budget for your company,

Hourly rate

It all starts with an hourly rate.  Your company should decide on an hourly rate which is considered fair compensation. Choosing an independent consultant or outsourced company will usually cost more in terms of hourly rate compared to a full-time employee.

However, you should be aware that while hiring an employee is commonly cheaper in hourly cost, there are other miscellaneous costly expenses such as health insurance, 401K, personal days, vacation days, training, office space, work materials, and other expenses — therefore the cost between the two can even out when you factor in the whole picture.  So when you budget an hourly rate for an employee versus a consultant make sure you include the miscellaneous items.

Goals & Objectives

Determine your goals and objectives.  If you are looking for immediate results in terms of traffic and rankings then you more than likely need a paid search solution, such as Google Adwords management.  Paid search can get your website to the top of the rankings literally overnight and drive mass amounts of traffic, however there is a cost association.  If you are outsourcing then you’ll have to pay for the managed labor hours as well as pay the spend cost (ad budget) on the pay per click networks.  So if your consultant tells you their hourly cost is $50 per hour, then you’ll have to pay for the hours spent managing the campaign at $50 per hour then you’ll have to pay for the amount of money being spent for advertising and promoting your website on Google Adwords and other paid search networks, such as $100 per day (or $3,000 per month).

If your goal is long term management then you should budget for the long term.  If you only need a specific task completed, such as keyword research, competitor analysis, on page optimization, then this can be a short term project and your SEO budget should conform.

Amount of Hours

Determine the number of hours you’ll need to accomplish your goals so you can stay within your SEO budget range.  In most cases a single SEO campaign will never need a full 40 hours of work each week, even though the more hours poured into the campaign then likely the more effort which leads to more rewards.

Whatever the case you will still have wait time which cannot be escaped, search engines must take notice to your website SEO efforts, evaluate your website, then rank your website — this process can take months of trust building.  The point is no matter how fast you build your online presence you’ll still have to wait for search engines to play catch up, so there is no need to rush things.

Extract a number of hours you are willing to invest each week to employ an SEO employee or SEO consultant services.  If you are unfamiliar with online marketing then you need to just jump in and go quote shopping.  Find companies who are willing to give you a free detailed quote.  Telling you at least what you need to get started with Phase I, how much it will cost, and how long it will take.  Get quotes from several companies to compare and get an average starting point for your campaign.

Accountability

Determine what your SEO provider responsibilities.  If you are paying your SEO to be accountable for your website leads and sales then make this known upfront and expect to budget for such responsibilities.  If you are using the SEO to drive traffic then you should fairly compensate for traffic driven results.  If your SEO provider is only responsible for consultation then likely you’ll pay an initial retainer fee then an hourly rate beyond anything consultation related.

When your company decides to outsource their SEO solution then you are expected to pay for time, effort, and strategy.  A skilled consultant can cut the time it takes to rank and achieve online success in half the time if they have the right SEO budget.

Twitter has a new feature which allows you to create and organize lists.  This is a neat feature because it allows you to easily manage your Twitter followers.  Most people have several different interest and their followers are of particular interest, by creating lists you can now group your followers and map them to a particular interest.

This is a minor change, but very much welcomed.  It is good to see Twitter is constantly improving day by day!

There are some advantages to hiring an SEO consultant over an employee and vice versa. However, it can sometimes be a chore trying to decide whether you need a SEO consultant or employee to satisfy your search engine optimization needs.

If your company has never hired a SEO consultant then it’s possible you don’t know the benefits of hiring an  SEO consultant.  On the surface it may seem an SEO consultant cost more than an employee because an employee hourly rate is about $25 versus SEO consultants $75+ per hour rate, but in reality consultants are usually cheaper or the same in cost.

When you hire a SEO consultant you normally pay an hourly rate and that’s it (excluding taxes, retainer fees, etc.).  Labor, materials, etc. are all wrapped in the rate or quote.  However, when you hire an employee there are so many additional cost in addition to the salary/ hourly rate, for an employee you must pay for:

• Health insurance
• 401K
• Personal days
• Vacation days
• Training
• Stationary & Supplies
• Office space
• Materials (tools/applications)

So, if you think about hiring an employee you’ll have to pay a salary/hourly rate plus the above — in this frame of thinking a $75 per hour SEO consultant will cost much less than an SEO employee.

An employee is a part of your business and therefore you are fully responsible for the employee.  A SEO consultant is not a representation or part of your business, it’s an outside vendor, providing services to your business.  The employee relationship may be more difficult to terminate in terms of legalities, while the SEO consultant relationship can be terminated any time as long as it doesn’t violate contractual agreements, thus likely disarming any claims of disgruntled employees.

A SEO consultant is expected to complete the job without any guidance or training from you, they can complete the job in any fashion deemed responsible as long as it meets deadlines this includes the amount of hours spent on the project, the time which the project tasks are executed, and  the location at which they complete the project.  SEO Consultants can have multiple projects completely separate from your own, in most cases a SEO consultant will have multiple clients which deserve their attention.  An employee is different in the fact they are given instructions to complete their work and are confined to company policies.

With that being the case it should help you decide when to hire an employee instead of a SEO consultant.  If your company wants full control and plans to manage the project then hiring an employee is probably best, but if you are looking for someone to take the ball and run the project to full completion then hiring a consultant is your best bet!

Here are some other reasons why you might want to hire an SEO consultant,

• if your business does not relate to SEO (most employees wear different hats in a company.  The position you are hiring for should be scalable and inline with your business offerings so you can utilize the employee in other capacities instead of solely SEO duties.  i.e.  If you are a construction company then it’s likely you do not need a full-time SEO employee, in this case an SEO consultant would be best)
• if the position does not require at least 120 hours per month then  there is no need to hire a full-time SEO employee as they will likely not reach their hourly quota each week
• if you are in need of seasoned professionals  with experience and expert knowledge.  Employees are likely not going to have the skills needed to improve your website rankings and traffic in a way that quantifies, if they are then they will likely cost more than the average.  SEO Consultants are commonly masters of their domain and come to the table already skillful

There are reasons when you should hire an employee over SEO consultants, because employees of course bring their own value.  Employees are much more manageable and can be an intricate part of your overall business.  Employees can create documentation, procedures, instructions, and guidelines which can become company policy and passed along to new employees to continue being the lifeblood of your business.

Here are other reasons why you should consider hiring an employee,

1. if the position is an essential part of your company or business offerings.  If the SEO position plays an important role to gaining new business or sustaining existing business then it’s probably best to hire an employee for the SEO role
2. if your company needs full control or project management capabilities.  If you have construction company then it is pointless for you to understand every nook & cranny involved with SEO you just want to know that what you’ve paid for has been implemented, executed, and completed successfully — which you can get from detail reportings and analysis, but if you are an SEO or web company then it may be worth having full control.
3. if your company has loads of internal work specific to SEO or web management.  If your company has neglected their online presence for too long and now they are far behind, where they need new hosting, new web design, new applications designed, and new SEO marketing plan then hiring an employee may be worthwhile since it will be long term and an overload of work.

In some instances, even with construction companies there will be a strong need for an SEO employee.  It might be the construction company is deciding to move forward with creating a social media network online in the construction niche or maybe they are implementing a forum board or blog on their own pages.  In cases like these hiring a full time SEO will be a wise decision.

The information above will hopefully help you make the right decision when hiring an SEO consultant or employee.  In many cases it’s just a reconditioning of the mind, because most traditional business thinkers are unable to conceptually understand the use for consultants — while they enjoy being in full control.  But consultants can be used in a business wise way to save time and money for the company, in ways employees can’t.

Why do I blog? Hmmm! Good question.

You would think its because it is something I love doing, but far from the truth. I don’t hate blogging, but I wouldn’t do it as much as I did if the reward from it wasn’t so huge. I blog because it is a means for me to make money — if not a immediate direct sale or lead, it pays off in the long run.

Blogging gives me my own voice in a little small corner of the web, so that is always a good reason to blog it out! But the rewards of networking, audience reach, search rankings, industry spotlight, and independent expression is far greater reasons to blog.

I run numerous other blogs for affiliate programs and I’ve seen great rewards time and time again through the efforts of blogging. Plus it is a cost-effective way to traffic, leads, and sales generation.

If you are not blogging then you are missing out on the world wide web experience. Blogs are free and easy so there is no reason not to have one. I’d recommend WordPress.com as the free blog host of choice (or WordPress.org if you want to download/install on your server).

Even if you don’t have much to say, just speak your mind. If you don’t speak English then write a blog in your native tongue, the worse thing is you will just get less traffic — but the reward is the traffic will be more targeted, because anyone reading your language is a potential sale! If you can’t write everyday then write every other day, every week, every other week, every month — just write when you can. The point is you should have a active blog no matter what! Even if it’s just a microblog, like Twitter.

Why do you blog?

So if you’ve been under a rock the last few months you might not of heard of the Yahoo and Microsoft deal — the one that went through.  It goes like this, for the next 10 years Microsoft (Bing) will be the default search engine for Yahoo! — therefore Yahoo! will be dumping many of its search products.  Microsoft will buy a 10 year license from Yahoo! to be Yahoo’s exclusive algorithmic search and paid search technology.

What Does This Mean for Your Bottomline

If you rely heavily on Yahoo search products for your business success then you will likely feel a heavy effect.  Yahoo is said to be terminating their Paid Inclusion program, therefore you will have to shift gears at some point.  If you do not use Yahoo search products then life will continue as normal for you.

Why Would Yahoo! Do Such a Deal

Here’s my thoughts and I am with Yahoo! on this one, I think the deal was very wise on their part.  Yahoo and Microsoft both have been struggling with trying to topple Google search, neither have been able to accomplish this alone, so two heads is better than one.

However, with the deal Yahoo! has been able to cut costs by abandoning the burden of their ailing search product.  The money they save from this deal can be poured into research and development for the next 10 years, making it a strong competitor within the next decade.

Microsoft nor Google has the luxuries Yahoo has right now.  Both, Google and Microsoft must still pour billions of dollars into their search products every year, while Yahoo! gets to count that money while their engineers develop the most kick-ass search product for 2020!

Yahoo! is saving a lot of money with this deal — they may not have a search product on the backend but on the frontend Yahoo! users will not even notice — smart move!  For the next 10 years they will still be highly visible competitor in the search industry.

What’s even more crazy, is Yahoo! still gets paid for search through revenue sharing — so in the process they save money and make more money — WOW!  Not many companies can pull off such a smart deal.

Yahoo! has came out the clear winner in my opinion, but in reality if Yahoo! neglect to take advantage of this opportunity then in the next decade the can easily be the clear loser in this deal.

If Yahoo! get to work now, they will have no problem out doing their competition.  Yahoo! is probably a great company to work with right now, since with all the money they are saving they’ll be able to afford the best!

The fun part about being online is the various ways to make money and become someone else behind the screen.  Most affiliate marketers who step outside of their niche markets are faced with an identity crisis when trying to break ground in a new market.  For instance I have a presence in the Equestrian market, but I don’t (or didn’t) know anything about horses however its an untapped market with a fair amount of affiliate programs and now I have an active presence in the market.  I had to create an online personality which fit that market.

When creating my online personalities I get a bit involved.  Here is a common process I step through,

1. Identify the target audience
2. Identify and join popular niche communities
3. Identify leaders in the field and username stalk
4. Grab a photo from the public domain which compliments my target market (such  as a guy standing next to a horse for the Equestrian market, because a photo of a hip hop black guy with cornrolls and a bandanna wouldn’t necessarily fit the Equestrian market — and vice versa a country-styled white guy doesn’t necessarily fit the hip hop space either.  Not to say there could never be a Jay-Z of Equestruan games or Toby Keith of hip hop).
5. Create full profiles with contact details (name, phone number, address, bio, and uploaded pic)
6. Research the target market (commonly I do news searches and find the latest news in the niche market — this gives me something to share or talk about)
7. Share useful content and media (non-affiliate materials), participate in discussions, join groups, and add friends

After doing the above for a couple of weeks I usually build a solid following.  At this point I start to silently push my agenda.  I would begin answering questions using affiliate links.  I will convert or add affiliate links to my profile.  However, the most important thing is that I never force my agenda.  I always answer a question that is relevant to the link I’ll publish.  If I have advice without a link to share then I still share advice and use a signature that includes a (masked, i.e. TinyURL) affiliate link.  i.e.,

Comment….

Sincerely,
Anthony Onaf
http://tinyurl.com/yjlqqk7

The most important aspect of online personality building is you create a believable profile with a solid reputation.  In the case you are outed as a phony in the industry then your own identity is protected and you can just repeat the steps above.

Sure people say this is an unethical way to make money online, but most people use multiple pseduyoms online for various reasons.  No one is being hurt nor is anyone being taken advantage of, you simply building social links under a different profile.  No foul, no harm!

My strategy is a little different than sock puppet marketing.  Sock puppet marketing works in the same manner of creating profiles, but it is a little more underhanded and unethical.  I wouldn’t practice it nor would I suggest it.  Anyway, sock puppet marketing is the act of creating  separate profiles which talk to each other.  Such as, PROFILE1 creates a discussion post like “Hey where can I find the coolest new widget?”  While PROFILE2  engages by replying to the question and pointing to your website or affiliate, such as “You can find the coolest new widget here, http://affiliateurl.com”.  PROFILE1 and PROFILE2 are both the same person.

PROFILE2 makes the answer look more credible because it is intended to look as if it is coming from an independent party not the same person who posted the question.  It’s very popular on sites like Yahoo! answers, the best answers is sometimes just self-promotion.

Some people will consider sock puppet marketing the same as creating identity profiles, but I disagree.  Creating identity profiles is probably borderline, but sock puppet marketing is actually crossing the line and pure unethical.  Most people have different pseudonyms online to serve their agenda.

Even Matt Cutts, the Google Web Spam engineer who advises against sock puppet marketing had created identity profiles to serve his own agenda.  Though since that debacle it seems he may have had a change of heart.

Anyway, the takeaway from this is to not allow an identity crisis to keep you from tapping into a market.  If building personalities is something you feel uncomfortable with or you think its unethical, then all I can say is don’t do it.  But I will say this, I’ve seen a 200% increase in affiliate sales since I started creating niche profiles.   No one has been harmed, hurt, or taken advantage of!

I have about 7 different personalities online.  What about you?