Google announced a page speed service which would allow webmasters to speed up their websites by pointing their pages to a Google DNS.
To see what kind of savings are possible they have set up a comparison page where you can enter your domain name and see the savings. After the test the page shows you a video of your website loading the way it does now, and the way it would with the new page speed service. Pretty Cool.

Here is a video of the improvements that would be made to searchengineland.com loading as an example (it adds about a second, to the loading of searchengineland!). This illustrates a basic problem with the service. It can hurt you.

While this service will be undoubtedly popular (even when they start charging for it), there do exist some major problems with such a service. Many of the things you can do to speed up your pages simply are not possible with such a service.

I am very interested in page speed and will be talking alot about it in the very near future. I am familiar enough with Google offerings to tell you that the mod_pagespeed apache module on which this service will be based on has some flaws and that the particular tweakings that need to be done to truly speed up your site will remain with webmasters and their servers.

The page speed service will be a great addition to the web by getting rid of most of the more obvious problems that are making webpages slow.

If they start charging for the service (which they say they will). I think people are going to start learning more about pagespeed since the majority of the web page speed problems out there are really easy fixes.

In fact, I am going to launch a site about how to solve page speed issues that is geared towards general users.

Googles page speed is a great thing for making the web faster, but it is not the final solution to the problem of slow webpage speed. Depending on the pricing, it may not even make a dent. Think about how hard it is to get across to newbies that they have to pay for a host and a domain name. Now think about asking them to pay for some other service too.

Unless webhosts take this on for their clients, I am not sure a paid model is the best thing here for Google to offer.

I am in Spain and have begun a long hiking trip that will take me through Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Hungary, and Greece.  I started at a monestary named Monserrat which is in the mountains above Barcelona, here is a view of it after you have gotten above it…

I am following the European long distance hiking trail named E4. This is a 10000 km trail which just doesnt have much info about it in English. I plan to change that.

I have only been hiking a few days (the pic to the right is from yesterday).

There is alot of pretty to be had and I look forward to getting into the Pyrenees in the next week or so. I want to make a guide for this walk in English, and also a place where people who want to follow my progress can do so. That place will be E4hike.com (which isn´t set up yet but soon will be.)

The Canadian version of GetListed.org is now up at ca.getlisted.org

Getlisted LocalU is a learning event for small business owners. This month we are heading to Portland, Oregon on Feb 22nd and then Spokane, Washington on Feb 25th. These are great places for anyone to learn ways to have your business effectively represented online.
Here is a video from Ed Reese describing the Spokane event.

Got the new Chrome OS netbook from Google today, here are some photos of the box opening:

Getting good info on responsible affiliate marketing is hard

Unlike many of the other aspects of internet marketing, affiliate marketing is a much more closed environment. This means that affiliates who receive a great idea are much less likely to share that idea. This doesn’t mean they are bad, it just means that their minds are on making money and only making money.

In all honesty, this mindset is a fabulous one to have to make money, but it is on a different fork of the road than most SEO/SEM type things, in the sharing department.

When an affiliate marketer hears a good idea, their mind set is usually… “that might work for me, I am gonna try it” their mindset is not… “oh. What a valuable idea, I should share that.”

In other words, you are not likely to get a buttload of links for even the most valuable post about affiliate marketing techniques. You may, however find yourself with something even better.

Rabid fans.

I really like that Outspokenmedia covers affiliate conferences, I like even more that they cover the right ones.

I know all the people involved in such conferences and I know which ones have value and which do not.

If we all used the Rand Fishkin mathmatics of what is worth writing about (possibility of getting links plus possibility of getting more links = worth of content) then alot of valuable stuff would not get covered.

Long story short, Outspokenmedia seems to do a great job accross the board of making posts that are useful and linkworthy, and I think it is great they cover affiliate marketing conferences.  Like the recent several posts they did on Affiliate Summit which is a good conference run by people I know and trust.

If you are trying to make money off the web, I would check out their coverage on their blog. They go there, they cover the sessions, and do a great job.

The point here I am trying to make isn’t just that Outspokenmedia did some great blog posts, it is actually more about the usefulness and wisdom of writing about items of interest without regard to their possibility or probability of getting links. We all need to get links, but every post need not be link bait. Posts should help and pleasure and inform your readers.

Getlisted.org now works in the United Kingdom.

We are pleased to introduce uk.getlisted.org
There are different platforms in the UK than there are in the US, and we went with the platforms that we feel are the most helpful for the UK and EU markets to be included with our UK version. There are also some basic differences between the US and UK versions of GetListed.org.
The first is that you have to input more information about each business, but we feel this actually improves our initial accuracy. Once you have inputed your info, there will be the same information shown as the US version about each business.

Here is a screenshot of the UK interface:

The UK version is actually a sneak peek at our new layout for all versions of Getlisted.org with top navigation and a different layout of the info so that we have more room to add helpful tips and explanations. Here is what a “business snapshot” looks like in the new design:

As you can see the new layout is a bit different, but allows for more information to be on the page. US users will also be seeing this layout in the future.

We have also started a trusted local SEO company directory page for the UK, like the one we have for our US version.

This is a public beta, and we would love to hear your input. The quicker we hear about bugs the quicker we can get them fixed.

To see the UK version, please visit uk.getlisted.org

Yum. I see this when I wake up…

I got a new place and now live in Puerto Rico in the lovely lovely Old San Juan. It is a very pretty place. Have a look…

I am congratulating SEOmoz not only on their new office (which looks cool as poo).
But more for their new hires. I think one of the better moves they have made was to hire Jennifer.

Jennifer Lopez

I do not know the inner workings of SEOmoz, but I can confidently say that Jennifer is one of the more impressive people I have met and dealt with in the last few years (I don’t remember when we actually met, but as you all know I am usually drunk).
One of the first conversations about Jennifer I ever had was someone accusing me of “trying to steal her”. I sorta was. update: I was trying to “steal” her because she was a talented developer who understood stuff I was talking about. She was clearly a talent.

She really got what I was talking about when I talked (and for anyone who has ever talked to me you know that is a feat). Later, for another company I suggested we use her, and when I contacted her that time, she again understood what I wanted, and she provided a very professional outline for the project.
When she was applying for SEOmoz she asked if I would recommended her, well the truth was, I would have jumped through rings of fire for her to get that job. One of my happier moments was when I learned they had hired her.

Danny Dover

The other impressive person I have always admired is Danny Dover, who started writing great straightforward posts that in my opinion had been missing since Matt left. In addition to being smart and able, he also had the balls to accept my invitation to fly out to Arizona one time for a party where I was supposedly going to drink him under the table.

I didn’t, but in my defense I was drinking for hours before he showed up.

But the real point here is that Danny writes really useful stuff. I admire that.
Another wonderful new hire is Joanna Lord.

Joanna Lord

Joanna is like 27 times smarter that anyone talking to her realizes.

I am not sure what her role will end up being for SEOmoz, but if they are using her for their clients PPC then they are likely having some very happy clients.
I think nowadays it is alot more clear how talented she is because she has been speaking up a storm at conferences.

What a great addition to an already great staff.

Why am I writing This?

I used to be an avid contributor to SEOmoz and I stopped. I have to admit, as many of my contempories know and maybe feel themselves, there was a certain personality to SEOmoz a few years ago.

I had a comfort zone that included Rebecca, Matt, Scott, and Jane. They were a big part of why I was there. It was like a family to me.

Three of those people are now gone, but I really think it is time to take a second look at SEOmoz again, at least that is what I will be doing.
I hope others do too. It has always been a great community and it is chock full of great talent again.

Try them you will like them:  SEOmoz blog

After a long period of refection I was thinking warmly of a few people. In a tweet to @lookadoo I said something like “thank goodness for people like @rustybrick (Barry Schwartz) because he actually knows who rocks in forums and I hope he knows about you.’ this was a tweet I said to @lookadoo who to many of us who have been around for a few years know by a few other names.

I began my online stuff in forums, mostly help forums where I tried as honestly, patiently, and informatively as I could to answer peoples questions.

There were alot of us in the Google Webmaster help group circa (errr, years ago?) and I have to say I simply respect them. People like @halfdeck (i think the last time we spoke we were arguing, but I love that. The other as I mentioned above was @lookadoo. There was also John Mueller @johnmu, who now works for Google. These are twitter names obviously, but please check them out).

But this post has Barry Schwartz and Aaron Wall in the title. I am gonna talk about them….

Aaron Wall

I will start with Aaron Wall of SEOBook fame.

It is really important for me to be honest here about him, I am writing this from a lovely home looking over the ocean in Puerto Rico, but what I really wish more people knew about me is this…

When I got into SEO I was homeless. I did not own a computer. It wasn’t some cute, nice version of homeless, I was flat out homeless.

While I do not really want to highlight that fact (it is embarrassing), I constantly will highlight when I am talking about Aaron Wall. I have zero reservations about it. The reason is that although I may look bad for being homeless back then, it is the perfect compliment to Aaron what he did for me.

I had been working in the forums and at the Google help group and I kept realizing that just about everything people were asking about or having problems about were already covered in the Google webmaster guidelines. After literally talking to hundreds of people about how they can improve their site to be more visible in Google I decided to write a website that explained the Google guidelines in detail for layman.

I really felt a wrote a great site (feedthebot.com) and I didn’t really know what to do with it.One of the big voices online then was Aaron Wall. I wrote him a simple email (I can’t find it, but if Aaron want to post it he can feel free). It said something like…

“I can not afford your SEObook, but I want it, As soon as I get money, I will pay for it, and I will try to hook up other people with whatever I learn”

He wrote back to me and gave me the book free of charge.
That is Aaron Wall.
In about a month I was able to pay for the book and I did. But the thing to remember here is that he just gave it to me for nothing. This kindness has never once left me and I have never written a post that I felt would be helpful to others without thinking of Aaron.
Sorry Aaron for this public compliment, but it is really true. Some of my tutorials, like the one to make Google gadgets, have been used by tens of thousands of people. The only reason my tutorials are good and real is because of you Aaron, so deal with it.

Barry Schwartz

I do not have a sweet or historical story about Barry, what i do have about Barry is the same thing you have about Barry, alot of knowledge.
Barry has been following our space for years and his insights are always right on spot. His work on Search engine roundtable, Search Engine Land is widely and universally known to be simply superb.
My public thank you to Barry is this.. Thanks for paying attention when we are not. My other public compliment is this..
Thank you for creating great apps that are useful.
Barry was creating iPhone apps that were great when the “norm” was to create apps that where invasive and pretty much begged and manipulated people to get more users. That was what the norm was, and there was Barry creating apps that were so damn useful they they out shined the other apps.
I love that.
Anyways, they are good people and if you want to be good people in this field I suggest you research and read them.