Google vs Links sales: the worst is yet to come

Aaron Wall posts about a trend that’s opened up to a lot of webmasters over the New Year - falling Adsense revenues.
The chatter has been around for a while, and it seems the recent move to reduce the clickable space in Adsense could well be contributing - but the economic downturn hitting big corporate advertisers [...]

Microsoft to buy Yahoo

Microsoft have pitched to buy Yahoo.
I’m gutted.
Last Autumn it was obvious that Yahoo stock was seriously undervalued by comparison to Google, Amazon, and other major internet companies.
However, not only did I not have an investment portfolio, but the promise of the stock markets tanking made it a bad time to set up a portfolio [...]

Needed: WP coder & webmaster

I am so busy at present - far too busy in fact - and desperately need some freelancers to help on webdev work.
I currently need:
1. Wordpress Webmaster
Must be comfortable using CPanel, including for setting up databases
Must be able to set up Wordpress installs
Must be able to modify Wordpress settings (such as permalink rules, set up [...]

Intel CEO’s amazing risk quote

I was amazed to see this quote from Intel’s CEO, Paul Otellini, on the BBC today:

Our business model is one of very high risk: We dig a very big hole in the ground, spend three billion dollars to build a factory in it, which takes three years, to produce technology we haven’t invented yet, to [...]

iBrian to speak at SES London 2008

I have *always* wanted to speak at SES. I love SEO and especially link building - my speciality. I love talking about the subject, and I love talking about my experiences with link dev work.
The trouble is, I’m usually too busy to keep any pace with blogging the subject - plus there’s also the concern [...]

Drupal: The Next King of CMS?

UPDATE: It appears there are some very interesting complaints about scalability with Drupal which apparently still hold - ie, great for a small site, but if you want it to run something larger, you’d better have some good developers on your books. Conclusion? Drupal promises much, but could still be a victim of its own [...]

How to determine brand potential

One thing I’ve struggled with - not least through trial and error - is how to determine a brand and build it.
Lessons I have learned include:
1. Use familiar words to define a brand where possible
2. If using made up words, try to avoid more than 2 syllables
3. Thriving communities confer brand by sheer familiarity
And of [...]

Now over 200,000 spam comments

Akismet now lists over 215,000 spam comments targeted and deleted at ibrian.co.uk.
I think that says something sad about humanity - that as a species we seek to predate on one another for material advantage.
The internet is such an accurate reflection of the web - the hard working projects that seek to give, the spammers and [...]

Don’t you just hate domainers?

Don’t you just hate how you get an idea for a great website or brand, only to find any form of the domain name has been bought by domainers, who just leave them parked with Sedo and similar?
I’ve heard domainers argue that they are investing in real estate, but let’s be clear - domaining is [...]

New Adsense unit changes being tested

I’ve seen a couple of new features on Google Adsense units today, and am surprised that I’ve not seen any chatter elsewhere, so I’ll detail them here:
1. Change of link format
A subtle but significant change in the 300×250 ad units is that instead of all ads running down like a shopping list, sometimes these are [...]

Google using bounce rates for ranking purposes?

I suggested a while back that Google could use clickstream - user tracking data - to modify SERPs.
I now believe Google is already applying this data via via user tracking of how long a user stays on a site - and whether they click back because it’s irrelevant, or else quickly click out via [...]

Lawyers: Eat My Shorts

It is a sad fact of the world that some companies and people use the legal system for intimidation purposes.
It is a sad fact of the world that those companies and individuals most likely to use the legal system to intimidate, are those more likely to be involved in unethical, or potentially illegal practices.
Nearly two [...]

How to complain

In business and domestic life I’ve repeatedly encountered issues where I’ve felt as though a product/service has either been not satisfactorily delivered, or delivered at all.
In raising complaints, I’ve learned a few key pointers on how to ensure a reasonably swift resolution of such issues:
1. Ask, don’t threaten
Don’t threaten anything. We don’t know there is [...]

20 Lessons I’ve Learned in Business

I never trained nor studied in business - getting involved in SEO and then running a SEO company was all pretty much an accidental process, and an interesting learning curve to boot.
However, I have learned a number of principles of business which I think have kept me in good stead.
I’ve already posted them in the [...]

Did Dell drop the Linux PC?

UPDATE: 10th Dec 2007: Dell just contacted me and have fixed the 404 - you can now buy Ubuntu PC’s online from Dell UK again. :)
Just tried to order a linux PC from Dell, but I’m getting a 404 when I try to purchase.
I start at:
Dell.co.uk > Desktops > Ubuntu Linux
But when click on “Customise [...]

I just bought an iMac

I’ve just bought my very first Apple - a nice 24″ 2.8GHz iMac.
The process wasn’t entirely smooth, as it flagged a potential fraud alert on my credit card, refused the order the first time.
I had to spend 15 minutes running through the bank’s anti-fraud checks before I could make an order that would complete.
There have [...]

Using Adsense stats as a business development tool

This afternoon I decided to set up historical records of Adsense earnings for my top performing websites over 2007.
I’m not a high-flyer in SEO - I spend all my time working on development projects rather than posturing - and while I’m certainly not a top Adsense earner, the revenues are enough to make Google my [...]

Live Search: Aggressive duplicate content filters

Live Search - aka MSN Search - has been showing some of the most aggressive duplicate content filtering I’ve ever seen across any search engine of late.
I first noticed it with a client who is performing well on Google, but has dropped down significantly on MSN.
The main problem is that he’s in a market that [...]

Why companies should be wary of in-house link development

At SEW, Justilien Gaspard suggests 5 Best Reasons to Build Links In-House.
While I certainly encourage my own clients to cover some link development in house, it has to be done under guidance.
The problem is, managing a link development campaign requires experience, knowledge and creative thinking that you cannot easily train someone in.
Additionally, good link developers [...]

Tips for buying sites/domains

I’ve been buying sites/domains of late, and already wasted money doing this, so I thought I’d pass on a few tips with regards to buying a website or domain name.
The reason for buying sites and domains should be obvious: asset development.
There are so many reasons why asset development can be useful:
- capturing mindshare
- lead generation
- [...]