Losing out on TV interview requests

Ouch - lost out on a couple of TV interview requests over the past few weeks because of my running a number of news sites.
The BBC wanted me to represent a view on surveillance in society on one of their London programmes, and a couple of days ago Sky wanted to schedule an interview over […]

Niche sites: the killer understated advantage

I’ve seen a few conversations recently where people have suggested building generic over niche sites, as a general way to develop a stronger presence online.
The most recent is Rand Fishkin’s Five Reasons Why It’s Better to be Big & Popular than Small & Niche.
The trouble is, Rand’s post confuses niche development with microsites IMO.
Microsites […]

Why Web 2.0 Social Media Wil Die

The big flaw with Web 2.0 is the social media aspect - the idea that the “wisdom of crowds” will somehow emerge and flourish, leaving the site/business owner with valuable free content.
The reality is that what is more likely to happen is that the “madness of crowds” will take over.
After all, history doesn’t tend […]

Lots of tips on the Platinax Forums

I’m trying not to post too much of particular use on my blog at present - let’s just say Brian Turner the SEO and my SEO company want to keep a general low profile for the time being. :)
However, I am pushing Platinax - a different company I run - and am currently publishing a […]

Invest: now

So I’ve mentioned that I’ve taken up publishing news, and that since Google set up iGoogle getting a news site syndicated by Google News has become a lot harder.
Having recently read that Google are now looking to host major content, that means I see a further closing on the opportunity of getting new sites syndicated.
That […]

When social bookmarking happens without you

Just had a great experience - thought I’d better submit my news articles for today to social media sites.
However, the first two I tried to submit were refused - because they had already been submitted by other users. :)
Either another SEO has decided to become my best friend, in which case - the cheques in […]

Database restore after db failed

The database at iBrian has been acting up recently - I had thought that a “repair tables” in phpmyadmin had done the job, but then came onto the site today to find a single post displayed - apparently everything was lost.
Anyway, I uploaded a backup, upgraded Wordpress, and all seems to be running fine now.
I […]

Some killer Wordpress plugins

Been looking at how to set up a specific image for posts under a specific category. Tried out some php code - languages are not my thing - so I couldn’t it to work by editing some potential php code snippets directly.
However, a search on Google found a plugin that I could use for the […]

Experimenting with Press Releases

Over the past week I experimented with Press Releases again - something I’ve not used much previously, not least because word was that Google had gotten down to devaluing them a couple of years ago, when submitting to PR Web was all the rage.
Anyway, I noticed Marketwire press releases getting some action on some pretty […]

BBC news - it’s the details that matter

Richard Porter describes the difficulties in delivering the news when details are sketchy - such as the recent Iraqi truck bombings, and flooding in North Korea.
However, in my opinion, the problem with media in general isn’t lack of details on breaking stories - it’s the insertion of suspect details in more in-depth coverage.
For example, all […]

New changes on Google this week

For those who read this with an interest in SEO, I’ve noticed a few interesting changes on Google over the past week.
Firstly, Google seems to have tweaked the algo so that keyword domains have lost a little of their dominance. So just because “blue-widgets.com” is an established, if poorly built and promoted site, it no […]

Good staff are hard to find

Good staff are hard to find.
I’ve got some good staff on my team - my writers are especially of a good standard, namely because I never went on price, but instead, on quality, hiring experienced writers already working in the UK press industry.
However, writing requires a particular skill - what’s more difficult is when […]

Netscape going Indonesian?

Is Netscape becoming a multi-lingual social media site?
For some reason a large number of posts from Indonesia - and written in Indonesian - appear to have been flooded into the site.
I can only guess the Netscape people figure on promoting Netscape as a multi-lingual site.
I guess I should start submitting in Gaelic. :)

Getting support calls for news sites?

Been an odd morning - it’s only 10am, but I’ve already had two phone support requests because of news sites I operate.
On HomeMove I wrote an article about NHBC certificates - a form of guarantee that a new build property is built to proper standards. It also ensures the builder/developer will correct faults (snagging issues) […]

How to make blogs successful

I just got an email request for an interview - the second over the past few months. No idea what happened over the first as I was never updated, so I’ll repost my answers here.
The basic gist was - what makes for a successful blog?
Obviously ibrian.co.uk isn’t a particularly successful blog - but I’m not […]

Netscape hit with porn spam

Damn - it looks like the porn spammers are hitting Netscape, with a whole set of categories based on adult and related keywords, promoting the sex videos on the site ebloggy.com:
Sex
Sexy
Lesbians
Love
gay
movies
humor
stories
Not sure what Netscape’s policy is on adult content, but I strongly suspect it’s not necessarily going to be welcome.
What’s a shame is that I […]

Rediscovering link building

Since Threadwatch closed it’s killed off my social respite time, forcing me to concentrate more on work.
It’s sad to lose that social connection with the SEO world, but since then I’ve found myself being creative again with link building, and discovered some interesting new solutions.
Some I know other SEO’s are already using - some I […]

Archive org - actually useful!

Normally I find archive.org something of a curiosity - it’s fun to see how sites looked years ago, but aside from that, not much use?
Or so I thought.
Recently I’ve figured on setting up a few blogs outside of commercial niches, just to document my personal interests as I see them.
I’m always reading up on […]

Fancy Dress

What’s really interesting running the Platinax Business Directory is the type of submissions that it attracts.
While not expensive, the £14.95 submission fee is enough to separate the wheat from the chaff, and there are very few low quality sites that get submitted.
What’s really interesting is how many paid submissions I get from multinational companies. […]

Rip-off links

Take a look at these two threads:

Want Help to Get Registered Office in UK
Another interesting Question?

The “SEO company” responsible for this forum spamming has a London address, but is essentially a bunch of Indian spammers.
Get this, though - I contacted them, and they told me each link provided in those threads cost £15. Each.
I don’t […]