An easy way to speed-up the bookmarking process is to replace a bookmarking site’s URL with their bookmarklet URL. Using del.icio.us as an example, in Firefox, go to your del.icio.us bookmark, right click and select ‘Properties’. Replace:

http://del.icio.us/post

with
javascript:location.href='http://del.icio.us/post?v=4;url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+';title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title)

Now, the next time you want to add a page to del.icio.us, just click the bookmark and it will automatically populate the fields for you.

Here are some other bookmarklet scripts from other sites:

*looks like the bookmarklet scripts are getting cut-off. Click here to copy the full code.

StumbleUpon.com
javascript:var%20m='';var%20d='';var%20metas=document.getElementsByTagName('meta');for(count=0;count%3Cmetas.length;count++){if(metas[count].name.toLowerCase()=='description'){m=metas[count].content;}};if(m!=''){d=encodeURIComponent(m);}location.href='http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title)+'&newcomment='+d;

Furl.com
javascript:(function(){d=document;t=d.selection?(d.selection.type!='None'?d.selection.createRange().text:''):(d.getSelection?d.getSelection():'');var%20furlit=window.open('http://www.furl.net/savedialog.jsp?t='+encodeURIComponent(XPCNativeWrapper(document,'title','UTF-8').title)+'&u='+escape(d.location.href)+'&r='+escape(d.referrer)+'&v=1'+'&c='+encodeURIComponent(t),'furlit','width=530,height=540,left=75,top=20,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes');furlit.focus();})();

Bluedot.us
javascript:{var w=window;w.l=w.location;w.SdP='secure.';w.bU=(w.l.protocol=='https:'?'https://'+w.SdP:'http://')+'bluedot.us';w.eUC=encodeURIComponent;function%20fBkF(){w.l.href=w.bU+'/Authoring.aspx?u='+w.eUC(w.l.href)+'&t='+w.eUC(document.title);}w.gT=w.setTimeout(fBkF,6999);w.d=w.document;w.sT=w.d.body;w.o=w.d.createElement('scri'+'pt');if(typeof%20w.o!='object')fBkF();w.o.setAttribute('src',w.bU+'/js/Authoring.js');w.o.setAttribute('type','text/javascript');void(w.sT.appendChild(w.o));}

Spurl
javascript:d=document;void(window.open('http://www.spurl.net/spurl.php?v=3&title='+encodeURIComponent(d.title)+'&url='+encodeURIComponent(d.location.href)+'&blocked='+encodeURIComponent(d.selection?d.selection.createRange().text:d.getSelection()),'_blank','width=450,height=550,status=no,resizable=yes,scrollbars=auto'))

Blinklist
javascript:u=location.href;p=/https/;httpvar=(u.search(p)!=-1)?'https':'http';s=document.body.appendChild(document.createElement('script'));s.id='fs';s.language='javascript';void(s.src=httpvar+'://www.blinklist.com/Theme/Script/fav.js');

Digg
javascript:var%20m='';var%20d='';var%20metas=document.getElementsByTagName('meta');for(count=0;count%3Cmetas.length;count++){if(metas[count].name.toLowerCase()=='description'){m=metas[count].content;}};if(m!=''){d=encodeURIComponent(m);}location.href='http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title)+'&bodytext='+d;

Reddit
javascript:location.href='http://reddit.com/submit?url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title)

Magnolia
javascript:var%20m='';var%20d='';var%20metas=document.getElementsByTagName('meta');for(count=0;count%3Cmetas.length;count++){if(metas[count].name.toLowerCase()=='description'){m=metas[count].content;}};if(m!=''){d=encodeURIComponent(m);}location.href='http://ma.gnolia.com/bookmarklet/add?url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title)+'&description='+d;

My Web Yahoo!
javascript:void window.open('http://myweb.yahoo.com/myresults/bookmarklet?t='+encodeURIComponent(document.title)+'&u='+encodeURIComponent(window.location.href)+'&ei=UTF-8','popup','width=520px,height=420px,status=0,location=0,resizable=1,scrollbars=1,left=100,top=50',0)

Netvouz
javascript:d=document;te=getSelection()+'';t=encodeURIComponent(te);u=encodeURIComponent(d.location.href);ti=encodeURIComponent(d.title);if(d.referrer)r=encodeURIComponent(d.referrer);document.location='http://www.netvouz.com/action/submitBookmark?url='+u+'&title='+ti+'&description='+t+'&username=ftsisthebest&popup=no';

Diigo
javascript:(function(){s=document.createElement('script');s.type='text/javascript';s.src='http://www.diigo.com/javascripts/webtoolbar/diigolet_b_h_b.js';document.body.appendChild(s);})();

Folkd
javascript:location.href='http://www.folkd.com/submit/'+encodeURIComponent(location.href)

LinkAGoGo
javascript:void(document.location='http://www.linkagogo.com/go/AddNoPopup?title='+escape(document.title)+'&url='+escape(location.href));

ClipClip.org
javascript:(function(){var d=document;var s;s=d.createElement('script');if(typeof(s)!='object')s=d.standardCreateElement('script');s.charset='utf-8';s.src='http://www.clipclip.org/bookmarklet/fetch';s.type='text/javascript';d.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(s);})();

Bibsonomy (change USERNAME to your username in this one)
javascript:location.href='http://www.bibsonomy.org/ShowBookmarkEntry?c=b&jump=yes&user=MYUSERNAME &url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&description='+encodeURIComponent(document.title)+'&extended='+encodeURIComponent(window.getSelection())

There are hundreds if not thousands of sites out there that will allow you post content. Some have been around longer than others and are sometimes more established which can potentially provide you with a louder voice when spreading the word. This Guide will help you get the most for your link building efforts and hopefully show you how to avoid spammy pitfalls while implementing your campaigns.

Definition
There are sites that are strictly for bookmarking, meaning that the text fields simply require the URL, Title, Description, and Tags, i.e. Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Bluedot.us, Simpy, etc. However there are other sites that fall under social news (Reddit, Digg, Shoutwire), Social clipping (ClipClip.org, Clipmarks), How to Guides, Directories, List sites, and tons of niche sites that fall under these categories. So how do we make sense of all this noise so that we can most effectively leverage them? First we have to save, then organize.

Organization & Categorization
Different folks have different ways of organizing their campaigning efforts. For me, I use FireFox and store all my useful search marketing links as such:

You can see the large amount of subcategories that I have under link building. The most used categories are the Bookmarking (General) and Social News (General) but you can see that these verticals branch out to other niche sites like Social News (Shopping) and Social News (Tech). It’s important to make sure that the content you are submitting is relevant to the site you’re submitting to. If we submit content about baby products to the tech site we’ll obviously get zero attention and probably some angry readers. Additionally, this won’t help you build a presence within these sites. Since most of these sites have a social or sharing aspect to them, you’ll want to aim towards building a trusted profile. You’ll want to be seen as someone who is contributing to the site’s intent and not just peddling your wares.

Accounts & IP Addresses
It’s best practice to open an account in every site with the same username, password, and email address. This keeps things simple and you won’t be running around trying to remember the unique password you created for dogmeetscat.com. Also remember that most of these sites record your IP address and associate it with the username and password that you’ve created. If you create three accounts with three separate gmail addresses for dogmeetscat.com, they might know that these three accounts are coming from one IP and are most likely being used to spam the system. Don’t be surprised if you’re IP address gets banned if you’re doing this.

*If you have to be a dick you could use open wi-fi networks to create accounts. This way you can have 3 accounts for dogmeetscat.com and have a unique IP address for each account.

Fields: URL, Title, Description, and Tags
When bookmarking your content, be sure to change the Title and Description of your post for each site that you post to. This prevents the bookmarking sites from ranking for the content you’re trying to get your URL to rank for. It will also look less spammy, because there’s no way that 10 different people will submit the same URL with the same description. Maybe the same title but entering the same title and description for every site you post to will obviously indicate that a single person was submitting the same content to multiple sites.

Use common sense and practice these same methods (non-duplicitous) when submitting content to social news, directories, list sites, how to guides, wikis, etc. Oftentimes you won’t be able to add anchor text with your keyword phrase to these locations. If you can, great! If not, the next best thing is to make sure that the keyword(s) that you’re trying to rank for are contained within the URL of the content to be submitted.

How to expedite the bookmarking process
There are a few services out there that can help you post quicker by basically populating the javascript bookmarklet links of the bookmarking sites with your content and then displaying the posting link for your quick posting pleasure. Here are a known few:

http://socialposter.com/
Good but it’s slightly buggy when it processes the content for submission. It sometimes adds symbols to the information or removes commas. It also directs you towards using the same Title and Description for each post. User interface is pretty bland but it does a good job at speeding up a tedious process.

Alexa: 46, 261
Compete: 97,436
Yahoo! Backlinks: 6,658

http://www.onlywire.com/
Another mass bookmarking application. This one records your account information. However these guys seem rather shady because in their TOS they claim they have the right to add their own affiliate links into a user’s bookmarks.

Alexa: 5,122
Compete: 39,477
Yahoo! Backlinks: 51,294

http://www.addthis.com/
AddThis is a widget that blog users can add to the bottom of their posts. When you click on it, you can choose from a list of 34 different bookmarking sites to post to. This is not a web app, simply a widget.

Alexa: 3,206
Compete: 2,067
Yahoo! Backlinks: 3,199,868

We here at Squareoak would love to hear more information about this topic. If you have anything to add or know of other web applications that perform similar functions, we’d love to hear it.

Happy Bookmarking!

I love reading about consumer behavior and economic theory because I enjoy making connections that apply to the search marketing industry. Aaron Wall had a post today titled ‘Socionomics & The Wave Principal’, where he references how pessimistic and optimistic emotional states cause a repetitive wave-like flux in economic markets. He then takes this wave principal and applies it to search, publishing, and monetization.

I sent Aaron’s post over to an economist friend (we’ll call her Econo Guest) to get her take on this. Below is her analysis.

Econo Guest: Skeptical about the economic principle, this blog’s interpretation of wave theory, and the exact correlation between the two… The whole idea that markets go in 5 cycles like that contradicts the efficient markets hypothesis, which says markets are efficient (information is readily/immediately accessible, so prices reflect all known information in the market… if people knew there was a “cycle,” they would predict the price declines/jumps and it’d be a moot point). While there are many critiques of and alternatives to market efficiency hypothesis, wave theory is probably one of the less widely academically accepted ones. Regardless, I certainly would have more confidence in one’s ability to game Google than to game the stock market (even if I’m not totally sold on the efficient markets hypothesis).

Mr. Wall also seems to misinterpret wave theory, based on what I’ve read… wave theory is a mathematical principle that tries to analyze pessimism/optimism/”herding” trends in the overall stock market. This blog describes it as though it totally relates to fraud and redefining of rules. Thus I’m skeptical of the correlation — in one case, you’re trying to manipulate information (and the dissemination thereof) directly w/ SEO, while the other strategy attempts to profit from the existence of informational asymmetries ( i.e., people not recognizing there is a market cycle) but does not seek to change them.

Regardless, an interesting idea.

Squareoak: If wave theory is not that academically accepted, what efficient market theories would be more applicable?

Econo Guest: The Fama-French Three Factor Model is said to be able to explain 90% of stock returns. If you can somehow apply this model to SEO then you may have something. Although you might have better luck looking at political and law-making theories. Come to think of it, the Common Pool problem may apply well.

Squareoak: What is the Common Pool Problem?

Econo Guest: The whole idea evolved because oil pools move around and so in Texas they found that people extracted oil much faster than was good for the reserve and the recovery rate (how much oil you could get out of the pool) would wind up lower because everyone would drill too fast so they could get the oil before someone else did. The idea expanded such that people have applied it to pollution where when there is a common resource that cannot be held as property (such as the internet) people will abuse it for their own good (with things like spam), such that the overall utility of the resource is lower, but certain individuals benefit in the short term.

Squareoak: The Common Pool Problem could definitely apply to the internet but the search engines are becoming increasingly better at differentiating quality content from spam. From a search marketing perspective, the best way to keep the resource (internet) from becoming muddled is to create quality content.

Econo Guest: So even though the internet’s not privatized, it can be regulated…interesting.

Econo Guest does some quick research and comes back with this reference to Wikipedia:

Analyzing the design of long-enduring CPR (common property regime) institutions, Elinor Ostrom (1990) identified eight design principles which are prerequisites for a stable CPR arrangement:

1. Clearly defined boundaries
2. Congruence between appropriation and provision rules and local conditions
3. Collective-choice arrangements allowing for the participation of most of the appropriators in the decision making process
4. Effective monitoring by monitors who are part of or accountable to the appropriators
5. Graduated sanctions for appropriators who do not respect community rules
6. Conflict-resolution mechanisms which are cheap and easy of access
7. Minimal recognition of rights to organize (e.g., by the government)
8. In case of larger CPRs: Organization in the form of multiple layers of nested enterprises, with small, local CPRs at their bases.

Econo Guest: So Google is basically a monitor…I’m clearly not the first with this idea

Analyzing the Internet as a Common Pool Resource: The Problem of Network Congestion (pdf)

Squareoak: Very Interesting. So if one can somehow monitor a high demand CPR then this would be an ideal business model?

Econo Guest: Definitely.

Squaroak: Well, I want to thank you for your time today this has been a great session. Will we be hearing more from you in the future?

Econo Guest: Of Course, I’m happy to help.

CalTech student Virgil Griffith is the creator of Wikipedia Scanner. A program that allows users to match Wikipedia edits with the IP addresses of those responsible, including major corporations. According to the article over at wired,

“On November 17th, 2005, an anonymous Wikipedia user deleted 15 paragraphs from an article on e-voting machine-vendor Diebold, excising an entire section critical of the company’s machines…In this case, the changes came from an IP address reserved for the corporate offices of Diebold itself.”

The Wired article was published on August, 14^th. Just yesterday on the 16^th, Diebold released a press release stating they are changing the name of their subsidiary Diebold Election Systems to Premier Election Solutions. Dave Byrd, President of Premier Election Solutions says,

“This is both a fresh identity for our company and a unique opportunity for us to concentrate our focus solely on providing best-in-class elections solutions for current and potential customers,”

Mr. Byrd, I’m afraid Diebold may need more than a “fresh identity”. The people of United States unfortunately must confide in voting machines to act as pillars for democracy. With this responsibility comes the expectation of complete honesty. Changing identities seems more like something an escape convict might do. Electronic voting is already known to be vulnerable to tampering. Do the American people and democracy a favor and kindly remove Diebold from the electronic voting business.

I’d be willing to venture a guess that many of our visitors are self-employed search marketers that love their work and relish in the fact that pants aren’t part of their self-employed dress code. That aside, what happens when the one-person show turns into something very profitable or we decide to fragment our efforts and build a separate company focused on other possible internet media ventures? Wouldn’t it be great if we had a tool that could organize, construct, and record our new business plan? A new website has been developed that can help us do exactly this.

Startup Business School is a web based business plan creation application developed by online entrepreneur Richard Banfield, founder of Fresh Tilled Soil, Tia Carr-Williams, VP of Communications at TycoonSystems.com and IndustryPlayer.com, and Alex Fedorov, new media designer and Fresh Tilled Soil Co-Founder.

According to the website, Startup Business School “provides the knowledge and tools to succeed during the early stages by providing a step-by-step startup process and range of support services that are appropriate to the stage in the lifecycle of the new business.” This step-by-step process is a 12 step process where you create your company, then move into rapid prototyping, operations & launch, and finally marketing and ideas. Along the way there are lessons for each step. Each section has about 4 questions that you need to answer as accurately as possible to help maximize the successful planning of your future business.

Tools that are included in the Startup Business School program are a strategy creation application, a contact list feature that allows you to build and collaborate with your team and advisors, a huge database of online business advice videos for guidance along the way, a sales roadmap application, and loads of documentation on various business topics.

Best of all, Startup Business School is completely free!

I have a couple clients that have very old domain names. One is from 1998 the other is 1999. Now these domains aren’t “old” per se just old relative to the internet.

It’s amazing how easy it is to optimize for these sites. Since they’ve been around for so long, small, simple changes in the title tag and description can make a world of difference. When optimizing for the site created in 1998, I did some keyword research and made some changes to the title tags, descriptions, alt tags, and link text. In less than 24 hours their highly targeted and competitive keywords jumped in ranking or were freshly indexed by Google, Yahoo, and MSN collectively.

This particular client also has a boat load of pdf files on their site that are numerically named and are lacking titles, descriptions, and keywords. I can’t wait to see what happens after I optimize those.

*To optimize a pdf file, simply open the pdf in Acrobat Professional, go to file > properties and you’ll see where you’ll be able to edit all the necessary information. Changing the file name itself to reflect what is contained within the document is good practice too.

Sometimes we get clients that operate on more of a local basis, i.e. real estate developers, retail stores, or local service industries, etc. They all have websites and they all want SEO/SEM services. With businesses like these that are geographically restricted, one of the best things you could do for these folks is a local search marketing campaign. In order to do that we have to identify resources (sites) that we can leverage to spread the word about local business. Here are some places to consider:

Google Local Business Center
(Yahoo! Backlinks: 4,539)

With Google Local Business Center you can easily enter your business information to be found within Google Maps > Find Businesses. Once you list your business, Google will send you a confirmation via text message or regular mail confirming that you are the owner of this new listing. This is probably the first place I would list a client’s local business.

Yelp.com
(Yahoo! Backlinks: 1,731,849)

Yelp is a city guide and business directory that pairs local search capabilities with personal reviews. Users can create an account and write a review of any local business they encounter. Once you’ve created your account, write a review of you client’s business and put them in the Yelp network.

Yelp also has an option for business owners who would like to respond to and engage their reviews. It also offers a nifty little analytics section where you can track the performance of your business profile.

Citysearch.com
(Yahoo! Backlinks: 5,968,406)

Citysearch is another city guide and business directory that has similar features to that of Yelp. You can create a user account and profile, create personal lists of businesses that you like, add business to your saved favorites, and write reviews. Unless your client’s business is already listed in Citysearch you won’t be able write a review on it. In order to get listed, you’ll have to pay a monthly fee which is set by the types of services you sign-up for.

Local.com
(Yahoo! Backlinks: 38,835)

A pretty simple local search engine that specializes in local business listings, people search, jobs, and classifieds. The local search utilizes its own engine but the people search is powered by whitepages.com, the jobs search is powered by Indeed, and the classifieds are powered by Oodle . You can submit a business listing here for free. It displays reviews but these are pulled from other websites that facilitate business reviews.

insiderpages.com
(Yahoo! Backlinks: 5,264,475)

Yet another site similar to Yelp and Citysearch (recently acquired by Citysearch). Create a user account and profile, write reviews, and save favorite locations. You can add a business listing for free. If you’d like to add additional placement upgrades to your business listing you can do that at a minimal cost.

Judy’s Book
(Yahoo! Backlinks: 1,214,656)

Judy’s Book is more about finding local deals but it also has an end user business review aspect to it which allows account and profile creation. You can create business reviews for free.

Other Local Search Sites of Use:

truelocal.com (Yahoo! Backlinks: 8,327)
superpages.com (Yahoo! Backlinks: 1,862,098)
dexknows.com (Yahoo! Backlinks: 135)
localeze.com (Yahoo! Backlinks: 159)
local.yahoo.com (Yahoo! Backlinks: 4,790,187)