SiteSell: The Blog

The "3-Stage-Think-Through" Strategy

Ken's Blog

SBI!, with 70+ modules in its system, provides everything you need to build a profitable e-business that has real equity.  SBIers generally pick and choose the feature combo that makes the most sense for them.  The others are there, if and when they need them.

That's why I wasn't surprised the other day when someone asked me in the SBI! Forums whether or not it's worth your while to spend some time and effort learning about an SBI! feature that you have yet to try.  My answer to this great question is simple...

Real-Time Web and the Kaleidoscope of Search

Ken's Blog

Google has been on record for quite a while now (no doubt prompted by Twitter) about the "real-time web."

Like I said years ago about Google, they won't get Image Search and Video Search and News search and Blog search working until they can figure out how to pull it all together and figure out which type of results any particular search (and search history patterns) is likely to want.  Along came Universal Search.

The same will go for this general trend to a "real-time Web"...

What Is the Real and Noble Purpose of Business?

Ken's Blog

There are two types of business models...

#1) Those who want to profit off of you by offering you a product that is worth less than the dollars you parted with in order to purchase it.

#2) Those who want YOU to profit off of them by offering you a product that YOU believe is worth more than the dollars you parted with in order to purchase it.  In so doing, they profit.

Google is the world master at the latter -- search, mail, youtube, analytics, all free (well, it could be argued that the "price" is the data you give them, but that's a price I don't mind). They earn their income through unobtrusive, relevant ads. And yet, there are people, gurus even, who say "Google is just a business so beware."

This worries me, but only for that person. It reflects a subconscious rejection of the second business model, an "us vs. them" mentality that replaces the second model with a hazy, vague anti-business mentality that somehow suspects all business and objects to a company making a profit, no matter how great its product is.

Let's continue to examine #2....

Top 10 Requirements to Succeed in School

Ken's Blog

My wife and I are off-Anguilla, helping our two daughters get ready for university.  Of course, "getting them ready" goes beyond furnishing the apartment, immigration, phones/Internet, registration, safety, etc.  It includes getting them ready for success.

This is the first great turning point opportunity in an adult's life.  It's not the only one, not by far.  Many great success stories happened well after a failed university experience.

But it is most definitely the first major opportunity.  So I asked my younger daughter Yuki to write her thoughts on the 10 requirements to succeed in school.  I liked the outcome so much that I thought it might be useful for you, if you have a child heading off to college.

Here are Yuki's top 10 (aside from my guidance and feedback, this is all hers)...

What Do You Do With the Twitterers Who You Find?

Ken's Blog

There are two good Twitter tools to find people related to your niche... tweepsearch.com and twellow.com. These tools search for your keyword within the username and bio, so they tend to bring back relevant Twitterers.  

And then what?  Here's how to "process your finds"....

Step 1) Do you recognize the Twitterers that you find?  Are they well-related and potential good contacts?  If so, follow them.

Let's say, for example, that your niche is about Anguilla.  You would follow the hotels, villas, restaurants, tourist associations in the Anguilla tourist industry, etc.

If you don't recognize any of the Twitterers, check them out (more on this in Step 2 below).

But wait, you're not finished with your "found list" yet.  Check out whoever they follow, too (hover your cursor over each square in the list of who they follow)...

Get Inbound Links to "Float Your Boat"!

Ken's Blog

SBIer Karen shared a creative link-building tip in the forums recently, exemplifying at the same time the "help and be helped" nature of the SBI! Forums!  She used Search It! to find links coming into sites with a similar theme to hers.  After identifying the best of those links, Karin e-mailed the site owners and politely suggested that they add her site to their list of trusted resources.

Karen had a good idea and then just ran with it.  Some people never quite get around to the link-building side of things, but what a difference it can make.

-----SIDEBAR-----
For those who aren't familiar with the Back Links section
of Search It!, go to...

http://searchit.sitesell.com/

And use this search to find who links to the Top 10 URLs
in Google's search results page for your Site Concept
Keyword...

(Step 1) Back Links > (Step 2) To (sub)DOMAIN From All Other Sites

The Back Links section of Search It! has an incredibly
useful set of 4 searches. Try them all.
-----SIDEBAR-----

In the old days, inbound links generated direct traffic on their own.  Now they are more important to "float your boat."  In other words...

How Widespread Is Google's Surfer-Tracking?

Ken's Blog

An interesting blog article from The New York Times caught my eye, but I think it misses the main point, at least from our e-business-oriented point of view.

I don't think Google really cares what you, or Mr. or Mrs. or Ms. Web surfer, do online. Not as an individual.

I do think they use data like this, "aggregating it" as they say, to help them figure out which sites are good, as opposed to merely relevant. So they care when someone does a search.

I don't pretend to know Google's algorithm and anyone who does is speculating. But...

Get Creative With A Tip!

Ken's Blog

It's easy and useful to read the "pearls of wisdom" and tips that start in the SBI! Forums and end up in the Tips and Techniques HQ and the Monetization HQ as resource articles. That action alone is enough to give you an edge.

But it takes an acquired skill to get creative with a specific tip... to push it to the next level. The good news is that you can acquire this skill -- we are not born with it. Yes, some people may be naturally more curious and playful with an idea than others. But anyone can look at an idea, strategy, tip or pearl and ask themselves...

How Important Is the Meta Keyword Tag?

Ken's Blog

Good question. Google has never given a clear answer to this question, either side-stepping it or being vague.

First a bit of history...

The meta keyword tag used to be abused by early SEOers (along with the comments tag), who'd stuff this tag with the same keyword 50 times (easy to detect and shut down, of course) or with every word possibly related to the topic. (Bad strategy, how's an engine going to know what your page is about if you include everything plus the kitchen sink?)

Fast forward to today when tags are respected, and encouraged, everywhere else... blogs, Flickr, countless Web 2.0 sites, etc. And we're supposed to believe, according to some SEO sources, that the engines totally ignore this tag?

That makes no sense to me.  And I've learned to trust common sense over the no-way-they-can-know utterances of SEOers, no matter how "surely" they state it....

Just Get Started!

Ken's Blog

This post is for me and for you, from the brand new SBIer who just purchased, to the sophisticated SBIer looking to take their business to yet another level.

It started with three observations this morning...

Observation #1

Chatting with my daughter Nori about anguilla-beaches.com, she shared an important revelation. She's read the whole Action Guide, explored Search It! and the HQs, read the MHQ especially, taken notes, and...

She doesn't know what to do next. Has a bunch of ideas, can see the final destination, but...