Overvaluing Experience-Never Mind the Width,Feel the Depth

I must admit that I am always on guard when someone tells me that they have 14 years experience or 20 years in seo or any other area of business activity.

The question I always ask is a simple one:

Is that 1 year of experience repeated 14 times or genuinely 14 years of varied and valuable experience?

When it comes to making important decisions for your business, be it online or offline, always retain a health ability to question critically and rationally.

Keeping a good dose of healthy skepticism close by is an essential tool for any entrepreneur or small business owner.

Was it Ronald Reagan who had the mantra "trust but verify"?

Property bubble and crash in Ireland
The complete absence of anyone who called the property crash in Ireland is a good indication of how harmful a reliance on experience and expertise can be.

The direst of predictions for the end of the boom spoke of a "soft landing" with a plethora of experienced experts, economists, politicians, academics, journalists, politicians both in government and in opposition failing to predict the appalling crash and subsequent mess the country is in now.

So the next time someone tells you that you should believe and trust their opinion because they have "20 years experience", trust but verify.

And keep the skepticism close at hand.

Google Places Myth: Linking to Your Places Page

Google Places is a much ignored or underused free opportunity from Google to promote your business. If you have not claimed your free listing get onto it now as it may well bring you new business if your Places page ranks well in search results.

Google Places Myth: Linking to Your Places Page:

I wondered if either of you had ever written an article (or seen a good one) on the merits of link building to a Place Pages. This is widely mentioned, of course, but I don’t believe I’ve ever seen anything attesting the merits of the practice. – Miriam Ellis

I see this piece of [mis]information being repeated and passed around local circles. Here is the response that I gave to Miriam as to my thoughts about the practice of linking to your Places Page:

This is a myth that has been spread around for years and is total poppycock.

Place Pages are search results. They are perhaps more static than some search results but there is no more substance to them than any Google search result.

Places Page have no authority status nor any status as a document and they are not indexed. Thus sending a link to them is like linking to a web page on Venus. It essentially passes link juice into the ether.

I can see no merit in passing a link to it.

The one argument I have seen is that Google would increase the authority and thus rank of your business if the Place Page associated with that business has more authority. The reality is that Google has numerous tactics for correctly associating your Place Page with the most authoritative page (your website) for your business, not the least of which is the Places verification process. But even if you haven’t verified Google has numerous techniques (and patents) for associating the two successfully.

In fact not only do I see no merit in the practice, I see some harm in it. I have seen several SMB websites where the website links to their Places page directly from the main content area of their home page. The net affect is to dissipate page authority that should be passed along to interior pages of your site.

Like Cerberus, this myth has many heads, and like most myths seems to live on despite reason.

Related posts:

1. Google Maps UI upgrade: Places page replaces Tabbed Interface


2. Google Places: What Else Went Missing on the Places Page in the Update


3. Places By Design – What does the new Places page say about Google’s intentions?

Wordpress Training Online-eLearning for your Convenience and Comfort

Learning how to build websites with Wordpress has just become a whole lot easier with the release of this online Wordpress video tutorial programme in Ireland.

Twitter Marketing-How to Make a Fool of Yourself with Social Media

Twitter marketing can be embarrassing.

Lets face it..you know and I know that there are some serious car crashes happening on Twitter with business owners trying to pimp their stuff.

Twitter does have a role to play in the promotion of your business but you do need to use it wisely and astutely.

The video below explains how the goal of your Twitter marketing, and indeed your social media marketing in general, should be about extending the reach of your message.

But the real business you do on the internet will be back on home turf-on your own website.

On your own site you can dictate, to a huge extent, the dynamic in the relationship between you and your visitors.

On Twitter you are trying to shout louder and louder to get heard above the noise..this is no way to try to do business.

You need to establish a relationship with your potential clients and the best place to do that is on your well constructed website.

And confine your Twitter activity for the purpose it was intended..telling people what you had for breakfast and when you have had your hair done:-)

How to Move a Wordpress Site from One Hosting Account to Another

I recently needed to move a number of Wordpress sites from one hosting account to another as I had sold them on Flippa.

They were all Wordpress based sites and I came across 2 really useful videos on YouTube showing exactly, step by step how to move them.

I am sharing the videos below because they are genuinely useful and helpful, not like a lot of the crap you find on YouTube and which are just pitches for sales of affiliate products. And believe me I had to search for a pretty long time to find quality videos like these and all of my website sales have resulted in smooth transfers to happy buyers since..touch wood.

If you ever need to move a Wordpress site (and if you flip websites you will need to acquire this skill) then these videos will be invaluable.

How to Use Internet Marketing to Market Your Offline Business

This video explains the few key terms you need to understand in order to get a clear overview of how to market your business on the internet.

You can forget about

• social media
• YouTube
• Facebook
• Twitter for now.

If you can understand the relatively simple concepts show in this video you will have all you need to draw up a strategy to get new online business.

The Art of Being an SEO Expert

If you want to call yourself a doctor you have to pass the exams set by the appropriate medical training authorities.

If you want to be an electrician you need to do an apprenticeship and qualify to be let loose on the world.

If you want to call yourself an seo expert-search engine optimisation guru-then you can fire away.

Have at it.

There are no exams, no qualifications body, no set standard, no proof required.

The next time someone describes themselves as an seo expert to you, ask them "how".

And if they tell you they have 10 years experience at it be sure to ask them is that REALLY ten years or 1 year repeated 10 times.

Google changes or tweaks it's algorithm daily 500 times a year.

Don't believe me?