Need Links? Here’s a Way To Get Started.

Check out our latest article in out free SEO Resources“A Simplified Look at Acquiring Links”.

Like many of the articles we make available for business owners, this one is born out of a very common issue we see with business owners looking to get started with search engine optimization. Most of the business owners we talk to know they need to increase the number of quality inbound links. Many have been confused by some long-winded proposal from another SEO company about how exactly to get that done.

Bottom line: business owners want to at least know the basics before they make an investment (no matter the size) in improving their search engine positioning. Here’s hoping this article makes it a little easier to understand where to begin.

Regulated search? I don’t think so.

Just wanted to chime in quickly on today’s buzz-producing post on TechCrunch about the need to regulate search.

Admittedly, it is pretty amazing to think about the control that Google has over search. Without a transparent algorithm, they can seemingly do what they want and keep SEOs guessing. But does that mean we need regulation? I’d have to vote no for one big reason:

Regulation = getting the government involved as an overseer.

That definitely doesn’t sound good. While I’m sympathetic to the argument that Google wields too much power, there’s no way the government will be able to keep current with technology. If the IRS is still trying to figure out how to get all of their forms to go paperless, how can we expect such a massive organization to stay ahead of the curve in something like search? I just can’t see it working.

Picking the Best Domain for Your New Business

We posted another free SEO tip to our Search Engine Resources section. This latest post covers the keys to picking the best domain name for a startup.

A lot of startups spin their wheels trying to think of the most creative or cool Web 2.0 name possible. The truth is that names like Google and Twitter are one-in-a-million. The safe play is to follow some basic SEO practices (discussed in the article) to help you pick the best (i.e. most valuable) domain for your business. This can mean the difference between starting from scratch or hitting the SEO ground running.

Be sure to check it out and be sure to read some of our other free tips about search engine optimization.