SEO blogs, Marketing Blogs, and unfair witch hunts oh my!

So being a user of a few social news sites like Digg.com, Mixx.com, HeavyAsHell.com, & the Stumble Upon toolbar, I have found a few types of people that seem to ruin things for everyone. They are strong in numbers and equally as hated. They are SEO bloggers, marketing bloggers, and those who dare to submit their own articles. Most of them are bottom feeding parasites who ruin it for everyone else. The honest ones get caught in the witch hunt the parasites created. Being one who submits from time to time, this ticks me off to no end. I have mentioned this in bulletin board posts, comments on story links on the sites mentioned above, and even a few times in instant message conversations. It all seems to be getting worse with no end in site. So I figured I would compile all my thoughts about this in one blog post. This way I can refer to this post whenever the subject comes up again. How’s that for SEO you unimaginative bastards?

Now let me make this clear, I have no problem with SEO journalists. I have learned much from those that have put tons of time into great articles full of information. Marketing bloggers are the same way. In fact my favorite Marketing blog is from the same person who is in charge of selling ads on my two biggest sites. Both www.HeavyAsHell.com & www.RockMyMonkey.com sell our most prime ad spots through a company called www.FixionMedia.com run by a guy named Rob Cotter. Rob has his marketing blog at www.CotterCity.com. So my ad rep is a marketing blogger. What puts him above the rest? He sell’s ads all day long. He has sold millions of dollars worth of ads in just a few years. Most of the marketing bloggers have never sold an ad a day in their pathetic life. If they know so much about marketing, why do they have google ads on their site? Google ads make webmasters less money then pretty much any ad network online! It is the bottom level place to go for ads. They accept pretty much anyone. I’ll stick with Cotter City thanks. I know he has real information and isn’t just talking out his ass!

So how do we separate the good guys from the worthless scum that make the rest of us look bad? With the marketing bloggers, see what kind of ads they use. If they just use Google ads they probably know nothing about marketing. Who do they work for and have you ever heard of the company? If they just use blogger (like I do), Word Press (like my wife), or some other service that hosts the entire site, be suspicious. Look to see what it says in the “About Me” page. Do a Google search on the companies they work for. See how those companies rank on Alexa.com. Now I am not saying that any one of these things means they are bottom feeders. Just a guide. Remember that a great majority of them are a waste of your time and can be trusted about as much as those who send spam and run phishing sites to make money.

With the SEO blogs it is just as easy. Do they do research? Are their posts longer then one paragraph? Do they compile a ton of info from a ton of different sources to make one article? Do you learn something new? Is the info they give timely? Is it ever news worthy? Did they just cut and paste from another site? Again, don’t dismiss a site if they fit just one of these things. This is just a guide. Most of them are worthless scum though. However, it was an SEO blogger that helped me find out that one of my sites was on the Digg autobury. So my goal is to call out the ones who make the good ones look bad.

Now for those who submit their own content to social news sites. I am proud to say that I am one of them! So again, do not go on some witch hunt. Look at what they submit. Do they only submit articles they are connected with? In fact is the majority of what they submit content they are connected with? Are they involved with the site in other ways? DO they vote for stories others submit or just their own? Do they comment on all different kinds of stories or do they just submit their spam and leave?

Now Digg went downhill quick because the Digg users started going on a witch hunt against anyone who even mentioned SEO or marketing. An army started rushing any story with “bury votes” that was submitted by it’s writer. With no thought put to how legitimate the article. I had some exclusive interviews with legendary musicians that were victums of the “Bury Brigade”. So let’s stop the witch hunts and work on ways to separate the good oens from the bad ones. If social news is going to work, we need to go beyond just witch hunts. Mixx seems to be getting over run by the SEO and Marketing blogs right now. Chances are that they have secret groups to ban together. So before Mixx gets the same witch hunt mentality going by it’s user base to save the site from going downhill, we need to look at Digg and ask if the cure is worse then the disease. Then we need to come up with some real solutions.

My idea is to use automation. Make it so you can’t submit links to one site more then two times in a row. Make it so that the system takes away points if you use the word SEO or Marketing on a majority of the articles you link to. Block someone from submissions if they don’t vote on more stories then they submit. Same with comments. Block submissions if they have not commented on more stories then they have submitted. If you have any ideas, I have comments open on this article. I will also watch what is posted when I submit my own article to Mixx. Yeah, I am using irony to drive home an idea that this is not meant to be just a slam against SEO bloggers. Just want judgment to be more fair then it was in the past. Thanks for reading the whole thing. I know it went long, but I have had this stuff building up for a very long time.

Ten Digg myths that make us more paranoid then the RIAA

So I have been noticing that Digg is starting to get these crazy lynch mobs going more often latley. Crazy witch hunts that make the RIAA look rational. Some blue collar worker that does cabinet finishing for a living was attacked by several people because he uses the “Blog This feature” as well as submits an insane amount of content. Unlike me, Sicc never submits stuff for his own site. So if he got attacked, I have to wonder if I am going to be attacked someday as well. So this is a list of some of the myths that drive the Digg spam paranoia.

1. If you submit your own stuff it must be spam.

Granted this is the case most often. However, I think you have to look at a few things beyond that or we end up looking as stupid as the MPAA and their lawsuit happy Gestapo. Well, do they submit stories that have already been submitted by others? Are they copying content from other sites to their blogs so they can get the traffic? When I submit interviews I have an MP3 of the interview. You can hear my voice along with the artist themselves. These are exclusive interviews. When I post stories from my news section, they are from emails sent to me from the band’s press agents most of the time. Sometimes I call one of the band members myself.

2. If the content was good enough, someone else would submit it to Digg

Not true. Maybe if it was tech related. Digg has several categories for a reason. I submit music related stories that I wasn’t seeing posted by anyone else. Most of my readers are casual internet users. They don’t spend a tenth of the amount of time on the internet that most Digg users do. They would have never known about Digg if I didn’t send them to the site. Now I have noticed a few of them really getting into it. I think this is more about geeks being threatened by non geeks enjoying Digg.

3. Digg is for tech and Geek culture only

This is about as far from the truth as it gets. Sure that is how it started, but Digg is growing. The tech news and geek stories will I am sure always be popular, but Digg is getting more variety no matter if you like it or not. The music and movie industry lost control because they held their grip too tight. I hope we don’t make the same mistake.

4. People only submit news to get to the front page.

I have never had a front page, but yet I continue. Why? Because being in the ‘upcoming’ section seems to be slowly gaining me some quality traffic. Instead of the rush of traffic I would get from being promoted, I am getting readers that actually care about the band’s I talk about on my site. If I got to the front page it would probably crash my server and only make money for DuggMirror anyways. Being on the front page might be a little fun, but I am getting better results from being at the top of the Digg music upcoming most popular section.

5. To be cool on Digg I should flood the place with submissions like crazy!

Oh dear god this needs to stop. I wish Digg had a limit on how many stories a member could submit for a section of time. Maybe one every five minutes or something. Look what it did for Sicc. This was part of why everyone jumped his ass. Granted, it also helped him get ranked higher, but it also almost got him banned. I say quality over quanity would be better.

6. If I Digg you, then you will always Digg me back.

Now this one is mostly true. However, I don’t think anyone is going to Digg stories of someone that goes totally against what they believe in. I removed a Digg friend and won’t Digg any of his stories anymore because I started noticing a theme. A great majority of his stories were racist against the Hispanic population. I also had one guy that was posting bands that I despised. So he was off my list as well. Lastly, if someone started posting stores about how great Dell is they would be Dugg down like crazy by me even if they Dugg my stories. I hate Dell with a major passion and I would never want to do anything that would encourage anyone to buy anything from that horrid company. My point is that most people will end up with Digg friends that submit stories they give a rats ass about. This includes me. Digg me, and I will Digg you back unless I think your stories are unworthy. Isn’t that pretty much what Digg is about anyways?

7. If it’s on a blog it must not be the original news source.

One of my favorite news sites is a music site called Blabbermouth. They are indeed a blog. The news done by one guy and he has many years of print journalism before doing his blog. In a very short time he has turned his blog into the number one place to go to for heavy music news. Most blogs are pretty worthless, but to discount them all is even more retarded.

8. If your stories don’t hit the front page, you should post better stories.

Better to who? What stories I care about may (or may not) be important to someone else. We all have seen some pretty lame stuff hit the front page. Heck, to be honest I don’t even look at the front of Digg anymore because it is so run by sensationalism. I stick pretty much to upcoming and what my Digg friends submit and Digg.

9. SEO blogs are huge companies and drive fancy sports cars

If that was the case, Digg would have ten times the SEO bloggers. The fact is that SEO blogs don’t make as much as they would like you to believe. They get hit and run traffic. For real money you need traffic that sticks around, comes back, saves you as a favorite. SEO sites get none of this. So unless someone is bold and obvious about it, stop with the RIAA styled lynch mobs.

10. There are some topics that will guarantee you a front page story.

So not true. I had a story about the annoying music they use in Battlestar Galactica that never came even close to the front page. I have seen a ton of stories that mention Digg in the title that get about 5 Diggs. I have seen top ten lists that fall faster then jaws at a porn convention. Did I do this to combine a bunch of tricks to get on the front page? No, because I know that people that submit their own stuff are discredited. I did this for the same reason I post anything on any website. I felt a few might enjoy it. If it hits the front page I will be very shocked. This was done for the joy of doing it. People do write because they enjoy it still, right? Can we forget the tricks and start going for quality now? Well, after this hits the front page of course.