I received a call yesterday morning regarding purchasing links in order to boost SEO. My immediate reply to the person calling was: “There are five rules that Google tells you to follow, that would be breaking one”. Silence on the other end of the line; and then: “But lots of people are doing it”. Well, just because people are doing things they shouldn’t doesn’t mean that I will, or that you should either.

We all know that cheating is not the way to boost SEO, and buying inbound links would essentially be cheating. YOu are not allowed to buy links, so if that’s true, then I reckon you shouldn’t be allowed to sell them either.

Although I do agree that inbound links can and do help SEO, I am not about to risk my ranking by gaming the system. My hope is that if you ever receive a call like this, you will give them an ear full as I did yesterday. Comments are certainly welcome here.

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I read this today, and was thinking who wouldn’t want free photos taken of their business? It says they are currently seeking hotels, restaurants, retail shops, gyms, salons, repair shops, and more. They aren’t interested in major chains, but smaller business. Check it out here: http://maps.google.com/help/maps/businessphotos/faq.html

Let me know if you’ve used it, or found this information regarding Google Places helpful.

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1. Google loves new / updated content.
2. Users love new content, show your users you are updating the site actively, that you haven’t abandoned them and the site.
3. Have a blog on your site rather than linking to one on WordPress so that you can enjoy the SEO benefits.
4. The blog makes your site look professional.
5. Easy content updates without hiring a web designer to help.

As web designers, some of us don’t know when to stop and let things go. We live in a world of perfection… beautiful people on TV, fast cars and motorcycles, goals and aspirations. Today I’ve come to realize that sometimes good enough is OK. I’m not talking about mediocrity, I’m talking about sanity.

This reminds me of a story I was told in roughly the year 2000. It had to do with a “caption this poster” contest at Hewlett Packard in the lunch room. Continue reading →