What does Eric read?… more like “Who do I learn from?”

I had a client ask me the other day a pretty insightful question…what do you read? Actually it is more like who do I learn from. I read this people, follow what they do and learn from their efforts. Well, since my business / professional life revolve around a WIDE variety of things I kind of have to break them down into categories, but here goes:

Internet Business Planning:

GrowMap – Gail Gardner is amazing. If you have not read this blog, you should. What I am learning from her is about working sites with a purpose to make money. (Thought I had that down to a science already, but part of that science is continuing to learn!) She is part of running the following successful sites: 1)  golf store 2) a  personalized gifts blog 3) an online  wedding store 4)  a blog about  horses and 5) a  healthy living site. Why am I sending you to them? Go visit them and you will see that they are GROWING assets. That’s what you want in someone who does internet business planning…someone who can GROW stuff! So get growing!

JR - Good little internet marketing nuggets on this blog. Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom and look up the links to her classic posts.

WordPress Development:

As I start my new business over at Southern Indiana Web Works.com, I am looking for the BEST and most influential developers in the WordPress community and to see what they are doing. The Web Works is ALL about business websites using the WordPress platform – -so I have been spending a lot of time in this sector.

Kristi Hines aka Kikolani. You may think I would read her for  article writing and  Social Media posts. But the real reason to keep Kikolani on the radar screen is that she is a super WordPress designer. Seriously. Check out some of her stuff.

Brian Gardner of StudioPress. Enough said. I watch what he does. Look out kids, he is getting ready to unleash more in 2010.

Derek Semmler: Not as much that I learn from the blog but for WordPress development, Derek rocks. He is a nice guy with a big heart.

Dizzain – These folks do custom designed WordPress themes. Interesting. This is more what I am heading towards…doing full custom WP themes on local Southern Indiana sites that want a specific look and feel.

Real Estate Websites:

The list here would be excruciatingly long to put in here.  Morgan, over at Real Estate Webmasters tops the list.  Also if you look down, you will see the real estate folks on my blogroll. They are all there for a reason. I know them. I trust them  I contribute to their projects. They are friends.  Many of us got together recently in Louisville. It was a blast, guys and I think we all came away better for it!

One more here:

Dave Smith’s Real Estate Blog Lab – Quite possibly the nicest and most decent human I have met to date and a fan of In-N-Out Burgers. That is a lethal combination in my world…grin. And his blog? if you are doing WP and Real Estate, you need to read it.

Search Engine Optimization:

I read MANY SEO blogs (I mean I AM EricOnSearch, right? )…but only a couple stick out:

Rand Fishkin’s SEOmoz – I do not agree with 100% of his stuff (but I do with quite a bit of it). What I really enjoy is whiteboard Friday.

Aaron Wall’s SEOBook – Nice guy.  Good information.

and my favorite read:

Huomah – This guy actually thinks like I do, test things and doesn’t just parrot others. Worth reading.

another addictive read:

Marty Weintraub and his  Search Engine Marketing blog. Good stuff.

Technology

Louis Gray, and his  futurist tech blog – this is my favorite read for trends and etc in Technology.

TechCrunch – it is a blog folks love to hate, but it is one I get something out of regularly.

Social Media

Adam Singer and his  Social Media Marketing blog. Read it.

Marketing

Murray Newlands provides Blog Consulting Services and Word of Mouth Marketing consulting. Basically, the guy gets it, and I think he is one of the guys to watch / learn from.

Miscellaneous Successful Stuff that I am interested in:

You asked for what I was reading so in the interest of full disclosure, here are some miscellaneous stuff that I have been checking out as well:

Barbara Swafford and her dofollow blog registry section on her site. Very similar to Eric Bramlett’s list of do follow real estate blogs. Both provide great resources for do follow bloggers.

Seth Godin. Seriously, I think he is the best known online marketing voice out there, but I have been reading his stuff for years. I do not always agree with it, but it is ALWAYS worth reading.  The main reason I am reading him is that I am finishing up a book on what it is like to be a Dad of children with autism. There is no better bookseller out there right now that Seth. Sometimes it is better to watch what they do rather than read what they say. In his case, do both.

Connie Foggles and her  Product Review blog where she writes about all sorts of products. She is another one that I am watching to see WHAT she does as much as simply reading what she writes! (Hint: Watching what people do is HUGE to finding good strategies online.)

I bumped this stuff recently when researching an article I was writing: Bill Sutton’s Good Millwork, a Florida Millwork company that does architectural moldings and exterior shutters.  Very helpful. Those who know me at all know that folks who are helpful to me get some links, traffic and notoriety wherever I can. To my new small business friend from Florida. here you go!

OK…there. I read a ton of other stuff as well, but those are currently the most influential on my list or those who consume my time due to things I am working on.

Enjoy!

The Ten Commandments of SEO.

Author’s note: While this is CLEARLY meant to be funny…live by these, seriously, and you will prosper.

Thou shalt not violate the TOS

This means that violating Google’s Terms of Service is TOTALLY off limits. Their rules are clearly stated. Live by them. You cannot build a long term asset that purports to make money from the exposure of their site if you spit on their rules. They will catch you and it will not be well with you.

Thou shalt not build any graven images. A site built totally in FLASH is a graven image

Search engines read text. That is what they understand. Yes, you can attach text to the graven images to help things, but in the end there needs to be sufficient text so that a search engine can determine what the site is about.

Thou shalt not cloak

This is in keeping with commandment number one. When you show one thing to the search engines and another to the public, it is not well with you. This is the quickest path to destruction that there is. Don’t do it. Don’t employ a consultant that tells you to do it or that you can get away with it.

The domain that will be penalized is your and not theirs.

Thou shalt build thine own authority

Search engines determine relevance by inbound links which (when properly gathered as part of a diverse link portfolio) are good indicators of relevance. While you can hire someone to submit your site to directories and to do some of the tedious labour for you, you MUST build your own reputation and relationships online. You must be a part of your industry’s online conversations. In fact, to succeed you must lead them in a time efficient manner. More on that later.

That is why I coach and provide creative authority building expertise on this site. You will notice that I do not sell the service of providing 500 links for $50 bucks or other such drivel here…At the end of the day, YOU (whether you = corporate or personal) are the only one who can provide your own authority…

This is also why paid links are of the devil and should be shunned…

Thou shalt not help thy competitor

You would think that this commandment is self evident, but let’s take the real estate industry for example. In this industry, it is common practice for agents to spend hours writing on sites like Trulia and Zillow and adding tons of user generated content when they are truly only helping those sites rank above them.

(Note:If the 10 commandments analogy does not work for you…then how about the Hippocratic Oath – think: First do no harm… )

Thou shalt honor thy mentors and friends

Search engine optimization is in large measure about building relationships online. To succeed you must not only MAKE friends and LEARN from mentors, you must KEEP them. To do this, you must honor them and hold them in high esteem for a lifetime. Create lifelong relationships and do not violate that trust.

Do good to others. Pay it forward. Build true authority. Participate in the arena of ideas. And honor the relationships that you build with a lifetime of faithfulness. Nothing less will do.

Thou shalt not steal content

Taking the content of others is forbidden. You cannot build your own authority on anything less than original content on your site of a quality that others will link to. HOWEVER…Having others provide the original content FOR YOU is not only GOOD, it is a sign of true authority. When others come to your place and provide UGC (user generated content), it is well with you.

Thou shalt not (simply) covet thy neighbor’s links

If all you do is chase you neighbor’s links you will forever be behind him. You MUST create additional relevance in order to succeed. That requires creativity and effort and often money. It is a much better path than simply following others.

You must follow them, overtake them and pass them. Coveting alone is not the answer

Thou shalt think like a spider

No one that I know of has administered an IQ test to a search engine spider. So many website builders simply over complicate their sites with code and / or make it hard for a site to get crawled by a search engine spider. Then they whine because they are not at the top.

I cannot make Google’s spider become Kreskin or and innately see the artistic value of your site. I CAN tell you how to make your site indexable to the search engines. If you choose not to take that advice, you cannot come back at me and say I did something wrong.

I can only work on your site and not the search engine. Quit whining.

Thou shalt TEST

The ONLY way to know if something works or does not is to TEST. The SEO industry is RIFE with people who simply parrot what others say or dumb it down to the point of being incorrect. There is a REASON that I TEST. True search engine professionals do. All of them. They don’t take other professionals’ word for it. They do not assume. They do not make the mistake of deluding themselves that what worked yesterday works today. And they don’t provide forward looking statements without actually testing them out.

We actually DO that here and provide the answers to our clients.

Harris Real Estate University’s Tim and Julie Harris – a fun interview

Some days I think I have the coolest job ever. Yes, Search Engine Marketing is fun, but I also spend quite a bit of time in the real estate industry. I enjoy connecting with people and often interview them as part of my job at Real Estate Industry Watch.

Interviews are always fun and you never know what you are going to get. Today’s interview with Harris Real Estate University’s Tim and Julie Harris was no exception. I have visited with them before and all, but it is always fun for me to interview. Tim is as passionate about the real estate business as they come and always pushing the envelope for the latest and best techniques.

Why does that make me happy? Simple. Because

Tim and Julie Harris get it.

Agree with them or disagree with them, they are driven and passionate and teach principles that they believe in. And it shows. They believe it. They teach it. and their enthusiasm is infectous. And I like that.

It all makes for a great day!

Online Reputation Managment

In today’s world online reputation management consists of not only fixing problems but stopping them before they start. That includes monitoring your online reputation and creating enough positive online branding for you personally that you have protection against your reputation being harmed.