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<title>Sphinn / flyingrose / Commented News</title>
<link>http://sphinn.com</link>
<description>Sphinn</description>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 Nov 2007 11:34:46 -0800</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[Finally: the AdWords Killer May Be Here - Early Results In]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/12917</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/12917</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 Nov 2007 11:34:46 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Paid Search</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/12917</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Facebook launches killer application - easy to use - fast and efficient. Demographic targeting. Early indications are conversions are there. More soon.<br/><br/>45 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[I, Cringely. The Pulpit: Is GoogleThe Next Microsoft]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/12431</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/12431</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 04 Nov 2007 16:34:48 -0800</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Google Other</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/12431</guid>
<description><![CDATA[From the page: &quot;Google is on a tear, that's for sure, but I see a few potholes ahead that the company could avoid but probably won't. Part of this stems from Google starting to look, in some ways, a bit like Microsoft. Uh-oh.I think Google has in the works a global strategy so sweeping and audacious that it is breathtaking, but that's for a future column. This week I want to point out where Google is screwing up, why, and what they should do about it.&quot;<br/><br/>34 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Who Wants To Get Maximum Profits From Their Pay Per Click Ads ?]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/12249</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/12249</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 02 Nov 2007 18:40:51 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Paid Search</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/12249</guid>
<description><![CDATA[There is one person who knows more about Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft AdCenter than anyone else. Her name is Mary O'Brien and she and her partners provide the most comprehensive seminars on getting the most from ppc advertising. They are independent from influence by the ppc engines so you get the real truth. Those with no knowledge of ppc at all will clearly understand what is presented; however, the more you already know the more you'll get out of them. One attendee I personally correspond with saw a 10-fold increase in sales within a week and a half after attending. He wrote a thorough review about these seminars  complete with screen shots of the increase in income at http://www.associateprograms.com/discus/sutra100478.htmlMary and her partners were involved from the start at Overture and Mary is the former Overture Director for Training and Organizational Development and taught the official Yahoo! Search Marketing Seminars. These seminars are so good that even I make a point of attending them (and anyone who knows me knows I rarely travel for any reason any more.<br/><br/>9 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Whois May Be Scrapped to Break Deadlock]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/11545</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/11545</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 29 Oct 2007 13:36:30 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Water Cooler</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/11545</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Whois database in jeopardy of being scrapped. From the page: &quot;some privacy advocates are proposing scrapping the system entirely because they can't agree with the people who use the system on how to give domain name owners more options when they register - such as designating third-party agents. Privacy advocates say individuals shouldn't have to reveal personal information simply to have a Web site.The so-called &quot;sunset&quot; proposal is expected to come up Wednesday before a committee of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, a key Internet oversight agency.&quot;<br/><br/>19 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[PPC Engines ARE Intentionally Diluting Traffic Quality!]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/11084</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/11084</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 25 Oct 2007 14:44:25 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Paid Search</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/11084</guid>
<description><![CDATA[If you rely on PPC traffic you better read this. This is precisely what I have been warning is going on - especially with AdWords - written from the perspective of a domainer. From the page: &quot;Ultimately, an advertiser's dream is that 100% of clicks convert to sales but the problem is that this is a VERY small percentage of the overall click volume. If Google and Yahoo were to truly only pass on &quot;quality&quot; clicks then we would have an affiliate not a PPC system.What this means is that both Google and Yahoo are right now actually passing on &quot;sub-standard&quot; clicks to advertisers. For example, a games company may purchase a keyword for $0.95, knowing that only 10% of clicks convert to a sale. The fact that there is only a 10% conversion rate indicates that they have paid for sub-optimal clicks.The reason why the advertiser receives these clicks is a volume issue. Google and Yahoo essentially say, &quot;We can give you 100% conversion on only 1 click or you can have 10% conversion on 10,000 clicks.&quot; If all advertisers selected the 1 click option then Google and Yahoo just went out of business. The name of the game for Google and Yahoo is how many clicks can they deliver and yet still have happy advertisers with a conversion rate high enough to keep on spending on PPC.&quot;<br/><br/>37 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[7 Reasons To Use StumbleUpon To Gain Traffic]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/5685</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/5685</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 15 Sep 2007 13:21:21 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Other Social Media</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/5685</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Want to know more about driving traffic from StumbleUpon? Check out this post by Michael Garrett where he links in the top seven articles he used to increase his abilities there. I'm definitely going to subscribe to his blog.From the page: &quot;I have seen first-hand how successful StumbleUpon can be to gain traffic for blogs. I received almost 5,000 views over a span of 2 days for the Unlocked iPhone article that I wrote recently. This also helped spike my Google AdSense revenue over those same days.I was very impressed, and as I have been around the web, I have discovered several other bloggers who have had similar results, and who praise StumbleUpon, just as I do. Many have also provided tips and insights on how to best use the service to gain the most traffic, even more so than the heavily-acclaimed Digg.That is why this list will not provide specific reasons, but rather the top 7 articles which I found most useful when trying to discover how to best leverage StumbleUpon for the most potential.&quot;<br/><br/>41 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Are You a Sphinn User or a Contributor?]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/5491</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/5491</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 13 Sep 2007 12:16:10 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Sphinn Zone</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/5491</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Where you spend your valuable time at Sphinn tells you whether you're contributing to the community or just using it. A contributor seeks out excellence among the What's New submissions to ensure that everyone benefits from them. A user focuses their time on the Hot Topics page so they can stay on top of what is important. By doing this, they rely on the contributions of others without making any contribution themselves. The more contributors there are, the more any community benefits. Many Sphinners allows us all to do less here and more elsewhere and ensures that top content makes it onto the Hot Topics page. If everyone contributes a little when they can the community will do great. If few contribute, those who do will be working too hard here to have a healthy life balance.<br/><br/>44 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google As Vegas Casino:  What Professional Blackjack Players Can Teach You About SEO]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/5077</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/5077</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 09 Sep 2007 16:44:20 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Google SEO</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/5077</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Awesome follow-up article to the &quot;Google as Casino&quot; post Lyndon Sphunn. From the page: &quot;1. Google is the house and the house makes the rules. The only choice you have is whether you want to play or not, you can't really change their rules.2. The rules are designed to maximize profit. Just like a casino, Google has an economic interest in designing the rules of Internet search so as to maximize its long term profit. Google is a for-profit company, so this should not come as a surprise.3. Smart players reduce profitability. There is nothing illegal, immoral or unethical about counting cards at a blackjack table. Card-counters are not &quot;cheaters&quot;. They simply play the game better than most others and are the rare case where a player overcomes the usual house advantage and actually has a mathematically demonstrated way to make money over the long-term. This is why card-counters get banned (once they are detected). Casinos don't like losing money. Similarly, really good SEO consultants (the smart ones) generally take profit away from Google (because they help their clients reach the market without having to pay Google for advertising).&quot;<br/><br/>31 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google Writes A Bad Check!]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/5067</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/5067</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 09 Sep 2007 13:49:14 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Google AdSense</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/5067</guid>
<description><![CDATA[From the page: &quot;Are you sure? Do you know who Google is? You're kidding me, right?&quot; She says she does know who Google is, but that this particular account doesn't have enough funds to cover my check.&quot;More from the page: &quot;I say to the teller, &quot;How does a gazillionaire company like Google have a bank account with so little money in it?&quot; She laughs. I laugh. What else is there to do?&quot;<br/><br/>36 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Link Building, Make Money Online Blogs and Wordpress]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/5047</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/5047</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 09 Sep 2007 04:12:44 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Networking</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/5047</guid>
<description><![CDATA[I can't believe I get to be first to submit the latest post from my favorite blog doshdosh. What I really enjoy is the way they find great sites and then offer so many great suggestions on how to make them even better. From the page: &quot;While some of these links may not be directly related to making money, they will help you to manage your websites while helping you get links, traffic and attention.I've also included my personal opinions on how the specific website linked can serve as inspiration to market or improve your own websites or businesses. This will be helpful when the link doesn't point to content but an concept or tool.&quot;<br/><br/>31 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Why eBay and Wikipedia rule Googlea4s SERPs by Sebastian]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/4653</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/4653</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 05 Sep 2007 02:04:53 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Google SEO</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/4653</guid>
<description><![CDATA[I clicked the Sphinn logo expecting to vote and am surprised this wasn't already here. I found it very interesting; mea culpa if it is &quot;old news&quot; to the SEO crowd.<br/><br/>10 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Technorati Meat & Potatoes Every Blogger Should Know]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/4488</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/4488</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 03 Sep 2007 12:50:01 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Networking</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/4488</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Marty has been teaching me the importance of Technorati. When we share what we know and others start using the tools we can then bounce ideas and strategies off each other. We also realize that blogging is a far more effective use of our time than teaching one-on-one. It also documents what we learn for later reference by ourselves, peers we work with, and shares it with anyone else who is interested. Blogging helps clients better understand what we can (and sometimes more importantly can NOT) do so their expectations will be realistic, they can choose and prioritize other strategies to grow their businesses, and everyone can be a more effective part of the &quot;Team&quot;.If you want to truly tap the power of Social Networking, start with understanding this article Marty just posted. Marty adds that this is BASIC knowledge for most SEM types and the value of the post is for their CLIENTS. From the post: &quot;A surprising number of new bloggers don't understand and harness it's data mining power. Why is Technorati Important? - The answer is all about links. The value of your website and it's power to propel keywords to top rankings is measured by multiple on and off-page factors. Search engines algorithmically evaluate how many other sites link to yours and assess the &quot;quality&quot; of your site's inbound link portfolio. Technorati makes it easy to spy on another sites' blog-link-portfolio, making it an ultra-easy research tool for aspiring link builders.&quot;<br/><br/>24 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[So Many Members - So Few Votes - No Opinion?]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/4399</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/4399</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 02 Sep 2007 01:13:24 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Sphinn Zone</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/4399</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Given the type of membership here, so many members, and lots of Sphinns, it is a mystery to me that there are so few votes on the comments. Even if many aren't actually reading the comments most of the time and are Sphinning the article only, even submission s with dozens of comments have very few votes. If you read the comments it only takes a second to vote - assuming you have an opinion and know what it is. Don't at least those interested enough to read the comments have opinions on what they read?<br/><br/>26 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Are Search Ads a Waste of Money?]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/4391</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/4391</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 02 Sep 2007 00:17:25 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Paid Search</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/4391</guid>
<description><![CDATA[SEM and PPC consultants must recognize that most research is done on Fortune 500 companies and will NOT apply to the majority of non-Fortune 500/1000 companies. Blindly assuming it applies to all advertisers is a huge error. What this article is saying applies to advertisers who are famous - or at least famous in their niche market - and assumes that the person doing the search would remember to go to that advertiser's site when they're ready to buy, knows that brand sells that product, and can find it on their Web site. Those are far too many assumptions to be making. For small businesses, the best money they'll ever spend on PPC is often to bid on variations of their own company name and domain name. The bids are generally very low and the conversions very high. Never underestimate the huge increase in sales you can drive by putting your ad for the specific product someone is searching for in front of them precisely when they're ready to buy and landing them on the page containing only that specific product or a selection including that item and very similar products. It is important that writers and analysts recognize when they're drawing conclusions that have not in evidence. There is not nearly enough awareness of common logic fallacies. Many are being led down the proverbial garden path by well-meaning individuals who are mistaken in their interpretation of what the data actually indicates. From the article: &quot;Atlas studied 30 search ad campaigns reaching 120,000 users on Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft. It found that nearly half of clicks on ads came from people who had already visited the advertiser's Web site. Moreover, about 60 percent of visits came from &quot;branded&quot; words, like the company's name, while just 29 percent were from people who searched for generic terms and had never been to the advertiser's Web site-the type of new customers search is meant to attract.&quot;Should you be spending half your search budgets on those [branded] terms?&quot; Song said. &quot;Probably not.&quot;&quot;<br/><br/>7 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[What is the best way to manage discussions occurring across multiple sites?]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/4387</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/4387</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 01 Sep 2007 19:55:47 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Blogging</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/4387</guid>
<description><![CDATA[I am new here and don't have the time to read all that has happened to date, so if this has already been discussed please point me in the right direction. I am certain there are many others who could use this information here. When a discussion is taking place here, plus in the comments of the blog whose post was Sphunn, and often in multiple other blogs too, where is the best place to comment? I notice some have the comments here also in their blogs so I know there are solutions available but am too new to blogging to know and understand what the options are yet. What is the best way to help visitors see all the comments without going to multiple sites and encourage the maximum interaction in the discussion?Thank you for any input.<br/><br/>9 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Bloglines vs Google Reader - Who's Really Winning?]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/4384</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/4384</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 01 Sep 2007 15:36:24 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Blogging</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/4384</guid>
<description><![CDATA[With all the available options it is important for bloggers to make it easy for their visitors to subscribe. Knowing which feeds are most popular can help you rank which to include and in what order. Here is an excerpt from this excellent article which includes graphs showing actual users of Bloglines versus Google Reader:&quot;Has Google Reader in fact usurped Bloglines as the number 1 browser-based RSS Reader (which would also probably make them the leading RSS Reader overall)? That seems to be the opinion of a lot of tech people - and certainly Google Reader is a favorite of many early adopter types.But based on current Hitwise data that Read/WriteWeb has gotten hold of, in fact Bloglines is still the market leader.Most bloggers Feedburner data shows that &quot;Google Feedfetcher&quot; is ahead of Bloglines. However that isn't a fair comparison, because Feedburner defines &quot;Google Feedfetcher&quot; as being both Google Reader and iGoogle (Google's start page product). So here is data from Hitwise, supplied to us by Bloglines, which compares Bloglines with Google Reader alone...&quot;<br/><br/>16 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Expanded Broad Match Goes Loco On Local]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/4302</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/4302</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 31 Aug 2007 09:19:19 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Google AdWords</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/4302</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Here is yet another article on the major financial losses hitting advertisers due to Google AdWords expanded broad match.  Every person running an AdWords campaign - and especially those using geo-targeting or who have brand names, model names, or model numbers in their keywords, is eventually going to be hit. The time to take action is NOW - before you see those spending spikes and have already lost the money.  &quot;The tech team at Google looked into the issue, and the results came back simply as an &quot;expanded broad match issue.&quot; Apparently, &quot;Cheap John's Toyota Farm Boston&quot; is the same as &quot;Toyota Solara&quot; and, logically thinking, Pittsburgh=Boston. Therefore, searchers across the nation were seeing a targeted localized ad countrywide.&quot;<br/><br/>21 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[New 'Improved" Top Ad Placement Formula Now Live at Google AdWords]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/3565</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/3565</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 22 Aug 2007 18:29:00 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Google AdWords</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/3565</guid>
<description><![CDATA[At 2:44 p.m this afternoon, August 22, 2007, the Inside AdWords blog posted that the new algorithm is now active. This change will have the strongest impact on niche advertisers who wish to have top left ad positions.<br/><br/>4 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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