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<title>Sphinn / flyingrose / Hot Today</title>
<link>http://sphinn.com</link>
<description>Sphinn</description>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 Nov 2007 18:04:28 -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 18:04:28 -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>Mon, 05 Nov 2007 06:18:19 -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[PPC Engines ARE Intentionally Diluting Traffic Quality!]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/11084</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/11084</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 26 Oct 2007 21:25:40 -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[Interview: Developer of Wordpress Secret E-Commerce Weapon]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/9376</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/9376</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 12 Oct 2007 21:40:11 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Blogging</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/9376</guid>
<description><![CDATA[WordPress and eCommerce converge with this shopping cart plugin for WordPress. Brian Wallace interviews the maker Dan Milward about current capabilities and gives us a sneak peak at the new version being developed.<br/><br/>42 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[AimClearBlog [as good as] Live from SMX Denver - Search Marketing has Gone Mobile - Be Ready or Be Left Behind]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/7946</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/7946</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 03 Oct 2007 03:50:11 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>SEM Industry</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/7946</guid>
<description><![CDATA[AimClearBlog is offering almost live coverage of SMX (Search Marketing Expo) Denver including photos, exclusive interviews, and this exceptional strategy on taking our search marketing local and mobile.<br/><br/>53 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Marketing Isna4t Bullcrap]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/6984</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/6984</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 28 Sep 2007 08:00:19 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Other Online Marketing</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/6984</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Sales and marketing earned bad reputations in the minds of many that still exist today. High pressure sales techniques, outright lies, and deceptive practices all contributed to that and they may still exist in some places.   What we all must realize, though, is none of that is necessary and those practices are certainly not recommended. Today we can use advertising and marketing to tell the truth and help interested parties get the information they desire to make the best decision for them. For some good tips on how to do this check out this blog post written by a marketer after my own heart: one who knows that shared abundance and win-win decisions are the path to prosperity for all.<br/><br/>34 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>Sun, 16 Sep 2007 23:42:27 -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 15:48:46 -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 Writes A Bad Check!]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/5067</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/5067</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 10 Sep 2007 08:46:13 -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[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>Mon, 10 Sep 2007 07:42:50 -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[Link Building, Make Money Online Blogs and Wordpress]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/5047</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/5047</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 10 Sep 2007 04:28:45 -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[Storm Worm Trojan Hits Blogger]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/4434</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/4434</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 06 Sep 2007 04:08:06 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Blogging</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/4434</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A must-read post for those using Blogger, especially if you use the mail2blogger function that allows you to post via email:From the post: &quot;Hackers are attacking Google's Blogger with the Storm Trojan virus. The virus is showing up on blogs that use the mail2blogger feature, that allows bloggers to post via email. The hoax blog entries  claim to point to a YouTube video, but actually direct visitors to a webpage containing a malicious script and the Storm Worm Trojan virus.BBC news reports that &quot;Infected computers are being hijacked by the gang behind the attacks and either mined for saleable data or used for other attacks.&quot;&quot;<br/><br/>24 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 23:32:35 -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[Expanded Broad Match Goes Loco On Local]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/4302</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/4302</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 03 Sep 2007 21:34:25 -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[How to Backup a Blogger Blog]]></title>
<link>http://sphinn.com/story/4433</link>
<comments>http://sphinn.com/story/4433</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 03 Sep 2007 13:19:24 -0700</pubDate>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<category>Blogging</category>
<guid>http://sphinn.com/story/4433</guid>
<description><![CDATA[This post is on how to back up a Blogger Blog. If you're using Blogger you may really wish you'd seen this if the worst happens. Rose (not me - another Rose) has many other posts of interest to those using Blogger.<br/><br/>23 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 14:40:56 -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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