Pretty sweet graphic put out by the fellas over at Authority Labs today. It shows the billion dollar reach of Demand Media. Pretty impressive graphic, but even more impressive numbers. Check it out!

From the AuthorityLabs blog

I have never been a huge fan of old school “emailing for link building” but hey, it works, and that is why people continue to do it (you know who you are). I thought I would share two stories of link building in the same industry. One that worked, and one that most certainly did not. To me, it was interesting to see the two side by side, and they both happened to come across my email path on the same day. Here we go.  By the way, I have removed names/URLs etc. to just make everyone happier – you get the point without knowing the details.

The bad:

Bad Link Building Example

I mean, it seems nice right? Using somewhat decent English (I have no room to talk by the way – bad english, spelling all around my posts) etc. Well, if you take a look at the red arrows you will see what is wrong with this request.

1. Wrong Industry (close) but not close enough to “Furniture” to be relevant.
2. Letting them know how it will help their search engine rankings no longer helps you, but in my opinion, hurts you.  There are more tactful ways of letting people know (that don’t know) about how link building helps rankings etc.
3. Telling me you are real person and not a request bot – it had the opposite effect on me – made me think they sent this to 50 million other people, and don’t really understand my industry (again, going back to the fact they got it wrong in the first place).

I may even have considered this one if they didn’t get the industry so wrong, but its just not personal and to the point (Don’t waste my time).  They are trying to hard IMO.

The Good:

Good Link Building Example

I want to point out the reasons why this one is great.  It is simple, to the point and got the link (which I will show you the response in just a minute).

1. Show them how it will benefit their business (not that it will help improve their rankings) Show how it will help their customers and the people visiting THEIR site AND WHERE it will benefit their site. (supply URL)
2. Make it easy for them to link – show them exactly where they can link to you.
3. Be real, be yourself – Ok, we might be marketers AND Sales Managers, but let them know in this case who they are dealing with.

You can tell from this second example that a real human wrote it.  It does not come across as spammed to 50 million other peeps.  It seems as if it was written for THAT specific site (which it was – pay attention here – good link building alert).  No mix up in industries here!

And guess what?

Link Building Response

Most important thing here?  Look at the arrow – added the link.  That is your goal right?  To get the link.  This shows how easy it is, if it is done right.  The point here is simple, pay attention to what you are doing, be personal and show exactly how it will benefit their users.  You follow the examples I have spelled out for you here, you will probably start having a lot more success with link building.  Good luck!

As an attorney, I am often asked my opinion as to how people should go about resolving legal disputes.  This info-graphic created by Nielsen & Senior (a Utah law firm) does a good job of walking one through the pros and cons of the three legal dispute resolutions (mediation, arbitration, and litigation).  Now you know!

Had a blast speaking at AZIMA with Chuck Reynolds tonight.  Thanks Arnie for the offer and opportunity.  We had a blast and I am hoping the people that were there learned a ton from us.  We gave up some pretty good info I think.  Here is my slide deck from the event, and some pictures from the event.  To see all the pictures from the event – click on the Flickr AZIMA Aug. 2010 event album I created.  Thanks to Greg for taking the awesome pictures!

Matt Siltala and Chuck Reynolds

Chuck Reynolds Speaking at AZIMA

Matt Siltala speaking at AZIMA

Arnie K at the mike ... AZIMA

Chuck thinking to himself "Shouldaof had another beer"

AZIMA

Just got a suggestion from my good friend Dana about a new person I need to follow on Twitter, (by the way thanks) and after I followed I saw the screenshot below … I decided to go ahead and post it because a lot of my friends are asking me about it etc. If you have not seen it, or have it yet on your account – check it out:

Twitter Suggest

Back in February I was asked to sit down with Mike McDonald of WebproNews to discuss the FTC’s new Internet endorsement guidelines. We also got into some of the new state “privacy laws” being passed (by Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Nevada) requiring encryption of sensitive personal data and more informative privacy policies.

I haven’t heard anything from the crew at WPN  since our interview, but woke up today to a picture text message from Mat Siltala today of my face on the video homepage of WPN (see http://videos.webpronews.com/).  Thanks Mat!

It appears that the production crew has added in some ancillary video and written a nice summary of our  interview. Feel free to check it out – David Mink on FTC Guidelines!

Watch the video here:

More WebProNews Videos

Here are a few of the pictures from Day 1 of Blue Glass LA 2010 – click here to see the whole Blue Glass LA 2010 Flickr set.  Awesome day 1 for a first ever conference put on by these guys.  Top quality in everything – speakers, set up, food, snacks – everything was awesome!  Great job and hat tip to the newly formed Blue Glass!

Chris Winfield

Tony & Michelle Blue Glass LA 2010 Day 1

Raven Jon & Lookado

Kate Morris & the back of Joanna Lord

Brian Lafrance & Jon Henshaw

Loren Baker

Chase & Cameron

Blue Glass LA 2010

Alan, Dana, Joshua .... Blue Glass LA 2010

Just wanted to do a quick post talking about the upcoming Blue Glass LA conference.  I am really looking forward to this one, and especially seeing all of my good buddies, but even more I am looking forward to the amazing conversations I am going to be having with amazing marketing minds.

Anyone who has ever gone to a conference will tell you that it is the networking that makes the conference, (even more then the content believe it or not) but this one is going to be special simply because I think you will be able to have your cake and eat it too (so to speak) because you will get the one on one networking AND be fed some amazing, action-able content.  The sessions are going to be intimate, and there is going to be plenty of presentation time, which means – more learning from each speaker.

If you are needing a last minute push into a “must attend” conference this year, this one is it.  So many amazing speakers, people to network with and content to take in.  If you are attending, leave a comment and let me know – lets make sure and meet up and hang out and talk shop!  See ya in LA!!!!

I had the opportunity to conduct a training webinar on Social Media this morning to the Restoration Industry Association, and for those who attended and are looking for the slides, here ya go:  It was an awesome group and a fun presentation.  Thanks for the opportunity!

It is pretty awesome (to me) to see the turn that Yelp has taken lately to include features that social users love, in order to battle head on with location based gaming services/social networks like Foursquare and GoWalla.   We have all been hearing about the new titles & badges that Yelp has been talking about rolling out, but it was interesting for me to see it for myself on my phone.  Call me geeky, but it was kind of cool to see, and I think Yelp did an excellent job of keeping up (and listening to their users)  - in order to continue to dominate as the local front runner for “app phone” users.  I just look forward to finally start getting some badges and learning about how all that works.  Enjoy these screen shots I took, if you have not seen this program rolled out yet.