A chance to guest post on the Trail

Well, it’s been awhile since we had some fresh blood here on the Trail and I thought it was time to open up the doors once more. In the past we’ve had guest posters, chats and interviews with a wide rang of great peeps from the internet marketing world (see Guest Rider Round-Up).

Here are some of the fine folks we’ve had in the past;

Dave Snyder; SnyderSense
Steven Bradely; Van's SEO and Designs
James Duthie; Online Marketing Banter
Gab Goldenberg; SEO ROI
Jordan Kasteler; Utah SEO Pro  
Ann Smarty; SEO Smarty
Brian Chappell; SEO Blog
Samir Balwani; Left the Box
Brian Carter; Fuel Interactive
(dude who really needs to blog more) - Steve Gerencser

Chat’s and interviews

Bill Slawski SEO by the Sea
Jeff Quipp - SearchEnginePeople
Chris Winfield – 10e20
Brian Wallace – NowSourcing
Glen Allsopp – Viper Chill
Gennady Lager – Send Traffic
Jim Tobin – Ignite Social Media

And they were all just great to have around – it makes the Trail a better place to be...

So you wanna be a guest rider?

So how does this work you ask? Well it’s pretty easy, simply get in touch from here ( or hook up on Twitter ) so we can talk about what post ideas you might have. As long as it relates to internet marketing, it’s all good. It doesn’t have to be SEO and it doesn’t have to be technical. It can be geared towards professionals or something for the noobs. You see, having more diversity, in levels of expertise and types of content, will only make the place better. I am open to any and all ideas.

Comming soon we have an post from internet marketing blogger James Morris, a chat with analytics guru Marshall Sponder and an interview with WhosTalkin.com's Joe Hall.

So what are you waiting for? Saddle up…and let’s ride!!

Project Jump Start 09

A challenge to give back to those with a dream

Well gang we’re well into 2009 now and as part of my quest to give back and help others I have an interesting tidbit I’d like to share with you today.

Last week while making the rounds I noticed my good pal Dazzlin Donna (Fontenot) was launching ‘Project Jump Start ‘09’which is a program she came up with to give a little something to would be web entrepreneurs.  Inspired by Kiva.org the she writes;

“I’m going to hand $25 (US) to one of you, and each and every month for the entire year of 2009, someone else will get $25. I want to help one person per month start their dream idea online. With $25 cash paid into a Paypal account, someone can purchase a domain name and 3 months of hosting. That should be enough time to get a new site going.”- from Project Jump Start ’09

And that’s not all; she also ponied up with some bonuses;

“In addition, I’m going to throw in a free copy of my ebook, In Your Pajamas, as well as a free copy of my online press kit template package (to be used only by you, and not to be shared, please). That’s an added value of $80 ($5 for the ebook and $75 for the template)”

As a fellow that’s been busting his nut for nearly 20 years as a small businessman and a guy that works mostly with small business, this really struck a chord with me. It can be really tough out there and every little bit helps.

Let’s get on board!!

But can more be done? You’re damn right there can be. To that I am going to match Donna’s $25/month and throw in a few bonuses too such as;

1Copy of the SEO Handbook and my new eBook, the Link Builders Edition (due out next week).
5 Hours of SEO consulting from Reliable SEO
6 Months of free hosting
1 Free logo designs (from Verve Developments)

Add that all up and it’s a value of more than $600 – Can You Dig It!!! (Warriors style)

My Challenge to the rest of you

Yup, you guessed it, I am after your hard earned dollars, time or anything else you feel you can sweeten the pot with. Many of us are blessed in this business and a $25 donation each month is more than doable. As a lead up to this post I talked to a few of my friends and so far have 2 more on board;

Latest benefactors for the program;

Jeff Quipp – traveling SEO guru from Search Engine People
Samir Balwani – Social media magician (the Great Balwani) from Left the Box
Brian Chappell - Social media consultant and FireHorse Trail Allumni
Eric Lander - Search marketer and social addict - His post on Jump Start

Will YOU take up the challenge and help out? We’re up to $150 for each new web entrepreneur plus bonuses. If you’re interested in joining us or want more information, please contact me or track down Donna (Twitter) and we can talk more.

I shall update this post with new members (ooo linkees for all) and I encourage you to please blog about this so that we may really do something special here…

Thanks for yer time… and Happy Trails to you in ‘09

2009 : the year of SEO Mythbusting

One thing I decided was going to be part of my writing life in 2009 is laying out a little smack down on those in the SEO industry that are making bold statements that purvey mythologies. Now, that doesn’t mean I am going to be an ass about it (though that is entirely possible) and it doesn’t mean starting flame wars… not at all. This is about maintaining some perspective and otherwise try to stabalize an industry that is more and more using their own brand of FUD that makes the SEs look like angels.

This isn’t a crusade about who’s link building techniques are better nor the optimal characters in a title tag – that stuff can be suppositional, and doesn’t bother me. I am talking about posts relating to things such as;

• Ranking signals
• Algorithm changes
• Ranking reports being dead
• SEO being dead
• Technical aspects of search

In short the aspect relating to the evolution of IR…(don’t know what IR stands for? Already behind the 8 ball I’m afraid)

It frustrates me to no end when bloggers and others in the business start making such bold statements based on little more than gut feelings and flawed testing. This is going to just cause more grief with an already instable industry and I can’t see any reason for such suppositions beyond ego stroking or positioning one’s company as ‘authorities’ in the biz….

I’m just sayin’

Do understand this ain’t about anything more than a love of SEO and the desire to see stability. Year after year SEO myth makers drift in and out with whacky theories dressed and reality. This wandering web warrior is getting tired of it.

We’ll still have the usual fun around here with geeky, ranty and guest posty goodiness as always (want more guests for diversity this year).. this is merely something which will rear it’s head now and again. To start things off, on Monday we’ll be looking and a large list of resources for all those that are interested in Information Retrieval and the evolution of search…. Starting on the right foot dontcha know… Can you guess what is coming first? Hint: contains ‘bounce’ and ‘rate’ :0)

Cya then… if YOU see any myths? Send ‘em over and we’ll bust them!!

Hi gang… just a quick update on some new ‘badges’ here on the trail… I can’t help but get visions of being in the boy scouts or something and I am sewing new badges on my uniform.. Considering I was ranting earlier this year about spreading the love not glory-hounding, I figured this was a good way to thank peeps that took the time to think of me…

Top Internet Marketing blogs

My bud Gyutae over at Winning the Web went to some lengths to create his ‘Top IM BLogs’ list that dynamically tracks a variety of metrics (PR, RSS,Technorati and more) and ranks the blogs. Kudos to him on creating this bad boy, but alas the system is skewed as I ain’t ranked number 1.. he he… seriously.. not even in the top 100? It’s a conspiracy I tells ya!!

Be sure to check it out if you’re looking for new goodies for your feed reader

Blog o the day

A few weeks back Claire Patrick of Red Orbit contacted me to let me know the Trail was highlighted as a ‘tech blog of the day’. Now we do get peeps that use this type of flattery simply to get links, but after talking to Claire and checking the site out, it is certainly a legit resource. Which begs the question, why me? She must have a thing for horses… he he…

Either way it worked… Claire is charming, (which was the selling point) and ya’ll should go play around on RedOrbit if you get the chance…