Well folks I just have to post this … Digital Point is having a love affair with Black Hat SEO… yup it’s true… or their moderators are a bunch of complicit wankers. I noticed a few interesting posts over there lately.

First we have this lovely idiot posting about BH software in the open forum under the ‘affiliate’ section no les… ha ha ha
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=176646

Then we have folks begging to get into a Black Hat forum and general BH musings; http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=174383

Why do I care? Well mostly because these same posters at DP are always on about the quality of SERPs and all the SPAM out there…. They then turn around a support the very activities that create it.

Anyone else see a problem here?

Wow… here’s a fun one. Depending on whom you believe the SEO industry is having a bad year… or maybe not. Taken from references in the Marketing Sherpa ‘Search Marketing 2007 Benchmark Guide’, a couple of different take’s on the situation

First the ‘anti-SEO’ view ; http://www.dmnews.com/cms/dm-news/search-marketing/38695.preview

…and then the ‘anti-anti-seo’ view;  http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=50940

I for one have one simple word – Spammers – As long as spammers keep getting more sophisticated so will the SEs. It’s a war of attrition. The more sophisticated the SEs become, the more complex the task of ensuring one’s SEO endeavors are ‘up to speed’ with the latest changes and nuances.

Anyway, I felt that was an interesting little journey, let me know what you think.

Well hey... I can’t say that I have promoted many products/services since I started ranting here… It is something I generally stay away from. Today I was touched enough to finally break my silence and give a little credit…

The main reason for my excitement is not as much that they have SUPER Tools or that they are the secret to SEO or anything along those lines - though the tools are pretty cool. As far as that goes, tools are tools and data is data, it’s more what data you collect and what you do with it, that can spell success or failure. The true VALUE of any tool can be argued, I will stay away from that.

What I can say is that Jim Morris and the gang at Nichebot don’t sit around twiddling their thumbs and counting the cash. Over the last year I have been watching them and playing with their tools, they have been constantly seeking to improve them from their own experiences and strategies as well as reaching out to their user base for ideas. I can only see good things for them moving ahead... a development and marketing success story.

If you like the tools, love the tools or hate them, you at least have to give them credit for seeking to constantly improve on their products. Feel free to check them out at NicheBot.com ( no affiliate link...straight goods). The latest incarnation is to be launched on Nov. 14th 2006 - I would check it out -- oh wait.. I already did... duh...

… oh and Jim is a tireless promoter that I do get a kick out of…   

Well the ever popular family fun game Google Bowling’ was back in the news it seems. What is Google bowling? If you don’t know, then apparently you’re not ‘very smart’,  at least according to one - Chris Bowers -

“I think Internet users are very smart and most are aware of what a Google bomb is,” he said, “and they will be aware that results can be massaged a bit’

While it is an interesting, if not passé pursuit, GB dark side wanna-bees are always fun to read. Here are some goodies...