Nick Wilson has sold Threadwatch to Aaron Wall of SEO Book. Nick states that he wants to focus entirely on Performancing.com, a group blog site he owns with Patrick Gavin. Also on the team as stated in the About section of the site is Chris Garrett, their techy guy, and Andy Hagans, their monetization expert.

Nick was someone who didn’t shy away from controversy with Threadwatch. Performancing seems a little more subdued, but still interesting. Performancing looks like a direct competitor to ProBlogger.net, a site owned by Darren Rowse. Both sites focus on helping professional bloggers succeed.

My guess is this will be another successful venture for Nick.

At the WebmasterWorld conference in Las Vegas Matt Cutts discussed the webmaster console features of Google Sitemaps. I was very interested in the crawler error reports and thought that they would greatly assist with SEO work. Yesterday, I asked our IT Manager to implement this on our business directory site Jayde.com because Google hasn’t been indexing all of the pages on that site.

Unfortunately, the results from Google’s error report shows very few errors. I was under the impression that Google would report more than just 404’s and provide more hands on reasoning as to why the spider didn’t follow a link to another page within the site. Those are the kinds of ‘errors’ that would be useful to the webmaster. It would be nice if Google could tell us the details as to why their spider stopped spidering after crawling only 30% of a site.

When I first saw this news I thought it was some sort of news parody. Who would think that WebmasterWorld wouldn’t want traffic from search engines. Danny Sullivan over at SearchEngineWatch describes the details here and here.

Apparently, Brett Tabke, the owner of WebmasterWorld, has taken the drastic decision to disallow spiders “in an effort to combat bandwidth loss and server sluggishness due to rogue spiders”. Anyone can ban a spider via a robots.txt file. This has had the effect of removing over 2 million indexed pages out of Google and eliminating WebmasterWorld from the Google Directory which is a mirror of DMOZ.

Why would Brett not want search engine traffic? For a high profile site with (likely) millions of pageviews a month coming from Google and other search engines this must have been a difficult decision. It’s also kind of ironic since Brett just put on an excellent and successful conference (PubCon) which was mostly about search engines. PubCon had multiple speakers from Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask Jeeves and quite a few SEM types.

And what about GoogleGuy and MSN Dude which hang out in the WebmasterWorld forum? Will this effect their participation in the forum? By in effect delisting the search engines is WebmasterWorld making the case that Google and others are irrelevant? (Brett says no below)

WebmasterWorld is a great resource for all of us and it will be interesting to see how this affects their pageviews. It certainly is a unique experiment for a high traffic site to not allow search engine crawling.

Update: Barry Swartz of Search Engine Roundtable interviewed Brett Tabke on his decision and Brett said this was a security issue.

“It is difficult to talk about issues that brush shoulders with security related matters. Once you talk about something and your actions to counter that problem in public, you give rise to an invertible counter measure.”

Brett was also asked by Barry to respond to the claim by some “that you wanted to show the search engines that you do not need them”. Brett responded:

“Yes, a hundred thousand targeted referrals a day are just plain wrong. Lets cut to the chase; I adore search engine traffic, but my first duty as a webmaster is to the visitors and members of our site. Anything that interferers with that to the degree that rogue spiders, downloaders, offline browser, monitoring services, site rippers, or whatever you call it - I have to take action.”

Obviously, Brett felt this was the best course of action in order to protect the security of WebmasterWorld and the user experience of the site. It will be interesting to see what the Public Relations impact will be. It is still a bit shocking to me to block search engines when you run a popular forum and a conference about them.

To access all content on WebmasterWorld you can subscribe here.

I received an email from Google just after midnight last night updating the status of Google Analytics. Google clearly did not anticipate the high demand. It takes a tremendous amount of processing power to analyze logs and deliver reports to end users. However, I think in the end Google will resolve these issues and deliver a great product for entrepreneurs and webmasters. At PubCon in Las Vegas I asked Google’s Matt Cutts about this problem and he mentioned that the same thing happend with Google Reader a that he expected it to be resolved in short order.

Google Analytics is destined to be the analytics software of choice for webmasters worldwide. And not just because it’s free … but because it’s from Google.

For those of you not yet signed up with Google Analytics here is the email:

———————————————————————————-
Hello Google Analytics User,

This is a quick update to address some issues you may be seeing in your Google Analytics account and what we’re doing to respond.

First, due to extremely high demand, we’ve temporarily limited the number of new signups as we increase capacity. This allows us to focus on our primary objective–to provide a great user experience for our existing users.

Next, here is current information on the most common questions we’re receiving:

1. The ‘Check Status’ button is being reworked to check for properly installed tracking code. This should be fixed by the end of November.

2. The ‘+Add Profile’ link has been temporarily removed until we increase capacity. We’ll alert all current users when the feature is restored.

3. While we increase capacity, you may see longer than normal delays in data showing up in your reports. All data continues to be collected and no data has been lost.

For additional help with your Google Analytics account, we encourage you to browse or search our online Help Center at

http://www.google.com/support/analytics?hl=en.

Thanks for your patience as we improve Google Analytics and add
resources to ensure a high-quality service.

Sincerely,

The Google Analytics Team
———————————————————————————-

Ever since Google News changed their algorithm 4 or 5 months back it just isn’t as good. I’m primarily talking about the front page and the main sections … the search is fine.

Google appears to be over-catering to a global audience by including many more foreign sources. I don’t have a problem with foreign news sources but here are a few examples from the current Google front page:

It’s Over for Jessica and Nick - Malaysia Star (Malaysia)

Cheney takes flak for Iraq invasion - People’s Daily Online (China)

Broncos seal Thanksgiving victory - BBC (UK)

Google News is often linking to foreign sources over American sources even when covering U.S. based news. I would like to see Google revert back to its original algorithm. There was much more variety in the news sources making the front page and a quicker changing of the links. This made for a more interesting news portal to me. I also didn’t notice the foreign sites being linked to so prominently when covering the NFL

I think people forget that email marketing is still more powerful than search marketing. Adwords is great for marketing targeted niche items which need a trickle of leads a day. It works especially well for consumer products. Email marketing is still better for instant response in large numbers … especially for B2B.

In all of my tests with Google Adwords I can’t find key words that deliver any significant numbers of targeted promotions for our niche B2B email newsletters. Mind you, I did this only as a test of search marketing … there are many other ways to get subscribers to niche email newsletters. My tests indicate that very few search impressions are available related to “Supply Chain Management”. (SCMNews is one of the iEntry Network’s more niche email newsletters.) So few that we were lucky to get more than 20 clicks a day to our Adword.

Email newsletters and email lists can deliver much more. For instance, if someone were trying to target potential SCM software users — advertising on SCMNews would put their product in front of several thousand interested prospects within a very short time frame. You can’t do this with search advertising.

With all the attention search marketing is getting I just thought I would mention that email marketing is still a very powerful way to get lots of targeted leads fast!

An article in the Wednesday edition of the Wall Street Journal caught my attention. It illustrates with examples how email is still a strong marketing platform. If you’re not a subscriber we covered it in WebProNews.

I’m interested in your experiences with search advertising, especially targeted B2B products or services…

Another Internet Bubble? Not according to John Battelle writing in The New York Times Friday.

John believes that we are in a new era of internet opportunity … a grounded, stable and vibrant opportunity … called Web 2.0. He gives these four reasons:

1. The Web has become a proven business platform.
2. Business entry is cheap, therefore financiers aren’t driving decisions this time.
3. The advent of search advertising sydication which helps give sites with visitors instant revenue.
4. No wild IPO’s, more acquisitions of hot startup’s by stable comapnies.

It’s a great article and sums up the current reality of the Web and business.

However, I think there is one huge potential pitfall; continued success of those pesky text ads by the search engines and their thousands of syndication partners.

What if people stopped clicking on those ads? Every ad phase on the internet eventually suffered from click blindness. Over time the web visitor knows where the ads are and clicks them less.

The article mentions banners as something that didn’t work. Well, actually they did work and were effective with over 1% click rates from around 1996 - 2000. From the very beginning when Wired.com put up the first web ad banner they began a gradual click rate decline. When they got below 1% is when all of us started to get worried.

I don’t think you can say that banners were not effective in driving business. They were … and YES they still are, just not with the super high click percentages that they were previously. For example, we still sell banners at the iEntry Network including on this site and WebProNews. And we continue to deliver quality leads and business to our advertisers too.

Our advertisers also get the huge advantage of brand building which … not withstanding ridiculous self-serving studies to the contrary … is not delivered within a text ad. These text ads often do not even contain the advertisers name. Just think about it, are you going to remember one of those Google ads that you didn’t click on? Not likely. But you may remember an advertiser and their main pitch in a banner ad … because it is an image. It’s obvious … and that’s why Madison Avenue is continuing to experiment with advanced interactive and visually appealing ads. They see the Web as another media platform that can be part of a companies branding and direct marketing mix.

Am I against text ads? No … we use them to boost our banner advertisers. They help get clicks but those clicks are not somehow better because they came from a text promotion. Targeted leads are targeted leads … as far as the advertiser is concerned. My point is that text ads may not forever be the blockbuster they are now.

The predominant internet advertising model is built on the premise that text ads will continue to be clicked. Click percentages have already fallen significantly for Google text ads and they are likely to continue falling. Have you noticed that there are many more ads on Google searches now? Google increased the number of ads displayed in the last quarter in order to offset lower click rates. Yes, click blindness may be affecting search engine text ads too.

Does this mean we are actually in an internet bubble? Not exactly.

However, I believe we are in an internet advertising bubble again based on the vunerability of text ads … but the internet has much more going for it than just search engine advertising. The text ad bubble may deflate, but internet business will not.

Sorry about the lack of posting … I’ve been at PubCon all week … a search engine conference hosted by WebmasterWorld.

This was the 10th PubCon event and Brett Tabke (WMW CEO) told me “that there will be many more of these in the future”. I take it that means more PubCon’s in more cities … like SES? They already have PubCon’s scheduled for Australia in February and Boston in the Spring.

The event had representives from all of the major search engines and many other experts on niches such as RSS, podcasting, SEM and more. We had our WebProNews editor Mike McDonald there to cover the event and report back to our staff writers in Lexington, KY who wrote numerous articles (14 in this Google News search). I hope we covered it better than anywhere else. We may add another reporter or two at their next event.

Problably the most notable news out of the event was delivered by Matt Cutts of Google who spoke of the new “webmaster console” within their SiteMaps system. This enables webmasters to literally see up to 40 different error messages from the Google spider. It will help you do “self-service SEO”. Google is in effect telling you in plain language what you are doing wrong with your site design — and thus limiting what gets indexed by the Google spider. This will make it much easier for entrepreneurs and non tech types to improve crawling and therefore site ranking and inclusion within Google.

Yesterday afternoon was the traditional PubCon fest … this one held at the Fine Nine Irishmen pub in the New York, New York casino. An interesting 2 story Pub with several bars and outdoor patios. There was lots of beer and grub for all …

At the Pub I was interviewed by Jeremy Zawodny of Yahoo on a WebmasterRadio.FM show covering the conference. WebmasterRadio covered the conference via interviews and discussion all week. Many of you know Jeremy as a blogger whose blog posts sometimes become WebProNews articles. He spoke at two sessions and was very informative on blogging and RSS strategies. Jeremy must know something about blog marketing … he has a pagerank of 8 on Google!

Sorry about the lack of posting … I’ve been at PubCon all week … a search engine conference hosted by WebmasterWorld.

This was the 10th PubCon event and Brett Tabke (WMW CEO) told me “that there will be many more of these in the future”. I take it that means more PubCon’s in more cities … like SES? They already have PubCon’s scheduled for Australia in February and Boston in the Spring.

The event had representives from all of the major search engines and many other experts on niches such as RSS, podcasting, SEM and more. We had our WebProNews editor Mike McDonald there to cover the event and report back to our staff writers in Lexington, KY who wrote numerous articles (14 in this Google News search). I hope we covered it better than anywhere else. We may add another reporter or two at their next event.

Problably the most notable news out of the event was delivered by Matt Cutts of Google who spoke of the new “webmaster console” within their SiteMaps system. This enables webmasters to literally see up to 40 different error messages from the Google spider. It will help you do “self-service SEO”. Google is in effect telling you in plain language what you are doing wrong with your site design — and thus limiting what gets indexed by the Google spider. This will make it much easier for entrepreneurs and non tech types to improve crawling and therefore site ranking and inclusion within Google.

Yesterday afternoon was the traditional PubCon fest … this one held at the Fine Nine Irishmen pub in the New York, New York casino. An interesting 2 story Pub with several bars and outdoor patios. There was lots of beer and grub for all …

At the Pub I was interviewed by Jeremy Zawodny of Yahoo on a WebmasterRadio.FM show covering the conference. WebmasterRadio covered the conference via interviews and discussion all week. Many of you know Jeremy as a blogger whose blog posts sometimes become WebProNews articles. He spoke at two sessions and was very informative on blogging and RSS strategies. Jeremy must know something about blog marketing … he has a pagerank of 8 on Google!

Sorry about the lack of posting … I’ve been at PubCon all week … a search engine conference hosted by WebmasterWorld.

This was the 10th PubCon event and Brett Tabke (WMW CEO) told me “that there will be many more of these in the future”. I take it that means more PubCon’s in more cities … like SES? They already have PubCon’s scheduled for Australia in February and Boston in the Spring.

The event had representives from all of the major search engines and many other experts on niches such as RSS, podcasting, SEM and more. We had our WebProNews editor Mike McDonald there to cover the event and report back to our staff writers in Lexington, KY who wrote numerous articles (14 in this Google News search). I hope we covered it better than anywhere else. We may add another reporter or two at their next event.

Problably the most notable news out of the event was delivered by Matt Cutts of Google who spoke of the new “webmaster console” within their SiteMaps system. This enables webmasters to literally see up to 40 different error messages from the Google spider. It will help you do “self-service SEO”. Google is in effect telling you in plain language what you are doing wrong with your site design — and thus limiting what gets indexed by the Google spider. This will make it much easier for entrepreneurs and non tech types to improve crawling and therefore site ranking and inclusion within Google.

Yesterday afternoon was the traditional PubCon fest … this one held at the Fine Nine Irishmen pub in the New York, New York casino. An interesting 2 story Pub with several bars and outdoor patios. There was lots of beer and grub for all …

At the Pub I was interviewed by Jeremy Zawodny of Yahoo on a WebmasterRadio.FM show covering the conference. WebmasterRadio covered the conference via interviews and discussion all week. Many of you know Jeremy as a blogger whose blog posts sometimes become WebProNews articles. He spoke at two sessions and was very informative on blogging and RSS strategies. Jeremy must know something about blog marketing … he has a pagerank of 8 on Google!