Tommy Boy (DVD) Review – by: Britt Gillette

Chris Farley and David Spade team up in Tommy Boy, a 1995 comedy about an incompetent, intellectually-challenged auto-parts heir who is forced to save the family business following his father’s untimely death. Utterly hilarious from beginning to end, it’s one of the best comedies of the 1990s and continues the long tradition of cult classic comedies that helped cement the careers of former Saturday Night Live cast members. The onscreen banter between Farley and Spade is unrivaled, making Farley’s premature death all the more of a loss. Throughout Tommy Boy, Farley’s unique brand of Belushi-like humor and good-natured demeanor make this comedic gem blossom into a masterpiece.

Tommy Boy follows the life of recent college graduate Tommy Callahan (Chris Farley). Picked up from the airport by Callahan Auto employee Richard Hayden (David Spade), Tommy’s father “Big Tom” (Brian Dennehy) announces a surprise engagement to his new girlfriend Beverly (Bo Derek). Beverly has a son of her own, Paul (Rob Lowe), who travels into town for his mother’s wedding. Ecstatic to finally have a brother, Tommy takes Paul out on a personal tour of his hometown of Sandusky, Ohio – where the idea of a wild night of fun consists of cow-tipping. Paul is anything but amused.

On the day of the wedding, however, Big Tom suffers a heart attack, and without the big guy running the show, Callahan’s clients grow weary about doing business with the over-extended Callahan Auto Parts. With the Callahan bankers reneging on their promises to loan the company much needed capital, the board of directors considers selling out to Ray Zalinsky (Dan Aykroyd), a rival auto parts salesman who “sells auto parts to the common man, because that’s who he is and that’s who he cares about!” But selling shares means closing the current Sandusky manufacturing plants and putting hundreds of employees out of work.

Intent on averting that outcome, Richard and Tommy decide to hit the road and sell Callahan auto parts face-to-face. However, when Tommy bungles a number of meetings and Richard comes across as arrogant, the two lose more orders than they gain. Meanwhile, Tommy’s love interest, ex-high school classmate and Callahan employee Michelle Brock (Julie Warner), uncovers a surprising truth about Beverly and her supposed son Paul. With the future of Callahan Auto and the town Sandusky hanging in the balance, it’s up to Tommy, Richard, and Michelle to put a stop to Beverly and Paul before they sell a majority of Callahan shares to the cold and calculating Ray Zalinsky.

Directed by Peter Segal, producer of such hits as Anger Management (2003) and 50 First Dates (2004), Tommy Boy is one laugh after another. If you haven’t seen it, you really don’t know what you’re missing. Chris Farley and David Spade create the perfect comedy duo. Written by veteran TV writers Bonnie and Terry Turner, screenwriters for the 1992 phenomenon Wayne’s World, Tommy Boy is one of those rare comedies that’s well-written and hilarious without being overly outlandish. Highly recommended.

About The Author Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a movie and TV review site. Source: http://thedvdreport.blogspot.com/2006/02/tommy-boy-dvd.html

King + Queen = Royal Success – by: Shawn Campbell

Ever wonder how or why your competitor gets better search engine rankings than you do? Does he know something you don’t? Well, maybe he actually does…And that’s where I come in. I’m here to unveil the secret tricks of the trade that may be giving your competitor that much-needed edge in search engine rankings and to show you how you can reclaim your position without skipping a beat. Quite simply, I am going to give you the key to unlocking the secret chest of information that your competition is using to get better rankings.

It is not that difficult. There are two main criteria to getting good rankings:

1. Content (which is king)
2. Linking (which is queen)

Content is King

Content is easily viewable and just as easy to measure. It basically includes what you see on the site: the text. If your competition has more text than you, consider increasing yours; if he has more keywords, consider increasing yours; if he has bigger headers, consider increasing yours. By all means, I am not saying to make a carbon copy of his site, but do look at the “on the site” factors that you are lacking and evaluate whether to increase them on your site. A note of caution – make sure that any changes you make actually improves the site and increases its value for your customers. In other words, don’t sacrifice quality for quantity unless you believe that the added text actually serves to better the overall look, feel and quality of your site.

Some ideas to increase quality/quantity of content:

• Write a monthly article about your topic
• Write a page about your keyphrase/product/service
• If your headers don’t have your keyphrase in them, then be sure to add it
• Make sure the titles on all your pages relate to the content of the page
• Write, write, write (and then write some more!).

Linking is Queen

Linking requires more research. Look up your competitions site on Google by typing in: link: http://www.competitorsdomain.com/ into the search box (replace competitorsdomain with the URL of your competitor). Now the search results you will be looking at is a list of all the sites that are linking to your competitor. Go through that list, and for each site, figure out how he got that link. Some links might be paid for, some might be link exchanges, some might be directories like dmoz.org or Yahoo, and others might be references or testimonials. Make a spreadsheet with each site linking to your competition, and jot down how he got the link. Then, for each site that is appropriate, get it to link to you. Remember to stay away from link farms and low quality links. Link farms are sites that have nothing but links. Low quality links are sites with little to no content. These sites will often try to exchange links with you: Don’t do it! Only link to a site if it will enhance the user experience of your clients.

For more about linking, see my article entitled Linking is Queen
(http://www.redcarpetweb.com/promotion/0409.html#feature)

Royal Success

Getting links takes time and patience, and writing is not usually done overnight. To top it off, once these projects are done, you then have to wait for the search engines to discover and re-evaluate your site. Both the link campaign and the writing projects should be something done on a regular basis, not as a one-shot injection. Try to create new pages every month, and to get some links every month. That way your site will make the gradual climb to the top. And who doesn’t want that?

Shawn Campbell

About The Author Shawn Campbell is an enthusiastic player in the ecommerce marketplace, and co-founded Red Carpet Web Promotion, Inc. (http://www.redcarpetweb.com/). He has been researching and developing marketing strategies to achieve more prominent listings in search engine results since 1998. Shawn is one of the earliest pioneers in the search engine optimization field. Contact: shawn@redcarpetweb.com.

Indoor Grills Featured in Steven Raichlen’s Newest Book – by: Laura Ciocan

With a great number of city people living in condos, with no possibility to grill outside, Raichlen’s latest book, “Indoor! Grilling” covers a topic of large interest, especially that grilling is a tradition in America, some sort of a national custom. So, this theme surely relieves a lot of frustration for the part of audience that had been previously left out!

Steven Raichlen is a cooking teacher, lecturer, author, journalist and TV host. He founded the Carribean cooking school Cooking in Paradise. Raichlen’s TV show, Barbecue University debuted in 2003 on public television. The same year he was named the “cooking teacher of the year” by Bon Appetit magazine.

Participating in a “barbecue battle” on Japanese television and defeating Iron Chef Roksbura Michiba attracted him nicknames such as the “Michael Jordan of Barbecue”, as Howard Stern called him or, like Oprah put it, the “Gladiator of Grilling”.

Raichlen published over 25 books of which best-sellers such as Barbecue Bible Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades, Beer Can Chicken, Healthy Latin Cooking, Miami Spice, Big Flavor Cookbook and the famous first and foremost book on grilling, The Barbecue Bible, that appeared in 1998. It was the first guide on grilling, a study of barbecuing around the world and a course on live fire cooking techniques. His writing won 3 IACP awards and 4 James Beard Awards and was translated into ten different languages.

To write “Indoor! Grilling” Raichlen intensively studied these appliances and the technique to cook using them. Although the public of this category is familiarized with the many types of indoor grills, Raichlen treated them in a detailed manner, starting from the very beginning, from contact grill, grill pan, built-in grill to freestanding grill and fireplace grill. And to do this, he largely improved his knowledge about how indoor grills actually work. He tested the 270 recipes in the book on each type of grill.

What really takes grilling steps further is what the experimenting Raichlen does with sandwiches, vegetables and desserts in the recipes section.

About The Author Laura Ciocan writes for http://www.natural-gas-grills.info where you can find articles, buying tips and reviews of popular gas grills. Please feel free to use this article in your Newsletter or on your website. If you use this article, please include the resource box and send a brief message to let me know where it appeared; mailto:lauracio@gmail.com

Dare to Achieve and Discover a Daring New You – by: Michaela Scherr

Forget Christmas, the New Year is fast approaching and with it comes another 12 months of doing what you’ve always done. Now I’m not sure about you but I know that next year will be different for me.

For a start, I’m not going to undertake a million and one things with deadlines impossible to keep (though I suspect my interest in new projects will get the better of me). Many amazing and interesting things in this world grab my attention, making it easy for me to get sidetracked.

My intention for the New Year is to transcend all previous successes and achieve things previously not considered. I’m curious to know where it will lead me (there’s that sidetracking issue again). It’s a scary thought but exciting all at once.

Yes, next year sure will be different and amazing.

If you’ve come through a year filled with boredom, sameness, heartache, yearning, and wish life to be different then consider whether it’s now time for you to give yourself a stern talking to about creating change for your highest good.

Some questions you could ask are:

Are you willing to repeat this year, next year?

Has the past year provided you with contentment, happiness, success and new friendships?

If yes to the last statement, congratulations! Some years are like that, absolutely fabulous years where you wouldn’t change for the world for anything – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

If the statement is not true, ask:

How are you going to change things?

Do you have strategies in place that will ensure you become successful in your endeavors?

Are you thinking this is another ho hum time of the year when arbitrary New Year’s resolutions are made?

Maybe all you want is to go with the flow, and that’s okay if deep down that’s what you truly want.

What if you motivated challenged or dared you, not by others, by you only?

There have been many times when I’ve dared myself to do things I wouldn’t normally do and have never looked back. That’s when I become comfortable with the uncomfortable, for a short while anyway.

Anyone can dare themselves to achieve greatness and it might just be what’s needed to kick start the New Year. You never know where it can lead you.

I’ve listed 7 Dares to choose from should you motivate and dare yourself into initiating an action designed to change your next 12 months in the most amazing way. They are:

1. Dare to be different.

2. Dare to discover who you really are.

3. Dare to let go of the past.

4. Dare to step out of your comfort zone.

5. Dare to ask more questions on how YOU do business.

6. For those on the dating scene – date only those that respect all parts of who you are and accept nothing less.

7. Dare to achieve more.

It’s possible one or more points above will resonate with you, in which case write down your preferred challenge in a journal or diary and keep note of how your dare is going. Include who, what, where and when you needed a little external guidance. This will enable you to reflect on your journey as you prepare for the New Year next year.

The road toward contentment, happiness, and success is often challenging, which makes it all the more scary yet exciting – you’ll really know you’re alive then! The upshot is that you achieve what you set out to do, and you can tell the world you did it your way!

About The Author Michaela Scherr Copyright requirements are that it remains with Michaela Scherr and for the link to be clickable or ‘live’ at http://www.michaelascherr.com Michaela is a Transformational Coach, certified practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), writer and intuitive who is totally committed to helping others create positive and action oriented changes to their lives. Michaela is the author of several e-books and publisher of a monthly newsletter called From My Desk. You can find out what her website offers at http://www.michaelascherr.com. enquiries@michaelascherr.com

Real Genius (DVD) Review – by: Britt Gillette

The breakout film for Val Kilmer’s career, Real Genius is one of the first films to portray the “nerd” as someone cool rather than as the taped-glasses, plaid pants cliché that dominated most of the 1980s. Evolving over time into a cult classic, this can be classified as more of a generational film. Most of the people I know who grew up in the 1980s have seen it. As such, it meets the criteria to be defined as a must see movie.

When fourteen-year-old Mitch Taylor (Gabriel Jarret) receives entrance into a highly prestigious college program at Pacific Tech, he’s put to work by his mentor Professor Jerry Hathaway (William Atherton) on a highly experimental and difficult project – the development of a specific type of laser. But Mitch’s studies are hindered by his more laid back roommate, Chris Knight (Val Kilmer), who would rather use his genius brain to have fun rather than be used by people. Explaining that he used to be just like Mitch, he one day learned that you can’t through all of life with your nose in a book.

Garnering great influence with Mitch, Chris and the rest of the students engage in some crafty shenanigans (such as turning the dorm room floor to ice – ice that turns from solid to liquid). But Chris and Mitch are foiled by the Prof. Hathaway kiss-up, loser Kent Torokvei (Robert Prescott) who is always shadowing their activities and telling Hathaway. When Mitch meets up with Jordan (Michelle Meyrink) at an auditorium where the orchestra pit has been turned into a pool, the two develop a romance. But the party is crashed by Hathaway who threatens to send Mitch home.

With the military applying pressure on Hathaway to complete the laser project, he threatens to fail Chris. With Chris and Mitch working around the clock, the project makes great progress. But the team has to enlist the help of Lazlo Hollyfeld (Jon Gries), an eccentric former student who lives in their closet, before they make the breakthrough discovery that gives them an operational laser.

Celebrating out on the town, the team ponders the implications of the laser they have created. Realizing that it will be used for assassinations, they run back to lab only to find the laser missing. When they unleash a plan to get revenge on Prof. Hathaway, Kent and the professor’s house become part of a great popcorn experiment.

Rife with a number of hilarious scenes, one of the more hilarious is when Mitch, Chris, Jordan, and their friend Ick gas Kent and insert a microphone in his mouth. They then speak to Kent, pretending to be God. The entire movie is worth that scene alone, but there are countless others in this popular teen classic. If you like clever comedy, Real Genius is one film that can’t miss.

About The Author Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a movie and TV review site. Source: http://thedvdreport.blogspot.com/2006/02/real-genius-dvd.html

Using Free Publicity to Build Your Web Site Links and Traffic – by: Matt Hockin

So, you have a great product or service, yet your web site is not getting the high rankings and traffic you desire from the top search engines like Google and MSN Search.

You’re not alone. This scenario is playing out all across the web, yet there is a simple solution to the problem. Publicity. Publicity is the art of gaining exposure for your web site, product, or service with press releases, articles, and other promotional methods.

A consistent publicity campaign can get you links from some of the best web sites on the Net. These links provide your web site with “Link Popularity” and the Google PageRank numbers you need for high search engine ranking and traffic. Plus, the links themselves can bring you a significant about of targeted traffic.

The Top 5 Tips for Getting Publicity (and Links)

Here are a few of my tips for getting publicity and links on the web sites, AND getting news stories and articles in the newspapers, magazines and Internet radio show sites.

TIP #1: Be Consistent – Stick With It For The Long-Haul

For maximum results, use public relations as a long-term awareness and link-building campaign. This will allow your messages to be delivered to the appropriate audience and generate visibility, traffic and sales for you.

The biggest mistake I see businesses making with publicity, is they’re not consistent at all, only sticking with it for 1, 2, or 3 months. It pays to be consistent is because sometimes you’ll send out a press release and get no response back, no publicity, nothing… In fact, this is when most people quit, when they should realize that publicity is a “numbers game” that generates exposure over the long-run if they would just stick with it.

Plus, if you know where to submit your articles and send your press releases, each one that you write can generate 3-20 or more new publicity hits and new links to your web site! So, send something to the media at least every month, if not every week or two. Stay on track by scheduling your articles and news releases on your marketing calendar.

TIP #2: Offer Great News Ideas and Quality Articles

To maximize your results, don’t send corporate “flack” to the media. “Flack” is blatant advertising disguised as a press release. Instead of wasting the media’s time, be their ally by sending them real news and quality articles that help their audience.

Don’t think you have enough time or ideas for writing articles and press releases? You probably already have the content for 12 press releases or articles without having to write a bunch of new content.

Where is this “hidden” content that’s already written? It’s the content on your web site, and in your white papers, and other marketing materials. Simply “repurpose” and edit this content into announcements, articles, press releases, tip sheets, and other publicity materials.

TIP #3: Expand Your Publicity Campaign By Building A Media List

In the publicity game, your greatest assets are your contacts. Since you know your ideal customer, you can target the web sites, media, and publications that your customers use to get their news and information. Your media list should consist of the following types of media…

• Industry-specific web sites, and e-newsletters
• Internet blogs, discussion forums and discussion lists
• Article syndicators
• Trade publications
• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Radio & TV shows

TIP #4: Distribute Via E-Mail

A 2003 study by the Meta Group revealed that approximately 80% of business people say their e-mail is more valuable than the phone. This applies to media professionals as well, so send your press releases and articles via e-mail. E-mail is f*ree and easy to use, but adhere to these quidelines for e-mail press releases…

• Introduce yourself via e-mail to the media professionals on your list and start building a relationship.
• Use a compelling subject line that is personalized by including their first name.
• Never ever send attachments
• Be sure to format your e-mails in ASCII text file with hard returns at 65 characters. (Use Microsoft NotePad)
• Following up via the telephone will greatly increase your results, but never ask “did you receive my press release?” (The media hate this question since they get hundreds of press releases a day!)

TIP #5: Post Your Articles On Your Web Site And E-Mail Newsletter

Content is King on the Internet, and the search engines love web sites with great niched content. Your articles and news releases are a perfect source of keyword rich text that’s tasty “spider food” for the search engine crawlers. So, post your articles and press releases on your web site to increase your search engine traffic.

But don’t stop there. Send them to your e-mail newsletter subscriber list, you never know who might be on your list who will love your article and link to it!

CONCLUSION:

As the great P.T. Barnum once said… “Without publicity a terrible thing happens… nothing!” Publicity is a great way to build your web site links, visibility, traffic and sales. Use these tips to maximize your publicity campaign’s success.

Promote! Promote! Promote!

About The Author Article by Matt Hockin, of Interactive Marketing, Inc. Interactive Marketing, Inc. assists business owners with increasing their growth and profits with cost-effective, high-ROI sales and marketing strategies. http://www.interactivemarketinginc.com/

George Foreman Grill Producer vs. George Foreman Foods Inc. – by: Laura Ciocan

Salton, Inc., the producer of George Foreman Grill filed a complaint against George Foreman Foods Inc. regarding the use of the domain name . The complaint was denied.

Beyond the fame gained as a heavyweight boxer, becoming world champion in 1973 and 1994, George Foreman has become a renown brand for quite a wide range of quality products. In fact, the name has become so famous as a product brand that many of the younger generation have come to know the famous character through the products sold under this brand. Foreman himself admits that he gained more fame and wealth as a product endorser than he thought possible.

The brand sells from electrical products, to clothes, cleaning products, low-fat, grill-compatible products. However, the most notable of this series is the George Foreman Grill produced by US marketers Salton Inc. The company owns trademarks and trademark registrations for the mark GEORGE FOREMAN in the United States and elsewhere for products used for preparing, cooking, serving foods and beverages since 1995.

In 2002, George Foreman concluded an agreement with an entrepreneur to launch a line of meat products and other foods. The company became George Foreman Foods Inc. and was going to cause a whole series of problems. At present, Foreman is fighting to unwind the contract on the grounds that the company introduced products he didn’t approve, such as coffee and old frozen meat products, thus putting Foreman’s image at a risk of being spread too thin.

On the other hand, Salton Inc., filed a complaint against George Foreman Foods Inc. with the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) Arbitration and Mediation Center on September 24, 2004, on the grounds that the food’s company use of the web domain www.georgeforeman.com breached Salton’s registered trade marks in the name.

While looking at the matter from a holistic point of view, the complaint seems rather well-founded, the company’s use of the domain creating the possibility of “confusion as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of its web site”, as Salton alleged.

However, WIPO, although admitting that the domain name is identical to the mark in which Salton has rights, agreed that George Foreman Foods did have rights in the disputed domain name. The complaint was denied.

About The Author Laura Ciocan writes for http://www.natural-gas-grills.info where you can find articles, buying tips and reviews of popular gas grills. Please feel free to use this article in your Newsletter or on your website. If you use this article, please include the resource box and send a brief message to let me know where it appeared; mailto:lauracio@gmail.com

Guide To Choosing Gold and Platinum Wedding Rings – by: Amy Lee Johnson

Nothing says forever like gold and platinum wedding rings. These precious metals mark the permanence of a lifelong commitment, and will endure beyond decades of married life.

Whereas gold is a traditional setting, platinum has taken off as the newest trend in wedding jewelry. The decision to go for the gold or opt for platinum is based on the personal style of the bride and groom. However, certain factors may contribute to the couple’s wedding ring selection.

Style

What does your wedding ring say about you? Platinum is geared toward a more modern look, whereas gold is traditionally beautiful. When evaluating your style, consider the future as well as the present, as you will quite possibly be wearing this ring for years to come.

Matching Existing Jewelry

Look at your (and your fiancée’s) jewelry collection – do you see gold, silver or a combination of both? If a bride typically wears only silver jewelry, she may wish for a platinum ring to accent her existing pieces; conversely, a gold jewelry fan would likely pick a gold ring. Grooms may wish to match their ring to their favorite watch or ID bracelet. If a couple has different tastes, they may choose a wedding ring that incorporates multiple colors.

Quality

While gold will stand the test of time, platinum is a stronger and more durable metal. Couples that decide on gold should select 14-18k wedding rings. For gold, high karats mean intense color but less durability.

Allergic Reactions to Metals

If the bride or groom reacts to the metals found in certain types of jewelry, a platinum wedding ring is the way to go. Over 90 percent pure, platinum is hypoallergenic to most people.

Price

If shopping by price, gold offers the best value for your money. While platinum is more durable than gold, it is also more expensive. If a couple longs for a light-colored metal but cannot afford platinum, they may consider opting for a white gold wedding ring as an affordable alternative.

Whatever your decision, gold and platinum wedding rings are a wonderful way to express your love and commitment to each other.

About The Author Amy Lee Johnson regularly contributes to http://www.wedding-vows-4u.com a site dedicated to helping you with information about everything wedding related. We feature article directories on many topics such as http://www.wedding-vows-4u.com/category/wedding-vows/ and http://www.wedding-vows-4u.com/category/wedding-gowns/ to help you get the information you need – check them out! amylee@wedding-vows-4u.com

There’s Something About Mary (DVD) Review – by: Britt Gillette

No doubt the funniest comedy of 1998, and one of the best comedies of the decade, There’s Something About Mary launched the careers of stars Ben Stiller and Cameron Diaz into the stratosphere. Directed by Farrelly brothers Bobby and Peter, producers of such films as Dumb & Dumber (1994), Kingpin (1996), and Fever Pitch (2005), There’s Something About Mary ranks as one of their best films. Veteran screenwriters Ed Decter and John J. Strauss manage to combine onscreen romance with brilliant humor, making this film a definite must-see comedy on any cinema lover’s list.

There’s Something About Mary follows the life of 30-year-old writer Ted Stroehmann (Ben Stiller). While in therapy, Ted realizes he can’t go on with life until he finds out what happened to his old high school flame Mary Jensen (Cameron Diaz). Taking to the advice of his friend Dom Woganowski (Chris Elliott), Ted hires a private investigator to track her down. But the investigator, a shady guy named Pat Healy (Matt Dillon), lies to Ted and tells him Mary is a fat pig in wheelchair with several illegitimate children. Meanwhile, he packs his own bags to move down to Miami, where she really lives, so he can get close to the real Mary Jensen who is a sexy, intelligent, sports-loving doctor. But when Ted decides he still wants to see Mary, even though she may not be everything he remembers, the plot takes a sudden twist.

Ted soon discovers the truth about Pat Healy, and the truth about numerous admirers who all want to be with Mary. In fact, one such admirer has been stalking Mary for over a decade. Reunited with Mary and her disabled brother Warren (W. Earl Brown), the couple picks up where they left off. But the jealous Pat Healy and his fellow stalkers aren’t going to give up easily, and when Mary’s ex-fiance the Packman resurfaces, it looks like it might be the end for Mary and Ted.

This film is rich with some of the funniest scenes you’ll ever see in a movie. In one such scene, Ted picks up a hitchhiker on his way to Miami, and the hitchhiker turns out to be a serial killer. At first, the police think Ted is the killer, and the result is a hilarious exchange of dialogue that will have you rolling on the floor in laughter.

But when Mary starts seeing more of Ted and less of Healy, Healy teams up with Mary’s supposed architect friend, Tucker (Lee Evans), who’s really a pizza delivery boy who fell in love with Mary while delivering a pie one night. The two concoct a series of ploys to sabotage both Ted and each other in the quest to win over Mary. Matt Dillon turns in a brilliant performance as the loathsome private investigator, and his initial approach of Mary and pathetic attempts at sensitive dialogue by themselves make this movie a winner.

Overall, There’s Something About Mary is a witty and downright hilarious comedy that will leave you in a perpetual state of laughter. Ben Stiller is at his best in this one. If you loved Zoolander or Meet The Parents, you’ll fall in love with There’s Something About Mary.

About The Author Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a movie and TV review site. Source: http://thedvdreport.blogspot.com/2006/02/theres-something-about-mary-dvd.html

5 Reasons Why Link Swapping Is Killing Your Websiteby: Michael Cheney

I created my first website in 1995 – it was so long ago I built it out of rock and wood, not HTML.

Shortly after it went live I realised that nobody apart from me could see it and it started to dawn on me what this ‘Internet thing’ is all about. It is not about having a stand-alone website plonked somewhere that nobody will ever see – it is about being part of an INTERconnected NETwork of other websites. INTER-NET. The penny dropped – I needed to start getting connected to other websites.

Much has changed since then (my hair got longer, shorter and has since started to recede further up my head for one thing) but it seems the desire and pressure you face as a website owner to exchange links shows no signs of fading. But link swapping is killing your website! Here’s 5 Reasons why…

Reason No. 1 – It’s Addictive!

It’s true. You might not be that far down the link-swapping path yet but I promise you it will happen sooner or later. One day you’ll find yourself laughing like a maniac as you run a report to see how many in-bound links you have and start rubbing your hands gleefully as you reach that magic milestone you set yourself six months ago. You’ll start mainlining reciprocal links:

“Just one more link. Please – all I need is one more link!”

Take a deep breath, step back from the precipice and think for a moment. Why do you want all these links pointing to your website? No, honestly – why do you REALLY want all these links pointing to your website? To improve link popularity? You’re falling into the trap. Do you want it to boost that little green bar that Google assigns to your page? (see toolbar.google.com) Wise up!

Reason No. 2 – It Is Eating Away At Your Time Like A Hungry Hippo!

Just take a look at the last time you went out looking for a link and got it. How long did it take you? Not long? Well, let me put this another way – how long did it take you to find the right type of websites, look through those and find ones that even have a links page, find the contact information for the websites you wanted to contact, create the email, send the email, respond to the email, place their link on your website, check that they reciprocated with you, email back and forth a few times more and so on…?

If you add up all the minutes that each of these elements takes you could be looking at half an hour per reciprocal link established – maybe even longer!

And don’t think you’re cutting corners if you’re using software. It might be quicker to find possible linking partners using software but it’s a false economy as, to my knowledge, people are still cleverer than machines.

What I mean by this is I can tell if you email me using software rather than using your own fingers. If you go looking for reciprocal links using software you are FAR less likely to get a response so the whole process will probably take you as long in terms of time spent per link established.

Reason No. 3 – You Are Spending More Time On Other People’s Websites Than Your Own

If you spend a lot of your time researching and creating reciprocal links you’d better make sure that your website is perfect. Remember – all that time you’re spending developing reciprocal links could be spent adding new content to your website, sending out an up to date newsletter to your mailing list or even sitting down and writing out goals for your website.

If you spend all the time on improving your website, adding great content, providing excellent service, keeping it up to date, testing different headlines and homepage layouts INSTEAD of spending the time building links guess what? You will magically find that more people link to you anyway!

In fact – your website will become such a great resource because of all the time you’re dedicating to it that people will go OUT OF THEIR WAY to link to you! How ironic is that?!

You go hunting for links and your site suffers and therefore hardly anybody links to you. You spend time on making your website THE BEST IT CAN BE and everyone starts linking to you as, shock horror, you have a brilliant website that is worth referring to..

Reason No. 4 – You Don’t Have A Multi-Million Dollar Budget To Beat The Boffins

Those white-cloaked geeks over at Google towers and the like have millions of dollars at their disposal to create the latest technology that can sniff out the merest whiff of dodginess when it comes to link swapping.

If they think something is suspect you might get penalised. First you started to see sites that used the same phrase for their inbound links get penalised. Then it was sites that engaged with link farms. Who knows what’s next?

Ultimately you can bet your bottom dollar that the search engines will change their tack with reciprocal links and their importance – some of them are already starting to look at the words that appear before and after each link to make sure it is on a relevant page and not just created as part of a reciprocal linking deal.

It’s a risky game we’re all playing and my money’s on the guys with the white coats and millions of dollars..

Reason No. 5 – You Are The Weakest Link, Goodbye!

When push comes to shove this whole ‘game’ of website marketing is about balance.

Imagine you are a tightrope walker. Fifty metres beneath you is a huge vat of boiling hot lava. To help you across the rope from the podium of “website launch” to the podium of “website success” you get a balancing rod.

Spending too much time and effort on reciprocal link building is like having a large sack on one end of the rod. This sack has an elephant in it. The elephant is wearing boots. Made from concrete. Get the picture?

 

---

P.S. Are you happy with what your website is earning? What if I told you I knew someone who makes $19,156 a month just from AdSense? You need to see this:
http://www.adsense-videos.info

---

 

About The Author Michael Cheney Author of The Website Marketing BibleTM http://www.websitemarketingbible.com – Download your free Sampler of The Website Marketing BibleTM now and get free bonuses worth £159 ($288)