I get a lot of emails these days.  One recurring area of interest is the subject of APIs.

I first introduced the concept in my blog article around autoscaling with APIs, where I listed the big names out there.  Then, after rummaging around online, I wrote about Freebase and DBpedia; and, both my live SEO case study and 300K in a Box solution speak to the power of Indeed’s API.

But, do you want more APIs? […]

I am very excited to announce the release of 300K Page Job Search In-a-Box.  This is a turnkey solution based off the Case of 300,000 and Counting.

Just like WordPress, all you need to do is download, upload, and configure.   The difference is… with WordPress, out of the box, you have maybe ~10 pages and will need to continuously add content yourself.  With my solution, out of the box, you will have 300,000 pages and it will autoscale with fresh content itself.   In other words, you have an autoscaling, autopilot megasite.  Big difference!

To my blog readers, here’s a link with a 25% discount.  This coupon will also expire after a set number of uses.

25% Discount for 300K Page Job Search In-a-Box

Questions?  Just ask.

dave

Here are the step by step instructions for setting up your 300K Page Job Search In-a-Box site.  We’ll have your megasite up and running in no time! […]

So, I’ve written article about Wikipedia, because it’s a great source of information.  I’ve written about about APIs, because it’s way to autoscale.

What if you could combine those 2 concepts–or, even better, for your database-savvy folks, query data using SQL?  After some mindful web surfing, I across quite a powerful source of data.  It’s called Freebase (formerly known as Metaweb).  Check out this video first.

[…]

Pick You Niche has just been reviewed by the blog Social Improve!

As many of you may know, Pick Your Niche is a guide about selecting, creating, and, most importantly, capitalizing on niche business directories.  Pick Your Niche is, in fact, my first guide and has gone through 3 editions since its initial release earlier this year.

Not only are online niche directories are great examples of autoscale, autopilot, value-add sites, but they are one of the most profitable types of sites you can create today!  In my most recent niche business directory, with minimal work, I have taken it to $1000+/month by the 3rd month.   One happy customer gave an update only 2 weeks after getting the guide and reported “Since having read this report, and having implement a few things that even I had been over-looking, I have actually increased my monthly intake by over $1100.”

Anyway, enough of me selling my own product.  For an unbiased review from reputable third party, check out the Pick Your Niche book review on Social Improve.

dave

Last week, I took the results from the first 21 days of my live SEO case study, analyzed it, and compiled everything (data + analysis) into a book, 21K in 21 Days.  This is another free guide, which you can download here.

Here is some of what you will find in the book:

• Day-by-day update log — so you can see indexing growth rates and plateaus

• Detailed analytics — screenshots taken from Google Analytics

• Key insights

• Site architecture/design

• SEO strategy

I think many people may find the “Key insights” section the most interesting part of the book, because I highlight insights that counter conventional “wisdom” about Internet Marketing.  So, I’ve reproduced most of that section below here (for those too lazy to download the book). […]

Wikipedia is such a great source of information.  Though originally controversial as a source of legitimate information, it has becoming increasingly accepted as a reliable source.  In fact, in my day job of business consulting for companies (including Fortune 50 organizations), Wikipedia is one of the first places I check when conducting research.

However, if you have a website, and would like to automate the process of pulling data from Wikipedia, it’s not a simple task.  You will need a very sophisticated scraper.  Wouldn’t it be convenient if you could just query Wikipedia like a database?

Well, it seems like you actually can… with the help of DBpedia. […]

Black hat SEO is a topic that has been getting a lot of media attention, as of late.  The term black hat SEO refers to manipulating Search Engine results using “unethical” means. Here’s more info on the top from Wikipedia.

A couple days ago, this article was published: Sequoia Fails to Spot Milanoo’s Black Hat Tactics Before Investing.  It details how a fashion start-up, Milanoo, backed by the most well known Venture Capital firm, Sequoia, engaged black hat tactics to rank itself for 4 keywords:  “cheap dresses” (rank 2), “evening gown” (rank 1), “cheap wedding dresses” (rank 1), and “summer dresses” (rank 2).    In terms of Google AdWords spend, these 4 terms and spots are worth $200K/month.

It’s quite an interesting read and makes you question how you can successfully compete with someone engaging in black hat.  (In case you’re wondering, I consider the SEO Matrix methodology white hat.)

So, are only the more daring, budding start-up sites engaging in black hat techniques?  Certainly not!  The New York Times published a great article just two months prior on the wide use of black hat by well known Fortune 500 companies. […]

The SEO Matrix is a SEO strategy that I created and have been tweaking over the past 6 months or so.  I’ve found it very powerful, since it touches upon all 6 levers to successful SEO strategy.

In fact, in my recent case study, Case of the 300K Site, the only SEO work I did is create 4 SEO Matrices.  In this article, I will explain how the SEO Matrix is constructed and why it’s so effective.

Creating a SEO strategy is essentially designing a backlink infrastructure pointing to your site.  In designing this infrastructure, there are 2 key buckets of questions to address:

• What are your backlinks? Do you want social bookmarks?  Forum links?  Blog posts?  Article marketing?  Similarly, what’s the proper mix?

• How do your backlinks interconnect? Which web properties link to your site?  Which link to each other?  How many tiers do you have?

The SEO Matrix is a 4 tiered design, with links (I call these vertices) spanning 8 different types of site categories and that randomly interconnect.  Here is a diagram to help you visualize the SEO Matrix.

[…]

Sometimes, all we need is a little inspiration to get things going.  One of the most motivating speeches I’ve come across is by one of the most successful and well known entrepreneurs, Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs, as  their class commencement speaker, delivered this speech to the students of Stanford, class of 2005.  Here is the full transcript. […]