Catching up on some blogs today, I came across this nugget from Fairwinds Partners ("the leading full-service Internet strategy consulting firm") via Valleywag:

FairWinds based its analysis on 1,058 domain names for companies on the Global 500 and Fortune 500 lists. Of the companies surveyed, 35% own the domain name for their brand followed by the word "sucks." They include Wal-Mart Stores, Coca-Cola, Toys"R"Us, Target and Whole Foods Market, according to FairWinds. Some 45% of these domains have yet to be registered by anyone. The study found that the majority of companies that do own these domain names publish no content on them.

Of course, the real gold is found in the comments section of the post. Valleywag's Phydeaux opines:

... if people are going to post bad negative content about your company or products, they're going to do it. I'm not going to get discouraged that say... [instert company name]sucks.com is already taken if I have a complaint... that would probably just fire me up even more to rant about them and I'd get [instert company name]reallysucks.com...

But real perspective is found in Torley's comment.

Now, how many companies own ____rules.com ?

This begs the question, if you had a choice of LifeTipsBlogReallySucks.com or LifeTipsBlogRules.com, which would you choose? Keep in mind, there is a wrong answer.

When I left you last, we were talking about the places where keywords can and should be used on your web page. A question that always comes up after this discussion is "now that we know where to put our keyword phrases, how many times should we be using them?" I'm only going to talk about using keywords in the visible body copy of page today, but the answer is very simple - it depends.

Now I know that isn't a simple answer whatsoever but that's the best answer. Forget about keyword density and all of that other mumbo jumbo you have probably heard. You don't need some crazy keyword density analyzer to tell you how many times you should be using your targeted keyword phrases within your page copy. First, you should write your page copy for your user audience. They are who will be reading your page copy and hopefully buying products and services from your business. It is when people write solely with the search engines in mind that they end up with page copy like this:

"From designer baby clothes to new baby clothes and unique baby clothes, Jesse's baby clothes depot offers the best selection of high quality baby clothes in fun baby clothes colors both you and your child will love! In addition to designer baby clothes and unique baby clothes, we also have funky baby clothes......"

Gag......talk about overkill. This is called keyword stuffing, or spamming, and not only does your user audience gag at the sight of it, but the search engines may even penalize you for this muck. You of course want to use your targeted keyword phrases within your page copy but do it naturally by writing with your user audience in mind first, and being sure to sprinkle in your keyword phrases as you go. Heck, you may be writing your copy so naturally that you include your targeted keyword phrases without even knowing!

Say what you need to say to persuade your audience to take a desired action on your site and do it in as many words that are necessary for your audience. Don’t let the searchengine dictate this to you. Next time I’ll go into this a bit more and explain why I think that overanalyzing keyword density analysis is a big waste of time.

Balloons. Wine. Chips, cookies and a crown. Yesterday was National Boss Day, and LifeTips employees honored our Julius Caesar with a party fit for a dictator perpetuo. But even Caesar can’t claim Byron White’s ability as a firm, fair but fun leader, as declared in the sign “Byron Is Ausome.”

We love our boss so much it’s frightening. Just watch this video of our Stevie Wonder rendition, a serenade to our Numero Uno.

While we can thank Mandy for the lyrics, I think the real winner in this video is Sean, who declared his love for Byron on one knee. Sean, way to be a team player. Consider your bonus check in the mail.

So many blog updates this week! Jimminy Christmas! Let's see if I can muscle my way into the party with a pretentious quote...

Niccolo Machiavelli once said: “There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.”

I cite the famed Florentine patriot for two reasons. One, this is my introductory blog post and second week as an editor with LifeTips. Thank you. I feel very warm and welcome. And two, in my time as an editor with LifeTips and various other (much, much lesser) media outlets I have seen SEO go from an advanced practice the Slashdot crowd mastered to rule over the cowering Internet masses to an editorial standard and an absolute must for those looking to increase their presence on the Web. As publishers attempted to incorporate SEO into the editorial process, the scribes would often revolt; resulting in bloody clashes (figuratively) and ghastly groans (literally).

While the struggle to change the editing habits of grammar-junkies continues, it is clear that the new SEO order has taken root. As evident by my brief time at LifeTips, my initial impressions of these folks as being on the cutting edge of Internet technology were well founded.

In other words, I think they are all purrrrrtttiiiee.

I think you all are purrtttiiieee too. So drop me a line (comment). Make me feel welcome. And keep checking back as the LifeTips blog obviously drops SEO knowledge like it's hot.

Jamison "Hustle" Cush out!

Hi Everybody! In her most recent blog post, Carolyn mentioned that there were a few new hires in the production department here at Lifetips. Well, to all of you faithful Lifetips blog readers, I happen to be one of them and I just wanted to quickly introduce myself to you all. My name is Jesse DaCosta and I was just recently hired as the SEO Specialist at Lifetips. I've actually been here for three weeks now today (time flies!), learning the ropes and getting myself acclimated to everything that goes on here and my role within it.

I'm extremely excited to be here and to share my experience in the SEO / SEM world with them, and with all of you. I'll be sharing my thoughts and experiences on SEO (along with all things Web Marketing like analytics and such) here and hope that you, our readers, will share your knowledge and comments as well. Nothing beats a good, solid discussion, especially in the SEO world where everything changes so fast and everyone has their own tactics and techniques.

So stay tuned.........!!

What does “separation of church and state” mean? Get ready for a new twist. At LifeTips, the phrase means keeping promotional product copy “tips” separate from informational/advice-oriented tips. We present the informational tip first, followed by the product tip—labeled just so: “Product Tip”—in italics. The label and the italics show that we are honest about our promotion and not trying to sneak it into regular tips.

So why bother with the separation? Good question. Honesty, for one. People browsing your Tip & Advice Center are likely there because they want information, advice, answers, knowledge, tips. They want to learn something new, not have your products shoved down their throat in the form of marketing copy overload.

The more you can give people what they want in the form of valuable information, the more likely they are to post links back to your website, bookmark you, and consider you an authority in your space. Search engine spider bots will love this as much as your readers love your organic content, catapulting your website to higher search rankings. And guess what? When people trust you they are more likely to buy your products. All they have to do is click on the link in your Product Tip and take out their credit card.

Information/trust + higher search engine rankings = more conversions.  That’s a concept our forefathers would be proud of.