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Shoemoney - Skills To Pay The Bills

Shoemoney - Skills To Pay The Bills

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DMCA: The New Negative SEO or is it Google’s Tattler Tool?

Posted: 16 Aug 2012 06:21 AM PDT

When news hit that Google would begin taking the number of DMCAs a website receives into its ranking algorithm, there was a definite split among SEOs about whether it was a smart move or not.  On the one hand, it would negatively impact scraper sites or websites that have lifted content from one of their own sites.  And on the other side, website owners who have unfairly received a DMCA could be negatively impacted.

So where does that leave SEOs?  Well, with DMCAs a confirmed piece of the Goggle algo ranking puzzle, you can bet your AdSense check that one of the things some of the blacker SEOs will be doing is automatically filing multiple DMCAs against competitor sites.  It won't be very long before we see a huge uptick in the number of DMCAs filed in the industry.  After all, any little thing to help your client rank, right?  And if you think people will be scared off by the fact it is a legal document, think again.  Currently there is no verification for anyone submitting a DMCA so it could be easily filed with a fake name.

The only downside is that DMCAs also are filed publicly on Chilling Effects, so those competitors can easily see someone has filed a DMCA and then file a counter-DMCA.  But how a counter-DMCA will affect the Google algo is unknown – does one negate the other?  Or will some companies not even know they have a DMCA filed against them if it goes to some generic email address nobody checks.

The change with DMCAs affecting the algo is a good one on one level – on the surface it appears to be targeting scraper-type sites, but really, you would think Google's algo could already take care of those types of sites without resorting to DMCA sites.   Or it could be targeting those who "repurpose" content, but again, Google's algos currently impact duplicate content pretty well.

So the bigger question that needs to be asked is this – what types of sites are Google hoping to impact with these changes since current algos catch the obvious reasons already?  What if they are doing it as a measurement to see what sites are potentially being targeted by those using negative SEO tactics?  Now that is the real food for thought, if filing a DMCA against a competitor could show Google that someone in the space is resorting to negative SEO to rank better, especially when counter-DMCAs are filed.

So before you get all gun happy with DMCAs against competitors, take a moment to question just what Google is doing with that data.  Particularly if they are using it as a signal not just to flag sites that are legitimately committing copyright infringement, but potentially using it as a signal that it is being targeted by negative SEO, especially when it becomes obvious just where the content originated from.

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When Purchasing Websites, Look For Very Small or Very Big Ones - DailyBlogTips

When Purchasing Websites, Look For Very Small or Very Big Ones - DailyBlogTips

When Purchasing Websites, Look For Very Small or Very Big Ones

Posted: 15 Aug 2012 03:44 PM PDT


As you might know I am a big fan of purchasing websites as an investment option. Instead of putting your money into a savings account or buying stock you can purchase a website, work on it a bit and collect the monthly revenues, either from advertising or from products you might sell on the site.

This strategy has both pros and cons. The biggest advantage is the fact that you can get a return on investment that is much higher when compared to other investment options. I’ve see websites generating as much as 10% of their selling price, per month. That is, you purchase a website for $10,000 and it generates $1,000 monthly in profits.

The biggest drawback is the fact that you need some technical know-how to be able to run a website properly, and you also need to put some time to manage it (which is not true for the other investment options).

Just as the other investment options, however, purchasing a website also comes with a risk. The main one being that the website you’ll buy will lose its traffic once you purchase it. Imagine purchasing a website that receives 500,000 monthly uniques, only to see this traffic vanish within months or sealing the deal. It would be quite a bummer, huh?

The problem is this happens quite often. Maybe the previous site owner used some shady SEO techniques and wants to pass the site before traffic starts suffering. Maybe he got lucky and traffic skyrocket without explanation, so he wants to sell while things are looking bright.

I’ve been burned by this a couple of times.

What can you do to avoid it? First of all you need to perform a careful analysis of the website, asking for all kinds of proofs, historical data and what not. But even with all this information at hand you might end up purchasing a lemon.

And that’s why I believe one should limit himself to purchasing two kinds of websites: really small and really big ones.

Really small ones have all the risks mentioned above, but you won’t need to spend a lot of money for them, so even if once in a while you end up with a lemon it won’t affect your overall return on investment. Diversification, in other words.

The drawback of this strategy is that it requires more work, as you’ll need to tweak those small websites if you want them to start earning money.

With really big websites the story is different. Those sites are much less volatile, so the chances of purchasing one and seeing its traffic vanish overnight is very small. I am talking about authoritative sites that are among the top three in their niche.

In other words, the riskier sites are the medium-sized ones. Those won’t be cheap, and at the same time they are not authority sites, so there’s a good chance that things could go wrong, ruining your investment.

That’s my experience at least. What about you guys, what kind of investments in websites turned out sweet or sour?

Wanna make money with your website?

Original Post: When Purchasing Websites, Look For Very Small or Very Big Ones
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