Owning My Links

Posted on December 15, 2009 Written by 12 Comments

Part of the reason I started noodling with WordPress was the ability to “own” my own site. Not have it hosted elsewhere, not beholden to anyone else’s whims and limitations. I can do what I want with the template and the look and the feel and the content. I can even move the URL around, break it, and start all over if I choose.

I’ve learned a lot of helpful things about coding along the way.

Today’s “currency” on the internet is still content, although sharing and linking are vital. You’ve probably noticed that most of the links being shared online are “shortened” links. TinyURL used to have the space to itself, and as the default shortener for Twitter it was poised to be the all-time king.

Now there are many competitors. Bit.ly is the new Twitter default, and even Bit.ly went even shorter, with J.mp. Add in ri.ms and cli.gs and is.gd, and you’re only part of the way there. Google for List of Link Shortening Services and see for yourself.

I wanted to make the move to own my own links because there are some heavy hitters moving in. Bit.ly will be offering its own custom domains for link sharing. WordPress now has WP.me, Google is trotting out Goo.gl, and Facebook will have FB.me.

My links will be at ike4.me.

That will look strange to some people, for sure – but no stranger than adj.ix or anything else that comes along. After all, we’re inclined to click on just about anything.

That’s the other motivation for me. When you see me sharing a link with http://ike4.me you’ll know where it came from. I’ve locked it down, so scammers and spammers can’t use it. It’s also a nice piece of branding, if I say so myself.

The Ike4.me domain is powered by Yourls, and is fairly easy to set up. With little technical knowledge (more than most of my friends, but far less than many who get paid for coding) I was up and running within an hour. More customizations to come.

Oh, and you can find me on Twitter at http://ike4.me/tw and on Facebook at http://ike4.me/fb.

Filed Under: Personal Tagged: , , , , ,

Failures in Self Promotion

Posted on November 5, 2009 Written by 20 Comments

Update:

There is no need for further linking, nor humiliation. Matthew has stepped up, and has eloquently apologized for acting upon bad advice.

The links have been removed, and the page redacted to be more representative of Mr. Duggan’s position and stance. (That’s not to say there aren’t weasels out there continuing to advocate for spammy tactics, but armed with new knowledge I am confident that Mr. Duggan will be a much better example of best practices going forward.)

We all enjoy feedback and comments. Well, at least the ones that are genuine.

When they are not genuine, be prepared. Especially when you try to game me.

This means you, Matthew Duggan.

I got the following comments from Matthew:

Very interesting. It’s good to hear the thoughts of an experienced media expert on a new media like Twitter.
The ‘community’ aspect is a very good idea and tools like TwitterFall are good for regional searches.

Posted on my Twitter Policy page.

Incredible! Those statistics are quite amazing.
Congratulations on the way you use Twitter Ike and on your induction into the Twitter Elite!

Posted on Global Dominance

Now, Matthew Duggan (matthew@buildyourfollowers.com) happens to run a site called BuildYourFollowers.com, and signs his comments with the very search-engine friendly name of “Twitter for Business.” Which means that he wants as many web pages as possible to associate the phrase “Twitter for Business” with his site.

Let’s just see what kind of site this Fake Twitter Guru runs, shall we?

‘9 Free Videos, 6 Free e-Book Chapters and an Exclusive Members Area Reveal How To Automate Twitter and Transform It Into A Marketing Machine For Your Business…. Even If You’ve Never Used Twitter Before’

Fake Twitter Guru, indeed. But wait… there’s MORE!

You’re about to learn little known tools and techniques to transform Twitter into a free and automatic way of generating targeted leads to your website and grow your business. All with little effort and no knowledge.

And I’m giving away part of the course plus another $97.00 in value just so I can show you that this works!

Yes I’m literally going to bribe you just to get you to give me your name and e-mail.

Why would I do that?

Well I know that the only way for me to show you who I am and to demonstrate the value I can add to your online business life is by the 2 of us getting acquainted, and in the online world the medium we use to stay in touch with each other is the e-mail address (here’s mine – matthew@buildyourfollowers.com)

BUT

There is A LOT of garbage out there, and because of this I know that I’m genuinely competing for your time.

So

I’ve decided to do the only smart thing that makes solid business sense. By offering you a 7-part course for free that’s filled with top quality training, I’m hoping that 2 things will happen:

1. You’ll get to know, like and trust me.

2. Later on when I’ve demonstrated my value to you by helping you get started you’ll possibly invest in my full e-book and video course on Twitter.

That’s the truth.

Others will tell you all sorts of BS but that’s what’s really happening.

In the free course, I’ll show you how to:

  • Promote Your Business Automatically
  • Maximise Your Twitter Profile like a Social Media Pro
  • Show you a strategy that got me 1500 targeted followers in 2 and a half months
  • PLUS: My free strategy for using little known methods to Maximise Your Business

This way you have zero risk and the onus is on me to impress you… which is, as it should be.

So shall we get started?

SEO is a two-way street

I know what you are saying. “Ike, this guy is a loser, and you’re just giving him free publicity and the link-love that will help him game the search engines.”

I would have just left this one alone and deleted the obviously spammy comments, but there were two things I could not leave alone:

  1. He didn’t even bother to read the posts he was linking to. For instance, the “Global Dominance” piece was written last year to mock another Matthew, who trumpeted his own dominance of Twitter. I showed how easy it was to game the system to become the Number One Twitter User on Planet Earth. Apparently, Fake Twitter Guru Matthew Duggan was too quick to post his spammy comment on my site to realize his overly-fawning comment was a joke (and a damned fine one, at that.)
  2. Fake Twitter Guru Matthew Duggan – in the process of posting spammy comments on my site – actually links people to this:

    SPAM Image

    You think that

    YOU hate Spam?

    (Try running an

    internet business!)

    I personally detest Spam and PROMISE that you will NEVER get an unwanted email as a result of signing up here.

Please help me make Matthew Duggan #1 in Google!

I am a firm believer in Search Engine Optimization techniques, but I am not a fan of being a shameless spammer like Fake Twitter Guru Matthew Duggan. So let’s show Fake Twitter Guru Matthew Duggan how SEO is done right.

If everyone uses the words Fake Twitter Guru as the anchor text linking to his site, then we can make him Number One with a bullet!

Please share the good news about Fake Twitter Guru Matthew Duggan with as many sites as you can, and be sure to share this entry with your friends! Get them to help too! (There are a number of icons below to make it easy. Bookmark it! Digg it! Tweet it!)

Let people like Fake Twitter Guru Matthew Duggan know that their Neanderthal nascent understanding of marketing is sleazy unwelcome and won’t be tolerated in a polite society. The business you save from getting suckered by his shenanigans might be your own.

Filed Under: Marketing Tagged: , , , ,
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