I’m sorry it has been so long since I have posted a new blog entry but business is taking off and I am busier than ever. Because of how how well business is going I am actually looking to hire a web designer and have a few phone interviews lined up for tomorrow. So I thought I would share them with all of you. Please enjoy the following 15 good questions to ask a web designer in an interview.

1.    Can you please briefly describe your web design experience?

2.    How comfortable would you feel writing an entire page by hand just using notepad?

3.    More realistically, what programs do you use to design? Dream weaver?

4.    Do you have any experience with PPC landing pages?

5.    Do you have any experience working with blogs or search engine optimization?

6.    Do you know CSS? Java? PHP?

7.    What areas of web design do you hope to expand you knowledge in?

8.    Can you send me some samples of pages you have designed?

9.    What, if any experience do you have in graphic design? Photoshop? Page mockups?

10.    Do you prefer to work on Apples or PCs?

11.    Do you read any web design or industry related blogs? If so which?

12.    Are you active in any social communities? Do you Digg? Blog? YouTube?

13.    What is your favorite television show? Video game?

14.    Do you work better on your own or in a small team?

15.    Do you work well in small areas with others?

Sending emails to bloggers in your industry is a great way to get content noticed, but if you aren’t careful then your efforts could backfire and create negative online press. Follow these 7 tips to get the most out of your link baited emails, and ensure that you don’t insult bloggers.

1) Be very, very selective
Only email bloggers that write on topics related to your own blog. If you email a political blogger about your coffee and tea blog, then odds are they will just delete the email without even reading it.

2) Always send emails one at a time
Sending link baited emails one at a time is of the utmost importance. It’s perfectly fine to email multiple bloggers with link baited emails, but never CC them all on the same email. A few years ago I made this mistake and it apparently upset one of the bloggers because they sent a nasty reply and CCd everyone on the list. Needless to say I didn’t get a single new link from that email.

3) Lead with a compliment
One of my mottos in life is to always lead with a compliment, and it definitely applies to writing link baited emails. I always include something like “I frequently visit your blog,” or “your blog is one of my favorites,” in all of my link bait emails. In my experience bloggers are much more likely to reply to emails to include some type of flattery.

4) Be personal, and introduce yourself
This one may seem obvious, but too many people make the mistake of sending impersonal cold emails that bloggers never respond to. In the beginning of your email it is important to always include a brief summary of who you are. It’s also a good idea to close your emails with personal phrases such as “I look forward to hearing back form you,” or “thank you for taking the time to read my email.”

5) Make it easy for them to link
Remember, the goal of sending link baited emails is to generate new links for your site or blog. You should always include the full URL of your site in your email along with sample anchor text. But be careful not to make your intentions too obvious.

6) Give something away
If you want to get a blogger’s attention then you might want to consider giving something away for free. If you have contest on your site then you can personally invite the blogger to enter. Or, if your budget permits, it’s a great idea to give something away to every blogger you email.

7) Be original
Popular bloggers get dozens of “did you notice” emails every day and if you want yours to get any attention then you need to make it stand out. The more original the email, the more likely it will generate new links

Will trade links for sex? Hmmm, I don’t quite think it’s come to that yet. But the cartoon is a great way to get links, look I’m linking to it!

Google announces that they have officially acquired Double Click.

A list of sites that provide free ranking tools. I was really impressed by Venito, it’s fast, correct, and visually stimulating to use.

Viacom denied punitive damages in YouTube suit.

10 effectives for running a PPC campaign. I especially like the tip about thinking seasonally. Often times I will even go as far as writing seasonal ads that mention current holidays or news.

HitWise data on plural v. singular search terms.

Military bans Google street photographers from U.S. bases.

Google further integrates television ads into adWords.

Advice on promoting a blog from ProBlogger.

Press releases are great for getting a few dozen free links to your site. But finding something news worth and writing out a press release can be a pain at times. However, if you follow these 10 steps you can easily turn an article or blog entry into a press release. And for a great press release template I would suggest checking out PRweb.

1. Create a more newsworthy headline
Headlines for a press release need to be more news worthy then a blog entry. Fortunately you can fix this easily. Take this entry for example. If I were going to use it for a press release I could just change the title to “Mathew Guiver Presents 10 Easy ways to Convert an Article into a Press Release.”

2. Write a short summary about the article
In the standard press release format a short, 1 – 3 sentence summary should follow the title. It should summarize the entire article and also make the topic seem important.

3. Write an interesting lead sentence
The first sentence in a press release is always more of a second summary then a lead sentence. With press releases the summary often gets ignored so it’s important to present your main points in both the summary and lead sentence.

4. Use the proper lead sentence format
You always want to begin your lead sentence with the proper format including a date, location, and distribution service. So, if I were submitting this entry to PRweb as a release my intro sentence would be: Sacramento, CA (PRWEB) March 11, 2008 — Press releases are great ways to get a few dozen free links for your site.

5. Write a first paragraph discussing the importance of the topic
Instead of using your old first paragraph in your press release you should write something that talks about the importance of the topic. So, if you were using an article on converting an article into a press release you would want to discuss why press releases are important and how they help develop links.

6. Turn parts of your article into quotes
Press releases nearly always include quotes, which is a good thing. You can easily parts of your article and use them as a quote from yourself.

7. Slightly revise your content to avoid duplicate content filters
Whenever you reuse content that has already been posted on your own site or blog you want to make sure it won’t be flagged as duplicate content. I usually go through the article and try to completely rewrite one sentence per paragraph. But you can revise whatever you want as long as the new version is significantly different then the original.

8. Draft a summary to end the release text
The last paragraph of a press release is almost always another summary presenting the main points of the release. This is also a good way to add extra content to avoid the problems with duplicate content.

9. Write an about your company or website section
Press releases always include an about the author section at the end. This is a great place to include a call to action and a website that potential customers can check out.

10. Add your contact information to the end
This is different then the contact information in number 9. At the end of a press release there always needs to be a media contact that editors can reach in case there is a problem with the release.

If you are trying to build up links for a site, submitting content to article directories should be an integral part of your efforts. By submitting quality content to some of these sites you can gain fee HTML links that you can even control the anchor text of (in the about section of an article). Additionally, if your article is good it can even get picked up by bloggers looking for content and generate even more free links.

But if you just Google “article directory lists” you are going to find dozens of old directories that will never publish your article. Or, they do publish your article but you can never find it on their site. And odds are if you can’t find it then neither can a search engine bot.

To help all of you reading my blog, please enjoy the following list of 15 article directories that my business uses with all of our clients. They all allow for HTML in the about the author sections, and most importantly they are quick. Meaning your content and links will show up quickly and be visible to both search engines and other bloggers.

1.    http://ezinearticles.com
2.    http://www.articledashboard.com/
3.    http://www.easyarticles.com/
4.    http://www.articletrader.com/
5.    http://www.goarticles.com/
6.    http://www.articlealley.com/
7.    http://www.articlecube.com
8.    http://www.free-articles-zone.com/
9.    http://www.a1articles.com
10.    http://www.postarticles.com
11.    http://www.articletogo.com/
12.    http://www.articlenexus.com
13.    http://www.articlesbase.com/
14.    http://www.thearticleworld.com/
15.    http://www.articlebiz.com/
16.    http://www.1articleworld.com/
17.    http://www.article-buzz.com/
18.    http://articlecrazy.com/

Over the past few months there has been a lot of talk about the new Digg. Hundreds of people in the search engine marketing industry are upset that their old “power user” techniques no longer work. But Digg is still one of the most popular social media communities and no matter how irritating it is you have to adapt to their changes. To help my readers with this process, I have composed the following list of top 10 mistakes to avoid on the new Digg.

1. Adding too many friends – as you probably already know Digg now undervalues the votes of any one who is on the submitter’s friends list. So the days of having 1,000 friends and getting a story to the front page within minutes are gone.

2. Using a boring title or description – this is even more important than it was before as Digg now places much more attention on getting random Diggs. The best way to convince users to Digg your article is with a title and description that not only catches their eyes but also encourages them to read the articles.

3. Leaving the standard icon – some bloggers have joked that you need to leave the standard image as your icon but this is 100% not true. You still want to make sure that you have a bright and memorable image for an icon.

4. Only submitting content from one domain – this was bad with Digg before they made the new changes, but it is even worse now. You need to submit content from dozens of different domains if you want any of your submissions to get attention.

5. Not commenting on articles – now that having a huge friends list is a bad thing, the best way to get yourself noticed on Digg is by your activity. This includes making good submissions AND making frequent comments on articles.

6. Only Digging popular articles – to get your account attention you need to Digg articles when they are still deemed “upcoming.” It’s also a good idea to comment on these articles because if it becomes popular your comment will be at the top.

7. Sending shouts for every submission – if you send shout outs for every submission you make then it will look like you are only using Digg to get traffic. You should try to submit regularly and only send shouts every once in a while.

8. Not Digging any shouts received – yes friends Digg’s are not counted as very strong votes, but that does not mean you shouldn’t Digg any of your friends submissions. It is still good to be active on Digg and voting for friends content is still a good way to do so.

9. Only submitting in “boring” categories – with the old Digg bloggers often suggest to submit an article to an obscure category as a way to get it more attention. The opposite is true now, you want to submit your content to popular articles so they can get as much exposure as possible.

10. Not adding any friends - even though Diggs from friends will not make an article popular, they still can get it listed prominently in the “upcoming” section. So having some friends is still important, but just don’t add too many. I would say it’s probably best to stay under 100 friends

Yahoo announces all new Yahoo video with better viewing experience, more content, and more sharing options. Huh, I didn’t really even know Yahoo had a video property…

10 tips for success on StumbleUpon. I’ve been hard lately to learn as much as I can about StumbleUpon and I found this article to be quite enjoyable and informative.

The founder of a major porn studio want’s search engines to better restrict children’s access to porn. WTF? Don’t blame the messenger.

Google officially testing video ads in search engine results. This has been widely predicted, especially after they began featuring videos in their universal search results.

5 obscure features of Google Analytics.

Pew report shows most people shop online now days but are still concerned over Internet security issues.

Google announced Doodle 4 Google competition.

1. Link Out to Other Blogs

As I have mentioned before, if you link to other blogs then it will help you get attention. Bloggers monitor their inbound links very closely and if you provide a link to another blog then chances are the blogger will see. This is especially true if the link sends any traffic.

2. Comment on Other Blogs

Commenting on blogs is another great way to get quality links without looking too desperate. By making a thoughtful comment you can get the attention of the blogger, who is likely to visit your blog and reciprocate. Additionally, a lot of blogging platforms allow you to include a link to your site in comments so you can get a free link just by commenting. But do not post dozens of comments just for free links as this is considered comment spam.

3. Email Blogroll Link Exchanges

If you want to take the direct approach then you can send emails to bloggers asking for blogroll link exchanges. However, do not let the email sound too desperate by just asking for a free link. Instead, tell the blogger that you thought their visitors might be interested in reading your blog since it is on a similar topic. Also, it never hurts to compliment the blogger by saying something like “I read your blog all the time,” or “I have been visiting your blog for years,” etc.

4. Email Them Something for Free

A less direct approach then asking for a link is to offer the blogger something for free without even mentioning links. In my experience I have found this to be one of the most effective tactics for getting links. However, make sure your email does not sound like an obvious ploy to get links. You should just tell the blogger that you like their blog and thought they might enjoy the free product. If the product is of any value then odds are the blogger will want to share it with their readers.

5. Submit Your Content To a Niche Community

If you want to get blog links from a piece of link bait then you should submit it to a community related to the topic of your blog. Most bloggers browse these communities frequently for content to blog about and will link to your blog if it contains a good peice of link bait. Check out our list of 70 social media communities if you are looking for good places to submit your content.

Yahoo says no to Microsoft bid claiming it undervalues their stock.

Microsoft responds to Yahoo saying they will take the necessary steps to pursue a purchase of Yahoo.

Speaking of Microsoft, they did successfully acquire Danger Inc., the company behind the T-mobile sidekick. They claimed the next generation of Microsoft will focus on mobile consumers. Good, they need to take their mobile web up a notch to catch up with Apple.

100+ useful online resources for small business owners. Great article that I would recommend bookmarking.

Internet advertising grew by 27% in the year 2007, but Google actually lost market share for the first time in two years. Is this the decline of the Google generation? I doubt it.

Advice for increase search engine rankings by using press releases.

10 signs that Google has visited Disneyland.

I had wanted to put together a list of social media communities for a while now, but I couldn’t think of a good way to organize them. So I got to thinking about what helps me decide if it’s worth it to participate in a social community. Most of the time when I am looking for a community I want to find one that will help build links for a website I’m working on. Therefore I decided to list the communities by their inbound link counts as determined by Yahoo. Enjoy the list below of the top 70 social media communities, and feel free to email me if you know of a community not featured on this list.

1. Del.icio.us - 34,500,000

2. StumbleUpon - 15,900,000

3. Digg - 14,500,000

4. Reddit - 11,600,000

5. SlashDot - 10,200,000

6. Simply - 5,940,000

7. Propeller - 5,090,000

8. NewsVine - 4,460,000

9. Multiply - 2,950,000

10. Fark - 2,910,000

11. LipStick - 2,660,000

12. MetaFilter - 1,980,000

13. Care2 - 1,980,000

14. Kaboodle - 1,810,000

15. BallHype - 1,300,000

16. I Am Bored - 1,060,000

17. Meneame - 722,000

18. Plime - 588,000

19. BibSonomy - 549,000

20. NowPublic - 501,000

21. Kinja - 497,000

22. Searchles - 483,000

23. Dzone - 429,000

24. IndianPad - 409,000

25. ShowHype - 371,000

26. Sk*rt - 249,000

27. Mixx - 243,000

28. ShoutWire - 227,000

29. Faves - 211,000

30. LinkFilter - 198,000

31. BuzzFlash - 161,000

32. CoRank - 130,000

33. SmallBusinessBrief - 120,000

34. myVmarks - 101,000

35. Listible - 96,600

36. Sphinn - 92,700

37. LinkInn - 80,300

38. AutoSpies - 69,990

39. BmAccess - 34,800

40. HypeDiss - 33,300

41.Truemors - 28,000

42. Hugg - 26,000

43. WineLifeToday - 25,000

44. I Like Totally Love It - 21,400

45. Value Interesting News - 20,000

46. LinkAGoGo - 19,600

47. TeenWag - 17,700

48. JumpTags - 17,600

49. PlugIM - 14,000

50. Zlitt - 12,400

51. DotNetKicks - 12,000

52. A1 Webmarks - 11,700

53. memFrag - 10,300

54. DNhour - 9,810

55. Multi - 8,650

56. Tweako - 8,380

57. SyncOne - 5,440

58. WireFan - 4,850

59. MyLinkVault - 4,760

60. NewsCloud - 2,820

61. Wordsy - 2,670

62. MyPickList - 2,380

63. Connectedy - 2,370

64. HubSpot - 1,940

65. SpotBack - 681

66. Yattle - 305

67. NewsWeight - 200

68. EarthFrisks - 169

69. TeDigo - 143

70. SocialLogs - 114