Incoming links to your website from text, images, or otherwise are a mystery to a lot people who do business on the web. In fact, I’ve talked to many people who aren’t really clear on what a link actually is. The incoming links concept is one of those things that is hard to get your head around, hard to stay current with, and hard to make a decision about. It’s also, however, one of the key concepts of having an maintaining a healthy website. Let me help you gain clarity on incoming links.
The idea of incoming links falls under this large, ethereal, very misunderstood heading of SEO, or search engine optimization. It’s one piece of the very important “how and where do I show up in search engines?” question. It can be low-hanging fruit for those just now paying attention to them and a welcome challenge to those who feel like they are running out of options to improve the number of people coming to their site.
So where to start? A quick explanation of what a link is.
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I am obsessed with ideas. Ideas by themselves are both incredibly important and totally-overrated. As such, they are completely misunderstood. Simple ideas can transform world but the mean value for an idea approaches zero. I’m in a position where I get to hear a lot of ideas from passionate people wanting to do something incredible. Since ideas have the power to change your life, for better or for worse, it’s my duty to help people stay grounded and test their ideas before jumping head-first into something. Here’s how to do it.
As I see it, there are three questions you should ask yourself before taking any steps forward with a web project:
- Is there a need for what I want to do that isn’t being fulfilled somewhere else?
- If there is a need, is what I’m trying to build going to fit that need in a way that people will use it?
- If there is a need and what I’m trying to do will properly fit that need, is it built in a way that makes it easy for me to keep fulfilling that need?
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Turning down projects (or redirecting ones that are on the wrong track) is the only path toward some semblance of sanity in this business. For some people, the internet is magic and I’m a wizard here to cast spells and make magical things happen (you could also see me as a genie making wishes come true). Fact is: I only have so much time on this planet and making clunky, ugly, and bad ideas come to life is not what I want to do with that time. If you work with me, I might say no and you should probably understand why.
First off, I should say that I do say yes more often than I say no. I assume some of that comes from the fact that people look to me for advice and I would never (intentionally) lead someone astray. Also, most of the projects I work on are word-of-mouth referrals so they come to me expecting to enjoy the process. These two things work very well towards creating good relationships and, hence, good outcomes.
But, from time-to-time someone comes to me with a bad idea or a bad attitude and, because I’m in a type of service role, it’s expected that I do what I’m told to do. The problem here is that I’m only interested in working on sites, scripts, and blogs that I’m proud of completing. If I’m in a service role then we’re not a team. If that’s the case then I have no sense of ownership over what’s being created and you’re simply not going to get my best work. That’s just not where I want to be and I’m going to say no.
So, here’s why I said, am saying, or will in the future say no.
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“Thou shall not spam” is one of the ten commandments of the web. Sending out unwanted email is unnecessary, intrusive, and, at times, downright abhorrent. Who would do such a thing? Yours truly did… but if you give me a chance to redeem myself, I think you’ll understand (and, more importantly, learn something).
I wrote a post a long while ago about spam. A conversation at a previous employer sparked my thoughts on the matter and, from that conversation forward, I became a nearly-militant anti-spam campaigner. My colleague argued that spam is just junk mail that people don’t want but how do you know if people don’t want it unless you try it out. My argument was that spam is email that was not asked for explicitly. It’s one thing to send a one-to-one email out of the blue, it’s another to send a bulk mailing to people who “probably wouldn’t mind.”
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It’s been a long time since I’ve sent out a newsletter email (coming up on two years) and I think it’s about that time again. Here’s what’s going out today.
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In this issue: goodbye San Diego, stay connected, monthly website reports , other news
You’re receiving this email because we communicated at some point about a website, a collaboration, or your business. I send emails like this very infrequently but if you never want to receive another one again, click here and I’ll bid you adieu.
JoshCanHelp is changing location soon ( hint:  )
The winds are changing direction and taking the wife and I to Europe… for a while. We’ll be in Paris, France starting the second week in August until the 2nd week in November. After that, we’re moving back to Seattle to continue the adventure.
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Seth Godin posed 16 questions for people making a living as a free agent. While the people I currently help and those I might help in the future may benefit from knowing the answers here, it’s more important to put in words why I do what I do to make sure I understand that for myself. Still, I hope this little exercise provides a helpful window into how I work and who I am.
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