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Making relevant information more readily available for site visitors is the overall result of creating a Web 2.0 or Viral experience. But why?

Andrew Nagy of Allos Marketing recently posted an article examining the philosophy behind viral marketing. It is a huge trend in online marketing, but are marketers getting it all wrong? Read Andrew’s post and decide for yourself:

Full Circle - An Examination of Marketing Part 1

There are two articles floating around the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) world. The first is from Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz.org titled, “What separates Search Marketing Novices from Experts”. The other article is from Stoney DeGeyter of Search Engine Guide titled, “When Good SEO’s Go Elite”, and it is in response to Rand’s article.

Basically, Rand brings up the question of what constitutes an expert in the world of SEO? Though I respect Rand’s ideas, and thoroughly enjoyed his input at SES Chicago’s SMO (Social Media Optimization) session, I have to agree with Stoney. An SEO expert should be measured by the management and delivery of results rather than the stature of their contacts and clients. There are two main reasons I feel this way.

First, the industry of search engine marketing and optimization is an ever evolving world, and SEO professionals must learn and adjust techniques virtually every day. A true SEO Expert would be a student of the industry.

Secondly, as Stoney mentioned, it is not only the use of proper techniques but the management of client expectations. Many SEO professionals fail because they are not managing client expectations, or they set realistic expectations that they fail to adjust for industry changes.

Again, I respect Rand’s thoughts and agree with portions of his article. However, I deeply feel that the world of SEO can not be so blind as to ignore the experts that work tirelessly to both educate themselves and deliver proven results.

Link building can be a very tedious and time consuming task, but it is extremely valuable and can not be overlooked. Google webmaster guidelines even notes link building as the first step in creating a search engine friendly website, “Have other relevant sites link to yours.”

This task is easier said than done. A building link popularity strategy that incorporates multiple techniques is the most successful. Some of the techniques involved include:

• Link Trading
• Blogging
• Social Networking
• Content Syndication

All of these techniques involve one important element, provide relevant and valuable content. If your website is of value to another, then you will receive inbound links. It’s hard for many to understand, but the quality of links is more valuable than the quantity. Aaron Wall’s SEOBook.com has a great article about building link popularity strategy.

Website Backlink Checker

Continuously monitoring your current backlinks can also be beneficial. Here is a great website backlink checker tool. The tool only checks Google, but it checks each datacenter. You can also check backlinks through Google, Yahoo!, and MSN by using the “Link:www.DomainName.com” search. There are a number of website backlink checker tools out there, be sure to find the one that provides you with the correct information.