Barbara Ling of Ask Owlbert is a veteran webmaster. She recently commented at my site and as we were trading followup emails, I realized that she was someone with a lot of experience and great advice to share. Thus, this interview. Enjoy!
1) Tell readers how you got started as a webmaster. What was your first project? How did you build it? What were your goals? How did you promote it?
I began my webmastering life back in 1994 or thereabouts…when Netscape Navigator released version 1.0 of its wondrous browser. You could say I’ve been involved with browsing the Internet ever since a graphical WYSISYG interface came into being.
My first professional webmastering goals, however, started in 1997. I had just finished two projects; one, my first ever fan site for the Light Bearer, the most incredible book ever written. You can peruse that at http://www.lingstar.com/tlb/ (I keep it up for sentimental purposes) and if you’ve ever had experience with Netscape 1.0 server, you’ll recognize the cute little arrow on the left. 🙂 And I was also hired by Recruiters Online at http://www.recruitersonline.com to increase their overall website visibility.
I built all of my sites and all of my campaigns the way the gods meant for websites to be built – Unix shell! Seriously, I’m addicted to VI (a visual text editor) and find I accomplish my best work when getting face-to-face with the hardcore coding itself. I build sites this way to this day.
2) When did you first hear about SEO? What large evolutions/steps have you seen since you started doing SEO?
I first heard about SEO when Infoseek was offering real-time indexing of webpages. Ah, it was such a rush – you’d tweak the capitals in one title tag, or add a plural to an H1, reindex, and whomp! Immediately see how the changes affected your ranking. It was a piece of cake to achieve top 10 visibility for any keyword desired.
SEO has metamorphized into an entire different beast these 10 years later. Instead of definitive points webmasters can control (coding/design), other factors such as link popularity, no-follows, link exchanges etc all weigh into determining SEO rank. But what I’m seeing is that a concentrated effort on building a fan base and extending viral word of mouth is what really seems to be the deciding factor between closely-matched ranking sites.
3) With the greater integration of multimedia (video, maps, images etc) into the SERPs, what multimedia vertical would you suggest will provide the best ROI for SEOs to specialize in?
Mini-clips beyond any doubt. Create something memorable enough and people will want to tell their friends about it…thus linking to your site and building your networking influence.
4) How would you go about creating and using mini-clips?
There are many resources of which you can take advantage, such as:
How to make better videos for YouTube
8 tips to make your YouTube video go viral
Secret Strategies behind many “Viral” videos
I always try to close my posts by including a relevant mini-clip; humor is always a great option, as are how-to guides. It doesn’t have to be precisely targeted; for example, I closed my Make Them Beg To Digg You – 5 Killer Tips To Commanding Creative Diggs post with a video compilation of funny Digg photos and my Viva the Easter Broccoli Bunny – Day 5 of 5, Critical Blog Post Check List post with a clip about the perils of misspelling brick-and-mortar business signs.
Anything that distinguishes you from the rest of the world is a Good Thing indeed.
5) Can you share 3 tips to assure independent webmasters with longevity in the business? How do you make it in the long haul?
The first tip is diversify, of course.
Focus upon the *human element* in the equation. Gone are the days that you could deal solely with non-confrontational HTML and programming snippets…nowadays you have to develop a following to build up a stable monetary base. Remember, one tweak of the Google Dance can send your SERPS down to visit the Titanic… but if enough people are aware of your site they don’t NEED SEs to bring it to them, your income will survive.
Next, give visitors reasons for them to tell their friends about your site and compel them to visit as well. A newsletter, a comic strip, a free quality ebook, etc…something that raises the perceived value and delivers cache to the visitor. The power of this was first pounded into me during my very first viral marketing campaign back in 1997. Back then, I was a techie recruiter, and I made it a point to include in my emails the following line: “…Thank you very much for your time in reading my email! Please do feel free to forward the information to any of your colleagues who might find it beneficial, should you think they would appreciate it.”
Keep in mind my email didn’t just have your typical recruiters’ pitch; I also would include links to industry resources for their personal benefit as well. The responses I got to this email were remarkable! Never before had these people been contacted in a “human” way (ie [sic], here’s some great resources even if you don’t use my services). Quite alot [sic] of my marketing was done for me as people really would…tell their friends.
Free ebooks are another great way to deliver visitors. I would take all the tips I had gathered, build a viral ebook, and simply brand it with my URL. The file got passed around and passed around… and my own product was purchased more and more. By giving away freely, I gained an extraordinary amount of financial return (over the months and months).
It’s easy to dash up a great-looking viral ebook. I used http://www.ebookcompiler.com/ as well as simply PDFing a Microsoft Word document. The key part to this is to always remember [to] include direct links in your product that will bring the audience back to your site.
And finally, be appreciative. When someone visits your site and comments or sends email, acknowledge it *personally* (don’t use the autoresponder scripts as they’re obviously canned). Yes, it takes time…but the benefits are seen over the long run.
6) If you have multiple income streams, how did you get to that point? What were the biggest obstacles to diversifying, and how did you overcome them?
I can write an ebook in less than 24 hours, plus I can build targeted niched portal sites in less than a day. In other words, I can develop useful content in a short time period. Getting to diversified income steams is merely a matter of perfecting what works well in one niche, and then doing a global sed of specific themes.
Let’s say that you have a site about iPhones. Well, okay, that’s peachy…what would you include? Off the top of my head it would be:
- iPhone News
- iPhone Auctions
- iPhone Forums
- iPhone Groups
- iPhone Tech Tips
- iPhone Applications
Now, take all the above, and change the word ‘iPhone’ to ‘iPod’. The topics still work, they still make sense…they can be applied to a brand new domain and niche. Then change ‘iPod’ to ‘Coffee’. Okay, perhaps ‘Coffee Tech Tips’ doesn’t work, but ‘Coffee recipes’ could be substituted.
See how it works? You take a topic, build relevant content, tweak the SEO, and when it’s stable, duplicate it in various other domains and niches.
7) Do you have a marketing plan for the next 5 years? If so, what are some key highlights it covers? Where did you get the inspiration for the strategies in there?
I am focusing upon building my Barbara Ling and Owlbert brand (Owlbert is my cartoon Alter ego for the past 10 years). I’m not focusing upon SEO anymore because I’ve seen first-hand how Google can demolish purewhite [sic] hat sites as well!
8) What methods have you used to build brand Barbara Ling? What is your brand positioning/character/message?
Ever since I’ve been teaching online and in seminars, I’ve been known for turning ‘technical’ into ‘simple’. No matter what subject is presented, I can take the essential elements and translate it into something with which the audience will resonate.
Thus, my brand positioning is Simple! Consider my AskOwlbert.com site – every post is followed with
- Beginners Blogging Tips
- Intermediate/Advanced Blogging Tips
That way, people of ALL levels can glean something of importance from what I teach. One of my favorite sayings is nobody (except my mom, of course) knows everything…but everyone knows *something*! Put all of those somethings together and you have a power with which to reckon.
I like to think I provide the glue that makes all of those somethings relevant for all audiences to my sites.
9) In terms of scaling your projects, what steps/tactics/measures have provided the greatest results for you? How did you decide on them? Where should intermediate-level webmasters look to scale their projects?
Quite frankly, trusting in myself and my own abilities. When I tried to imitate others, I found myself stilted, but when I gave myself permission to sing my own song, my sites just flowed.
Regarding scaling of projects, you should always have enough time to monitor the results your current efforts deliver. Ideally, you should set up automatic monitoring services so you’re alerted to difficulties the moment they occur…and not when Google has already penalized you.
10) Do you mostly reinvest to grow? Mostly pull out profits for your lifestyle? How do you do this? Where does the money go in either case?
Hee hee, I put the money I earn in my family’s college accounts. 🙂 My business costs are virtually zero, so I’m able to put that money to work for me.
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