MySpace Layouts vs Boilerplate Crapola

A recent development with how MySpace handles links inserted into MySpace profiles may have a profound effect on all MySpace layout sites. Essentially we may see these sites shift from churning out boilerplate crapola to actually producing collections of truly original MySpace layouts. This is because MySpace.com recently decided that all hyperlinks inserted into MySpace profiles --be they in the Friends Comments section or anywhere else-- will be converted into their special msplinks.com redirects. The msplink.com link --which sports a long (and scary looking) alphanumeric coded suffix-- gives its SEO link power to msplink.com and then redirects to the original link destination.

What this means for MySpace layout sites is that they will no longer garner any search engine 'link love' from linked image tags and text links preinstalled into their MySpace layouts. These links are now useless as a means to get high rankings for their sites in search engine results pages. What this thankfully means for MySpace users is that layout sites will have to rethink their business model and possibly begin to stand and deliver on some quality layouts.

To fully understand how this will impact the MySpace layout scene, it will help to run through...

The Making of a MySpace Layout Site

Up to now, anyone wishing to capitalize on the runaway success of MySpace.com without actually having to do anything truly original or creative would do the following:

1. Purchase a turnkey MySpace layout site script (anywhere from $15 to $300).


2. Buy a domain name and launch the site.


3. Fill the site with thousands of crappy boilerplate MySpace layouts using stolen copyrighted celebrity and product photos for backgrounds.


4. Pad out the 'content' with a grotesque glut of childish no-talent glitter graphics.


5. Game their way to the top of search engine results pages using reciprocal linking schemes with other MySpace layout sites and automated comment spam on MySpace users' profiles.


6. Support their high rankings in search engines by continuously earning back links from the tags and text links in the layouts that MySpace users install from their site.

And believe you me, this is by no means an anomalous business model. MySpace layout site owners plainly and jokingly admit on webmaster forums that:

1. Their sites are full of crappy layouts.


2. They all tend to use the same content.


3. They make anywhere from $500-$3000 monthly and more doing this.

And by 'doing this' I mean essentially doing nothing.

The only reason this system works is because the internet has become so stuffed with subpar MySpace resources that MySpace users remain ever dazed and confused as to what constitutes the true reference standard for a quality MySpace layout.

Hence when MySpace users start to browse through high ranking Googled results for some common MySpace related keywords, e.g., 'myspace layouts', 'myspace backgrounds', etc. they are invariably forced to plow through hundreds of pages of glitter-infested garbage. After some time, the user comes to the conclusion that this is the best there is, gives up and then installs a dreadful excuse of a layout and perpetuates the whole scheme by creating another backlink to yet another crappy MySpace layout site.

Now that the msplinks.com system has rendered useless the SEO benefits derived from layout tags and text links installed on users' profiles, these tags and text links currently serve only one remaining purpose. And that purpose is to send traffic to the MySpace layout site because the viewer thinks the layout is actually good and they want one like it. Period.

A New Paradigm

Take this new MySpace.com development that disables comment spamming and nullifies the SEO benefits from layout tags and add to it the fact that advancing Google technology will soon do away the effects of reciprocal linking schemes and we may see some big changes in the MySpace layout scene. It's possible that legions of substandard MySpace layout sites will be forced out of the running as their most powerful search engine marketing tools are continuously shot down and rendered useless. MySpace layout site owners will then come to realize one important fact of life. The only way to left to succeed with their sites is to actually start putting some good content on them.

This will make way --in a perfect world anyway-- for new and other sites to be judged by the quality of their layouts as opposed to how well their site fits the paradigm of a typical MySpace layout site. Like seriously folks, what good really is a site full of 10,000 MySpace layouts if 9,950 of them look like they were mass produced by a monkey with a box of crayons?

Originality has always been a fundamental ingredient to producing quality in any market. With the msplink system turning the MySpace layouts scam on its ear, MySpace users may soon realize that what have up to now passed as the 'best' MySpace layouts sites have been far from producing the best in MySpace layouts.

Why SEO SEO vs PPC

If you still think that having a website alone is enough, you probably miss the boat being found on the top of the search engines and directories. What is the purpose to be ranked at very low position in a search engine?

Try to key-in a key phrase to find you own website, can you find it in the first page results of search engines? Probably not! Hence, that’s no problem at least you know now why you need SEO for your website!

"Target the wrong keywords and all your efforts will be in vain."

Finding and designing a website is all about targeted key phrases!
SEO is much cost effective then any other marketing tool, off-line or online!
Search engine optimization may be just one part of an online internet marketing strategy, but it is the fundamental part.

It’s the baseline.

If you are doing nothing else, search engine placement and keyword related advertising can make up 80 to 90 percent of your traffic.

Search Engine Optimization will help you:

Explode you sales

Dominate your competition

Calculate fast ROI

Minimize your risk

Get superior sales results

Best investment for growth



SEO Merits

SEO has incredible ROI. Mostly pay per work - thus per thousand conversion cost per unit sold is less. PPC this goes up and up.

SEO is ongoing designing. Ranked performance is a measurement in itself of how good the site is (as a whole).

SEO is highly adaptive to market diversity (e.g. a single user that conducts a deep search finds you, identifying new opportunities to expand. (With PPC you’re stuck with your own knowledge of markets, and/or the engine’s ability to distinguish commonality). Five words on the page can match perfectly to a query not ever considered.

SEO is developing authority status - which is directly associated with brand. Many believe branding is reserved for Microsoft or IBM but brand equates to quality - thus no brand potential you have no quality recognition.

SEO in the long-term in more cost effective - as time passes cost reduces. With PPC cost only go up not down.

SEO is more adaptive to search engine changes (medium changes). An algo tweak - can be quickly observed and countered.

SEO provides growth and theme - back to design - to rank high a site must be developed with the market in mind with lots of informative content which develops links, which develop enhanced performance which develops more links, and so on.

SEO puts the web site owner in the driver’s seat - PPC puts the search engine (ad network) in the driver seat.

SEO has a better chance of delivering return customers. You must really think about what the market wants. With PPC it’s more what the company wants.



SEO Demerits

SEO normally has a relative long time to market (can not be achieved in a day, a week and sometimes months).

SEO is a process of adjustments (tweaking) and more dependent on competitive landscape.

SEO normally requires a knowledgeable third party who may or not be what they appear (e.g. not very good).

SEO can be a disastrous overnight (penalties, bans) which really sucks since the time to market was long.

SEO can be very expensive upfront.

SEO has a long learning curve and with many abrupt changes where the site’s owner can drop quickly from page 1 to page 100.

SEO effects are not immediately seen thus something completed 3 months ago can be mistaken for changes made last week.



Pay Per Click

Pay per click or PPC is a service in which an advertiser selects specific keywords or phrases and then creates a listing that will show up when someone searches for that phrase.

The advertiser selects an amount they are willing to pay for each click on their listing that results in a visit to their site – thus the term “pay per click”. If other advertisers have selected the same keyword or phrase as yours, you then compete against them for the highest position. Whoever is willing to spend the most shows up first with the others following in order.

What makes PPC attractive is that paid listings are distributed (syndicated) to other partner sites. In fact, if you bid for one of the top three positions at Overture (as an example), your listings will also show up at some of the leading search engines including Yahoo, MSN, Alta Vista, HotBot, Infospace, iWon, Lycos, and others. Therefore if you bid for top placement at Overture, you will show up at these partner sites as well.

What PPC has allowed you to do is instantly “pay” your way to the top whereas traditional SEO takes time and effort.

PPC Merits

PPC is easy.

PPC is direct market access - limited competition for eyeballs.

PPC is exceptional for short term specials, holiday promotion etc.

PPC has no middleman to rely on for performance.

PPC highly adaptive to market trends (e.g. last week "widget" was hot - this week "widgets" is cool)

PPC is near-real time no monthly waiting to produce results

PPC is highly cost effective (e.g. can produce 3000% return on investment)

PPC is highly effective in controlling market saturation (e.g. - out of inventory - immediate ads drop). Powering down your web site in other model can have long lasting negative effects. Noting that telling already paid customers they need to wait 3 week is very bad.



PPC Demerits

Paying for the entry when you don’t have the necessary products for the buyer (e.g. using "software" when the only software you have is a Windows 3.1) and few qualified visitors

Using informative phrases that offer significant clicks but possibly 95% of click are "free information seeking" only and never buy.

Quick loss of placement in favor of someone else willing to pay more than your budget allows.

Stuck with the model - when the search engine adapts to a new scheme you "must" meet/match their Terms of Service and/or changes.

If PPC is the only service used - you will never be an authority web site on anything - and authority defines - market trust, and your credibility.

PPC never allows the web site owner to truly fault find problem areas of the web site.

PPC favors big business with large marketing budgets.



And lots and lots of mis-information available that can have a site owner going in the wrong direction - where recover is near impossible (have a new client that did this - then abrupt changes directions, and now the site makes no sense).

PPC or SEO?

Actually, that depends. If you need to improve the quality and quantity of your lead flow as soon as possible then PPC is the right answer. If you want to insure that you have the highest ROI, enhance your branding and get an optimized conversion rate then SEO makes a lot of sense. For most companies it will be a combination of the two. SEO and PPC are complementary. In fact, a PPC program can help identify the most successful search terms, copy and call-to action and can then be used to optimize the site. PPC budgets can be adjusted up (and down) based on results, including the improvements delivered through SEO. The bottom-line is that you should spend your marketing dollars on the venues that deliver positive ROI. A campaign that includes both PPC and SEO helps you to saturate search result pages with your listings. As long as both remain profitable (which is easily traceable), both should remain a priority.

The Bottom Line

Search engine marketing, Whether through SEO or PPC or both, should be a fundamental component of your overall marketing mix. Search engine users have chosen to use the Internet to research an issue or solve a problem. They are the ultimate in qualified prospects. These visitors are well along the sales cycle as a result of having taken the initiative to use a search engine to solve their problem. These are buyers.

After spending tens of thousands of dollars or more developing a website, businesses often discover that the site is invisible to the major search providers. Fail to take your website’s visibility into consideration when making development decisions is expensive mistake, both in real dollars and opportunity costs. By recognizing both the importance and the need of search engine marketing in the development of your website, you hold a significant advantage.

Only one of two outcomes is possible each time a prospect performs a search:

They will find your website.

They will find a competitor’s website.