Here is a snippet from our latest SEO comic, Ranked Hard. Please visit the RankedHard.com site to see the comic this month. It is the best one we have done so far, in my opinion.
From time to time I use Ranked Hard as my soap box to comment on SEO-related topics such as link buying, SEO Celebrities and Internet spam, but with this comic I decided that I would poke some fun at three well-known Internet personalities: Seth Godin (Founder of Squidoo), Jason Calacanis (Founder of Mahalo) and Jimmy Wales (co-founder of Wikipedia). Each of these web celebs has created a force on the Internet.
But have they created a force for good on the Internet? Have they made the Internet a better place? In some ways they have, but in many ways–not so much. Of course the negative effects on the Internet aren’t really their fault. Let me explain.
I’ll take each person in order and, since this is my site, I am going to give my opinions. You may disagree, and if so, please post why in the comments below. A good debate is always worth the risk of offending someone.
Our latest Ranked Hard, SEO Comic, is up for viewing. It deals with the concept of link buying and Google’s sporadic approach at curtailing the purchase of link. Take a look at Crazy Eddie’s Link Emporium.
Here is an excerpt from my post under the comic. Please visit and read the entire rant on link buying.
If you would listen to Google, and why wouldn’t you, you would be led to believe that they are against link buying and don’t reward sites who do buy links. In fact, they will penalize sites that do buy links. Don’t believe me? Read Google’s engineer Matt Cutt’s own words on buying and selling links. They even provide a handy dandy form to report paid links. Find a site selling links? Report them. Find a competitor buying links? Report them. Then, your site, which is honestly gathering links, should rise to the top of the rankings. Right?
Wrong. Oh, so very wrong.
Google has been caught selling linksmore than once. So they understand the temptation and financial rewards of selling a link. But the rewards can be much greater when buying a link: higher search rankings, more customers, more sales and more profits. But if link buying is really being stamped out by the big G, then why, oh why, are so many people doing it and dominating the search rankings?
This month’s comic deals with the absurdity of the some of Google’s more spammy search results and touches on the sore point of Google rewarding black hat SEO when their own rules say don’t do it.
This month’s Ranked Hard Comic, SEO Squares, launched on September 8th, 2008, a day that will live in comic infamy. The comic satirizes famous SEOs by plopping them into a game show reminiscent of Hollywood Squares. Ah, Hollywood Squares. The show Whoopi Goldberg couldn’t leave because she was locked into a one million year contract.
If you have a concept for a SEO comic you’d like to see us create, write it out and then send it to us at contact [at] bigoakinc [dot] com. Please try to keep the comic within 5 to 6 frames. We’ll have our illustrator draw it and give you full credit.
So if you have a comic idea you’d like to send to us, don’t hesitate to shoot us a line. Now onto a more pressing matter. A few people have inquired about advertising on RankedHard.com. We’ve thought about putting ads on the sidebar and possibly even allowing ads to appear in the comic itself. How do you feel about this?
Be sure to have a look at Ranked Hard’s rave reviews and find out why people have called it a “very funny comic.” If you have an idea for a Ranked Hard comic you’d like to see put into action, shoot us a line at contact [at] bigoakinc.com. We won’t bite. Well, Roosevelt Jones might, but that’s a story for another time.
Not sure who Jason Calacanis is? If you are in the SEO industry you would probably have some interest. You can read about him at Wikipedia, of course and you can check out his very opinionated blog as well. Suffice to say Mr. Calacanis doesn’t have a high regard for SEO and that is the crux of this month’s issue of Ranked Hard. Enjoy and please make comments on the comic. We love feedback.
And for all the conspiracy theorist out there let me make a statement, saying definitively, that we do not believe Google changes the ranking’s of any web site based on whether or not you use Google’s Adwords.
This month’s Ranked Hard, SEO Comic deals with the touchy subject of overseas outsourcing in the SEO industry with a humorous twist of course. Take a look at Outsourcing Reservations, leave some feedback and laugh a little.
April’s installment of the SEO Comic Ranked Hard has been published. Read “Beware the Dark Side” which deals with the duality every search engine optimizer must sometimes face.
We have finished our third installment of the “hit SEO comic,” Ranked Hard. Sorry to keep pushing it on our Big Oak blog, but we want to give the comic a fair chance so I’m announcing it on our blog.
Take a look at the latest strip, “Cutt Her Some Slack.” It deals with the SEO industry’s obsession with all things Google, particularly, Matt Cutts, a Google Engineer who has been the voice of Google to the SEO community for some time. A lot a value is placed on what Matt says and probably he would admit that everyone should relax a little and not over analyze every word he speak or types.
Suffice to say if you don’t know who Matt is you may not find this strip as funny as the rest, but hopefully it introduces you to Mr. Cutts and expands your knowledge of the SEO Universe.
You may have read our first attempt at an SEO comic called Ranked Hard which was posted here and used some SIMS magic to create the characters. It must have at least drawn interest because it has been the most popular (most read) post since it went on the blog. It was an honest, but not awe-inspiring attempt for a group of non-artists trying to run a SEO company.
This is just one panel of the comic, visit the Ranked Hard site to see more!
But, with the encouragement of few positive comments and so many visits from our blog readers, we decided to take the Ranked Hard comic to a higher level. That required hiring an real artist who could bring the characters to life in a way beyond our skill level. We were very luck to find Kelly Ishikawa and he has done a wonderful job helping us define the characters and establish their appearance. And because of this, I can now introduce you to the whole SEO staff of Ranked Hard!
We decided that the format of the comic would not fit this blog so we created a new site/blog for ‘Ranked Hard, and SEO Comic‘ and will be posting all comics, comments and thoughts related to Ranked Hard at www.rankedhard.com. It was simpler to do it this way and we are hopeful that the larger format will make the comic more enjoyable for everyone. Of course we want feedback and comments from our readers so please post those on the Ranked Hard site.
We will be publishing at least once a month, and there are two comics on the site now. We have ideas for future comics already in the works, but we are looking for any funny suggestions from other SEO enthusiasts, so send them in to contact@bigoakinc.com for us to look at. If we do use your idea we will give you full credit and you can even write the story behind it if you wish.
This SEO blog is provided by Big Oak SEO, a SEO Company. Most blog posts are related to search engine optimization, short reviews, SEO tips and increasing site conversions. Email us at contact@bigoakinc.com or give us a call 804-741-6776 to see how we can help your company. More
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