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Wouldn't you hate to be the SEO consultant who had all his clients penalized at the same time? Sheesh!

I think it's like the Highway Patrol.

Everyone speeds, but everyone doesn't get caught.  You point to a similar web page that hasn't been penalized, but there are many who have.

I use an app created by some of the super smart local SEO guys, called Get Five Stars. It lets you direct your client to whatever review sites are the most beneficial for you.

Thanks Miriam,

I got one of these recently, but I think a 4.8 looks more realistic than a 5.0 so I don't mind. Do you think they're doing it just to get Google points? The person who wrote mine is clearly not a client or prospect. She wrote a review about Starbucks being too expensive, so she certainly isn't going to be hiring a marketing consultant.

I feel bad for you. I don't have any answers, but I'm a singer, and your website is excellent. This is not an example of Google rewards quality.

I have seen zero results from Google+ - I don't even see people's own Google+ profiles ranking (when Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. easily rank).

How much does he plan to spend on marketing to reinforce his brand?  I believe .io will rank on Google just as easily as .net .info .us etc. but how much will it take to rank in their customer's brain?  I have a .us and 7.5 years later I still have to reinforce the domain when I am talking to a client.  It's like trying to get a client to say chartreuse instead of lime green.

I love doing charity & event sponsorships. Often I can get a link for a client in exchange for helping promote their event. Match the events up with the client's actual interest and they get good publicity, referrals and personal satisfaction in addition to an SEO benefit.

Are the products on those pages important to you? Do you have another method of getting those products sold if you don't add the alt tags? Are you getting as much out of those pages now as you need to?

There's a million things you can do with SEO, but adding alt tags is one of the easiest ways to improve a page's performance.

Only you know if that page matters.

What is the reason they want to avoid those techniques? It would make it easier to suggest something that fits in with their strengths.

Content about decorating doesn't work? What are you talking about - people spend tons of dollars purchasing home decorating magazines and books. Plus, there are blogs and social media people who focus on the domestic life.

Just last week one of my friends shared on Facebook a video of how to fold a fitted sheet.

I'd think about influencer marketing.  Hire some popular people to do some videos for you. Have a contest and award a great cash prize to the person with the best sleep tips.  Be creative.  I can introduce you to some Mom Bloggers if you'd like.

I agree with Jewel - trying to be all things to all people is a recipe for disaster.

I am teaching a social media class to realtors on Wednesday and I know (from experience) that when I ask who is your target market, they'll say anyone who wants to buy or sell a home.  I'm going to try out this response on them.

When you say anyone who wants to buy or sell a home, you say that I am only important to you in the money you can make from me. Do you think that will make me like or trust you. Instead you say your target market is people who like the arts and dogs. Now you are saying that my interests are important to you. If you say your target market is people who like traditional performing arts (ballet, opera and old-fashioned musicals) and dachshunds, you are saying I am important to you. And then you'll be important to me.

Your photographer is telling prospects that he/she just wants to make a buck. The home page should inspire the real prospect to believe that there could be no other photographer in the area that understands me better.

Thank you for this update. I have Tumblr, Blogspot etc. that I use as part of my strategy and it is quite disconcerting this morning to see an individual post on a Tumblr blog with a PA of 94.  It's like looking in your bank and seeing a balance of 100K.

No.

Especially the last 3 - anytime the title of a page in links, I believe Google ignores them.

Do you think anyone can make a dent in Google's dominance?  I had expected Facebook to gain some share this year, but it doesn't seem like they've made an impact.

I don't allow blog comments on my blog posts, and I have tons of posts that rank. It's not comments that help you rank, it's shares and more importantly links.

You should always try and keep track of your backlinks yourself, not rely on a third party tool to tell you who is linking to you.  No tool will give you 100% of the linking information, even when it's a regular, popular TLD.

Good news is that after I did the same tedious process myself, my SEO results went up!

I think the law of unintended consequences would kick in ... soon you'd see Fiverr offerings to get 5 upvotes for your link page for $5.

I researched this for a former client (he quit me when he didn't like my answer) and the risk to using another's intellectual property is high.

If you publish, whether it's a book or a website, you must 1) create it yourself, 2) pay for it yourself or 3) have written permission from the author.  Without that you are risking huge penalties if caught. There is a whole new industry growing of people who look for illegal use of photos, copy, videos etc. so that they can sue.

P.S. I'm not sad about losing that client.