If you were starting out now....

[Woz]

I would have done much more that what I did, and like LM, focused on sites with long term return and stability.

[DrCool]

I would have pushed much, much harder with things that worked and dumped things that didn't work quicker. Pretty basic.

A few years ago I had some really good success with some PPC stuff and I was content with just a little success and probably could have pushed it much harder and been able to make some serious money. But I was happy with what was happening and didn't really feel like working. So I just let it sit and crank away rather than working my ass off and adding a couple zeros to the checks.

[4Eyes]

On the 'Pushing Harder' front - I had some things that I pushed harder and broke as a result, and other things that I wish I had pushed harder - i wish I had the foresight to know which was which before I acted.

[ukgimp]

I would push so hard it hurt.

I missed some great money by cautios.

Regrets.

[dougs]

There is still lots of opportunities......

Edo...apps are interesting as to where they are going

But lets not forget most people still do not get seo and the corporates are big fat blubber machines...loads of opportunities, just spend time picking your wars.

Doug

[edo]

There is still lots of opportunities......

Totally agree, Doug. Feels like we're on the second internet land rush right now. Most of the best stuff gone, but still a few rich pickings out there.

Edo...apps are interesting as to where they are going

Be interested to hear where you think they're going...   

Ed

[dougs]

The world is moving into 3 closed walls

google/android world - android apps or seo
facebook world - which means apps
apple - which again means apps

[edo]

The world is moving into 3 closed walls

google/android world - android apps or seo
facebook world - which means apps
apple - which again means apps

Hmmm. Where do Amazon, ebay, Yahoo, AOL, The Times, the BBC, Twitter, Bing, Expedia etc fit into these three closed walls? Surely all top brands try and keep you within their closed wall; those 3 are just the biggest on the Net right now.

Ed

[rcjordan]

related:

SEO is no longer a viable marketing strategy for startups

http://cdixon.org/2011/03/05/seo-is-no-longer-a-viable-marketing-strategy-for-startups/


I roughly agree with the author. There was a time you could base a startup on seo performance alone.

[Gurtie]

As a result, web users have a worse experience and startups are incentivized to clutter their pages with ads and use aggressive tactics to increase their SEO when they should just be focused on creating great user experiences.

Sorry, I don't subscribe to a general view that " they should just be focused on creating great user experiences". Providing a great service for no income is not a business model that works very often. If its a part of a plan that they'll build the business by providing great content and then monetise it later, then fine, but on that basis he shouldn't be getting snitty about Trip-Advisor doing just that.

I agree with the basic premise that SEO is harder nowadays, but there are definately startups that succeed using SEO as the majority of their initial marketing strategy (and I would never advise that someone doesn't do anything but seo, why would you not do a combination of marketing, it nearly always works better). I agree that SEO is no longer the 'cheap' option. That doesn't mean its not viable, it just means that hopefully the new *ahem* businesses which launch may actually have considered their bisiness plan rather than be out of the box get rich quick schemes.

But I'm an evil black hat link building type of seo, you know, the kind who actually understands how the bloody algo works. What would I know?

Heh, well as linkbait that article should work well, even if the anchor text is tw*t (twit, of course)

[ergophobe]

Sorry, I don't subscribe to a general view that " they should just be focused on creating great user experiences"

Only idiots say "just create great user experiences and money will follow," which is suspiciously similiar to the stupidest and oldest saw in the  career advice industry: "do what you love and the money will follow". 

But I don't find it unreasonable to say that because Google is so bad at determining quality, and using all sorts of proxy signals (links, age) creates a bias against a site that is better, but newer (and hasn't yet acquired enough links to outrank its crappy predecessor).

The only thing that I disagree with is the idea that startups are too ethical to engage in aggressive link building. I would say that it's fear and lack of skill that holds them back, not scruples (why do people think someone morally owes it to Google to observe their rules. It's not like it's a republic, where I had a say in creating those rules).

[dougs]

Edo

Those companies are all integrating thier apps/data into the other platforms. Read anything Mark Zuchberg writes and he talks about building FB as platform

Doug