Beginner's Blogging Resources

I've been collecting useful articles and blog posts for some months with the idea of putting together a beginner's guide to blogging. But I wanted to share with you a couple of gems I found that first-time bloggers will find useful in the meantime:

1) Patrick Schaber's Beginner's Guide to Setting up a First Blog Site

2) ProBlogger's Choosing a Blog Platform

Happy blogging!

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US Pork Board Offended by Breastfeeding

Some days a story comes along that is every blogger's dream. Today is such a day. I've just heard that wonderblogger, supermom and breastfeeding advocate Jennifer Laycock has been threatened, (see Back Off National Pork Board), with legal action by the National Pork Board of America for (wait for it) allegedly stealing their pro-pork slogan "Pork: The Other White Meat".

Yes, you read right ladies and gentlemen. It seems that the guys in the big chairs at the Pork Board were offended by Jennifer's irreverant pro-breastfeeding t-shirts, in particular one that read "The Other White Milk" and felt they could justify legal bullying to make her stop selling them (and cease raising money for her local milk bank). But it gets better - here's a quote from the letter Jenn received from the Pork Board's legal counsel:

"...your use of this slogan also tarnishes the good reputation of the National Pork Board's mark in light of your apparent attempt to promote the use of breastmilk beyond merely for infant consumption..."

So apparently, staff at the Pork Board think that Jennifer's t-shirts are promoting some kind of kinky breastmilk fetish. Either that or the Pork Board are SO offended by the concept of breastfeeding mothers, that they feel any association with them would tarnish their reputation. I don't know which is worse!

I might have thought the Pork Board's request was reasonable if people could easily confuse Jenn's parody with their slogan and if she was selling a related product. But there's no confusing the two. Jennifer is promoting a non-profit organization that contributes to infant well-being and the Pork Board are promoting the slaughter and consumption of innocent animals. Yet they take offence at HER! It's priceless.

Apparently Jenn only sold the one version of that shirt but the item has already been removed by Cafe Press from her web store without Jennifer's permission, probably after contact by the porkies. You KNOW that whoever owns that shirt (?) is one happy purchaser right now. There will probably be people lining up at the door to buy Jenn's other shirts as a result of this. And all thanks to the Pork Board. As Danny Sullivan pointed out, the Pork Board's letter to Jennifer tarnished their reputation far more than her t-shirts could have.

Care to join Jenn's cause? I am going to lead the charge and go and purchase that NIP/SUCK shirt from The Lactivist that I've had my eye on for a while. Anyone else? You can also contact the Pork Board directly and tell them what you think. Let's poke those porkies and see if they squeal.

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Sisters (in Tech) Are Doing it For Themselves

I've been thinking about the subject for over a week now, ever since Kim posted Where are the Women Tech Bloggers?

An outsider looking in could be forgiven for thinking that the tech industry is dominated by aggressive, ambitious men. Certainly the search blog landscape has its fair share of loud macho stereotypes, always trying to one-up each other with jargonized posts, pointless SEO ranking competitions or bizarre territorial pissings. And there's only one woman listed amongst the A-List bloggers. Why is that?

I personally think it's because we sisters are busy doin' it for ourselves. Yep, most women in tech are far too busy actually working to be bothered with "mine is bigger than yours" comparisons, sexually suggestive blog illustrations, endless Digg backslaps and other male-dominated time-wasting. We just get on with it. Thanks to Kim for the list of sisters doin' it for themselves.

Super Search Engine Resources

All the students at Search Engine College have automatic access to our super cool list of search engine resources in the SEC Lounge but did you know that non-students have access to it to?

Yes, you too can access The Lounge. It's both a meeting place for SEC students and graduates, as well as a library of everything search engine related, including:

* news
* articles
* links
* forums
* blogs & newsfeeds
* newsletters
* merchandise
* tools
* software
* FAQs
* worldwide search engine lists
* events
* competitions
* books
* training

Lounge membership is free and when you become a member, you get access to the following additional resources:

* employment forum
* industry discounts
* newsfeeds
* member articles
* glossaries
* lists of SEO/SEM firms
* research & statistics
* patents
* ability to submit news, articles & links

Enjoy!

Q and A: What is the best way to promote a new SEO product?

Dear Kalena...

We have created an amazing SEO toolkit. What do you think is the best way to promote it? Channels?

Mike

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Mike

Using AdWords to promote your new product is a good start, especially if you opt-in to the Google Content Network so your ads are shown on search-related sites via AdSense. You should also consider advertising via Yahoo! Search Marketing to reach a larger chunk of the search market, including MSN searchers.

Here are some other excellent ways to jumpstart buzz about your product:

- Create a professional press release and circulate it via distribution channels such as PR Web.
- Send the press release to key bloggers in the SEO industry and ask them to blog it.
- Send the press release to editors or widely-read SEO newsletters, ezines and publications.
- Send a free evaluation copy of your product to journalists in the search industry and/or influential names in the industry and ask them to review it. If they like it, they will most likely blog and/or write about it.
- Start an affiliate program for your product and begin recruiting affiliates and sub-affiliates.
- Write an article/review about the product yourself and syndicate it via search-related article announcement groups such as those described here and in our articles about article marketing.

Best of luck!

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[If you found this post helpful, you might benefit from downloading our free Search Engine Optimization lesson]

Blog Back Scratch of the Week : Matt Cutts

I thought I'd join in the back-scratching and link to one of the most popular blog posts today. Matt Cutts discusses what he thinks about scraped lesbians. Make sure you read the comments. Hat's off to "Adam", whoever he is, for making me chuckle.