Source: Hurriyet.com

You know I could watch the shoe thrown at Bush forever but this post is about using every event including as an attempt to a great press release.

As a native Turkish speaker, I get the joy of being able to read the Eurasian look at the world through Turkish newspapers which come up with some of the greatest link baits.
Below picture is a headline picture from Hurriyet.com (A Turkish newspaper).

Anyhow, here are the fun facts. The news story happened because of a press release by a Turkish company named, Baydan Shoes (sadly I could not locate a site). Baydan claimed to export that particular brown shoe model to Iraq (over 15K pairs). Every shoe is 600 grams (around 1.35 pounds) which probably would leave a bruise and the export price is 27 dollars. What great advertising to take advantage of an event with an immediate press release and being at the front page of the most read Turkish newspapers in the country for free. In press release just like SEO it is all about attention to details and being at the right place at the right time.

Since we are talking about attentiong grabbers here are all different versions of tactics that was used around the web to grab a piece of attention around the web;

• a game that has already been a viral hit
• a video with over 5 million views.
• a new term in the English language, shoecidal bomber

Creativity never ends when it comes to taking advantage of current events. What other ways can you think to take advantage of a current event?

Google Halloween Robots.txt

I am glad there are some funny people in Google. That was a nice touch.

With Howard Dean, there was the scream

[youtube D5FzCeV0ZFc]

With Michael Dukakis there was the tank

Michael Dukakis on a Tank

And now it is the Republican’s turn.

How can you really beat Palinocchio poster?
P.S. That is a picture from the ethics investigation protests against her in Anchorage.

Palinocchio - Sarah Palin (AP Photo/Al Grillo)

[youtube kl6UGuAqSDo]
[youtube 9PxJfaNgDoE]

Hurt – Black Hat SEO Version

I hurt myself blogging secrets again
to see if I still feel Google.
I focus on the penalized link
the only thing that’s real
Google tears a hole
the old familiar sting
trying to kill black hats away
but I remember everything
what have I become?
my sweetest Google;
every white hat I know
goes away in the end
and Google could have it all
my empire of spam

I will let you down
I will make you hurt

I wear this crown of thorns
upon my liar’s chair
full of link footprints
I cannot reverse
beneath the stains of time
the feelings disappear
Google will be replaced
I am still right here

what have I become?
my sweetest Google
every white hat I know
goes away in the end
and you could have it all
my empire of spam

I will let you down
I will make you hurt

if I could start again
a million killed links ago
I would keep myself
I would find a way

Nine Inch Nails (Fight Club Video) version

[youtube z0N-PhOWVSs]

Johnny Cash Version

[youtube d09eNZK3v2M]

Once upon a time,

For over a century, (late 1500s to late 1600s) the Carribean was full of pirate ships. The pirates ran their own distinct code of law in every ship. It was an honor code of sorts with common themes in the Carribean . It covered benefits for the people who lost limbs, punishments and loot sharings in writing. The world was a happy world for the average pirate at the time. In late 1500s and early 1600s, British, French and the Dutch were perfectly content on letting pirates run under their flags to loot the Spain’s Treasure Fleet and cities. There were many small cities that became pirate safe havens.

The nations awarded the early pirates for sharing their Spanish loots with land, money and nobility ranks. The old pirates started their own plantations and created their own lands and became the governors of their old safe heavens in many cities such as Tortuga, Port Royal and Curacao that became the hubs of the Carribean. The old pirates realized the value of taxation of merchants and pirates “legally” rather than risking their lives in the open seas. They gave pirates, for a fee, “letter of marque”s as a legal warrant to pillage Spanish Main. Though, this revenue by itself was not enough. They formed military alliances to control banned ex-compatriots from these routes to protect their income sources. They broke the pirate code that they adhered to in their earlier lives by allying themselves with the old enemy, the governor of Havana, representative of Spain in the Carribean. The Havana Governor, encouraged by these “lawful” allies decided to make the Carribean a hell for the pirates. The old pirate code was broken again as the pirates of the sea lined up to reap whatever little prize money is there from Havana and became pirate hunters.

By early 18th century, the monopoly and stranglehold of the main powers (nations) was so strong, the old days became tales like a Hollywood movie. The veteran pirates cried in the slump bars of Port Royal over their glory days. Desperate for even a mirage of victory, they even started to cheer for the rich “innocent” merchant gaming the “evil” Spain’s economic system as if they were re-living the good old days of pillaging. The Spanish power was also in decline living its own sunset in the hands of the corrupt aristocracy and merchant class. At the end, the pirate code became nothing but a great Hollywood movie where the good guys do no evil.

MSN Spokesperson Liv Sarge Sox stated by giving a full roster of agents in the search results we offer our clients a quality search experience and a boost in the paid advertising revenue. Both companies have also stated the continued relationship between two companies will continue in other major cities.

Disclaimer: The above news, press statements, and people mentioned are products of fiction and this whole post was just one big hoax. The only true fact is that on April 11, 2008, MSN results literally showed only one single website that belonged to RE/MAX for 49 straight pages. I believe this is a new record in Search Engine World history where a single domain with 488 subdomains can dominate 49 straight pages in a “respectable” search engine for a very competitive keyword.

simply type http://www.www.sitename.com . If you have a google toolbar; this will allow you to see the page rank of the site without having to actually enter the site. OK, OK I declare myself the king of useless seo