Welcome to the Business.gov Community! Great website and porfolio. Section 508/Accessiblity is huge in the government space, and getting fuzzier as technologies evolve. I think there is a general fear of adopting new media, especially those falling under the Web 2.0 umbrella, because they might not be 508 compliant, but industy has come a long way. What are your thoughts on that? Also, I'm curious how involved your business is in the government space? In many ways, government agencies are in the incubation stage as they launch new intiatives and adopt Web 2.0 and marketing strategies to reach out and engage citizens. If you're interested in doing business with the government, this is a great place share information and ask questions.

Great question Alberon, I'll see if I can take a crack at answering it.  You asked, 'Never the less, the question is, when will the social bookmarking sites start banning seo linking?'   Google is the leading search engine company and integrity of their search engine results page is very important to their success.  Google has a vested interest in stopping spam and overagressive SEO activities.   For the good of the order, I would like to quickly explain how SEO works.  You go to Google and enter a search phrase, 'how to start a small business.'  How does Google know which link to list first, second, third out of the 684 million results?  By the way, SBA.GOV came up page one, position two when I Googled this query.   Google has a very complex algorithm that takes into account, literally, thousands of variables.  But, the three absolute most important variables to help Google determine, rank, prioritize and sort its search engine results page are:   1.  Page title 2.  Page content 3.  Inbound links   Interestingly, you can have a blank page with no title and no content.  But, if you have enough diverse websites that link to your website with the anchor text, 'how to start a small business' then you can conceiveably rank first place.  The power of inbound links is what has tempted people to try to place their links onto other sites.   There is another Google factor.  The more popular a site, determined by the volume of visitors, the more credibility a link will be granted.  So, if Business.gov, for example, is considered by Google to be an extraordinarily high volume site with authority and credibility and a link goes from that site to another site, then Google will consider this a reputable link.  Social networking sites, by nature, tend to have this type of credibility.  So, it is even more tempting to create an inbound link from high PR sites like YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn and Business.gov.   What stops people from spamming and exploiting these opportunities?  Two things.    First, many social media sites will insert an attribute called rel='nofollow' which means that for all outbound links, the link juice will not be granted.  So, you can spam all day long on blog comments but it is not gaining you any traction.  You are not earning any Google link juice.  People may click on that link and find your site, but it is not earning you points with Google.   Second, social media sites will often discourage self-promotion and linking.  In fact, the Business.gov created a friendly protocol that discourages people from doing this.  If somebody is really interested in my comment then they can look on my profile and follow the link from my profile. Does this stop abuse?  Not really, but at least the community knows who is abusing it and will likely flag the comment or report the excessive abuse.   One of the reasons why Google tries to keep its algorithm secret is so that clever SEO consultants are not incentivized to manipulate the levers that Google uses to determine its search engine results page.   Long answer to such a short question, sorry about that.  Hopefully, it is helpful to some folks.    

After having taken the plunge into the internet marketing world, I too can vouch for the great need for the web2.0 solutions. I did however not hire a SEO company like yourselves, but I learned it on my own. Never the less, the question is, when will the social bookmarking sites start banning seo linking? Many times you see warning messages before signing up. Message Edited by Alberon on 03-06-2009 08:57 AM

Hello, I thought I might have a couple of cents to add here.   My company - Skinner Media - was also approached by a government agency recently (and then another after the word spread). Those agencies are now completely rethinking their web launch plans.   The questions asked in these conference calls were the same questions every small business owner who wants to build their brand online should ask.   Over and over, these leaders in the federal system wanted to know...   Can I include interactive features? I know I should, but is it possible on a budget? Why is our current web company so far behind what the private sector is doing? Are they just protecting the contract, are they keeping up with technology? May I have control over my site? Are there solutions for applications such as file delivery, employee sites, job listings, news feeds, newsletters, social networking, galleries, video, video, video....   It is remarkable how many needs there are out there for 2.0 solutions, but that some web and small business advisors have no clue that most of these critical site components can be so inexpensive and so easy to deliver.   We had a new restaurant client a week ago that needed it overnight, and now his menu, his photo gallery, his contact information, his newsletter and much more are up, running, searchable on Google, and he is taking reservations.   In the past, lengthy discovery processes and focus groups were the norm. Now, for almost any budget, you may have all of the online features of any brand leader's site.   I'm also available for questions, this topic is very interesting. Most of the consults I do now are along the lines of 'Times are tight, I know I need to be online, what are the best solutions?'   The answers lie with companies like ours, like inQbation, this site (which is also open source, ie, built with great functionality at a fraction of the cost).   Please feel free to ask.  No charge. It's an interesting discussion. (I tell that to old clients all the time and they can't believe some companies are not ALWAYS on the clock).